NOTICE OF COMPETITION

PREMIO ARCHIMEDE 2006 is organized by studiogiochi and it concerns with the invention of board games.
The Prize is dedicated to the great Alex Randolph, who was the president of it for the firsts 7 editions.
The competition is open to everyone, without limit of age or nationality.
The authors have to be dilettantes (namely this has not to be their main activity, they have not to be well know in the international scene, etc).
The authors can participate both singularly and in a group.

In addition to the Archimede Award the jury will bestow a special Sebastiano Izzo citation and numerous other prizes: awards and various prizes will be offered to all inventors who will receive a nomination.

The Prize will have the patronage of the foundation J.P. Halvah, established by Randolph himself and presided by Herbert Feuerstein. The foundation will offer a contribution of €3.000 to the winners, in the form of study trips, stages, contribution for the publication, etc.

To participate please send the prototype(s) not later than the 30th of June 2006.
A valuation report and a certificate of participation (which states the presentation of the game in that date) will be released for every game that will be accepted for the competition.
The authors will receive a gift for their participation.

The final ceremony will take place in Autumn 2006 in Venice, again in the wonderful Aula Magna of the Istituto Universitario di Architettura. A commemoration of Alex Randolph, meetings, seminars and exhibitions will be organized for the occasion.

The valuation reports of all the finalist games will be sent to all the companies that will collaborate.

The authors will be able to take their prototypes back in the final ceremony; all the remaining prototypes will be anyway sent back to the authors after the end of the manifestation.

The Prize will have the collaboration of the Musée Suisse du Jeu (Swiss Museum of Games) that will organize an exhibition with all the finalist games.
The jury, besides the president Niek Neuwahl, is constituted by Spartaco Albertarelli, Giuseppe Baù, Leo Colovini, Dario De Toffoli, Paolo Fasce, Maggi-Nepitello, Michael Matschoss, Ennio Peres, Ulrich Schaedler and Dario Zaccariotto; it will also have the collaboration of Giuseppe Baggio, Giulia Franceschini, Stefano Mondini, Angelo Porazzi, Giorgio Salvadego and Massimo Tonizzo.

To compete, mail your prototype not later than June 30, 2006, even better before the 28th of February, to:

PREMIO ARCHIMEDE 2006
c/o studiogiochi
S. Polo 3083
30125 VENEZIA

The registration will be confirmed when the prototype of the game and the registration fee will be received.

The Prize has a promotional structure and it is a no profit event; the members of the jury will work practically as volunteers. All authors are required to give a registration contribution, for a partial coverage of the expanses, to be sent together with the game:

registration contribution = € 50
(basic fee applicable for games that are sent within the 28th of February 2006)

extra fees:

discounts:

* a game is defined complex if its rules have 10.000 to 20.000 characters and/or if it has a duration of 45 to 90 minutes; doubts about complexity will be decided by the jury; this extra fee is addable to the others.
** games are bulky if they exceed the measures of 34x24x4,5 cm and/or 2 kg

To pay the contribution you can attach to the rules a non-transferable bank cheque to studiogiochi or else send an international postal cheque.

VALUTATION JUDGMENT OF THE 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 the editors to be published.
• Theme coherence.
• Quality of the prototype.


The games, in addition to be original and unpublished, must be in accordance with the following rules. If not, they cannot be tested and they will NOT receive the valuation report nor they can be admitted to the finals.
    
The rules
• The rules must be written in Italian and/or English and computer-printed.
• The rules must be clear and complete (containing also the list of material and the number of players) and the jury must not have problems of interpreting them.
• The rules must not exceed 20.000 characters (spaces included).

The prototype
• The prototype must be functional, i.e. must permit the jury to play the game without difficulty. For example the pawns must be stable, the measure of the fields on the board must be fitting with the measure of the pawns, cards must not be too thin, colors must be clearly distinguished etc.
• It is not necessary that the prototype will be made as a finished product, normally the graphics are less important as the functionality. This is different when a proposal is based on some outer aspect of the game.
• The game components must be well made and divided in a way to facilitate the preparations for playing.
• If it is necessary, the board has to be folded to fit in a cardboard box whose dimensions are not too big.
• Name of the game, surname, name, full address, telephone number and e-mail address (if possible) of the inventor must be indicated on the box and on the rules.
• The organization is not responsible for losses or damages of the games during the transport.

The box
• The prototype must be completely contained in a solid cardboard box, whose dimensions shouldn’t be bigger than: 40x30x10 cm..
• The box must be well closed, but easy to open as well.
• The box must be easy to carry: it is to be avoided the use of bags or containers which are too big or too heavy.
• Take as an example the standard boxes of already published games.

A piece of advice
• Before sending it, let your game be played by a test-group, without your interference in any way in explaining the rules and during the game and observe the proceeding of the game! In this way you will have useful indications about how to refine your “creature”.