Do you know children who would like to design their own games? I’ve noticed that there are a lot of game design competitions for adults, but not specifically aimed at children. And while a 14-year-old may feel happy to enter an adult competition (assuming that the rules allow them to do so), it might not quite be right for an 8-year-old. 

I recently ran two game design sessions for children. One was at AireCon and the other was at Paradice. These were both drop-in events where children could come and design their own games using paper, pens, cards, dice, meeples etc… 

The designs have been amazing. One featured multiple resources and moving magical rocks. One child came up with the suggestion of rolling three dice, choosing two, and then using one result for horizontal movement and the other result for vertical movement. Another child had two D3s, one pink and one orange. The pink one always went up (north), the orange along (east). Roll both, use one for your own movement, and force your opponent to use the other. I playtested this and was very effectively pushed into a shark!

Some kids combined a simple grid with different cards, while others used a track with short cuts. Some designs were more 3D — one featured a race track with two boats, a lighthouse, and some sandcastle, and each turn would give you choices to move forward, change lane, or stop another player. Another design was a d20 rolling game with card sides! Yet another was an escape room puzzle box!

I also saw two designs which had been mainly created at home and brought in to playtest. 

Olivia (age 12) brought along a printed prototype, and then spent the morning designing cards and chatting with me about it. It’s set in Area 51, and some players and humans while others are aliens. The humans need to steal an alien egg, get to control, and send off a rocket. The alien player needs to stop them. Apart from the fact that it was really well thought out, her clear sense of the game objective was seriously impressive. 

Peter (age 9) also brought a prototype from home. His game is about Theseus and the Minotaur, and it’s a race with three distinct stages. First, players travel through a maze, collecting treasure. Second, players separately or collectively fight the Minotaur. Finally, they race back to the start, using the treasure cards they collected on the way to send each other into traps and close doors etc. He had some excellent concepts and a good sense of where the peak of the game should lie. 

The question now is how to encourage younger designers. They’re out there and given the materials and the space they can come up with brilliant ideas. I’d like to set up a children’s game design competition. At the moment it’s nothing more than an idea, but give me a bit of time and a few conversations, and it might exist in 2026.