Remember sitting down to breakfast as a kid? You would pour a bowl of cereal, add the milk, sit at the table, and grab the cereal box to see if there's anything interesting on it. If you were lucky, the box would have some kind of fun activity printed on the back - perhaps a maze, a little quiz, or a fun flow chart - if you were even more lucky, there would be something a lot more involved - a branching board game, or a cut-out craft.

Whatever it was - it kept you entertained for at least as long as it took to finish your cereal, while the really good ones would keep you busy much longer than that.

Let's recreate that magic!

This game jam is for creating physical games that could be printed on a cereal box.

The jam will remain open for submissions from 1 May until the end of the month. After that, all entries that opted into it will be added to a pay-what-you-want bundle that will be available for 1 month starting on 18 June.

To opt in to the bundle, simply provide your email address when you submit your game - if you don't want your game included in the bundle, then don't provide your email address. If a game is in the bundle, anyone will be able to download it for free, and people paying US$1 or more will be able to add all of them to their account to download at a later date.

I realise some countries had cereal boxes that included CDs of digital games inside. That's not what we're doing here - this jam is for physical games only.

How big is a cereal box?

For the purposes of this jam, a cereal box has three printable panels:

• Back panel
• One side panel (the other one is reserved for nutritional info and the like)
• The top panel where the box opens

Your game can cover one, some, or all of these panels. Different brands of cereal have different size boxes, so there's no industry standard size. You can create your game in any reasonable size you like (even those small cereal boxes that come in the variety packs), but if you're unsure, here's a non-prescriptive size guide you can use:

• Height: 30cm / 12in
• Width: 18cm / 7in
• Depth: 6.5cm / 2.5in

To help you along, here's a free Canva template with those sizes: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGkmdM6PKQ/mjWCRZtXwLlQebDtfKtdbg/view?mode=preview - you can use that if you like, or do things differently.

You're welcome to create an alternate layout of your game that might be easier to print at home, so long as the cereal box layout is included and available.

What is a cereal box game?

A cereal box game is a physical game that can be printed on a cereal box.

It can be a series of questions, something that needs to be cut out and assembled, a simple board game, a complex board game, a full RPG, cards that can be cut out, something that involves dice or other game tools (maybe even the cereal and cutlery itself), or anything else you can think of. Let your imagination take over!

Bonus points if the game involves cereal, toast, eggs, cutlery, crockery, or any other breakfast objects or themes.

Who's running this jam and organising this bundle?

This jam and bundle is being organised and managed by Hugh Lashbrooke of the Tiny Tails Patreon community and Ten Acre Games.

Is there a theme for the jam?

Aside from the cereal box layout, there is no direct theme for this jam. Something breakfast-themed is strongly encouraged, but it's open to any theme or concept you like.

Can I submit an existing game?

While new games are encouraged, if you have an existing game that you want to reformat into a cereal box layout for this jam, then please go ahead. The game doesn't have to be new, but the work to lay it out for a cereal box should be.

Can I charge for my work? Can I submit my game to other jams? Can I publish my game in other places? Can I submit multiple games?

Of course - I'm not the boss of you! You deserve to build what you want, get paid for what you create, and to share it with any audience you like. Go wild!

How will the optional bundle work?

If you would like your submission(s) to be included in a pay-what-you-want bundle at the end of the jam, please add your email address to the submission form (there's a field for it in there) so I can get in touch with you to coordinate things.

The bundle will run for one month and will allow anyone to download all the included games for free. If people want to add the games to their account (so they can download them later and receive ongoing updates), they will need to pay US$1 or more.

All revenue from the bundle will be split equally amongst the participants, regardless of how many games you have included in it. In my experience, these kinds of bundles generate a small amount of revenue, while getting your work into far more hands than you would usually have access to.

If you don't want to be included in the bundle, just don't add your email address to the submission form.

Some resources:

Here are a few free resources to help you out:

• Canva template for a cereal box with suggested dimensions
• Itch image templates in Canva
• Mockup template for a box - this is how I made the image at the top of this page (works in Adobe Photoshop and Affinity Photo)

If you can suggest other resources to link here, please post them in the jam discussion forum.