Hoping to appeal to would-be game designers, Atlas Games and Gameplaywright are producing a do-it-yourself game design kit called The White Box.  This unusual product is scheduled to release in October.

The White Box is intended to provide tools and tips for people who want to create their own games.  The plain white box contains 18 essays about how to design games, written by Jeremy Holcomb (The Duke, Timestreams) and bound in a 128-page book.  A variety of generic game components are also included:  two punchboard sheets, 100 8mm wooden cubes, 24 wooden meeples, 4 larger 25mm wooden cubes, 90 plastic discs, 8 six-sided dice, and a gift card for The Game Crafter.  MSRP is $30.00.

The project is being funded through a Kickstarter campaign which vaulted past its $10,000 goal in the first day and broke the $50,000 mark with 15 days remaining.  Brick and mortar retail stores can be included in the campaign through a backer package.  Retailer backers will receive their copies about three weeks ahead of the product’s release into distribution. As an added incentive, retailer backers can pass along free copies of the digital version of The White Box to all of their employees.

Atlas Games’ big summer release will be Witches of the Revolutions (see “Use Magic to Win the Revolutionary War Against Britain”).