A new year means new material entering the public domain! Starting January 1st 2024, works from 1928 are free to use and remix (except for sound recordings, which are only free from 1923 and earlier).

This is the sixth annual jam in the 'Gaming Like it's 192X' series. You can see submissions from the 1927, 1926, 1925, 1924, 1923 jams. This year, we're continuing the tradition and celebrating works from 1928. Let's make games that are about or inspired by these works.

The Winners

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

• Best Analog: Letters to Cthulhu by Lucienne Impala
• Best Digital: Millions of Cats by Javi Muhrer , Chris Muhrer, and McCoy Khamphouy
• Best Adaptation: Mickey Party by Benjamin Gray
• Best Remix: Burden of Creation by Menéndez Guerra
• Best Deep Cut:  Solar Storm 1928 by David Harris
• Best Visuals: Flight from Podunk Station by Onamint

They're all worth checking out! You can read more about the winners, and honorable mentions, in this write-up on Techdirt.

The Works

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

• Written works by A. A. Milne, Agatha Christie, Aldous Huxley, Baroness Orczy, D. H. Lawrence, H.P. Lovecraft, Margaret Mead, Virginia Woolf, Vladimir Nabokov, and W. E. B. Du Bois
• Art by Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, M. C. Escher, Otto Dix, René Magritte, Tamara de Lempicka, and Tarsila do Amaral
• Films including Lights of New York, The Singing Fool, and Steamboat Willie
• Music by Al Jolson, Bertolt Brecht, Bessie Smith, Bing Crosby, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, George and Ira Gershwin, Igor Stravinsky, Irving Berlin, Jimmie Rodgers, and Louis Armstrong

Check out the Copyright Lately Roundup and Duke Roundup for more works to inspire you.

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 1928 work
• Best remixing of multiple sources (at least one has to be from 1928)
• 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 and Leigh Beadon of Techdirt and we’re contributing prizes. Every winner will get to pick one of:

• The Working Futures anthology of speculative fiction
• A deck of Working Futures Cards which you can use in scenario planning
• A Techdirt t-shirt (e.g. Takedown)
• Digital copies of Behind the Magic and Premise
• A physical copy of Behind the Magic (USA shipping only)

Code of Conduct

We will not tolerate sexism, racism, or discrimination of any kind. Some works from 1928 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 1928 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.