The First Print and Play I Ever Played

In partnership with

Year: 2023

On a cold winter night, I sat down with my very first print and play, not fully knowing what I had gotten myself into. And suddenly, I was no longer just testing a new format.

I was inside an apocalypse!

In Escape of the Dead 1, you are holed up in your garage, trying to fix the car that might save you while zombies keep crawling onto your lawn. Every turn feels like multitasking under pressure. Do you fire at the zombies? Fix the barricade? Or focus on repairing the car before it is too late? The longer you hesitate, the worse things get.

That sense of dilemma hit me hard, especially for a first experience. You cannot do everything. If you focus too much on fighting, the car never gets fixed. If you ignore the growing horde, the barricade collapses and the game is over.

As my first attempt at a PNP, the game felt incredibly approachable. It only needs one page to print (black and white), a few cut out zombies, and four dice. That’s it.

It took very little time to learn, very little effort to set up, and yet it delivered genuine tension in short 10 to 15 minute sessions. I remember playing it multiple times in one go, convinced that the next run would be the one where I finally escaped.

And to top it all off, it’s free. That part mattered more than I realized at the time. There was no barrier to entry, no hesitation. Just a designer putting his work out there and trusting players to discover it. That openness is what pulled me deeper into the print and play world as a whole. Even the ones that are paid are quite affordable.

Looking back now, Escape of the Dead 1 was not just my first PNP game. It was the spark. The moment I realized how impactful a single printed page could be.

This issue is a step back to that moment, and a thank you to the game that quietly started everything!

What was your first print and play game? Reply to this email if you feel like it!

Click here to read my detailed blog on the game [includes the link to the game files]

PS: From my first print and play to this newsletter, everything started small. Huge thanks to Beehiiv for backing this journey. If storytelling is your thing, you might enjoy building yours here as well. 👇

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