The ProtoZone of the Brussels Games Festival welcomes twenty prototypes in competition this year. These original creations will be showcased throughout the festival and evaluated both by the public and by a specialised jury.
Two prizes in 2025
Two trophies to win in 2025
This year, the ProtoZone will award two distinctions:
- The Golden Meeple’Pis, the public prize, granted through the votes of festival attendees.
- The Jury Meeple’Pis, awarded by a jury of board game specialists.
How to vote for the Golden Meeple’Pis?
Each attendee receives a ballot when testing their first prototype.
For every game played, a stamp is added in the corresponding box.
At the end of their session, players are invited to indicate their top 3 favourite games and drop the ballot into the dedicated urn located at the centre of the ProtoZone.
A prize to win
All submitted ballots will automatically take part in a draw held on Sunday at the end of the day.
One participant will be selected and will leave with a board game.
The creators in competition
Twenty authors have been selected to present their prototypes. Their creations reflect the diversity and richness of the emerging board game scene.
A Piece of Me
A Piece of Me is a hybrid puzzle (board + AR) combining narrative and exploration. Alone or together, help Birdie, a strange bird with human and animal parts whose body is falling apart. Each piece reveals a fragment of his world through animation, dialogue and music. Blending physical and digital, it creates an intimate storytelling experience, ending with an illustration as a keepsake.
Belor
Enter Belor, a ruined world where 52 random tiles ensure replayability. Explore, send your creature ahead, gather belorites or use magical relics. Swap tiles to unite scattered realms and free their guardians. Earn their trust, harness their powers and reshape this world in your image.
Carte Blanche
Carte Blanche is a game of creativity and bluff where players, as “artists”, build sculptures based on a given title. One player, the forger, doesn’t know the title and must improvise. After presentations, the group debates to expose the forger, while also awarding an originality prize… which might end up in the forger’s hands.
Control Zey
Val-Sur-Heure immerses players in a Belgian village where Patrice Zey is found dead under a collapsed bridge. Accident or murder? With smartphones (GPS, SMS, podcasts…) you play key characters, using a mysterious app to rewrite the past. Cooperation, secrets and betrayal shape the story as every choice alters the future.
Dernier Butin
Dernier Butin is a reversed hand-building game: not your hand but the river of cards evolves, boosted by your crew. Players are captains trapped in a whirlpool, seeking to amass riches. Each turn you either recruit crew or activate the spiral board to gain (or make others lose) treasures. The game ends when someone reaches the center: the richest wins.
Dicestiny – les chasseurs de l’étrange
Dicestiny is a dice game where players are hunters of the strange. Combine die values and colors or those of track spaces. A die on a colored spot adopts that color, unlocking options. Each character has a limited ability (reroll, change value, move), and completed missions grant bonuses. Fulfill enough missions to solve the final mystery.
Director’s Cut
Director’s Cut casts you as directors competing for awards. Draft your story, then play 7 rounds choosing 2 of 6 actions: manage budget, play Scenes, use Casting or Inspiration. Combine cards to advance on the awards track (film, script, editing, acting, aesthetics, directing). The one with most awards—or who fulfills their secret Aspiration—wins.
Gloutons
Gloutons is a 2-player game where each leads a troupe to protect their cake and devour the opponent’s. Manage tokens to move, reorient or recruit gloutons, and trigger chain reactions to outsmart your rival and win.
Hybris
Hybris refers to the Greek excess punished by the gods. In this 2-player clash, build a team of mythological heroes and fulfill their legends to earn Olympus’ favor… or fall to the Underworld. Each turn, place skill cubes to empower your heroes or bring down the opponent’s.
Le Bal des Ifs
Le Bal des Ifs is a card and resource management game. Create Necklaces for points, trigger Confidences for extra points and aim for victory! Each player places 7 characters opposite each other who dance, hide and bow to use powers. Between programming and bluff, the mechanics intertwine with the strong theme of Louis XV’s court.
Le Cercle des Fées
Le Cercle des Fées is a competitive game where players climb a tower of 8 rotating rings. Goal: seize the trophy and reach the top without losing it. Use action cards to move, fight or use gear. Each turn, secretly program an action, then reveal it. At 0 HP, you fall back to the bottom!
Les Chroniques de l’Apocalypse
Wake up in a ruined world infested with zombies. Search places to survive, find food, recruit survivors or rob rivals. If you die, return as a zombie to haunt them. Exploration, trading and resource management drive the game, while tiles, cards and dice add tension. Each night, survivors weaken from hunger, while zombies keep hunting.
Les Kroupouks
Welcome to the wild lands of the Kroupouks! Grow your tribe of these naïve little beings: gather, plant, hunt mammoths and explore mysterious villages that may grant you resources and technologies. But beware of rival clans, ready to challenge you with poisoned darts and tamed beasts… and of the sinister rituals echoing in the volcano! A family game with simple rules, full of humor and unpredictability.
LUDUS
In LUDUS, grow your gladiator school and prepare for the ultimate fight under the Emperor’s gaze. Buy gladiators and tactics at the Forum, adapt to the Colosseum system and battle in 3 duels. Cunning and anticipation are vital. Manage resources carefully: sacrificing weak gladiators can free funds to recruit stronger ones.
Manoir
Manoir is a cooperative, narrative board game where players explore a haunted mansion that changes with the chosen scenario (30–180 min). Each character manages skills and items between exploration, combat and movement. The game master reads events, offers choices and hides clues. Only teamwork will reveal the mystery and secure a happy ending.
Panique Druidique
In Panique Druidique, the final initiation begins: be the first to reach Gaia’s Staff! Sabotage your rivals… but beware, your tricks may backfire. Cast spells, turn into a frog, fish or spider to cross the forest faster. Only one druid will be chosen!
Super Glitch Racer
Super Glitch Racer is a frantic game where players race to grab stars and knock out their opponents. The finale begins: chase the stars, trigger wild bonuses and transform into powerful animals to dominate the arena. But beware: the battlefield constantly changes! At the end, the player with the most victory points is crowned champion.
Volez, Sorcières !
Volez, Sorcières ! is a racing game for 3–8 players aged 14+. After two laps, only the fastest crosses the finish line. Plan movements (speed, altitude, lane changes) to dodge obstacles, grab bonuses and tackle corners. Collisions and magical duels spice up the race: cast repair, defense or attack spells to seize victory.
WI-LU
An abstract 2-player game with 16 tiles in 4 colors and 16 pieces in 4 shapes. Place the 4th shape on 4 same-colored tiles or make a winning line of 4 different shapes. Place pieces or slide tiles until you win. Quick to learn and play, but highly addictive!
Zouhri : le Pacte des Ombres
Zouhri is a semi-cooperative card game mixing teamwork and bluff. Players protect a child with supernatural powers for 12 turns… but some may be corrupted. Roles have unique abilities (Defender, Exorcist, Sage). Inspired by Dead of Winter and Shadows over Camelot, it keeps tension high without elimination. Victory or betrayal: the outcome remains uncertain until the end.
The jury
A jury of enthusiasts and professionals from the board game world will evaluate the candidates and award the Jury Meeple’Pis.
Vi Tacq
I am a game design teacher at Haute École de Bruxelles-Brabant and Haute École Albert Jacquard.
I am also active in research on media education applied to board games, ludopedagogy, and game design didactics. I also create games, both ludopedagogical and recreational. I won the Entertainment Award at the Festival Ludique International de Parthenay in 2019 with my game Gargouilles.
Olivier Grégoire
Réalisateur de formation, ayant travaillé entre autres à la RTBF une bonne dizaine d’années, j’ai changé de carrière il y a 15 ans pour vivre de ma passion.
Je travaille depuis dans le milieu du jeu comme chargé de projets, ludothécaire et formateur pour Ludeo, le Centre de ressources ludiques de la Cocof. Ça, c’est pendant la journée !
La nuit, je crée des prototypes et il m’arrive parfois d’attirer l’attention d’un éditeur et c’est alors qu’il deviennent des “vrais” jeux… après de longs longs longs processus de développement. J’en ai édité 8 jusqu’à présent, avec des fortunes diverses, mais toujours accompagnés d’aventures humaines ou d’amitié surprenantes, fortes, cocasses, nourrissantes, enrichissantes et pleines de bons et de mauvais rebondissements !
Encore des dizaines d’idées dans la tête, des protos plein les cartons et un problème récurrent à résoudre: comment faire tenir tout ça dans des journées de 24 heures remplies de nombreuses autres activités et centres d’intérêt ?
Ann Pichot
Trained as a philosopher, Ann discovered the world of games through publishing, joining the team of Repos Production, before continuing as communications officer at Zèbre à Pois. For the past five years, she has held this role at Ludeo, the COCOF’s board game resource centre, where she selects and reviews new releases every week for La Libre Belgique, Deuzio and the Journal des Enfants.
At the crossroads of communication, criticism and a passion for games, she looks forward to discovering tomorrow’s gems as a member of the Brussels Games Festival jury.
Nicolas Maréchal
Passionné de jeux depuis l’enfance, Nicolas possède, avec son épouse, la boutique Jeux de NIM à Enghien, ouverte en 2006. Animateur infatigable, il organise des soirées jeux depuis 2003 et, chaque mois de novembre, un festival annuel qui célébrera sa 10ème édition en 2025. Son regard mêle celui d’un détaillant de terrain, d’un organisateur d’événements et d’un joueur curieux, toujours à l’affût de mécaniques élégantes et d’expériences conviviales.
Ancien membre du Jury de l’As d’Or – Jeu de l’Année au Festival International des Jeux pendant cinq ans, il met pour le BGF cette expertise au service des autrices et auteurs, avec une attention particulière portée à l’accessibilité, à l’originalité et au plaisir autour de la table.
Brigitte Vanopdenbosch
Passionnée par les jeux de société depuis plus de vingt ans, j’ai développé au fil du temps une expertise personnelle nourrie par une pratique assidue et une curiosité constante. Ma collection compte aujourd’hui plus de 3 000 jeux, témoignant de mon intérêt pour les mécaniques ludiques et les innovations du secteur.
Mon goût pour l’analyse des jeux m’a naturellement conduite à m’impliquer dans plusieurs jurys spécialisés. Je suis membre du jury de l’Expert Game Award depuis près de dix ans, et j’ai rejoint en 2023 celui du Diamant d’Or. Ces engagements me permettent d’explorer une grande diversité de créations et de contribuer à leur valorisation.
Dans cette continuité, j’ai accepté de coordonner la section Jeux du salon Trolls & Légendes dès sa prochaine édition, avec l’ambition d’y proposer une programmation stimulante et accessible.
C’est donc avec enthousiasme que je rejoins le jury du BGF, impatiente de partager mes découvertes et de nourrir les échanges autour de notre passion commune.
Openfab-Gamelab
Openfab-Gamelab is an inclusive space for creation, exploration, and exchange around games in all their forms. Equipped with fablab machines (laser cutter, 3D printer, etc.), it also provides tools for prototyping games. This self-managed space allows game creators to enrich their projects through community exchanges. It also offers public game nights and meetings between game authors to discuss prototypes.
A graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Nice, Barthélémy Cabry is an artist and game creator, exploring games as a way to “make common ground.”
After studying film in Brussels, Navid O’Lari turned to interactive storytelling and escape games as an artistic and educational medium.