BostonFIG is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that celebrates independent game development in New England, across the United States, and around the globe. Our goal is to create an inclusive environment for everybody who enjoys and appreciates games in any shape or form. The organization seeks to support and showcase the efforts of independent game developers, as well as to nurture young aspiring game creators from diverse backgrounds.

BostonFIG is run by a volunteer team of people who truly love supporting indie game creation. We’ve been in operation for a decade, and we are deeply committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion as an essential part of our mission to foster the next generation of game creators.

Submissions close June 1st with June 12th being the Late Submissions deadline!

Ashwin Kamath is a game designer and inventor based in Seattle. With a passion for helping others create games, he runs playtesting sessions and engages with diverse voices in the gaming community. Known for his humor and creativity, Ashwin is also the creator of popular games like The Wolves and Chicken Fried Dice.

In Hair Band, you're an upstart 80’s glam metal band vying for Hollywood’s next record deal. But to get it, you'll need to convince the label you're the next big thing - get awesome, get fans, perfect your show, and complete your demo to sign on the dotted line.

Each round, you’ll place your dice-as-rockers around Hollywood to write, rehearse, promote, gig, and party all night. But watch out! Musicians can be a reckless and unruly bunch. So, you’ll need to choose wisely to steer clear of drama that can derail your ambitions. The first band to complete 3 of the 4 record label requirements gets the deal and wins the game.

Hair Band is a dynamic dice placement, engine-building, and resource management game.

In this episode, Josh and Andrew discuss their experiences at Tantrum Con, a favorite tabletop gaming convention. They share insights on the well-organized event, their roles as VIP guests, and the fun activities they participated in, including a music bingo event. The conversation highlights the family-friendly atmosphere, personal stories from the convention, and the importance of networking and game design. They conclude by emphasizing why Tantrum Con is an excellent choice for first-time convention-goers.

Be sure to check your skis at the front desk!

From acclaimed designer Peter McPherson (Tiny Towns, Fit To Print) comes Lodge, a spatial puzzle game set in the beautiful Swiss Alps.

Draft room tiles from a sliding display and place them on matching floors to attract guests to your lodge. Gain bonus points for placing those guests on their preferred floors and by constructing amenities to keep them happy.

The Puppy Roll is a one-of-a-kind charity Dungeons & Dragons livestream where celebrity players bring their dogs to life as adventurers. Created by actress and producer Anjali Bhimani, the event blends comedy, storytelling, and heartfelt play to raise funds for Petco Love, a national nonprofit dedicated to saving pet lives and bringing awareness to animal rescue and welfare partners and initiatives, including Petco Love Lost, Petco Love’s image recognition registry that helps to reunite lost animals with their humans.

Wizard Community College is a card game with role-playing elements for 3-8 players that can be set up and taught in under 2 minutes. Play as student wizards who are trying to work together to solve their college problems by casting spells they have little control over.

Players will take turns casting spells based on the spell cards in front of them by saying what they intend for their spell to do. They then randomly draw a disc from a drawstring bag which will have a color and symbol on it. The player matching the color of the disc will say what actually happens when the active player tried to cast their spell using the symbol on the disc as a guideline. Most of the time, the spell will not go as planned and there will be a magical mishap!

Players win if they complete the objectives given on a Major Event cards within 2-3 rounds, but they will have created a fun story together whether the objectives were completed or not.

The standard game plays in 20 minutes and provides an exciting and complete story for the player characters. For a deeper role-playing experience, there is also an epic game included that plays in 90-120 minutes.

You have come to the Rooted Soul, the massive tree that stands on the border of the Anwyn Valley, in response to a crisis. For years a poisonous fog has filled the Valley. Soon it will expand and swallow up the rest of the land. Some of you have a nearby hamlet or village you call home. Some of you have heard that there are great and ancient secrets hidden in the Valley. Some of you long for a chance to prove your prowess. But all of you agree that the fog must be stopped before it poisons the world.

Echoes of the Sundering is a 1-5 player cooperative, open-world, deck construction adventure taking over 30 hours to complete. Players will create a party of heroes and explore the valley through a beautifully illustrated map book. Along the way, they will face dynamic, narrative-driven encounters and should they succeed, will grow in power gaining new cards to add to their deck and new items to complement their play style! The story reacts to players' decisions and no two play-throughs will be the same!

We are joined by our friend Jon Weaver of Gameweaver Games to talk about Echoes of the Sundering that is live on Kickstarter now!

Josh's game Beach Day is still a little bit off. So he is asking for help from the Voyagers. Please go and back Beach Day now!

Each round, players take turns playing one of their 9 cards (one for each brain) facedown near a scoring pile. After 8 cards are played (one for each arm) the cards are revealed and resolved. Ink cards protect everyone in a pile, but at the cost of helping opponents. Hide cards offer personal safety but leave others exposed. Punch cards shift the tides, moving threats or disrupting well-laid plans. With every decision, players must weigh risk and reward—protecting their own octopuses while ensuring their rivals don’t get ahead.

At the end of each round, surviving octopuses claim food, with set collection bonuses encouraging competition for the best meals. After three rounds (one for each heart) the player with the most food wins. INKtentions is a game of calculated risks, clever plays, and just the right amount of betrayal, where only the craftiest cephalopod will reign supreme!

Set during the time of Cities of Venus, Survivors continues the story with the search for survivors on the surface by the brave mining mech operators. The object of this stand-alone polyomino-dice manipulation game is to find as many survivors as possible while discovering fuel for the re-ascent vehicle. Once the launch sequence is initiated, players utilize the resources and engineers that they had rescued to secure their place as the captain, and hero, of the re-ascent ship.

Build a magical mermaid garden under the sea in this card drafting game.

Each round you will draft cards, craft combos, and race other players up the wealth, beauty, and rarity tracks. You'll be able to keep cards each round for bigger, better combos. After 3 rounds, see see who is furthest on each track and gain fame. The most famous mergarden wins!

There's also a "pearl economy" you must manage throughout the game. You'll need to collect enough pearls to pull off your big combos!

Easier to learn than 7 Wonders and more depth than Sushi Go, Coral Castle is great for hardcore gamers, casual gamers, gamer families, and anyone that wants more mermaids in their life!

We love the Tantrum House crew and we discuss how the con was for attendees, designers, and publishers. Stick around to see if this con is worth your time!

As MonToon warriors from rival factions, you compete in an epic clash to claim the Waystone and bring prosperity and power to your faction. Achieve victory by tactically positioning yourself around the map, defeating your rivals in combat, or solving a strategic puzzle to unlock the Waystone’s power.

The MonToons of the Coral Isles, accustomed to conflict, now face an unprecedented event, one which promises to fulfill an ancient prophecy: The Tidalmark. As the Waystones of the Chief’s Archipelago become supercharged, the most powerful MonToon warriors from all factions will traverse sand, sea, rock and reef to claim unimaginable power and etch their names into the island’s vast history

Mages, the land of Cathaira needs your help!

The last Celestial War with the Titans of Yarre` has left the landscape changed. Entropic Energy spreads at an unprecedented rate and the Creatures are becoming volatile and unpredictable as their environment shifts. They are vital to the health of the continent and must be preserved!

Each of you are masters of a Sanctuary, which Entropic Energy cannot easily penetrate. Your distinct prowess and your historical harmony with the land of Cathaira means that only you can Tame these Creatures! Can you manage to offer them protection, and return the presence of Entropic Energy to normal levels?

Honor is to be had, and each of you has the opportunity to be held in the highest regard by mastering the use of Energy, advancing in knowledge, and Taming these Creatures who need your help!

Primordial: Creatures of Pandemonium is a mid-weight, euro resource management game that is played over rounds. During the game, Mages will traverse the landscape, tame mythical creatures, learn skills, become more proficient in Energy use, and manage a Sanctuary to earn more honor than other Mages.

Primary mechanisms of the game include resource management, tableau building, skill-tree progression, and area movement. Additionally, the game features a unique communal bag building element!

He also shares a story that takes twist and many turns all on a trip to the Mecca of gaming that is Essen Spiel. Join us for great games and great stories on this episode.

On this episode we talk about themed game nights, books that may make great games, and how to capture the essence of another's work in your gaming experience. All this and more on today's episode! 

Mixtape Kickstarter Live Now!

We have a new sponsor with Talent Strike Studios! Check out their KS Mixtape coming July 9th!

Let's auction off some wine! You and your rival sommeliers have decided to face off to determine who is the best. Each person will take on a client, building a cellar that ages well and is suited to the client's tastes.

Over the course of eight rounds in Wine Cellar, players will collect wine bottles to create a cellar for their client. Bottles will be arranged to create a timeline for the order in which the wine will be consumed. Each bottle is worth different amounts based upon where it is in the timeline. Players will also receive points based on their client's preferences for wine type and country of origin.

Chris Backe returns to the Submarine to talk about No Box Games latest project! 

Phileas Fogg and Jean Passepartout needed 80 days, but you'll only need 10-15 minutes. In this print-at-home game with a leader-follower mechanic, one player each turn is the Navigator, which chooses an action that all players must take.

Choose to Travel between cities, Explore the city you're in, or pick up some Souvenirs to fill your suitcase.

When anyone has visited at least one city on each continent and returned to their starting city, the game ends - count up points, and the most points wins!

omewhere far away, a mystery awaits... Deep in the forest, an innocent rabbit - Eila, leaves their home to embark on a life-changing adventure.

Eila and Something Shiny is a 1+ player story-rich board game set in a mystical world. Take on the role of Eila, as you solve puzzles, manage resources, and overcome challenges through underground perilous mazes, harsh snowy highlands, and more.

Experience an exciting and emotional story told across 5 chapters featuring stunning art and illustrated comics. With branching story paths, your choices matter, affecting each chapter and deciding how the game ends.

Good luck; Eila’s fate is in your hands!

Hello, and welcome to Galactic Cruise. Here, we offer our guests something special: the comfort of a luxury cruise with the innovation of space travel. As the first company to offer extended-stay space vacations, we are excited to have you working for us!

As a supervisor of this company, you’ll be expected to not only build these shuttles and satisfy our guests, but also to help the company thrive by enhancing our company network, inventing new technologies, and growing our workforce.

We are a united company, and you’ll often find that what another supervisor does will make your job easier. Let me be clear, though, this is a competition. The supervisor who comes out on top will become CEO of the company.

On your turn, you will either place a worker to take two actions in the ever-expanding network, launch a shuttle and send one of your workers to space as a pilot, or recall all your earthbound workers to collect funding bonuses. Actions include acquiring blueprints, constructing shuttles, attracting guests, and building developments–connections between locations that increase action selection throughout the game. You will also be affecting resource markets that ebb and flow with the actions of all the players.

When you launch a shuttle, one of your workers will accompany it as a pilot, navigating the shuttle to various destinations and “days in space,” where guests will reward you for all your hard work.

Throughout the game, you will also be competing with your fellow supervisors to complete company goals, which will earn you progress cubes throughout the game. Progress cubes are also placed when you launch shuttles, and when a certain number of cubes are placed onto the company’s progress track, the game ends, and the player with the most Victory Points becomes the new CEO of Galactic Cruise.

Do you still think you have what it takes to work for us?

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TantrumCon 2024

Original Sasquatch Severed Books Last Night Games Alley Cat Games Red Raven Games Dire Wolf Digital Wet Ink Games WizKids Snowbright Studio North Star Game Studio Burnt Island and KTBG Weird City Games Kess Fantasy Flight Games

Cephalofair Levity Games Dead Alive Games One Day West Games One Board Family Arcane Wonders Grandpa Beck Games Solis Game Studios Nerdberger Games Monster Fight Club Paverson Games Uncommons Publishing Yadco Games Kinson Key Games Montage End Games Ixion Games Studios

Carl Robinson talks about his newest game Kelp!

Take the role of the Octopus, skillfully navigating the board with cards and hidden moves, or become the Shark, patrolling your territory, rolling dice, and unleashing unique abilities to track down the elusive Octopus.

Link to campaign here!

Explore the secret passage to the ancient temple, collect the most knowledge, and escape before you’re trapped forever!

As you traverse deeper, you’ll discover stelae (Mayan monuments) that increase your knowledge (which is what you need to win). But the greatest secret waits for you at the very top of the temple—that is, if you can reach it and get back to the entrance in time. If all 3 of the temple’s boulders reach the entrance before you return, you’ll be sealed inside forever, and none of your knowledge will matter!

Check out the campaign!

Through the Desert - One of Reiner Knizia’s most iconic game designs. Lead a caravan of camels to watering holes and oases while avoiding (or blocking!) your opponents. With this new edition comes 4 new expansions!

A Message From the Stars - You and your team are scientists on the edge of human knowledge — the final frontier. An extraterrestrial source has made contact. Can you work together to decode the meanings of these mysterious transmissions? Cooperation will be key!

Switchbacks - The latest addition to our best-selling 1-Minute to Teach series! Switchbacks is a tile-laying game of partnership and betrayal. Can you navigate the most adventurous path?

Check out their campaign!

In this voyage we learn about Fletch's game design journey and talk all things Disney Sorcerers Arena, Josh's favorite game of 2022. We also talk about fantastic gaming destinations, Baseball, and why you should move to Seattle! All this and more on today's voyage!

Produced by CakePie Games

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Crokinole is played on a circular wooden board, with wooden circular disks as playing pieces.

Players take turns shooting disks across the circular wooden board by flicking the disks with their fingers. Players try to land their disks in scoring regions on the board, with the highest scoring area the recessed hole in the very center of the board. Each round, each player/side alternately shoots a set number of disks (usually 12 or 8), shooting one disk each turn.

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Votes for Women is a card-driven game covering the American women's suffrage movement from 1848-1920, culminating with the ratification (or rejection) of the Nineteenth Amendment. The game provides competitive, co-operative and solitaire play, with co-operative and solitaire play against the "Oppobot."

To win, the Suffragist player must have Congress pass the proposed Amendment and then have three-fourths of the states (36 of the then 48 states) ratify the Amendment. The Opposition player wins by either preventing Congress from passing the proposed Amendment or by having 13 states reject the Amendment.

The game lasts for six turns - a turn consisting of drawing cards from the players' own decks, bidding on strategy cards, and then six rounds of card play where a player may play a card for an event or discard a card to campaign, organize or lobby Congress. If Congress has proposed the Amendment but neither 36 states have ratified nor 13 states have rejected, then the game goes to Final Voting.

See More about Votes for Women

Fight in a Box Games

Weird Giraffe Dolphin Hat Gila RPG's Sophisticated Cerberus Ludamus Kinson Key Grand Gamers Guild Allplay Coo Games 3WS Indie Boards and Cards Oragami Whale

In the game of Coloma, you are a pioneer who has recently traveled out West to strike it rich and make a name for yourself. You will prospect for gold and use your windfalls to recruit workers, rustle up horses, and establish businesses. You will also get opportunities to explore the surrounding riverways and frontier lands. But alas! You are not alone—every other pioneer seems to have gotten the same idea! Therefore, it will take extra cunning tactics on your part to not go Bust with the rest of them…

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