Demo Games with Golden Gate Gamemakers
Come demo games from local Bay Area game designers along with some games from Mensa Mind Games like Trekking Through History (2023) and Twinkle Twinkle (2025) whose designers are from the Bay Area!
Golden Gate Gamemakers is a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that brings together board game designers and playtesters in the San Francisco Bay Area. GGG provides playtesting opportunities, education, and resources, has 200+ in-person events/year, and a Discord server where the community can connect. Anyone can be a designer or playtester, including you!
Tristan Muntsinger is a San Francisco board game designer and founder of d0 Games, a studio built around zero-randomness heavy strategy games. He was a developer on the Legend of the Five Rings card game, and has given seminars on randomness at Dundracon and Kublacon. He also has 20 years of experience as a software engineer.
Every night, no matter where we are, we look up at the same sky. In Under One Sky, two players take turns placing and shifting stars across a shared night sky, racing to recreate a constellation while every move changes the possibilities for both players. Easy to learn but full of meaningful decisions, Under One Sky is a fast-paced abstract strategy game of planning, adaptation, and spatial reasoning, with every game creating a fresh puzzle.
Art of War is a 2-8 player strategy game set in China’s Warring States period (230-221 BCE), with no dice and no random draws. Every outcome comes from player decisions. Each of the eight powers has a signature strength and a historical weakness. Players plan through the seasons and march on their rivals, racing along victory tracks for military, diplomacy, economy, building, and territory. The game was developed with historical consultant Dr. William Matthews (LSE), and a Kickstarter is planned for late 2027. Victory is earned, never rolled.