Single Card Challenge

Contest start date: November 28, 2022 5:20 PM

We want you to design a game that fits on a single poker sized card. This card must hold both the rules and the play area / artwork.

In 2.5 x 3.5 inches (times 2 sides) you must contain the entirety of the game. No additional components (printed or unprinted) will be included with the game. Though you will be allowed to request the players to use commonly found objects. Examples include:

• Coins, buttons, or other small household objects (as pawns, money, or other tokens)
• Phones (for things like cameras or timers)
• Pens, pencils, markers (to write on the card)
• Fingers (to hold position, or to bend/fold the card)
• Scissors or knives (to alter the card)

You can make any kind of game you want. It can have any number of players that you want. It can be a family game or a hard core gamer game. It can even be a legacy game or a one-shot if you want it to be. The only things that matter are that the game has interesting decisions for the intended audience, and that its entirety fits on 2 sides of a single poker card.

Your games may also be visual puzzles like you might find in an escape room. So you will only see the "clue word" if the card is bent the right way, or looked at from the right angle, or some other kind of visual trickery. But if you go this route, it should be very clever. Things that are too simple or immediately solvable won't help you win.

Contest start date: November 28, 2022 5:20 PM

To qualify, your game must comply with all of the following rules:

• Design a game using exactly 1 standard poker card.
• The rules and play area must be contained on the one poker card.
• You may use UV coating or linen finish on your card.
• You may use foil or plastic cards, but your design should justify their existence.
• You may require players to use commonly found items (pens, coins, fingers, their phone, etc).
• You may require players to have more specialized components if you are targeting a very specific group of people or location. For example, people in every day life on a bus or at a bar won't have dice. But hard core gamers on a game day will definitely have a D6 around, and RPG gamers will probably have any kind of dice on hand. So if you are making an RPG on 1 card, then you can expect that those players would have some dice. If your game is an ice breaker for a business meeting, you could be relatively certain they would have business cards on them. And if your game is meant to be played at an office you could require paper clips. If you are using these specialized components, your game better justify their existence.
• You may not use any printables beyond the card.
• You may not include any parts beyond the card.
• Though not required, a video is highly encouraged.
• All artwork must be your own, commissioned by you, licensed to you, or in the public domain. Be sure to attribute your images when required.
• Full rules must be included in the game. You can provide links to other sources, but players need to be able to learn how to play your game just by reading the rules that come in the game. You may use a QR code link to a more detailed set of rules, but you must be able to play the game with the rules on the card.
• Both sides of the card must be shown in a readable format in the action shot images and/or in a freely downloadable PDF.
• The game must be publish-ready (as it relates to our shop, not as it relates to being finished). This means it has a logo, backdrop, shop ad, action shots, description, and cool factors. It must also have all images proofed.
• This must be a new game created for this contest. It cannot have existed on TGC prior to the start of the contest.
• All entries must be submitted through TGC's game editor (by clicking on the "Contests" button) no later than 6pm US Central on January 9, 2022.
• Games and their shop page should not be changed after the contest deadline, until the finalists have been announced.
• Contestants may submit multiple entries to this contest. Each entry will be judged separately.

This contest will be different in that it will be entirely voted on by the community. There will be no judge, for reasons that will become clear as you read on.

The top entry, as voted on by the community, will receive $100 in shop credit.

However, this contest is for a special publishing deal at The Game Crafter. Every game entered is eligible for this publishing deal. By entering this contest, you agree to give a non-exclusive license to The Game Crafter, to print up to 2000 copies of your game for distribution by The Game Crafter. If The Game Crafter chooses to execute this license, then you will earn $200 of shop credit. You won't have to wait for the 2000 copies to be distributed. As soon as your game is selected, you will be notified, and your shop credit will be added to your account.

The non-exclusive license means that you are still free to sell the game on or off of The Game Crafter, or license it to other publishers. You still maintain full ownership of the game, other than the license for The Game Crafter to print up to 2000 copies of the game.

The Game Crafter reserves the right to request minor modifications to the content of your game before printing.

On January 3, 2023 it was announced what TGC plans to do with the entries it publishes from this contest. It's called Follies.

You can find an FAQ about Follies and the Single Card Challenge here.