Petroglyph is a 17-card micro game for 1 to 4 players that I’m working on. The first test print arrived today. It looks gorgeous!
Petroglyph is a neat mash up of Sushi Go with classic Memory. Easy to learn and fun to play for a wide audience. The plan is to pitch Petroglyph to museums in Sweden, especially those with prominent rock carvings nearby. As Bronze Age rock carvings are abundant all over Sweden, it’s a significant market. Or at least good enough for me. I will also sell it in my webshop and on conventions and markets.
Petroglyph is my first physical commercial game in a long time — since the boxed edition of Montsegur 1244. I’m excited to get it into the hands of lots of people over the summer. And maybe earn a buck or two for my next project. With 17 cards plus a cover I can finance a print run without crowdfunding. Still, I need to sell it. So that is what I will be doing next.
If you know any museum shops or markets that could be interested I carrying the game, let me know!
Wish me luck!
You can find the rules online here. Very soon you can buy the game in my webshop here. Stay tuned!
It’s interesting to see a game designed specifically for cultural institutions like museums. I’d be curious to learn how the gameplay reflects the historical aspect of petroglyphs.
We understand very little of the culture — or cultures — that created the rock carvings. They were carved in a period of more than 1000 years, from late Stone Age to early Iron Age. They are found all over Scandinavia, most frequent in today’s Sweden with more than 10 000 locations. Dating of rock carvings are based both on ancient sea levels and by matching motives with archaeological finds. We do not know how many have yet to be discovered or how many have been lost. New carvings are being discovered every year. The fact that so many carvings are known from Tanum in Bohuslän north of Gothenburg may be due to the local geology and human development of the area.
People have speculated about the meaning of the carvings for centuries. I think we will never know — at least not before we invent time travel. So for the game, they are just easily recognisable images. They could be modern day objects and the game would still work, rationally. But the aesthetics of the images and the sense that they speak to us across time makes the game more compelling to play.
My wife prefers games with nice pictures. So this game is dedicated to her 🙂