WODC News
【Latest Developments】
The 4th WODC Final Result Announcement
07-10Final submission deadline!
06-06New badges for Excellency Awards and Judges' Choice awards！
05-09Offline meet-up for the 4th WODC finished！
04-24Entering the Finals!
03-31New interim report for 4th WODC's online campaign
03-13
Introduction
WODC（World Original Design Contest of Board Game）is proudly initiated and held by Yoka Games， we continue to encourage original design by accepting submissions from all around the world.
With the exception that the submission should not be a 2-player only game, or any card games that require players to build decks before the commencement of a game, we have decided to permit all possible original designs and ideas, by not setting a theme, as long as they have never been commercialized, published, or participated in any other board game design contests. WODC will still progress through the qualification and preliminary rounds of selection before arriving at the finals.
Before the Finals, the Sponsor will organize offline activities, namely test play, feedback and brainstorming for those who have been shortlisted to the Finals, with special guests including renowned designers, illustrators, entrepreneurs, and media. Participants are expected to make final revisions to their work and may submit a new rule/prototype for the Finals. The Committee will evaluate and decide on winners based on participants’ final versions.
WHAT’S NEW？
Considering the growing trend in submissions, the Sponsor will provide 2 Competitive Genres for the 4th WODC, that will mean more prizes, and the total prize pool will be raised to $10,400.
Genre A:
Heavier Games
Medium or Heavy strategy games, including Euro Games Playing time: 60~120 min
Genre B:
Lighter Games
Casual game, including the games for party, family, or light strategy Playing time: ≤60 min
Details
Gold prize A/B: US$2,000 each
Silver prize A/B: US$1,200 each
Bronze prizes A/B: US$800 each
Judge’s Choice Awards A/B: Total Cash prize pool of US$2400
(All above prizes are subjected to regulatory taxes)
With 10 years of self-publishing experience and over 10 million sets of board games being produced, we are confident that our team will be able to help out on your commercialization phase Experience in product planning.Specialized art team.Resources in production.Comprehensive distribution channels for through both online and offline.
Professional board game media provides coverage for the entire competition.
Access to more than 50 online game review websites.
Chance for face-to-face communication and test play.Before the Finals, the Sponsor will organize offline activities, namely test play and feedback sessions for participants who have been shortlisted to the Finals, with special guests including renowned designers, illustrators, entrepreneurs, and media.
Attractive Prize
Each Winner of the 2 Genres gets US$2,000! The total prize pool is US$10,400
Publishing Support
We assist with plans for commercialization of your product!
Marketing
We promote your games through both online and offline channels!
Meet-up
What can be better than a meetup in person with your fellow designers?
Contest Schedule
July, 2022
Open for Submissions
October, 2022
Preliminaries submissions deadline
November, 2022
Preliminaries results
Semi-Finals Submission
December, 2022
Semi-Finals deadline
March, 2023
Semi-Finals Results
Finals Submission
May, 2023
Finals deadline
June to July, 2023
Prize giving
Ceremony
July 25th, 2022 Official E-mail opens for Submissions.
Deadline（Subject to the time of sending）October 16th, 2022, 23：59：59（UTC+8）Submissions can be made before the submission deadline, and resubmissions can be revised and re-submitted again before the deadline.
Preliminaries results: November, 2022 (Actual date to be announced) After the initial screening, the WODC team will reply via email and announce the results on the official website. Official E-mail opens for Semi-Finals Submissions, resubmissions can be revised and submitted again before the deadline, Submissions for the semi-finals must be a prototype or a TTS (Tabletop Simulator) mod, or PNP files.
Resubmissions for Semi-Finals Submissions deadline.
Semi-Finals Results: After game testing, the WODC team will reply via email and announce results on the official website. The WODC Committee would like to invite all Finalists to join our meet up. We will organize test play sessions and provide feedback after the event. All finalists may update and re-submit their submissions before the Finals deadline.
Resubmissions for Finals Submissions deadline.
Finals Result:（date to be determined) Judges will determine the result of Finals. Prize presentation will be held after the final result is out.
Details
Details
Details
Details
Details
Details
Details
How to Join
WODC specifically accepts original, unreleased games. Submissions that have been copyrighted, commercialized, or have participated in crowd-funding or any other events will not be accepted. The organizer will keep the content of every submission confidential. At the end of each round, the submissions that have been selected to proceed onto the next round shall be announced. Before proceeding with the submission, please read the 4th World Original Design Contest of Board Game Rules and Regulations（Click here to check the details）. Every participant will be required to send an application form through e-mail, and each submission must be furnished with one application form.
Deadline（Subject to the time of sending）: October 16th， 2022，23：59：59（UTC+8）
Submission Process
Please submit by E-mail.
01 - Attach the completed entry form in PDF format.
Genre A: Heavier Games（Download）.
Genre B: Heavier Games（Download）.
02 - Attach the detailed game rules in PDF format. Game rules should include but are not limited to: Initial game settings, Flow of the game, End of the game, Winning conditions, etc.
03 - Subject of the email must be represented by the name of the completed submission.
04 - In addition to the above information, you can also provide other supporting materials, including but not limited to introductory wordings, cards, photos, illustrations, audio, video, animation, power-point presentations, TTS (Tabletop Simulator) mod, etc., these materials should help the WODC Committee understand your design more.
Email address: tougao@dobest.com
Post address: 6F Bldg B, China Liangzhu Digital Culture Community, 99 Wangzhou Rd, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, China 311115
Receiver: Kang Yingying (required)
Contact number: (+86) +86-17858658369 (required)
If you have any questions about the competition, please check our FAQ or contact us directly.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about the competition or would like to seek business cooperation, please contact us:
Address
6F Bldg B, China Liangzhu Digital Culture Community, 99 Wangzhou Rd, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, China
Post Code
311115
Telephone Number
(+86) -571-
88050880-3061
E-mail Address
kangyingying@dobest.com
www.facebook.com/pg/officialwodc/
FAQ
Q1: If my work has been shown in other public occasions (such as a board game exhibition), can I submit it?
A: Entries in the WODC Contest must not have been published on any platform (including but not limited to crowd-funding, exhibitions, magazines, etc.) (with the exception of submissions through the Yoka Games original board game design platform and private game testing).
Q2: After submission, do I still have an opportunity to amend my submission?
A: You may amend or add on to your game content as long as they are submitted before the deadline. It is important to pay attention to the deadlines.
Q3: Which aspects of the submission are being considered in the preliminaries and which are considered in the semi-finals?
A: In the preliminaries, the competition committee checks if the work meets the requirements of the competition, things like if the design is original or appeared elsewhere, whether it contains sensitive content, and more. Following that, the submission goes into the review phase and are screened primarily by reviewing the contents of the rulebook. In the semi-finals, the game will be evaluated through actual tests, including strategic, interactivity, replay ability, substitution, balance, difficulty, operability and fluency, and whether the submission has any unique selling points. Finally, the finalists are selected according to the various factors that makes up the entirety of the submission.
Q4: When my submission is in review and the reviewing committee has a question, will they contact me?
A: No. Explanation of the game rules is part of the criteria for evaluation. To ensure that evaluation is being carried out in all equal fairness, we will not contact any designers about the rules. If there are concerns that explanation in text may not be clear, we recommend that you use the pictures, diagrams or specific examples. Additionally, you may submit supplemental materials such as videos to assist with the explanation. And of course, a TTS mod would be very helpful. However, please ensure that the materials submitted are relevant, and are submitted before the deadlines.
Q5: After the submission, how is the copyright of the work handled for winning and non-winning submissions?
A: After preliminaries results have been announced and published the website, all rights arising from the submissions that failed to enter the primarilies will be handed back to the designers. For submissions that have entered the primarilies of the competition. After the final results have been announced and published on the website, and with Yoka Games subsequently given up the first rights of signing the submission by not offering a contract to the designer, all rights arising from the submission are also handed back to the designer. All submissions will be kept by the organizing committee during the competition. Please pay careful attention to the official correspondences via email and updates on the official website.
Q6: About the prize pool of WODC...
A:The total prize pool is 10,400 US dollars. We have 2 Competitive Genres, and each Genre has its own Gold, Silver, Bronze prizes, with the Gold prize at 2,000 US dollars, Silver prize at 1,200 US dollars and Bronze prize at 800 US dollars each. Each Genre also has its own Judges’ Choice Awards. The Excellence Awards (the finalists who have not won the Gold, Silver or Bronze prizes) will be structured into a number of Judges' choice awards, which would equally divide 2400 USD. These awards will be selected from submissions that exhibit outstanding qualities in various aspects. In addition, we will also issue certificates for winners of the gold, silver, bronze, and other prizes.
Q7: What if I want my prototype back when the competition is over?
A: The competition committee will not take the initiative to return the submissions, if you wish to have your prototype sent back, you will need to contact Yoka Games with your mailing address, mobile phone number and postage fees. The competition committee will send your submission to the address that you have specified.
Q8: Is original art required for the submission, or may placeholder art borrowed from online sources be used? (As previously asked by Bruce Nettleton on BoardGameGeek)
A: While borrowed graphics are permitted, we will require each participant to state the source of the borrowed pictorials or images. Having said that, we strongly encourage participants to go for submissions containing their own original artwork, this will contribute towards the level of completion in the submission which is a medium level factor for the WODC committee to consider. Gameplay is the most important factor that the committee will rate, even with borrowed graphics (please attach source acknowledgment). In the event where the gameplay mechanics are rated similarly in terms of points in the contest, the committee will look into the level of completeness (including artwork). If the organizing committee decides to sign the project to bring it commercial, we will definitely invest quality artwork for the game, such an example is illustrated in the transformation from the silver prize winner’s Shan Hai Jing to Drifting Lands.
Q9: About the meet up...
A: Before the Finals, the Sponsor will organize offline activities, namely test play, feedback, brainstorm for those who have been shortlisted to the Finals, with special guests including renowned designers, illustrators, entrepreneurs, and media. Participants are expected to make final revision to their work and may submit a new rule/prototype for the Finals. The Committee will evaluate and decide on winners based on participants’ final versions. The time, place, agenda, accommodation and other details of thus activities shall be subject to the corresponding written notice in the form of electronic mail or official site announcement. Note that all participants of offline activities shall sign confidentiality agreement to with the Sponsor, in order to protect intellectual property of others. For those who violate the agreement. The Sponsor reserves the rights to disqualify the participant and take further legal actions where applicable.
Q10: If I do not attend the meet up even though I am one of the Finalists, would it affect my participation in the competition?
A: No, the meet up is run on a purely voluntary basis. If you do not attend the meet up, we would also provide the feedback from the WODC committee, but your submission would not be used at the offline activity. Besides, if you choose to attend but do not want your submission to be used at the offline activity, please let us know after you got our email notification.
Latest Developments
2023.07.10
The 4th WODC Final Result Announcement
Dear designers:
We are honored to have received your submissions over the course of the past months. The WODC Committee would like to sincerely thank everybody for your participation.
We are happy to announce that we have concluded the 4th WODC, here are the Judges Choice Awards, they would divide 2400 USD equally.
|
Title |
Designer |
| Jungled | Mantas Minkauskas |
| The Village On The Island | Dominic Michael H |
| Terra Nullius Antarctica | Martin Worrall |
| Power ChaoS | Richard Lenherr |
| 无限战争 | 任晓望 |
| 重力矩阵 | 朱常容 |
And here are the Prizes list of 4th WODC. Congratulations!
A：
|
名次 - Prize |
Title |
Designer |
|
1 |
Spring and Autumn | Willis Peng |
|
2 |
环太平洋 |
何赢潮Eastfire |
|
3 |
傲霸三国 |
鄢成奇 |
B：
|
Prize |
Title |
Designer |
|
1 |
Hellenica | Nicholas Hjelmberg |
|
2 |
快斩沙拉 | g小调 |
|
3 |
SandWitches | Philip Erikson |
Congratulations to all the final winners!
If you would like to have your submissions sent back, please drop us an email to let us know your requirements and your postal information, we would arrange to send them back to you by post.
As planned, the next season of WODC would come soon in the near future.
We will provide updates to our official site for the new season of WODC as soon as possible.
So stay tuned to our website or Facebook page.
We hope to see you again at the next season of WODC!
Thank you very much for everything and Game on!
2023.06.06
Final submission deadline!
Dear contestants:
Since the final submission deadline ended, we would start the last round of judgement, and would announce the result within 2 months.
Please keep an eye on our site for the latest news of the final result and the next season of our WODC contest.
Thank you again for your continuous support. Please stay tuned to further updates!
2023.05.09
New badges for Excellency Awards and Judges' Choice awards！
We have maken 2 new badges for Excellency Awards and Judges' Choice awards,
which could be used on the boxes or pages for the games that got these awards.
Please just feel free to contact us for getting them!
2023.04.24
Offline meet-up for the 4th WODC finished！
We hold a online meet-up for testplay and communication, by inviting some board game publishers, medias and core players in Hangzhou, China.
By several rounds of test play, we also have collected all the feedback and advice during the meeting.
Participants are expected to make final revisions to their work and may submit a new rule/prototype for the Finals before the deadline. And the Committee will evaluate and decide on winners based on participants’ final versions.
We hope the feedback and advice could be help, and also hope all the submissions could get a satisfactory result during the finals.
2023.03.31
Entering the Finals!
Dear Designers:
Thank you for giving us a chance to look at your submissions the past few months.
The WODC Committee would like to sincerely thank everybody for your participation.
We are delighted to announce that we have shortlisted the following submissions for the Final (the list of submissions are not listed in any order)
Group A：Heavy, Medium
|
Title |
Designer |
|
傲霸三国 |
鄢成奇 |
|
环太平洋 |
何赢潮Eastfire |
|
Hellenica |
Nicholas Hjelmberg |
|
Jungled |
Mantas Minkauskas |
|
Spring and Autumn |
Willis Peng |
Group B： Light
|
Title |
Designer |
|
快斩沙拉 |
g小调 |
|
重力矩阵 |
朱常容 |
|
SandWitches |
Philip Erikson |
Congratulations to all finalists!
The above submissions are set to enter the Final round and compete for the top 3 places, as well as other prizes such as the Excellence Award.
Please note that all the submissions that entered the Semi-Finals would stand a chance to win our Judges’ Choice Award too.
And we would invite all the designers who entered the Finals to our meet-up.
We would use online tools to communicate and provide feedback, with the designers who are unable to attend.
If there are any changes that affects our schedule, we would inform all Finalists as soon as possible.
The news about the meet-up would be announced shortly after, please stay tuned for our announcement.
For submissions do not enter the Finals, we would like to thank your participation. The rights to these submissions are at the corresponding designers’ disposal, effective from today.
We look forward to your submission at next season of WODC!
Thank you again for your continuous support.
Please stay tuned to our future updates!
2023.03.13
New interim report for 4th WODC's online campaign
Our online campaign result has been updated, and here we got a interim report.
The top 5 rank of all the games, as following is:
|
Rank |
Title |
|
1 |
快斩沙拉 |
|
2 |
傲霸三国 |
|
3 |
环太平洋 |
|
4 |
Jungled |
|
5 |
Hellenica |
We would keep on following up with the result until the campagin ends afterwards.
And if you would like to check the game pages or more details, please see the last news before.
2023.02.27
An interim report for 4th WODC's online campaign
Our online campaign has been released for over a week, and here we got a interim report.
A
|
Rank |
Title |
|
1 |
傲霸三国 |
|
2 |
环太平洋 |
|
3 |
4X |
|
4 |
Hellenica |
|
5 |
汉谟拉比 |
B
|
Rank |
Title |
|
1 |
快斩沙拉 |
|
2 |
勾心斗角冒险团 |
|
3 |
无限战争 |
|
4 |
Captain Blackbeard’s Treasure |
|
5 |
The Village On The Island |
We would keep on following up with the result afterwards.
And if you would like to check the game pages or more details, please see the last news before.
2023.02.22
Online Campaign for 4th WODC Semi-Finals released!
So sorry to have you waiting so long.
Now our online campaign for the 4th WODC Semi-Finals is open now.
Please click here to check all the game details.
Or check the access for each game as following:
A
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1175
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1176
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1184
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1186
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1189
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1190
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1195
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1196
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1180
Ｂ
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1191
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1183
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1187
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1194
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1197
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1193
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1185
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1181
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1192
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1188
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1179
http://www.xinwuji.shop/pc/#/detail?id=1177
2023.01.19
Semi-Finals deadline！
Semi-Finals now has stopped to receive prototypes.
We would hold a campaign to let more players and viewers know the submissions and their designers.
Please keep an eye on us to get the latest news of the contest!
Wish you all a happy Chinese new year!
2022.11.28
The news：About Preliminaries results
Dear contestants:
The WODC committee is thrilled to have received your submissions and would like to thank you for your participation.
The past few months have been nothing short of fun and excitement reviewing your submissions.
After multiple rounds of review and consideration, we are excited to have shortlisted the following designs for the Semi-finals (not listed in order nor priority):
A：
B：
We would like to congratulate the designers who have their submissions shortlisted for the Semi-finals. Please submit your prototype and related materials by mail by January 15th, 2023 (subject to actual shipping date) to proceed onto the next stage.
To ensure the efficiency and accuracy of semi-final review, please send your demo product to our designated address (see WODC official website for details).
In view of the recent impact of COVID-19 on logistics, it is important to email us the tracking information once you processed the shipment.
In the unfortunate event of parcel loss or missing the deadline, our committee members will contact you by email or any other contact information you submitted. Please make sure to keep your contact information updated.
For non-mainland-China residential contestants who are experiencing lockdowns, we would also accept submissions via email. Please submit the latest PnP version of your work to WODC email address (tougao@dobest.com).
For submissions that did not make it through to the Semi-finals, we would like to sincerely thank you for your participation. The rights to these submissions are at the correspondent designers’ disposal. We encourage you to continue their work and we look forward to seeing new submissions in the next season of WODC!
In addition to the WODC, we also have general submission channel available to all designers at http://design.yokagames.com/index.html#/ and we welcome submissions all year round!
We will also send preliminary results individually to all contestants via email. For those who had not received the email, please contact us through email, phone call, QQ group chat or our Facebook page. For our contact information, please refer to the WODC official website.
Thank you again for your continuous support. Please stay tuned to further updates!
2022.11.11
Preliminaries results will come soon!
Since our Preliminaries submissions ended, WODC Committee is working aggressively for the results.
During the Preliminaries step, we collected some data and have compared and analyzed these information as the following.
Since we provide 2 Competitive Genres for the 4th WODC, here is the information of the 2 genres.
Since the Preliminaries now is back on track,
we would announce the Preliminaries results within November as planned.
So please keep an eye on our official site to get our information afterwards.
2022.10.17
Preliminaries submissions completed！
Dear designers,
Thank you very much for supporting!
Now our Preliminaries submissions has been completed,
and we are going to enter the next step.
Please be patient as this may take some time.
We would make an announcement as a piece of news at official site,
and also would send a notice email to let all the designers know the result.
If you get no any reply (email) for your submission when you see this notice,
please just let us know.
2022.10.09
The last call for submissions!
Dear designers,
This is the last call for submissions!
Please pay attension to our deadline for there is only about a week left, Oct. 16th.
If you have submitted your game(s) but there is still no any reply, please contact us to make sure that we have actually received your submission(s).
Please let us know if you have any quesions.
Good luck and best regards!
2022.06.28
The 4th WODC is coming！
Dearest Creators, Designers, Artists and Visionaries,
We sincerely thank you for your support, passion and trust for our contest.
Following the 3rd WODC, Yoka Games will continue to sponsor and host the 4th WODC.
As the sponsor of the contest, we have update it by setting 2 Competitive Genres.
And this season of WODC, the submission email box would be open from July 25th to the deadline of October 16th.
Choose the genre you would like to challenge and join us!
Here are some photos of our Board Game Market event, we have provided play tables for the 1st and 3rd prize of the 2nd WODC.
Now the 1st Prize of 2nd WODC is on sale at our fund platform XIN WU JI.
2022.05.24
The 3rd WODC Final Result Announcement
Dear designers:
We are honored to have received your submissions over the course of the past months. The WODC Committee would like to sincerely thank everybody for your participation.
We are happy to announce that we have concluded the 3rd WODC, we are delighted to announce the final results of the 3rd WODC as follows:
Here are the Judges Choice Awards, they would divide 2000 USD equally.
Here are the Prizes list of 3rd WODC. Congratulations!
Please visit our official site for more details.
http://wodc.yokagames.com/en
And we would provide more details to our Facebook page shortly.
So if you would like to know more, please stay tuned on our official site and Facebook.
Congratulations to all the final winners!
If you would like to have your submissions sent back, please drop us an email to let us know your requirements and your postal information, we would arrange to send them back to you by post.
As planned, the next season of WODC would be open in July, 2022.
We will provide updates to our official site for the new season of WODC as soon as possible.
So stay tuned to our website or Facebook page.
We hope to see you again at the next season of WODC!
Thank you very much for everything and Game on!
2022.04.01
Final submission deadline!
Dear contestants:
Since the final submission deadline ended, we would start the last round of judgement, and would announce the result within 2 months.
Please keep an eye on our site for the latest news of the final result and the next season of our WODC contest.
Thank you again for your continuous support. Please stay tuned to further updates!
2022.01.10
3rd WODC Meet-up Express!
We have finished the Meet-up last weekend at Hangzhou.
Here are some shots of the event for sharing.
And we would open more photos and videos afterwards.
Because of the CONV, we are sorry that we could not invite our designers overseas this time.
But we would collect all the feedback during the test play, and communicate with them by online chat.
Please keep an eye on our news and emails afterwards.
2021.12.09
Finals list here!
Dear designers:
We received your submissions with great pleasure over the course of the past months. The WODC Committee would like to sincerely thank everybody for your participation.
Now we are delighted to announce that we have shortlisted the following designs for the Final (listed in random order):
Congratulations to all the listed finalists!
The above designs are set to enter the Final round and compete for 1st, 2nd, 3rd places, as well as other prizes such as the Excellence Award. Besides, all the submissions of Semi-Finals would have a chance to get our Judges’ Choice Award.
Because of the Covid-19, we are very sorry that still could not invite the designers overseas.
We would choose to use online tools, such as online chat, to get communications with them, and provide the feedback.
If there is any policy that do affect our schedule, we would notice as soon as possible.
We would contact all the designers above to provide the details during next week.
Please keep an eye on our announcement afterwards.
And if you have any problem or question, please just contact us.
For submissions that failed to enter the Final, we would like to thank your participation as well. These submissions are at the correspondent designers’ disposal, effective from today.
Thank you again for your continuous support.
Please stay tuned to our future updates!
2021.12.01
About the MEET-UP of the 3rd WODC
Dear designers,
We are planning to announce Semi-Finals Results next month.
Now we are working on preparing meet-up of the 3rd WODC.
Date：January 8-9th, 2022
Place：WODC Committee (Hangzhou, China)
Members：participants who have been shortlisted to the Finals
Special Guests：renowned designers, illustrators, entrepreneurs, and media of board game
We will organize namely test play and feedback to all the submissions have been entered the Finals.
After the meet-up, designers of Finals could update their games with the feedback before our Finals deadline.
Because of the Covid-19, we are very sorry that still could not invite the designers overseas.
We would choose to use online tools, such as online chat, to get communications with them, and provide the feedback.
If there is any policy that do affect our schedule, we would notice as soon as possible.
Please keep an eye on our announcement afterwards.
And if you have any problem or question, please just contact us.
2021.10.26
Semi-Finals deadline！
Semi-Finals now has stopped to receive prototypes.
As planned, the result would come out at the end of this year.
Please keep an eye on us to get the latest news of the contest!
2021.09.02
The news：About Preliminaries results
Dear contestants:
The WODC committee is thrilled to have received your submissions and would like to thank you for your participation.
The past few months have been nothing short of fun and excitement reviewing your submissions.
After multiple rounds of review and consideration, we are excited to have shortlisted the following designs for the Semi-finals (not listed in order nor priority):
We would like to congratulate the designers who have their submissions shortlisted for the Semi-finals. Please submit your prototype and related materials by mail by October 25, 2021 (subject to actual shipping date) to proceed onto the next stage.
To ensure the efficiency and accuracy of semi-final review, please send your demo product to our designated address (see WODC official website for details).
In view of the recent impact of COVID-19 on logistics, it is important to email us the tracking information once you processed the shipment.
In the unfortunate event of parcel loss or missing the deadline, our committee members will contact you by email or any other contact information you submitted. Please make sure to keep your contact information updated.
For non-mainland-China residential contestants who are experiencing lockdowns, we would also accept submissions via email. Please submit the latest PnP version of your work to WODC email address (tougao@dobest.com).
For submissions that did not make it through to the Semi-finals, we would like to sincerely thank you for your participation. The rights to these submissions are at the correspondent designers’ disposal. We encourage you to continue their work and we look forward to seeing new submissions in the next season of WODC!
In addition to the WODC, we also have general submission channel available to all designers at http://design.yokagames.com/index.html#/ and we welcome submissions all year round!
We will also send preliminary results individually to all contestants via email. For those who had not received the email, please contact us through email, phone call, QQ group chat or our Facebook page. For our contact information, please refer to the WODC official website.
Thank you again for your continuous support. Please stay tuned to further updates!
2021.07.29
Preliminaries results will come soon!
Since our Preliminaries submissions ended, WODC Committee is working aggressively for the results.
During the Preliminaries step, we collected some data and have compared and analyzed these information as the following.
We have received 170 submissions from China and overseas.
And the number of designers in the 3rd WODC has an increase of 37% from the last WODC.
Since the Preliminaries now is back on track,
we would announce the Preliminaries results in April as planned.
So please keep an eye on our official site to get our information afterwards.
2021.07.19
Preliminaries submissions completed！
Dear designers,
Thank you very much for supporting!
Now our Preliminaries submissions has been completed,
and we are going to enter the next step.
Please be patient as this may take some time.
We would make an announcement as a piece of news at official site,
and also would send a notice email to let all the designers know the result.
2021.07.08
The last call for submissions!
Dear designers,
This is the last call for submissions!
Please pay attension to our deadline for there is only about a week left.
If you have submitted your game(s) but there is still no any reply, please contact us to make sure that we have actually received your submission(s).
Please let us know if you have any quesions.
Good luck and best regards!
2021.05.19
A big change! Prototype VS our production copies!
This is our 1st prize, Panda vs. Jiangshi, now named Yi Yao Zhan Ji (Duel Dynasty).
Here we show that how big the change is between the prototype when it was a submission, and now it is a completed production.
Hope you would like it!
URL: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=471706247443583
2021.04.28
Gold prize of the 1st WODC is coming now!
This is our gold prize during the 1st WODC, Panda VS. Jiangshi, now the title has been changed in Yi Yao Zhan Ji (Duel Dynasty).
It has cost us almost a whole year to finish testplay, artwork works and to complete the production from a prototype.
Together with the designer, Mr. Takeshi Iwata, we have upgraded very much to produce it.
Now the manufacturing of this game has been completed, and we have sent the copies to our players and designer.
With this game, and the last original game Drifting Lands, we hope that designers and players would continue to support our other original projects from WODC.
Now, the 3rd season of WODC is open.
We have already received several submissions from home and abroad, and we are still waiting to meet your games in the near future.
Let's look forwards to the result of the 3rd WODC together, and at the same time with the expection of the winners of the last season of WODC.
2021.04.19
The 3rd WODC is coming now！
Dearest Creators, Designers, Artists and Visionaries,
We sincerely thank you for your support, passion and trust for the 2nd WODC held last year.
From the 120 submissions from 14 countries last year, we can feel your enthusiasm, effort, passion and most of all, your love for board games.
The prize winners from the last season of WODC,are already in development and we will be able to see them up for sale in the future.
Following the 2nd WODC, Yoka Games will continue to sponsor and host the 3rd WODC.
As the sponsor of the contest, we have also prepared a prize pool:
Gold Prize: 1 Winner: US$3000
Silver Prize: 1 Winner: US$2000
Bronze Prize: 1 or 2 Winners: US$1000 each
Various judges' selection awards: Total of the rest.
Total prize pool: US$9000
Entry requirements for the contest:
We have decided to give our participants ample space for creativity, therefore, this season of WODC does not have any specific theme requirements set.
We have decided to permit possible original designs and ideas, by not setting requirements, as long as they have never been commercialized, published, or participated in any other board game design contests. WODC will still progress through the qualification and preliminary rounds of selection before arriving at the finals.
However, playing time taken to complete the game is still required to be no longer than 2 hours, any card games that require players to build decks before the beginning of a game are still not permitted too.
How to join the 3rd WODC (similar to the 2nd WODC):
1. Visit our WODC official website (http://wodc.yokagames.com/en), and after reviewing the Contest Entry Rules and Regulations, click to download the entry form in pdf format.
2. After completing the entry form, send the entry form and related game information to the contest submission email address: tougao@dobest.com
Please pay special attention to the requirements on the format of the email header and the deadline for submissions.
3. Await results of the contest, pay attention to the official website notice or emails from our staff.
Submission deadline: July 18th 2021
Passing the preliminaries
Your submission will be eligible to participate in the next round of the contest. The contest will conduct a more comprehensive test and review of the submission. We will contact the designer for review and will request the designer to mail the physical game model to the organizer.
As we continue to hold more instalments of WODC, our goals stand rooted. We encourage the creation of original board games, uncover and polish outstanding designers and promote the development of the board games industry. We welcome all the board game designers who have ideas, creativity, passion and enthusiasm to join this contest, uncover your talents, and compete for the glory and rewards along the way!
Our New Slogan: Inspiration, Creativity, and Growth
So this season of WODC, we would provide an offline event as a new session, between the Semi-Finals and Finals Submission.
All the designers who have got through to the Finals may be invited for the meet up, to enjoy a face-to-face communication and testplay time together. We would share the details later when we send out our invitation (please note that invitations are also sent dependant on COVID-19 situations, subject to changes).
More details about our WODC please click:
WODC official website: http://wodc.yokagames.com/en
Thread of WODC2019:https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2297488
Thread of WODC2018: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/29032630
2020.10.22
The 2nd WODC Final Result Announcement
On the afternoon of October 17. 2020, the 2nd World Original Design Contest of Board Games, after almost a year of time, finally draw an end.
Thank all the support and faith in the competition, and the trust that was given to Yoka’s initiative of developing original board game designes. Due to various reasons, the Board Game Market 2020 was responded with unprecedented love and support from players and designers.
First of all, we would like to announce that the Gold Prize and the Silver Prize-winning designs of the 1st WODC have now both been officially aunched, and we were pleased to have them for display and trial play at BGM2020.
Duel Dynasty, the Gold Prize-winner of the 1st WODC, recently landed on New Goods as a crowdfunding project. We are expecting to present you the actual product in the near future.
The test play area was packed since the morning of BGM day 1.
In the afternoon of October 17, we opened WODC Prize-giving Ceremony, and announced winners of the 2nd WODC.
Excellency Awards winners were the first ones to be announced during the ceremony. These winners are selected from those who entered the Final but did not make it to the top 3.
We believe these designs all have great potential, and hope to see them landing in the market soon!
Although impacted by the global pandemic, many winners could not make it to the ceremony, we hope to build WODC not just as a platform for outstandin original designs, but also a bridge to connect global designers, and help bond the board game design community even deeper, create more idea-exchanging opportunities for designers from all over the world.
Next, our judges’ choice, Various Awards were announced.
This is the first time this award is given, in order to reward outstanding performance from various aspects, to encourage designs with unique characters and help designers build their own styles.
Finally, the winners of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place were announced. Industry-changing guest speakers presented them with the prizes, and best wishes.
The two winners of the 3rd place travelled for a far way in China to attend the event. We are grateful for their endeavor.
Ms. Chen from Wingo Games, the sponsor of WODC winner gifts, presented gifts and certificates.
The winner of the 2nd place is Dominic Huang, who is from Singapore, and unfortunately could not attend the ceremony due to travel bans. One of our
staff received the award on behalf of him. Luckily, he made a video to greet the fans.
We look forward to meet him in person one day.
Last but not least is the winner of the 1st place, Mr. Qianke Weng and his design, Quan Di.
With the encouraging applause, the 2ND WODC has come to an end.
Following the ceremony, we will be releasing the greeting videos made by the winners. Please follow our Facebook page and official website to stay tuned to the videos, as well as updates on the next WODC.
For submissions that did not make it to the top 3, we would like to thank your participation as well. These submissions are at the correspondent designers’ disposal, effective from today. If you would like to receive your submission back, please contact us via email or phone.
Thank you again for your support and encouragement.
We will continue optimizing the rules and system and start the preparation work of the 3rd WODC soon, as well as bringing outstanding original designs to gamers around the world.
Hope to see you again soon! We sincerely look forward to the next WODC!
2020.09.03
Finals list here!
Dear designers:
We received your submissions with great pleasure over the course of the past months. The WODC Committee would like to sincerely thank everybody for your participation.
After the Semi-Finals, the committee sat through countless sleepless nights in serious and meticulous evaluation, we are delighted to announce that we have shortlisted the following designs for the Final (listed in random order):
Congratulations to all the listed finalists!
The above designs are set to enter the Final round and compete for 1st, 2nd, 3rd places, as well as other prizes such as the Excellence Award. Besides, all the submissions of Semi-Finals would have a chance to get our Judges’ Choice Award. The results of the 2nd WODC will be announced at the 2nd WODC Award Ceremony, which will be held during BGM Shanghai (October 17-18th). All participants and designers are welcome to join us at the event!
In addition to all the Awards, WODC is honored to have gotten our first sponsor, WinGo Games, who wishes to gift every award-winner a set of their proudly-designed Designer Kit (illustrated below) to encourage more original designs and make visualizing and designing easier.
For submissions that failed to enter the Final, we would like to thank your participation as well. These submissions are at the correspondent designers’ disposal, effective from today.
We encourage designers to continue their work and look forward to seeing new submissions next year! In addition to the WODC, we also have a general submission channel available to all designers at http://design.yokagames.com/index.html#/ We welcome any submission at any time!
We will also send the Semi-Final results individually to all contestants via email. For those who had not received the email, please contact us through email, phone call, QQ group chat or even our Facebook page. For our contact information, please refer to the WODC official website.
Thank you again for your continuous support. Please stay tuned to our future updates!
2020.08.05
Game testing is continuing
Now our team is still working on game testing.
Everything seems to be well,
and it is so glad to see that we have received submissions with a higher quality than the 1st WODC.
We would announce the result within September as planned.
Please check the Semi-Finals Results afterwards.
Thank you very much for your patience!
2020.06.15
Semi-Finals Submission Determined!
Now our Semi-Finals Submission has been determined!
Thank you very much for supporting!
We would start the game testing of the Semi-Finals Submissions, and we would provide the Semi-Finals Results after that.
Please keep an eye on our site or official FB (https://www.facebook.com/officialwodc/) for news.
Best regards and good luck!
2020.04.27
The news：About Preliminaries results
Dear contestants:
The WODC committee is thrilled to have received your submissions and would like to thank you for your participation.
The past few months have been nothing short of fun and excitement reviewing your submissions.
After multiple rounds of review and consideration, we are excited to have shortlisted the following designs for the Semi-finals (not listed in order nor priority):
We would like to congratulate the designers who have their submissions shortlisted for the Semi-finals. Please submit your prototype and related materials by mail by June 12, 2020 (subject to actual shipping date) to proceed onto the next stage.
To ensure the efficiency and accuracy of semi-final review, please send your demo product to our designated address (see WODC official website for details).
In view of the recent impact of COVID-19 on logistics, it is important to email us the tracking information once you processed the shipment.
In the unfortunate event of parcel loss or missing the deadline, our committee members will contact you by email or any other contact information you submitted. Please make sure to keep your contact information updated.
For non-mainland-China residential contestants who are experiencing lockdowns, we would also accept submissions via email. Please submit the latest PnP version of your work to WODC email address (tougao@dobest.com).
For submissions that did not make it through to the Semi-finals, we would like to sincerely thank you for your participation. The rights to these submissions are at the correspondent designers’ disposal. We encourage you to continue their work and we look forward to seeing new submissions in the next season of WODC!
In addition to the WODC, we also have general submission channel available to all designers at http://design.yokagames.com/index.html#/ and we welcome submissions all year round!
We will also send preliminary results individually to all contestants via email. For those who had not received the email, please contact us through email, phone call, QQ group chat or our Facebook page. For our contact information, please refer to the WODC official website.
Thank you again for your continuous support. Please stay tuned to further updates!
2020.03.27
Preliminaries results will come soon!
Since our Preliminaries submissions ended, WODC Committee is working aggressively for the results.
During the Preliminaries step, we collected some data and have compared and analyzed these information as the following.
We have received 124 submissions from China and overseas.
And the number of designers in the 2nd WODC has an increase of 11.24% from the 1st WODC.
Since the Preliminaries now is back on track,
we would announce the Preliminaries results in April as planned.
So please keep an eye on our official site to get our information afterwards.
2020.02.28
Preliminaries submissions would come to an end soon！
Preliminaries submissions would end soon！
Now we have received over one hundred submissions until now from China and other countries overseas.
If you still have a new game to submit or something to edit in your submission(s),
please do send us before our deadline.
And our mailbox tougao@dobest.com would stop receiving any submissions email from the Preliminaries deadline until Semi-Finals Submission starts,
please pay attention to that for all the submissions would be considered null and void for that duration.
All the contacts of counselling or business are still welcome,
you may still feel free to let us know if you have any problem or thoughts.
Hope to meet you in the Semi-Finals!
2020.02.06
We have less than a month before the Preliminaries submissions deadline！
Dearest Designers, now we have less than a month before the Preliminaries submissions deadline, March 1st 2020 23:59:59 Beijing Time.
And we have received dozens of submissions so far from around the world.
If there is any update to your preliminaries submission(s), you may submit them quickly to update them before our deadline.
If your submissions have already made it to the Semi-Finals, you may also update them, so please keep the updates coming. But do make sure that the prototypes that would be sent to us are the latest versions.
There will be no change in our Preliminaries submissions deadline, considering the 2019-nCoV, it may also affect the operations logistically , therefore, the Preliminaries results and Semi-Finals Submission deadline may be changed according to the actual situation.
Please pay attention to the official site for WODC for updated information.
On behalf of all the staff, we hope to make it out of this situation safely and fulfill our commitments to the competition.
Stay safe and game on!
2020.01.19
Drifting Lands on Modian achieves complete success!
Drifting Lands, which is our silver prize of the 1st WODC, achieves complete success on Modian crowd funding with over 1000 backers!
We should like to extend our grateful thanks.
Now Drifting Lands project has completed with all strench goals unlocked, besides the strench golas of Drifting Lands, this project also has a connection with the gold prize of the 1st WODC, which is coming soon in the near future.
Not only a success achievment, our project also has gotten hundreds of comments by players and even game designers.
We talk about the game rules, artwork and other thoughts of gameplay on the message board of Drifting Lands, an original game designed by Stefan Breuer, a happy and positive game designer from Germany.
And from those, we have seen that everyone could be a good designer if we are open to various ideas and our love to board games.
There is only 1 month before the end of the Preliminaries submissions deadline of the 2nd WODC.
We are great looking forwards to the submissions!
Please be ambitious and have a good luck!
And this is also our 2020 Chinese New Year's resolution.
2019.12.05
Drifting Lands now is OPEN on Modian!
Drifting Lands, the silver prize of the 1st WODC, designed by Stefan Breuer, now has its own crowdfunding site on Modian.
From the original model,
with many testplays and discussions on artwork,
both our author Mr. Stefan Breuer and our staff of this project from YOKA GAMES, we have worked on it with tremendous concentration.
We would unlock several contents such as update of some components and an extra map that would not be added in the retail version.
Looking forwards to the result of the 2nd WODC！
And click here to get more BGG information or click here to get one Drifting Lands!
2019.10.23
The opening ceremony of the 2nd WODC rounded off perfectly!
At the 2019 BGM board game event, the opening ceremony of the 2nd WODC had been held and rounded off.
During the BGM event, we provided an early access to Drifting Lands, our silver prize of the 1st WODC.
The early access was very hot，the table was always full from start to finish.
We are glad to see that this game could satisfy our players.
We also got many feedback and comments on this game.
Drifting Lands now is coming soon to market afterwards.
Please wait and see!
2019.08.09
Results of the 1st WODC
Results of the 1st WODC
Our inaugural WODC has concluded in December 2018.
Our finalists from Japan, Germany and China Taiwan, have emerged as winners with the prizes going to:
Gold : Panda vs. Jiangshi (renamed to :《异妖战记》). Designer: Takeshi Iwata (from Japan)
Silver prize: SHAN HAI JING (renamed to :《漂流大地》). Designer: Stefan Breuer (from Germany)
Bronze prize: 春秋五霸. Designer: 陈力群，官官 (from China Taiwan)
We thank everyone who supported the 1st WODC especially to all the designers for their contributions!
We look forward to an exciting 2nd WODC ahead!
Latest Developments
