Protospiel St. Louis returns!

The third annual Protospiel STL

February 21-23, 2025

More space! More games! More fun!

A 3-day event for board and card game designers and playtesters to come together and make the next generation of games more fun!

Designer and Playtester badges for individual days, or the entire weekend are available.

If you're a game designer looking to get professional level feedback from other designers, there is no better place to get it!

If you're a gamer who likes to try out new things, then Protospiel is the place for you. You'll get to see hundreds of new designs in a single weekend. Plus you'll get to help shape them before they hit the store shelves or Kickstarter.

Tell Me More

Protospiel is a casual event where amateur and established game designers get together to test their game prototypes in a supportive, cooperative environment. It's a great way to break your game and discover ways to improve it. Don't worry about the appearance of your game. It isn't nearly as important as the functionality and fun! Some prototypes will be highly polished, but that's not what's important at Protospiel. Our goal is to help you make great games!

Want Even More Details?

Please see our Policies Page

What are Protospiels in General

Tabletop.Events is a great place to find Protospiels and Game Conventions in St. Louis and other cities.

Join the Protospiel Group on Facebook

Follow Protospiel STL on Facebook

Badges & Pricing

Here are the prices for attending Protospiel STL 2024:

10% of all designer badges will be donated to Meeples for Peeples

Designer WEEKEND Badge - $70

Designer FRIDAY Badge - $30

Designer SATURDAY Badge - $40

Designer SUNDAY Badge - $30

Play Tester WEEKEND Badge - $10

Play Tester DAILY Badge - $5

Publisher Badge - Complimentary / To qualify for a free Publisher's Badge you must have published two games by designers other than yourself within the last two years and are actively looking for another game design. Please email protospielstlouis@gmail.com and include the type(s) of games you're looking for in your request.

Badges may be purchased at the door with cash. All credit card transactions are handled through Tabletop.Events.

Tabletop.Event fees will be added to all badge prices.

Last day to refund your badge is February 10th.

Protospiel BINGO and other badge benefits!

All designer and playtester badges come with a play test bingo card. Each bingo space lists a game theme or mechanic. After a play test, have the designer initial a single square matching the game played. Turn in your completed bingo card to pick your choice of a new game from the prize table!

Game Nite is generously offering all badge holders a 10% discount on in store purchases. (Does not apply to consignment games).

Designers will have access to basic prototyping equipment, free bits, printer/scanner/copier, and free bottled water. Our Protospiel BINGO prize table from 2024!

Food & Drink

There are a bunch of restaurants in the area. Game Nite does allow outside food and drinks (no alcohol). Most places nearby have delivery options as well.

Hotels

The event is not located at a hotel. There are several to choose from that are less than a 10 minute drive:

Best Western Kirkwood Route 66

Holiday Inn Route 66

LaQuinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Route 66

Parking

Parking is free at the hotels and at Game Nite.

Schedule

This will run like the traditional Protospiel, which is open design, collaboration, and play testing. The room will be open as follows:

FRIDAY 10am-10pm SATURDAY 10am-10pm SUNDAY 10am-5pm

The guiding principle is for designers to reciprocate other designers' time and feedback by playing each other's games. For example, if you need three play testers for your game, you should try to play three other designer's games before the event ends. This is not a hard and fast rule, but the event works best when everyone tries to follow it.

Playtests are unscheduled. Table space is not reserved. Designers are asked to be respectful of other's time and space needs. Please limit playtest sessions of longer games to 2 hours by focusing on particular aspects in need of testing.

The Space

Game Nite has one of the largest gaming spaces in the region! They have capacity for more than 150 gamers. Most of the table sizes are 2' x 8'. Other reasonable accommodations can be made if requested with appropriate notice.

This photo only shows about 1/3rd of the available gaming space!