The Fastest Gun in the West started with a single keyword: DRAW.
It was the theme of BoardGameGeek’s July/August 2026 Bi-Monthly 24 Hour Design Challenge.
I came up an idea about classic Wild West showdown: two or more gunslingers facing each other on an empty street, waiting to see who can draw first.
This video is an edited design diary of the whole process. Most of the footage comes from the live progress updates I streamed during the 24-hour challenge. However, this compilation also includes additional videos recorded during the contest that have never been published before. These go deeper into the actual design process, the tools I use and some of the decisions behind the game.
I’ll show you how I developed The Fastest Gun in the West from an vague idea through initial notes and roughly 30 hand-written paper cards into a playable game with a physical prototype, digital (TTS and screentop.gg) implementations, rulebook and downloadable Print & Play files.
Along the way I cover things such as:
starting a design with notes, components and a rough rules framework
testing an idea as quickly as possible with pen-and-paper cards • deciding whether the basic game idea is worth developing further
creating cards and Blueprints in Tabletop Creator
moving card data between Tabletop Creator and spreadsheets
using version numbers, dates and card IDs in prototypes
creating low-ink versions for physical playtesting
exporting components for Tabletop Simulator and Screentop.gg
iterative playtesting and card changes
writing and proofreading the rulebook
creating A4 and Letter-sized Print & Play files
I started the challenge at 08:00 in the morning and finally called the game finished at around 03:30 the following morning, after roughly 19½ hours of work (and way past my bed time).
The final part of the video includes a walkthrough of the contest version of the rules.
