I'm a huge fan of Ludum Dare, and lately, tabletop (non-digital) games have been making a (very small) splash there, scoring highly and getting great feedback. Despite Ludum Dare being primarily for video game creators, it's been wonderful for us tabletop creators too!

And hey, the next Ludum Dare (59) is in mid-April! I hope we see you there 🧡 

FYI: Everything below, aside from the specific dates, is almost identical to the last jam. The only real change is that the HUMOR category will no longer be rated. For Ludum Dare, you can choose to rate or not rate a category, but you can't do that here. It feels wrong to give a game a low rating in a category it isn't even entering...

If you want to read about games from Ludum Praxi: August 2025, you can do that here.

What is Ludum Praxi?

Using a web translator, Ludum Dare means "Game to Give." So I titled this jam Ludum Praxi: "Game Practice." The premise is that we're practicing for Ludum Dare by doing a variation on it!

For Ludum Dare, tabletop games fall into the "jam" category, which means you have 72 hours from the announcement of the theme to create something. However, this isn't the easiest for people with busy lives: you may work over the weekend, or that might be when you have your kids. Maybe you can only run errands over the weekend, you had a doctor/therapy appointment, or some other event. There are a zillion valid reasons why the weekend of Ludum Dare might not work for you.

As such, Ludum Praxi runs for two weeks. HOWEVER, you MUST create your game within a 72-hour window. This time starts as soon as you see the winning theme, so make sure you don't look at it before you're ready to start. I'll bury it at the bottom of this page once the jam begins, so you can't accidentally come across it, and I will put in bold text at the top of the page that the theme has been announced. I'll also be sending an email through Itch's system to share that the theme has been announced, but that email will NOT include the theme.

This 72-hour window is also running nonstop: you can't work on day one and two, then take a couple of days off, and use the third day later. Eating, sleeping, thinking, working, relaxing, and everything else eat into your time. But don't let that stress you out! :D

Once the time ends, you have one additional "submission hour" to get it uploaded here to Itch (Ludum Dare does the same for their webpage). Feel free to spiffy the page up after this hour if you'd like, but you cannot edit your game after this period. I mean, you technically can, but that's cheating...

You can, however, make a "post-jam" edition with additional edits. Make sure it's clear that it wasn't made within 72 hours by calling it a "post-jam" edition or "72+ hours," "extended," or whatever. :D 

An example of this is on my Itch page for The Summoned, or you can browse other Ludum Dare 55 entries here on Itch and see how they handled it. There are sooooooooooooo many good games in there, and that's true for every Ludum Dare, honestly.

Ratings/Comments

Ludum Dare is a ranked jam. You get a few weeks after the jam ends to vote for others, get votes yourself, and then see your game's ranking and overall ratings. For Ludum Praxi, you'll have two weeks to rate games. 

PLEASE rate as many titles you can. Ratings are anonymous, and people only see their overall scores. If you choose to leave comments, please keep things positive and uplifting

The categories to rate games are identical to what Ludum Dare uses, with a few removed:

• Overall: How did you feel about this game as a whole? This should rarely be an average of the other scores. For example, if you LOVED a game, it's totally cool to give it 5 stars even if you think it wasn't innovative or the mood was bad. Likewise, if you disliked a game, but it was incredibly unique, fit the theme perfectly, and was hilarious, you can give it 5 stars in those categories and still give it a 1- or 2-star rating overall.
• Fun: Did you have fun playing this game?
• Innovation: Was this game unique? Try new things?
• Theme: Did this game fit whatever the theme was well, or did you have to really use your imagination?
• Mood: Did this game have a strong vibe? Mood can be sad, uplifting, funny, creepy, dark, or whatever. So long as it really fits within a mood or makes you feel, it deserves a good score here.

The Theme

Ludum Dare has an awesome system for themes where anyone can submit any two themes they want, and then there's a series of rounds where themes are eliminated until a final round of voting decides the winning theme.

For Ludum Praxi, we'll do the following steps. Each round begins and ends at noon Eastern on the listed days.

1. First, people can submit as many themes as they'd like in this Google form. This runs through January 26th.
2. ALL of those themes will then be available to vote on over the course of a week, from January 26th to February 2nd. This'll narrow the list down to the top like 10-20.
3. Finally, people will vote on themes! This will run from February 2nd to 9th. 
4. Then the jam begins, with the theme revealed on February 9th.

I'll send emails using Itch's system to people who joined the jam when these things happen, as well as once the theme is announced (but not what the theme is), and when the next jam launches. If you don't want these, you can click "unsubscribe" in the email. 

You can also join our Patreon for free to get notified by email and keep up-to-date on our other news. I'll probably write about the entries, so you'll see that when it happens :D

Remember: once you see the theme, your 72-hour window starts, so be careful not to look at the theme before you're ready to start creating. 

Quick Recap

• Your creation must be an analog (not digital/video) tabletop game (TTRPGs included). Anything that feels like a game, from a lil journaling experience to a grand experience, counts. If you think it might be a game, it almost certainly is! 🧡 
• Your creation must be created during a 72-hour window during the jam period
• You have 72 hours from when you see the winning theme to create your game. You then have one additional hour to get the game on Itch
• You cannot update your jam edition after the 72 hours. You can create a separate version with additional updates, though. Just make it clear that this is a version you worked on beyond the 72-hour period
• Please rate at least a few games during the rating period 🥺 

Our Community

If you have any questions, feel free to ask here in the Community section (it's like a forum). Or, join our Discord server! It's 100% unnecessary for the jam, but it's a great way to keep up-to-date on future jams, chat with other creators, and get notified when we release new games (they're always free or include community copies when they first come out).