Hey Breakers!
We hope everyone has had a safe holiday season! With the year coming to an end it's a great time for reflection. Despite the craziness that 2021 was, the Break My Game community had a very busy and exciting year!
2021 - Review
Becoming a 501(3) Non-Profit: In January 2021, we officially became a 501(3) Non-Profit organization!
New Website: In March, we launched our brand new website! Check it out here.
Community Growth: Also in March, our community Discord hit the amazing milestone of over 1000 members! Today we are at a whopping 1,686 members! Based on server roles we have 1094 Designers, 864 Playtesters, 77 Publishers, 59 Artists, 51 Content Creators, 33 Developers, and 14 Event Hosts.
Podcast: In April we started our very own podcast hosted by no other than our very own Matthew Hocker. You can find past and future episodes here.
Designer Tool: Also in April, we released a super cool Tabletop Simulator mod that's useful for designers when playtesting their games. They're especially great for introducing the game + expectations, organizing feedback, and displaying pronouns! You can find the mod here.
Workshops & Round Tables: In May we started a brand new type of event! Workshops! These community lead events held on Discord are such an incredible way of sharing tools, knowledge, and experiences. Here are the topics held this past year:
Making Word Games - Hosted By Matthew Hocker
Intro to NanDeck - Cam Siegel
Imposter Syndrome - Xoe Allred
Designing for Publication - Keith Wilcoxon
Game Design for Composers - Game For Music
Indie Pub Chit-Chat - Matthew Hocker
In-Person Playesting in Public Spaces - Matthew Hocker
Finding Joy in Defeat - Zach
ADHD Tips and Tricks - Xoe Allred
In-Person Playtesting: In August we saw the return of in-person playtesting events at the Board and Brew, in College Park Maryland, and at Labyrinth Puzzles and Games in DC. In October, we also began a brand new monthly event at The Crossroads Tabletop Tavern, in Manassas, Virginia.
Virtual Playtesting Events: Thanks to our amazing volunteers, we expanded the number of weekly playtesting events. We are now hosting 9 weekly events, 7 days a week!
Game Jams: We held 3 Game Jams this past year with over 200 attendees!
Rules Exchanges: We held 2 Rules Exchange events with over 40 rulebooks swapped, read, and reviewed.
2022 - Preview
We can't wait to see what the 2022 brings, but here's a little sneak preview!
January In-person Playtesting Events
12/19 - (3pm - 8pm) College Park, MD
01/02 - (3pm - 6pm) Manassas, VA
01/12 - (7pm -10pm) Nottingham, UK
01/16 - (3pm - 8pm) College Park, MD
Winter Game Jam - February TBD
Rules Exchange - TBA
We have lots of other exciting things planned for 2022 that we can't wait to share with you! Join our mailing list to stay in the know! If you would like to help our cause of making playtesting opportunities more easily accessible around the world, please consider donating. Any amount helps!
We hope that in some small way our little community has given you a voice to express yourself, learn, meet amazing people and of course playtest games! Thank you all for making this year better than it had any right being. Together let's make 2022 the best year yet!