It was time for my annual journey to Michigan for Protospiel 2005 this week. Matt Anderson couldn't make it, he was attending a wedding, but Brett was willing to make the trek. We packed up our prototypes and headed out Wednesday evening, arriving late at the hotel in East Lansing, but early enough to find Jeph and Beau in the neighboring room, ready to play some prototypes. We played a round of Port Dover and then Die Wichtelmanner, had some (accidentally) light beer and then headed off to bed.

The next few days blurred together because of so much gaming and playtesting, but it was a blast. I played about 17 different prototypes, ranging from abstract games to themed games about the war of 1812. It was great to see all the other designers and some faces I recognized from last year, as well as meet some new friends. All the games had a spark that you could see was worth pursuing. There were two group design sessions, where I first worked with Beau and another Mark on "Sheepdoggin'," a dexterity game about sheep herding, and then a large committee-designed project about Vikings and beavers, which broke down after there were a few too many details, but it was really interesting to see how everyone came up with a design differently. I really enjoyed playing Joe's Zen gardening game, Mark's Castle raiding game and Mike's chess/wizard combination partnership game, there was such a variety of designs. I was able to get a few of my designs played, since they're short, and the feedback was great. I wish I could playtest like this all the time, and I'm already looking forward to next year's trip.