Or should I say crowdsourcing. Well, it’s probably more accurate to call it a combination of the two. Let me explain…

As Hasbro tries to engage more with fans, the company is turning to the public to find the next great party game. The effort is being led by a group in the company called “Hasbro Gaming Lab”.

Hasbro Gaming Lab is a team of passionate and game enthusiasts and designers, whose mission is to discover and develop great new games, connect with the growing gaming community, and bring fresh experiences to gamers everywhere.

Specifically, Hasbro is inviting the public to submit ideas for face-to-face party games. The folks at Hasbro Gaming Lab will select their five favorite, based on the following criteria:

40%: Gameplay (are there well considered rules, balanced mechanics, limited (if any) digital involvement)

20%: Story/theme (abide by a narrative to give dimension to the concept)

20%: Potential for Fun-ness (It should have the potential to bring people together, instigate laughter, or create good times)

20%: Viability (50 foot game boards sound awesome… but it’s unlikely they can be made into a game)

Then to choose the best from among those five, Hasbro is enlisting the help of Indiegogo. All five will be asked to launch their games as projects on the crowdfunding website. When the campaigns are finished, Hasbro judges will choose a single winner, again based on the above criteria—not necessarily the highest funding. The winning project gets a bonus $10,000 direct from Hasbro, as well as free consultation and mentoring sessions at Hasbro’s offices in Providence, Rhode Island (travel expenses paid for a team of three).

Here’s the real amazing thing. Participants, even the winners, retain all rights to their game! Hasbro only requires a right-of-first-refusal. That is, should the winner find a third-party publisher interested in acquiring the game, Hasbro will have the right to meet or exceed the offer.

The deadline for submitting initial ideas on the Hasbro Gaming Lab website is September 30th. Good luck!

[via Entrepreneur]

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Hoping to add a spark of innovation to its product line, Mattel is looking to the public for new toy and game ideas that “create deeper consumer connections and reimagine how children play, learn, and grow.” The company is partnering with Quirky, a web service that crowdsources product development, and invites anyone to submit ideas for toys, games, and family products, particularly those that work with Mattel’s existing brands, such as Barbie, Fisher-Price, Hot Wheels, Mega Bloks, and Monster High.

Quirky’s service works by screening the ideas submitted—over 15,000 have already been submitted in the toy category—and then posting them on the web site for public input throughout the product development process. Those that participate earn “influence” and a share of any future revenue. Quirky pays a portion of any revenue it earns on a product (1.5-10 percent, depending on a variety of factors) to the product’s influencers. For example, 40.5 percent goes to the idea submitter (or submitters, for substantially similar ideas), 5 percent goes to those who help influence the name, 5 percent goes to those who provide input on the product’s style, etc.

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