Spielwiese Plus
10.03.2003

Printgames.net: Alternative zu den Verlagsspielen

Wenn Schmalhans regiert, wird es auch für die Spieleautoren schwieriger ihre Ideen bei Verlagen an den Mann, sprich: auf den Markt zu bringen. Die beiden Österreicher Manuela Schöndorfer und Gerhard Wieser haben aus der Not eine Tugend gemacht. Ihr neues Internet-Angebot printgames.net http://www.printgames.net steht auch anderen Autoren offen.

Es geht um einen neuen Weg, Brettspiele im Internet zu vermarkten: Die Spielpläne und -regeln können aus dem Internet geladen werden.

Bei den Spielen handelt es sich sowohl um Familien- und Erwachsenenspiele als auch um Kinderspiele. Sie haben so hübsche Namen wie etwa "Herr der Dinge" oder "Time Jump". Dabei handelt es sich um eine Weiterentwicklung von "Denkste!", das 1998 bei F.X. Schmid erschienen war.

www.spielwiese.at

The Fun Day Times
Issue #89
Aug 1, 2003

Print Games - "click - print - play." That just about sums it up. You click) and download an artistically designed .PDF file complete with pieces, board and instructions), you print (it definitely helps if you have a good color printer), and you play.

Well, you also have to cut, and in some cases even fold. But it's a small price to pay to wind up with a new, fun board game.

These are bona fide board games. The instructions are generally easy to read. The pieces and board usually beautifully illustrated. But what makes this site of special interest is the whole idea that games can be invented, marketed, and even sold - without ever actually being manufactured.

It's an invitation to game designers who are fed up with the difficulties of getting their work into the hands of the players they've designed them for. It's an invitation to game players who are equally fed up with the expense and difficulty of acquiring new board games.

Some games are only a few pages long. Some as many as 10. There aren't that many, but there's a good variety.

With a little more visibility, Print Games could establish an exciting precedent for both publishers and players, providing inventors with far greater access to a wide and esoteric public, and players with an opportunity to find exactly the kind of game they're looking for - right on their own printers.

by Bernie DeKoven
(www.deepfun.com)

From The Fun Day Times
www.otb-games.com

Descriptions of some of our printgames:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/publisher/4723

Board Game Design Project of group of San Diego State University: stating www.printgames.net as inspiration.
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/Courses/EDTEC670/assignments/boardgame.htm