The Italian meeting of the game designer reach new records of participation. About 200 authors were present at the 15th edition of the Italian game designer meeting the 12th and 13th of January at the Hotel San Marco in Ponte Taro, in the province of Parma. During the event, 400 new prototypes were presented and tested. At the meeting was also attended by numerous publishers, interested to evaluate the work of the authors in perspective of a future publication.

"It was a successful event," said Paolo Mori, the event organizer, "with record numbers both in terms of authors and prototypes present. Our goal for the future will be to increase the quality of the meeting, to ensure that IDEAG gives the best possible experience both to authors and publishers."

"This was the first IDEAG organized by the SAZ", declared Walter Obert, spokesman for the Italian section of the association, "an important step to increase the relevance in Italy of the international association of board game authors, that was born in Germany almost 30 years ago ".

IDEAG is the first and biggest Italian meeting of board game designer. The main event is followed by a series of local events organized with the same format that are held in different Italian cities throughout the year. IDEAG was born in 2005 in Piossasco (TO). The participation in the event has grown steadily in the numerous editions of Turin. Since 2018 the event has moved to Emilia, near Parma. Over the years, many games have taken shape during these meetings. Many of these published by major Italian and foreign publishers.

From 2019 the organization of the event passes into the hands of SAZ Italia. SAZ (Spiele-Autoren-Zunft) was founded in Germany in 1991. Its main role is to support game authors in defining agreements with publishers, but also to work with institutions to recognize the cultural and social value of playing, and to organize campaigns like "Games Also Have Authors" to raise awareness among the media and the public towards the figure of the board games designer. At this date, it has more than 500 members worldwide, including about 50 Italian game designer.

During the whole event SAZ promoted four panels about the process of creation of board games:

• "Talk on the method: authors and creative processes in comparison", with Luca Borsa, Marco Canetta, Stefania Niccolini, Daniele Tascini, moderated by Matteo Boca (Recensioni Minute - youtube channel ).
• "The test and the art of maintenance of the playtesters", with Alfredo Berni, Andrea Chiarvesio (CMON), Simone Luciani (Cranio Creations), moderated by Andrea Mezzotero (SAZ Italia).
• "The WOW effect! Make games to amaze", with Luca Bellini, Gonzalo Aguirre Bisi (Thundergryph Games), Carlo A. Rossi, moderated by Carlo E. Lanzavecchia (SAZ Italia).
• "Life is a pitch ... How to present the games to a publisher (and how not to do it)", with Carlo E. Lanzavecchia, Walter Obert, Mario Cortese (GateOnGames), moderated by Christian Giove (SAZ Italia).

More information about the event is available on: https://sites.google.com/view/ideag-2019

Soon the 2019 calendar of local editions of the event.