![Revised Game Board.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmeCSLr3GkGPMqgYEmGXvxUoqBtdhPAHvWt4TCDnziZR2H/Revised%20Game%20Board.jpg)

Protospiel-MN 2018 has been a great success, but not in the way I had expected. I thought we were ready. I though the game was good to go. But perhaps the greatest lesson I've learned is that you need to test the game with strangers, far more than friends and family. I would even argue that it' a waste of time to test with anyone other than strangers.

Friends and family are tolerant. Friends and family give you the benefit of the doubt, and are willing to wait it out and see it through to the end.

Strangers will see what you have to offer, and hear what you have to say. But strangers won't waste their time. So many of the game's flaws, have thus far slipped under the radar, because my friends and family were too supportive. They were too optimistic. And for those who have seen the pictures of the laser cut "Master's Edition", perhaps my friends and family were a little blinded by obscenely fancy packaging...

They didn't want to be critical. They wanted to be supportive, as friends and family generally do. But most of all, friends and family don't mind spending time together. They didn't come for the game, they came for you. So whether the game plays, is a minor detail that can be forgiven, and ignored.

It's not this way with strangers. Strangers came for the game. They came to play. So if your game doesn't play, they have to move on. They already took a chance and spent valuable time with you. How much more can you ask.

If strangers aren't even satisfied with a game they got to play for free, can you imagine how they would feel had they paid good money for it?

Protospiel has been a great success, because it showed me how much still needs to be done. Protospiel saved me from trying to sell an unfinished product. And in that way, it saved me from public humiliation. I already do enough to embarrass myself in private, among friends and family. I see no need to escalate the situation and start making a public fool of myself.

The development will continue. The launch will be delayed. People will be disappointed. And so many grand plans will have to wait. It's never easy to deliver bad news, but the truth is incontrovertible. It's non-negotiable, and has to be said.

The grind continues...