One Paper Game

We design OPGs first and foremost for the following purposes.

• Classroom. They make it very cheap and easy to get an entire classroom of kids playing several OPGs in groups. Just print a few more papers and you’re done.
• Flexibility. Carry them around wherever you go. Instantly pause the game and restart tomorrow—it’s all just pencil strokes on a single paper. Modify the paper to modify how you can play, or how many can play.
• Casual Boardgaming. Because of the “one paper” restriction, these games have to be very simple and intuitive. Sometimes the entire ruleset even fits on the paper itself too. There’s no setup, no obstacles pushing people away, and no long complicated gameplay. Anyone can play. Speaking of that …
• Large Groups. With regular board games, large groups of players are usually not supported because it means a large number of cards/tokens/pawns, which is expensive and a mess. But not with OPGs! These games often support higher player counts at the low cost of finding a few more pencils.
• Endless Variety & Surprise. We often write “generators” for these games. It means we create a computer program that, with the click of a button, creates a new valid board for this game. You receive this as well, which means you will never run out of new and diverse challenges for this single game you bought. (And if you don’t like the map you get? Just click the button and get a different one.)
• Sustainable Entertainment. We often provide small and big versions, color and grayscale, expensive and minimalist. It’s up to you which version you print and enjoy. You can even refrain from printing at all and play the entire game by opening the image on a touchscreen device.

Due to the constraints mentioned, there are some things OPGs just will never do.

• They won’t be very immersive themed experiences. For that you need tactile board games with lots of components.
• They won’t be long and tactical games. They simply can’t be—it won’t fit on a paper and you can’t do it through writing/drawing on the page.
• They won’t be jaw-droppingly beautiful. Generating the papers (within a second or two) necessitates being more practical with the graphics and design.

You always get a ZIP file. When extracted, it contains,

• A PDF with rules. (Even if not needed, we provide this as back-up.)
• (MAYBE) An interactive rulebook. It simply means you can open it in the browser and click images/buttons to get dynamic examples.
• Many PDFs with different “papers” to play. (Color, Grayscale, Small, Big, Expansions Off, Expansions On, etc)
• The generator. Open it in the browser, pick your settings, and it gives you new papers. (Some rare OPGs don’t have a generator but fixed / manual boards.)

When I invented these, nothing of the sort existed. I was the only one generating games and fitting them on one paper, playable with pen or pencil.

I like to think that my work inspired some people, because nowadays there are a few providers of “printable games” online. For five bucks or so you can buy great One Paper Games made by other people! Even if they don’t know they are making One Paper Games! ;)

Most OPGs, though, were made long ago, before this store existed. That’s why most of them are free, and some of those are missing nice things like the generator or interactive rulebook.

At the time, I believed nobody would ever pay for something like this, so I did not bother to ask. Now, seeing how successful other designers have become with my initial idea (though they take it in new directions, of course), I aim to make more OPGs and sell them on the store in the future!

Because they are a great invention that has proven its worth every time I “playtested” one of them with random people.