Holidays are fun, and gaming holidays doubly so, so we’re trying to jumpstart a new one: New Game Day, on February 2nd.

What is New Game Day?
New Game Day is a free annual event for tabletop gamers worldwide – a day to celebrate tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs) and board games by playing something you’ve never played before. It’s easy to remember, too: “New on 2/2.”
We hope that on 2/2 every year you’ll take some time to play one or more new games, support the folks who design and sell those games, and share your love of games with others.
That’s all there is to it: a day to play new games. It’s a simple idea (simple enough that I was surprised it hadn’t already been done!), but hopefully one that will resonate with gamers worldwide.
Win prizes for playing new games
To help kick off the first annual New Game Day in style, Gnome Stew and Engine Publishing are providing prizes for sharing your New Game Day experience with us.
How to enter: On New Game Day, February 2, post a comment on our New Game Day feature article (which will go up January 31) about the new game or games you played to celebrate New Game Day. Because time zones are weird, any comment made on February 1, 2, or 3 will be eligible.
Small print: Comments before February 1 or after February 3 won’t be eligible. You can comment as many times as you like, but your first comment will be your entry. Members of the Gnome Stew team aren’t eligible to win.
How to win: We’ll choose random winners for each prize using random.org, and contact those winners using the email address associated with their Gnome Stew account.
The prizes: Courtesy of the Stew, Engine Publishing, and Parenthesis Press, we’re offering 6 prizes for New Game Day:
- A $100 Amazon.com gift certificate
- $75 worth of PDFs from DriveThruRPG (you email us what you want, and we’ll buy it for you)
- $50 worth of PDFs from DriveThruRPG (ditto)
- Digital editions of any 3 Engine Publishing books (you choose the books) and a PDF copy of House of Cards from Parenthesis Press
- Digital editions of any 2 Engine Publishing books and a PDF copy of House of Cards from Parenthesis Press
- The digital edition of any 1 Engine Publishing book and a PDF copy of House of Cards from Parenthesis Press
I hope you’ll take a moment to check out the New Game Day website, and that you’ll come back to share your experiences in our giveaway/celebration thread. Happy gaming!
Excellent initiative! Me and my gaming group are definitely game (pun intended).
However, I noticed that 2/2 this year conveniently falls on a Sunday which is easy for most people to gather around the table. But what about the coming years? Will we stick with 2/2, or go with Sundays instead (and lose the catchy ‘New on 2/2’ battlecry)?
Awesome! I’m glad you’re in, and I hope it proves to be a fun day.
I chose 2/2 as the fixed date for several reasons, but the main one is that — like GM’s Day — I want this to be a decentralized holiday that doesn’t involve much ongoing work on my part. I have a lot on my plate, and I learned from running New Year, New Game that side projects need to have minimal overhead for me to make them work.
Sometimes 2/2 won’t be a convenient day, but it’s my hope that even on a weeknight folks will find the time to play a new game or two. I know I’ll be able to juggle things to make odd days work.
The alternative would be a floating date, which presents a barrier to learning when a new holiday occurs and remembering that it’s going to happen again. This seemed like the simplest solution.
I love reading your newszine and articles. I tend to look them other and than save for “rainy” days. They are great reads and make the day fly by.
As far 2/2 New Game day – before the supebowl we will be playing several new games. Not what but I’m looking forward to it.