You don’t need a published game to call yourself a designer. If you want to be one, just start designing and you already are one.
WannabeBoardGameDesigner.com is a learning journal. An ongoing project to collect resources and share stories and information about the board game design for anyone interested in board games.
I share what I’m learning as I go, from first prototypes to playtests gone wrong, so you can skip a few mistakes and join the fun.
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Life after the contest
Design Diary – December 07, 2025
Unusually written by the designer himself, spellchecked by AI.
The design contest ended a week ago and I have had some time to think about the next steps. Unfortunately, I have no idea how the game was received, as only the top games in each contest category were named.
This is not too big of a disappointment, as there were so many great games in the contest. Congratulations to all designers who got their game to the podium! The games were great and all winners deserve their place at the top. If you have not checked them out, you really should do so: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3536713/2025-54-card-game-design-contest
Missing feedback
What is a bit of a disappointment to me is that I did not get any feedback on Hack-a-Pad from other contestants, good or bad. Getting feedback and learning is one main reason for me to participate in these contests. Well, one can’t have it all. Luckily, I’ve had an opportunity to playtest the game outside the contest and received constructive feedback that way.
Based on the feedback from live playtests, I’ve concluded that the game has a lot of potential. It also seems that hacking a pad is not something everyone sees as engaging or interesting, but those who do seem to really like the game and want to play more than once. This indicates that the game is not for everyone, but there is definitely a group of people who like it. Now my job as a designer is to make it irresistible for the people it is for.
Future development ideas
I will be continuing the design process now that I’m more free from the 54-card only limit of the contest. First things to do now, is to figure out more stable way to track AP and Privacy (perhaps spinners or player boards?) and to reintroduce mechanics for 3-4 (or even 6) player game that requires more cards. I’m also considering to create a solo player rules. So there is much to do with the game.
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Contest Calendar published
There are a lot of different board game design contests and events just waiting for participants to create new games.
Some contests are great ways to learn board game design, while others are a way to get your existing design to publishers. In most cases, you get feedback on your design that you can use to further improve your game.
Many of the contests have different phases and several deadlines. As I had some trouble remembering deadlines (expecially submission dates) I created a calendar that has all currently running contests (that are still running on Nov 2025) and entries for their various deadlines and phases.
This calendar is an attempt to gather information about different contests from various sources. In addition to the actual contests, there are different phases of these contests listed as separate events so that it is easier to stay aware of different deadlines. All events on this calendar include a link to the official contest site where you can find more information.
In addition to the main contest dates, this calendar also shows the different phases and deadlines of the contests. You can use the filter to show only general contest dates.
Check out the Design Contest Calendar.
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