BiG PoTaTo gAmEs - pReSeNtS - BiG PoTaTo gAmEs T h E S m A l L F r I e S I N v E n T o R C h A m P i O n S h I p S BiG PoTaTo gAmEs Tucked away in a tiny corner of East London, on the third floor of a shabby-looking building, you’ll find a fun little board game company called Big Potato. For the past eight years, we've made all sorts: from quiz games to drawing games, rhyming games to super-sneaky party games. Every now and then, we’ll try something a little different, like a TV game show or a mobile app. But mostly, we stick to fun and simple board games. Usually, we develop all our ideas inside the company with our crack team of game inventors. However, sometimes we like to team up with outside inventors — especially if they’ve got an idea for a smash-hit board game. Glad you asked. It’s a competition for students aged 11 - 18 to come up with a game idea that could fit into the Big Potato line up. It’s an opportunity for students to develop their research skills, creativity and design-thinking, as well as prototyping, product testing and taking on environmental considerations. Big Potato pride themselves on being a collaborative company. So, if you pitch an idea that they really like, it could get made into a real-life game — which will earn real-life money! SO WhAt iS SMaLl fRiEs? S m A l L F r Y G a M e S BiG PoTaTo gAmEs It should be easy to learn, quick to play. The target audience is mass market — so nothing too complicated. T HE BRIE F What are we looking for? What will we do to help? We’re asking students to come up with a super- simple board or card game for the whole family. A full deck of Teacher’s slides, outlining recommended lesson structures and brainstorming activities. An easy-to-digest judging criteria to help you (and the students) refine core ideas down to the best games possible. Frequent check-ins with the two specialists behind the project: It should be easy to learn, quick to play. The target audience is mass market — so nothing too complicated. It shouldn’t be too big! We might be called “Big” Potato, but all of our games are actually quite little. That means fitting inside a normal-sized box, without any massive pieces. Most importantly, it should be original. That usually means avoiding games where you roll the dice and move around the board. It’s been done a lot of times already! James Vaughan Head of Game Development at Big Potato Jack Andrews Head of Design at Tadcaster Grammer School REmEmBeR! Designing a board game might sound scary — especially if you’ve never done it before. But, it’s easier than you think. It’s a great exercise in creativity and product testing. Also, it’s a well-known fact that the best board games are created by first-time inventors. A few examples include Jenga, Bananagrams... and even Monopoly! BiG PoTaTo gAmEs At the end of the Inventor Championships, the Big Potato judges will pick their three favourite submissions and award them with: WHaT HaPpEnS If I wIn? A £250 cash prize (individually or split across team members equally) A Big Potato game each An absolutely enormous Potato Plushie THE MOST IMPORTANT PART! Around 30% of the games in the Big Potato range have been created with outside inventors. If you submit a game that we really like the sound of, there’s a very real chance that we may turn it into a real game and sell it all around the world. If this happens, we’ll work with you to bring your idea to life, then pay you a royalty for every game sold. Not bad for a school project! SoUnDs gReAt! HoW Do i sIgN Up ? The 2023 Small Fries Inventor Championships officially starts in September ’23. However, there’s no harm in getting started before then. We’ll be hosting a preliminary Q&A session on 1st July, where you’ll be able to find out more about the program and ask any questions you might have. To register your interest, please click the button below and either Jack or James will get in touch. ReGiStEr hErE