What we don’t know scares us — and causes us to stereotype it. Communities full of strangers are less safe and democratic than those where everyone knows each other (See [...]

What we don’t know scares us — and causes us to stereotype it.

Communities full of strangers are less safe and democratic than those where everyone knows each other (See Bowling Alone for more details: http://bowlingalone.com/).

Your gameful challenge: Design a game to take place in a common space (like a coffee shop, park or other public place where people hang out) and turn it into a space where strangers interact with each other.

The goal of the game should be two-fold:
• Make the gameplay intriguing so that people can see the game and join it
• Create enough trust between strangers that they’d coordinate to grab coffee or do something together again

Bonus points if:
• The game can be started by 1 person
• The game is simple enough that it can remain visible or discoverable in the common space without a game master present, and requires no moderator to get the game going

Rules:
• ALL genres are eligible. High tech, low tech, and no tech games are welcome.
• Original games only, please. (Please don’t submit a game you made last year. Make a new one!)
• You must prototype and play your game in your chosen shared space at least once. Please provide a playtesting report (photos and videos for bonus points!) describing what worked well, what didn’t, and any ideas you have for future versions of your game.
• All games MUST be playable by others. Give us a way to learn the complete rules, or to download it or play it online.
* All team members must be Gameful members!

Rewards:
• $1000 prize for the favorite game chosen by this challenge’s Gameful Fairy, Nathan Maton
• Membership to the Awesome Board for up to 3 runners-up
• Up to 10 top entries will be tweeted by all four Gameful founders (reaching more than 25,000 people) to help your game go viral!

To Play:
1. Join the STRANGERS NO MORE Group.
2. Discuss what you’re up to.
3. When you’re ready, but BEFORE September 23, 2011, start a new forum topic for YOUR entry. (The forum topic is the easiest way for judges and contestants to see all entries in one place.) Describe what you’ve created. Include a link to your game, or a way to download it, so we can play it.
4. When you’re ready to officially submit your game, fill out this form.
5. Await game-tastic feedback from your fellow Gameful monsters.
6. Winners will be announced by October 23, 2011.