Protospiel STL 2026

I had the pleasure of recently attending Protospiel STL 2026. Protospiel is all about playing prototypes and giving feedback to the creators. Over 125 attendees gathered at what I consider my Friendly Local Game Store, Game Nite, in St. Louis to test prototypes. It was a three day event running from Friday Evening through Sunday. I was attended both Friday Night and all of Saturday. During that time I was able to play over a dozen games, talk to both play testers and designers, and generally feel good about the state of “The Hobby” in St. Louis.

Before I even made it though the door, I had someone tell me that they loved my hat (which features a rendering of Jeremy Roenick from the Sega Genesis game NHL 94 with the 27C representing him) and someone fist bump me for my Violent Femmes “Kiss off” Lyrics shirt. Ah, I have found my people.

I was absolutely thrilled by the sheer diversity of the attendees and designers. Seeing a significant portion of those attending were outside of the expected older white male audience just delighted me. And knowing that 10% of all Badge sales were going to the charity Meeples for Peeples was another source of inspiration. Between the Badge Sales and the Raffle ran during the event, nearly $800.00 was raised which will get at least 20 boxes of donated games to schools, libraries, and hospitals. 

Of course, I'd be lying if I didn't say one of the biggest pleasures was playing board games for an entire weekend. But, maybe even better than that, was seeing the truly interesting ideas being developed by the designers. Of course, all the games were in various states of completion. But I wanted to highlight a few of the titles I experienced.

If a game gets points based solely on “The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” High Ground goes straight to number one. Pulling hard on the 1990 Movie “Tremors” this all versus one game pits a deadly worm versus everyone else. It's a push your luck extravaganza where movement is controlled by dice with the odds of attracting the worm increasing with each different type of die you roll. You also won't just be pushing your luck, you can also push the other human players off of the safety of the rocks in the game and out into the lonely, deadly sand. The humans can earn bonus VP cards each round for accomplishing various challenges (Push/Bump another player, Use Dynamite to save another player, etc..) and the Worm player gets his VP from eating those tasty humans who leave themselves exposed. The worm also creates tunnels that, well, function as tunnels to allow it to zip around the map. This is from Designer Stephen Dixon and Co-Designer Jacob Ressel.

Another title that is in very early development is Mosh Pit. Roughly speaking, the headliner of the metal show you are attending has canceled and you are trying to get to the stage to perform. And you must dodge over-zealous security, long bathroom lines and a full on mosh pit. When you run into the mosh pit or another player, you have to roll the mosh die that will cause you to move counter clockwise, clockwise, get bumped out of the area and, sometimes, right into another player for another chance to mosh it up.

You also have action cards you can play at the end of your turn that have titles of songs to clue you into what they do. The one that truly cracked me up was “I can't fight this feeling anymore...” because the idea of anyone actually getting into the pit to REO Speedwagon's wimpiest song just tickles me. If you would like to see what else Phill Wamser has done and is working on, check out wamwamgames.com

I also played Gay Dating which absolutely gets props for representation. The person demoing the game asked if I would be interested in playing a game and I said yes. They then showed me an image of the game and asked if I was comfortable playing a game called Gay Dating. I confirmed I was and, once enough players were gathered, he confirmed everyone was comfortable with the theme and that everyone was over the age of 18. Again, I was impressed the steps taken to insure no one was uncomfortable.

Apparently, it was originally called Gay Hook-up which is a much more apt title since the your earn points for your body count. You “purchase” hook-ups with a variety of totally not at all inappropriate emojis like Peaches, Egg Plants, and Feet.

Was it a good game? Not really. Was it uncomfortable to play with a group of strangers? Sort of. Would I play it again? Absolutely. Representation matters. Gay Dating is pushing the party game vibe with a touch of oh-so-naughty NSFW flair. If games like Molly House lead to this or games like this can lead to another Molly House, I'm all for it. 

If any game I played felt like it was a complete and fully realized game, it was Feudal Flick. Created by Tyson Gajewski, it is a wild mix of genres: A Dexterity Euro. A Worker “Flick-ment” Game. You set peasants up and proceed to flick Knights at them, gaining the resource that the peasants end up laying down on the map (Help, Help, I'm being repressed!). You spend the resources you gain to upgrade your little fiefdom and to purchase items to impress the king and queen (VP). This is one of those rare games where as soon as we finished, I wanted to play it again immediately. You can email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you would like more information on this amazing title.

All in all, it was a great experience. It was amazing to see the innovation in regards to titles being developed. It was awesome to see St. Louis Mainstays in Board Gaming like Jamey Stegmaier showing up to check out the offerings and play test some games. If you would like to know more about Protospiel STL, you can click the link I have included or reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

If you would like additional information about any of these games or the event, feel free to message me and I will put into contact with the creators.