Austin Board Game Designers and Playtesters

Whether you're a current or aspiring game designer or a tabletop games enthusiast, getting together with game designers to play published games has a lot to offer.

If you design games, analyzing and breaking down a game after the game is over can help you gain a deeper understanding of game mechanics and explore specific problems you're encountering in game development.

If you're primarily a playtester, it can help you develop the skills to understand games' underlying mechanisms in ways that can level up your gaming strategy, and see how published games help inspire and teach designers in their own designs.

This is not a prototype playtesting event - rather, it's a chance for you to play published games with other designers and game design enthusiasts and follow up gameplay with rich conversations about how designers implemented, combined, or innovated on mechanics in published games.

If you'd like to join us, you are welcome to bring a game you'd like to offer for the group to play - think beyond "I love this game and want to play it again" and focus on games you want to better understand or learn from as a designer.

If you're a game designer, you're also encouraged to comment on this page with a specific problem you're trying to address in a game, so that organizers or other attendees can bring games that might help you explore the problem space. Please comment on the event page only for events you have RSVP'd for and plan to attend.

Come join us for play testing. Bring your game or bring your enthusiasm.

We will have 2 tables for 2-5 hours meeting every other month.

Tribe comics and games.

Join us to try out and provide feedback on games in development by local game designers, or bring a game of your own to playtest!

Mondays are at Dragon's Lair. Dragon's Lair offers snacks and drinks, and they won't object if you decide to bring food from elsewhere.

We’ll do our best to accommodate both short (20-60 min) and longer games. Please arrive by the start time, especially if you have a game. When there are more games than players, we'll do our best to randomize so everyone gets a fair chance.

Where you'll find us: We'll typically be at the back of the store, behind the Magic, Miniature, and DnD players.

COVID Note: Masks are optional for those who have been vaccinated and boosted. If you prefer to be masked and play with other masked players, please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate. If Austin re-enters Stage 4 or 5, we will again ask that attendees wear masks during playtesting events except when eating or drinking.

Join us to try out and provide feedback on games in development by local game designers, or bring a game of your own to playtest!

This session will meet at Dragons Lair. Snacks and drinks are available for purchase on-site, and you are free to bring your own.

We’ll do our best to accommodate both short (30-60 min) and longer games. Please arrive by the start time, especially if you have a game. We normally start pitching between 705 and 710.