This jam is now over. It ran from 2022-01-01 08:00:00 to 2022-02-01 07:59:59. View 31 entries


A new year means new material entering the public domain! From January 1st 2022, works from 1926 are free to use and remix.

This is the fourth annual jam in the 'Gaming Like it's 192X' series. You can see submissions from the 192519241923 jams. This year, we're continuing the tradition and celebrating works from 1926. Let's make games that are about or inspired by these works.

The Winners

We're excited to announce this year's winners:

They are all worth checking out! You can read more about the winners in this write-up on Techdirt.

The Works

There are plenty of interesting works to draw on, including:

  • Novels, short stories, and poems by Agatha Christie, Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, T. E. Lawrence, A. A. Milne, and Dorothy Parker
  • Art by Alexander Calder, Hannah Höch, Frieda Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe, René Magritte, and Norman Rockwell
  • Films including silents Beau Jest and The General plus the first feature length Vitaphone films with Don Juan and The Better 'Ole
  • Music by Louis Armstrong, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Al Jolson, Jelly Roll Morton, Victoria Spivey, and Sophie Tucker

Also – sound recordings from before 1923 are also entering the public domain so feel free to use those, too!

Check out Duke's detailed overview of works entering the public domain the Public Domain Review's Countdown for more great works!

The Games

This jam is open to both digital and analog games – choose the medium that excites you!

For digital games, we’ll only be judging games that are playable in the browser. This includes interactive fiction using frameworks like Twine. and storytelling game platforms like Story Synth. You can submit desktop or mobile games but we won’t consider them for prizes.

For purely analog games, we’re looking for tabletop RPGs, larps, board games, and everything in between. We encourage you to design something short and quickly playable. Our judges are only committed to reading the first four pages of your submission. Golden Cobra and Game Chef contain great examples of brief, compelling games.

Don’t worry about making a highly polished game! We’re more interested in your ideas and how you use the public domain. For analog games, a simple PDF or even Google Doc is totally acceptable – past winners have included clever games with simple designs. 

The Prizes

We’ll be awarding prizes in the following categories:

  • Best Analog Games
  • Best Digital Game
  • Best adaptation of a 1926 work
  • Best remixing of multiple sources (at least one has to be from 1926)
  • Best “Deep Cut” (use of a work not listed on any of the round up articles)
  • Best Visuals

You have until the end of January to submit your games. We'll be judging the submission in the first two weeks of February and awarding prizes soon after.

This jam is organized by Randy Lubin of Diegetic Games and Mike Masnick of Techdirt and we’re contributing prizes. Every winner will get to pick one of:

Code of Conduct

We will not tolerate sexism, racism, or discrimination of any kind. Some works from 1926 may contain offensive stereotypes. Either avoid these works or address the problematic material in a responsible manner.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use public domain material from another year?

Yes, but at least one work from 1926 (or a pre-1923 sound recording) must be included in your game in some form.

Can I submit multiple games?

Yes!

Can I submit as a team?

Yes!

Do I need to license the game in any way?

No, and by default you’ll retain all rights to your game. However, we’d love for you to publish under a Creative Commons license. CC0 would add your game into the public domain!

Can I set a price on my game?

You can, though we will ask for a free version to share with our judges.

Submissions(30)

All submissions
·
Browser playable (10)
·
Windows (3)
macOS (1)
Linux (1)
Android (1)

No submissions match your filter

a role-playing game about the space between image and reality
A sexy Agatha Christie adaptation.
Interactive Fiction
Get away with murder or get caught trying.
A hand-drawn detective game
Visual Novel
Play in browser
A card and story game to re-dream an artistic collaboration
A tender dialogue between a runaway and perhaps Pan
A mystery storytelling game
A game about love, fidelity, cruelty, ambition, and a 1925 behaviorist experiment involving 803 rats!
Come read this Scottish poem from 1926.
Educational
Play in browser
Can you ditch the baby without filling your CAD METER?
Interactive Fiction
Play in browser
A Bargaining Game
A story-generating game inspired by Hope Mirlees' 1926 classic cult-fave fantasy novel Lud-in-the-Mist
Gaming Like It's 1926... Rodeo Style!
Action
Play in browser
Artistic-adventure game based on the book released in 1926.
Adventure
Eat like it's 1926 !
Platformer
Play in browser
​Go back to the magical music era of the 1920s in this musical button bash.
Rhythm
Play in browser
A fun comical adventure created from public domain cartoons!
Adventure
Play in browser
A simple matching game, and more!
Puzzle
Play in browser
A 2-player, push-your-luck card game of heartbreak and woe.
A retrofuturistic romp through the 2026 moon designed by 1926 science.
a deck-building solitaire game in a prologue and two parts
Navigate hostile waters and bring your ship to port lest you become food for the kraken!
Adventure
A traditional card game that mixes trick-taking with social deduction
A Tense Competitive TTRPG for 2-6 Players
Interactive Fiction
Play in browser
An interactive work of classic literature.
Interactive Fiction
Play in browser
A drinking game that feels 96 years old.