Summary: <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Welcome to Rachael and Justin Blaske! They are the brains behind Five24 Labs, recently rebranded as Poketto. They are some of the folks responsible for bringing the <a href="https://five24labs.com/game-listing">Mint series</a> of games to fruition.<br> <br> <br> <br> 215 leads us into facts about how car tires are measured!?<br> <br> <br> <br> Thanks of course to First Move Financial for sponsoring this episode.<br> <br> <br> <br> We asked Rachael and Justin onto this episode to talk about pitching games to a publisher (and by extension, designing games).<br> <br> <br> <br> Tip 1: Have a rulebook ready.<br> <br> <br> <br> Tip 2: Have a sellsheet (player count, theme, playtime, what makes this game unique, etc.)<br> <br> <br> <br> Tip 3: Don’t say the “one more thing” you’re excited about; let the other person draw you out.<br> <br> <br> <br> What We’ve Been Playing<br> <br> <br> <br> Food Fighter (Kids Table Board Games) – adorable, with fodder for endless food-themed dad jokes!<br> <br> <br> <br> The Blaskes are proponents of gameschooling, so they are adding in games that fit thematically with whatever the kids are learning.<br> <br> <br> <br> Ancient Africa: Imhotep<br> <br> <br> <br> US geography: Ticket to Ride<br> <br> <br> <br> Weather/climate/water cycle: Petrichor<br> <br> <br> <br> Mythology: <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/similo-card-game/">Similo</a> Myths<br> <br> <br> <br> Paleolithic/Neolithic Era: Tribes: Dawn of Humanity and Evolution<br> <br> <br> <br> Ancient Mesopotamia: Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands (video game) and Age of Empires (video game)<br> <br> <br> <br> Pan Am – highly <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/pan-am-the-game-airline-extravaganza/">recommended</a>!<br> <br> <br> <br> Timeline: American History<br> <br> <br> <br> The Crew (review coming soon!)<br> <br> <br> <br> Cupcake Academy (review coming soon)<br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/kringle-caper/"></a><br> <br> <br> <br> SNAP Review: The Kringle Caper<br> <br> <br> <br> Asher and Claire help us review this wonderful stocking stuffer. The Kringle Caper is an escape room / mystery puzzle game in 18 cards.<br> <br> <br> <br> See more images and a transcript at our <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/kringle-caper/">SNAP review page</a>. You can <a href="https://grandgamersguild.com/the-kringle-caper/">pre-order the game from The Grand Gamers Guild</a>.<br> <br> <br> <br> Publishing and Game Design with Rachael & Justin<br> <br> <br> <br> How can you help a kid codify a game into something that’s shareable with other people?<br> <br> <br> <br> You need to balance not crushing a kid’s hopes with making something people can tolerate.<br> <br> <br> <br> Most games kids make take something familiar and change one thing. Talk them through what they’re trying to do, and give them choices of different paths: how else can we achieve that goal?<br> <br> <br> <br> Try to keep theme and originality.<br> <br> <br> <br> How do you maintain your (parental) sanity while helping your kids in game design?<br> <br> <br> <br> Rules must be written down.<br> <br> <br> <br> Good attitude is necessary – especially when receiving feedback.<br> <br> <br> <br> Parents, realize that it is natural for kids to constantly change the rules to their games. You need to communicate to the kids that adults don’t play this way.<br> <br> <br> <br> Design restrictions are incredibly good for creativity.Rachael<br> <br> <br> <br> The Blaskes highly recommend the Fail Faster playtesting journal (<a href="https://failfaster.ca/">http://failfaster.</a>
