PREMIO ARCHIMEDE 2010, organized by studiogiochi, concerns the invention of board games. The Prize is dedicated to the great Alex Randolph, who was the President of this competition during the first seven editions. Everybody can participate, there are no age nor nationality limits.
The authors can participate either as a single person or as a group.
The Prize is supported by the patronage of the Comune di Venezia and the J.P. Halvah Foundation (founded by the very same Randolph and directed by Herbert Feuerstein). The Foundation offers a support of €3.500 to the winners, in form of study trips, stages, contributions for the publication, etc. The University Insitute for Architecture of Venice (IUAV) will host the final ceremony, like in the previous three editions, that will take place on the
2nd of October 2010
During this occasion there will be a commemoration of Alex Randolph. The official magazine for the competition is Focus Brain Trainer. The Prize is also supported by the cooperation of the Musée Suisse du Jeu (Swiss Museum of games) that will organize an exposition of the final games. The associations that participate to the event will receive informations about the games competing and will be able to take a look at them.
To participate, please fill in the participation form and send a prototype of the game within the 30th of June 2010 to:
PREMIO ARCHIMEDE 2010
c/o studiogiochi
S. Polo 3083
30125 VENICE
The authors are required to pay a participation fee of € 25 for each game, that must be sent with the prototype. This fee is ment to support a part of the organization costs. As in literature prizes, starting from this edition, studiogiochi will have the right of first refusal on the finalist games (see the participation form). For the payment, please attach to the rules a nontransferable cheque to studiogiochi or else an international postal cheque. There will be a participation certificate for each admitted game, indicating the day of the presentation of the game.
Besides the Archimede Award, the jury will assign the Special Award Sebastiano Izzo and many other Awards such as:
• Winning Moves Special Trophy, for the best family strategic game. The winner game will be exposed at the Winning Moves stand, during the fair of Essen 2010.
• Carta Mundi Special Trophy for the best card game: the prize consists in 1000 copies made by Carta Mundi for free.
The game must be composed by one or two decks of cards only and it will be produced with its rules and its case. The graphics will be realized for free by the ScriBabs, that published the winner game of the previous year.
All the finalists will receive many games offered by the publishers that sponsor the prize, and materials for the creation of new prototypes kindly offered from Spiel-material.de.
Requirements to participate
All the games will need the requirements below. Without these requirements they won’t be allowed to finalize the competition.
The game
• Has to be original and unpublished.
• Can’t last more than 90 minutes.
The rules
• Have to be typewritten (typewriter or computer) in Italian and/or English.
• Have to be easy to understand and exhaustive (including the indication of the contents of the material and the number of players). The jury must not have a hard time understanding them. It is advisable to use examples and figures.
• Can’t be written in more than 10.000 characters.
• Advice: Before you send the game, let it be played by the testers without giving any help explaining the rules, and observe how it is works! That way you will know how you can refine and perfection your rules and even your game.
The prototype
• Needs to be contained in a solid cardboard box similar to the games officially produced. The box has to be easy to open, but also well closed. It must be easy to carry, not too heavy and not bigger than approximately 40x30x10 cm.
• It has to be functional. For instance the pawns have to be able to stand easily, the spaces have to be enough big, thee cards must not be too thin, the colours have to be easy to identify, etc.
• It is not necessary to be presented as a final version, the graphic aspect comes after its use.
• The pieces of the game have to be wrapped separately in order to make it easy to get ready for the game.
• If necessary, the board has to be folded to fit into the box.
• The organization is not responsible for any loss or damage to the prototype during the event.
Information about the authors
On the box and on the rules there must be the name of the game, the name and surname of the authors, their full address, telephone number, and eventually e-mal address.
Participation form
The participation form has to be completely filled in and signed for each participating game.
Restitution of the prototypes
The authors may recollect their prototypes during the final ceremony; all the non recollected prototypes won’t be returned.
Evaluation standards for games
The jury will consider the games accordingly to the following features (in order of importance):
• Originality of the game mechanisms.
• Playability, balance and functionality of the mechanisms.
• Amusement.
• Interaction of the players.
• The possibility that the game will be taken into consideration from editors to be published.
• Theme coherence.
• Quality of the prototype.
SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2010
VENEZIA - AULA MAGNA IUAV – TOLENTINI
10:00
Opening of the reception desk: general information; withdrawal of the prototypes not admitted to the final; payment for the participation to the dinner party; withdrawal of the diplomas of the 69 finalists
10-15
Exhibition of the games admitted to the final.
The authors of the games (admitted and not admitted) may meet the spokesperson of the jury (Leo Colovini) and the other members of the jury to hear the comments and advices for their creations
15:30
In memory of Alex Randolph
16:00
Nomination of the 15 finalist games. Right after, live voting and official count, awards and special prizes
18:30
Withdrawal of the remaining prototypes at the reception
20:00
Dinner party – Refreshment/Buffet dinner
