Sigma Play brings together designers from the tabletop, board, card, folk, and video game categories to share their insights. We will run from Saturday morning through Sunday evening with a full docket of hands-on workshops, panel discussions, and opportunity to explore design issues.

Mary Kenney

(Writer, Telltale Games)

Mary Kenney is a writer for Telltale Games, creator of story-based adventures, where she is best known for her work on Batman: The Enemy Within and The Walking Dead. She became a game designer because she loves creating experiences that combine storytelling, improv, theater, action, and decision.

Before going into games full-time, she wrote for The New York Times, Salon, Kotaku, Tampa Bay Times, and a few more. She’s passionate about stories that explore new and diverse perspectives.

Tracy Barnett

(Designer of School Daze, Actual Play Podcaster on TheOtherCast)

Tracy Barnett is a queer game designer and podcaster from Columbus, OH. They have been designing games for the last six years. Their titles include School Daze, One Shot, Iron Edda Accelerated, and Karthun: Lands of Conflict. They also produce and run games for their actual play podcast, TheOtherCast.

Adam Stichter

(Designer, Code & Key Escape Room)

Adam designs narrative-focused escape rooms at Code & Key Escape room. His latest two are an entry-level hunt for a codebreaker and a dive into the seedy underbelly of an Egyptian dig site.

Evan Torner & Kat Jones

(Designer, Slayer Cake)

In addition to their academic careers, Kat Jones and Evan Torner design games in the Nordic LARP tradition. Here’s there description of their upcoming parlor LARP Slayer Cake: In Metal World, a land where music has magical power, a musical battle ensues between Baby Metal, Glam Rock, Heavy Metal, Emo, Grunge, and *shudder* Doom Metal. WHO WILL BECOME THE OVERLORDS OF ROCK? Heavily inspired by Brütal Legend and Metalocalypse, Slayer Cake will rock. your. world. Players take on the roles of musicians and roadies who must rehearse and perform a variety of rock songs. 10-26 players + 5 gamemasters.

Saturday, Oct 6

11:00a – 1:00p – Registration
1:00p – 3:00p – Adam Stichter
3:30p – 5:00p – Tracy Barnett
5:00p – 7:00p – Dinner break at nearby downtown restaurants
7:00p – 8:00p – Mary Kenney
8:00p – 11:00p – Playtesting and open gameplay

Sunday, Oct 7

9:00a – 10:30a – Open gameplay
10:30a -11:30a – Panel discussion
11:30a – 1:00p – Lunch at nearby downtown restaurants
12:30p – 1:30p – Escape room & analysis with Adam Stichter (with escape room ticket)
1:30p – 3:00p – Kat Jones & Evan Torner
3:00p – 5:00p – Design questions and breakout groups
5:00p – 5:30p – Final farewell

Escape Room Tickets

We have a limited number of tickets with a special escape room experience with the designer! With this ticket, you get:

• Admission to Sigma Play
• Admission to either of Code & Key’s two escape rooms after lunch on Sunday
• A 45-minute walk through and discussion of your escape room with Adam Stichter!

Get your tickets soon!