Pool Builder Challenge
Open
The community is toiling to build an impressive array of games for this contest. The submission period ends {{wing.format_datetime(contest.properties.entry_end_date)}}.
Contest start date: {{wing.format_datetime(contest.properties.date_created)}}
Deck building! Bag building! Dice Building? Miniature building?!
Pool building is a mechanic that has crept into more and more board games over the past 2 decades, and for good reason. It’s a great way to let players collect all kinds of different abilities, while giving designers a lot of tools to limit their availability so things don’t get out of hand. For this contest you are to create a pool-building game. This can be a deck building or bag building game, but can also be anything else! As long as there is a pool of abilities to cycle through, you may use any medium or method you like. For the sake of the contest, a pool-builder will be defined as the following:
“A game that has players cycle through a pool of abilities, with various opportunities throughout the game to make those abilities stronger, or to acquire new ones.”
As long as your game fits those criteria, anything goes! Contestants are encouraged to make something unique! Note that you don’t have to cycle through the pool randomly - games like Aeon’s End and Cubitos would also apply.
Examples of pool building games are Dominion, Star Realms, Quacks, Aeon’s End, Quest for El Dorado, Friday. Examples of pool building games that aren’t deck or bag building games include Cubitos and Starship Captains.
Judge
Thom van den Hoven. Designer of Rainbosio, which won the Colouring Book Game Contest (Rainbosio also happens to be a bag builder!). I have a huge love for games with some tactical depth in them, as well as co-operative and solo games. Pretty much all my favourite games (both analogue and digital) have some pool-builder mechanic in them, so I’m looking forward to the games you’ll create!
Contest start date: {{wing.format_datetime(contest.properties.date_created)}}
- Design a Pool Building Game - A game that has players cycling through a pool of abilities, with various opportunities throughout the game to make those abilities stronger or add new stronger abilities to the pool. Classic deck- and bag-builders apply, but if you have a different idea that fits these criteria, go ahead!
- Any other mechanics may be added to the game - as long as the most prominent one is pool building
- the minimum player count may not be higher than 4. Other than this, any player count is allowed (that includes solo games!)
- Any theme is allowed.
- Any components may be used.
- The total cost of your game must be $99.99 or less.
- The game must have a printed rulebook.
- A PDF of your game rules must be downloadable for free from your game's shop page.
- Though not explicitly required, a 2-minute overview video is highly encouraged.
- All artwork must be your own, commissioned by you, licensed to you, or in the public domain. Be sure to attribute your images when required.
- The game must be publish-ready (as it relates to our shop, not as it relates to being finished). This means it has a logo, backdrop, shop ad, action shots, description, and cool factors. It must also have all images proofed.
- This must be a new game created for this contest. It cannot have existed on TGC prior to the start of the contest.
- All entries must be submitted through TGC's game editor (by clicking on the "Contests" button) no later than January 12, 2026 at 6pm US Central Time.
- Games and their shop page should not be changed after the contest deadline, until the finalists have been announced.
- Contestants may submit multiple entries to this contest. Each entry will be judged separately.
You retain all rights to your game, and are welcome to sell it in The Game Crafter shop during and after the contest, regardless of the outcome of the contest. Your game does not have to be available for sale to enter the contest.
The community voting process will be used to determine 20 semi-finalists.
Finalists will be selected from all entries, not only semi-finalists.
The winner will receive the following:
- $250 of shop credit on thegamecrafter.com.
- Automatic Showcase status for their game on thegamecrafter.com.
- The possibility of judging a future contest.
- Induction into The Game Crafter Hall of Fame.
- Special prizes from the Judge (See below)
Semi-finalists, finalists, and the winner will all receive accolades for their achievements.
Judge's Prize
The winner and the runner up receive one of the following prizes of their choice:
Fun - Does the game look like it would be fun to play?
Shop page - Does the shop page give a good and quick impression of what the game is like? (No penalty for shop pages without fancy pictures or animations - as long as it is clear at a glance what kind of game it's trying to sell! Making a short video is recommended)
Clear rules - Is the rule book/document easy to understand?
Theme - Does the game have an interesting theme?
Uniqueness - Bonus points for games that try something else than a classic deck- or bag-builder.
Pool-builderiness - Does the game feel like a pool builder at its core, rather than being a game using pool building elements?
Fun - Is the game fun to play?
Tactical variety/Replayability - Am I building a different pool than the one I built last game? Are there enough different building strategies proportional to the different abilities there are to collect?
Tactical depth - Do the choices I make feel impactful? Am I making a coherent engine that feels as my own, as opposed to collecting random abilities?
Ease of play - Does the game feel nice to play? How fiddly is it? Is the set-up/tear-down proportional to the game's length? How practical are the components (font, colours, layout, etc)
Play time - Do I get enough time to cycle through and use the pool that I build? And doesn’t the game last too long?
