The application phase for the 36th Hippodice Competition has successfully concluded. Thank you very much to all participants for your numerous submissions! In total, we received 161 German-language and 220 English-language game ideas from the categories of children’s, family, connoisseur, and expert games.
Most game authors come from Germany (160 submissions), but interesting and exciting game ideas have also reached us from other countries, including the USA (67), Spain (20), Italy (15), Canada (13), and many more. This year’s competition is once again just as international, diverse, and exciting as the gaming scene as a whole. We are very pleased about this.
Next Steps
We have already started the preliminary round: All submitted game descriptions and rules are being reviewed by our editors. No prototypes need to be submitted yet in the preliminary round – it is initially about evaluating the game ideas and rules.
After the preliminary round is completed, every author will receive a message stating whether their submission has qualified for the main round or not.
Timeline
- Preliminary round (review by Hippodice editors):
- End of editorial review: October 5, 2026, followed by evaluation Email notification to authors about the preliminary round results: by October 24, 2026 at the latest
- Submission of prototypes, if qualified (by the authors):
- October 24, 2026 – November 7, 2026
- Main round (testing phase of the prototypes):
- Late November 2026 – February 2027
- Final round (evaluation by expert jury & award ceremony):
- March 19 and 20, 2027
- Summarized feedback from all test rounds to all main round participants:
- Shortly after the final round – by April 30, 2027 at the latest
We look forward to the coming months and wish you all the best of success!