Designer Alley

Welcome to Designer Alley.

In the heart of PlayCon 2024 you will find board game designers from around Australia converging to showcase their latest games and connect with fellow creators.

Designers will have the opportuinity to connect with like-minded designers and foster new friendships. Whether you’re seeking playtesters, co-designers, or simply looking to share your insights, this is the place to make those connections.

Attendees will have the opportunity to playtest groundbreaking prototypes, ingenious mechanics, and captivating narratives that promise to redefine the board gaming landscape.

The Board Game BBQ is proud to continue our support of home-grown talent, promoting a community of game designers as diverse as the games they craft.

Designer Alley: Create, Play, Connect.

MEET THE Designers

Art of Thievery

Four elite thieves band together to investigate the enigmatic secrets of a powerful cult, after a daring raid on the Thieves’ stronghold. Players must rely on their stealth, specialised skills and tools of the trade, while evading the watchful eyes and ears of the guards.

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Baju

Navigate your buttons strategically, each with its own distinct value, while skilfully dodging your opponent’s bridges. Engage in daring manoeuvres to swap places with another button, seizing key positions on the board. Victory awaits the mastermind who can align four buttons in a decisive row!

Buzz Up

Buzz Up is a family-friendly pattern building game, where players are bees collecting nectar and stacking honeycombs to build their sections of the hive to meet the Queen’s orders.

Clones

Prepare for an adrenaline-pumping challenge as self-aware clones face off against the formidable Cleanser security bot in a fierce battle to break the bio-lock seal. Freed from their constraints, these clones must then engage in a thrilling competition to flee the high-security lab. With only one clone destined to emerge victorious, the race for freedom is on!

Coffee Up!

Run a 5-star coffee shop by providing exceptional customer service, in this co-op memory card game!

Corners

Get ready for an exhilarating two-player showdown where strategy reigns supreme! In this game, players strategically place tiles and cleverly match corners to form intricate shapes, with each completed shape scoring valuable points. Victory hinges on your ability to outwit and outscore your opponent in this thrilling contest of shapes and strategy!

Corruptcity

Welcome to Corruptcity! We’re growing fast, and there are always opportunities for connected people to cash in on the boom. Invest in companies, deliver in-demand goods, and get your family hired into key positions. Can you stay on the right side of the law or will you succumb to the temptation of corruption and easy money?

Cutlass

Pirates face off against Sea Monsters and the Caleiran Kingdom, in this gorgeously illustrated competitive tableau builder!

Dino tricks

Get ready to embark on a thrilling journey with Dino Tricks, the ultimate family-friendly game for 2 to 5 players! Each round ramps up the excitement as the number of cards grows, revealing suits for all to see. With each player bidding eagerly to secure their tricks, every decision counts in this exhilarating test of strategy and skill!

Dwellers

Dwellers takes the competitive area control genre to new heights, drawing inspiration from Wolfgang Kramer’s classic El Grande while embracing a sleek, contemporary design. Assume the mantle of a mountain-dwelling faction, battling for dominance across diverse regions. With a sophisticated hand management system, turns are swift and seamless, ensuring dynamic gameplay. Constantly shifting board dynamics foster intense yet constructive player interaction,
demanding sharp tactical thinking and rapid strategic adaptations to secure victory!

Going the Distance (Boxing in its Golden Age)

In Going the Distance, players get to live the drama and excitement of boxing’s golden age. You will wince when your fighter takes a heavy blow, feel exhilaration when your boxer evades a determined flurry, and feel euphoria when your fighter knocks out what seemed to be an indestructible foe. Set in the 1930s and 1940s, players create sporting history with an ensemble cast of unique and larger than life boxers.

Heaven Heist

Take on the challenge of a lifetime: a daring heist into the very heart of Heavenitself! Will you step into the shoes of the audacious Hero, striving to snatch mystical Relics and escape within just 10 heart-pounding turns? Or will you embody the divine power of God, ready to mete out justice and foil the Hero’s ambitious plans? The fate of Heaven’s treasures hangs in the balance — choose your side and prepare for an epic clash of wills!

Jump to Jupiter

Humanity has found a wormhole to Jupiter! Industries are growing fast on Jupiter’s moons, and you want a piece of the action! With just a few basic ships under your control in your first jump through the wormhole, diversify your fleet, upgrade your station And compete to gain the most influence throughout the region.

A Mole in Space-Time

The experiment went wrong!

A Mole in Space-time is a family-weight hidden movement game where actions are determined by a shared bag.

Packed Flat

In Packed Flat, you compete to create the most well-furnished apartment. But first you need to assemble the furniture! You will collect assembly instructions and the required materials from the showroom floors. Be careful how much furniture you try to cram in… interior design is as much about the spaces you choose to leave open as those you decide to fill.

sand City

In Sand City, players produce a unique resource coveted by all other factions. You’ll build factories, uncover new technologies, gamble with the tech cult, and trade shrewdly to collect the other resources needed to rebuild the city capital in your name. Gameplay features simultaneous play (minimizing downtime), intense negotiations, and fragile temporary alliances. While players cooperate to prevent any one competitor from gaining too much of a lead, strategic bidding in end-of-round auctions will help determine the victor.

Season Stories

The four seasons, once harmonious, have succumbed to jealousy and rivalry. Now they wrestle for supremacy over the land. Through cunning manipulation of weather, shape the climate of each location and emerge victorious as the master of the ever-changing seasons.

Sneaky Bowerbirds

You are bowerbirds who love collecting blue things and sticks for your fancy bower to attract mates. Will you forage nearby or go further afield for better rewards? Protect your bower, or risk a sneaky steal from your neighbours? In Sneaky bowerbirds you forage for or steal blue things to build a bower of sticks in order to capture the attention of female birds. You win by having the most offspring at the end of the game.

Striatum

Striatum thrusts two players into an abstract showdown where strategic tile placement reigns supreme. Compete to weave intricate networks of your colour across the board, aiming to outscore your opponent in this thrilling battle of wits!

Time slice

Embark on an exhilarating journey through time as a geologist with a mission to craft the most legendary tale of Earth’s history! Strategize with your collection of ancient animal and geological event cards to unlock bonus points. Race against time to maximize the value of your hand before your time machine takes its final trip!

Towns Down Under

In this game, you are the mayor of an Australian town. Draft and strategically place tiles to build shops, houses, factories, public spaces and famous landmarks; zoning different parts of your town for different purposes and completing blueprints to attract legendary townspeople to your town. But watch out, up to 3 other rival players will also be competing to create the greatest Towns Down Under!

TRopical

Tropical is a modular bluffing card game for two players about collecting familiar and exotic tropical fruits.

Word HerD

Word Herd is a real-time collaborative word game. Players must work together to
make words from a pile of letters, sorting their herd before the time runs out!
Sort your flock. Beat the clock.