[Oskitone]’s Hardware Hustle is a printable roll-and-write tabletop game that can be played on a single sheet of paper. It simulates attempting to run a small hardware business sustainably. Buy parts, make products, and sell them without burning yourself out!
If you’re not familiar with roll-and-write games, it’s a genre in which players take turns by rolling dice and then choosing how to assign those values in a game space as they progress from turn to turn. In the case of Hardware Hustle, it’s primarily a resource management game in which a player will be purchasing parts, assembling widgets, selling those widgets, and improving processes all while managing both money and opportunity costs.
The inspiration for Hardware Hustle comes from [Oskitone]’s own experience designing, building, and selling things like open-sourced, hackable synth kits that are known for their thoughtful design and fantastic use of 3D printing.
The game is in open beta-testing mode, so if you’d like to give it a try, head over to the PDF download section of the GitHub repository. Don’t forget to share your thoughts with the feedback form after playing. (If you’re wondering why a printable tabletop game has source code on GitHub, it’s because the game’s printable sheets are generated by JavaScript, making adjustments and tweaks and version control easier.)