Hasbro has launched its third game design challenge, this time with a focus on family games and a celebrity judge, Daymond John, founder of FUBU and one of the investors on the television show, Shark Tank. Interesting choice considering how poorly board game pitches usually do on such shows.

In any case, again, five finalists chosen by Hasbro will pitch their designs to the public with crowdfunding campaigns on Indiegogo. And again the ultimate winner will receive $25,000 and a trip to Hasbro headquarters.

The first challenge focused on party games and picked The Mister Toast Card Game as the winner. The second, which asked for games that would also be of interest to game enthusiasts, awarded Hex Casters the top prize. This time, the Family Face-to-Face Game Challenge will judge submissions on the following criteria:

• 34%: Gameplay for All (cross-generational gameplay that’s easy to get and easy to get into)
• 33%: Theme (excellent content, narrative, and conceptual visuals to match)
• 33%: Viability and Potential for Success (ability to be created and delivered to gamers, potential to appeal to all levels of players, likelihood to be the next hit game)

Entries are due by October 23rd.

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After last year’s challenge, which saw 500 party game proposals and plans for Hasbro to publish The Mister Toast Card Game, the company follows up this year with a search for “games that are enjoyable for families and casual gamers that are also exciting for long-time enthusiasts.” Hasbro Gaming Lab’s 2016 Next Great Game Challenge ramps up the reward too, offering a prize to the winner of $25,000 in addition to the trip to Hasbro headquarters.

Submissions to the challenge—including game rules and a photograph—are due by May 15th. From these, Hasbro will choose 15 semi-finalists to submit full prototypes and then five finalists to pitch their projects to the public with crowdfunding campaigns on Indiegogo. Each of the finalists will receive $2,000 and mentoring support from Hasbro and Indiegogo but the grand prize winner will be chosen by a separate panel of judges in early December.

Entries this time will be welcome from the U.S., U.K., Canada (excluding Quebec), France, and Germany.

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Hasbro Gaming Lab has selected the five finalists in its search for the next big face-to-face party game. More than 500 entries were submitted to the competition launched in August and the chosen games, now soliciting funds on Indiegogo, are:

Warning! Signs—Which has players coming up with funny explanations for difficult-to-interpret pictographs.

Irresponsibility: The Mr. Toast Card Game—In which players get points by playing cards that allow Mr. Toast to have fun but lose points when others play cards that burden Mr. Toast with typical life responsibilities.

Hexes!!—An action game for adults. That means for example, play a particular card on someone and force them to sing everything they want to say or be out of the game.

Sunk!—Which combines an action game with a physics/dexterity thing. Players on their turns pour drops of water in to a floating cup and hope it doesn’t sink.

Touchy Feely—Also an action game but played in the dark. Cards with action challenges (like standing on one’s head) are passed around while the lights are still on. Then someone flips the switch and everyone has to complete their actions in a way they’ll be able to prove when the lights come back.

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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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