The jam began Saturday, November 15th, including an (optional) in-person jam launch at the Annenberg Beach House. 

We continue to accept entries for future revisions of Santa Monica: A Game of Connections so we hope you’ll keep ’em coming! While we will try our best, any cards received after December 7th may not be included in the playtest.

Saturday, December 13th

• 11am-1pm – (optional) Celebration, coffee, donuts, and playtest the game at the Miles Memorial Playhouse!! We will be voting on which cards make it into the final deck. RSVP here!
• 12pm – Santa Monica 150th celebration activities on the Third Street Promenade!

Everyone is creating cards to play as part of one game, Santa Monica: A Game of Connections! We’re looking for card content that speaks to the City of Santa Monica 150th Anniversary’s themes of commemorating history, upholding diversity & inclusion and illuminating hopes & dreams for this city and the future.

Once you have made your cards you can either drop them off at a designated site or upload them through the form. You can submit one or as many cards as you like! See below for hints and prompts. Feel free to play the game with your own cards or your communities (just check out the game play rules)!

Creating a card is easy – simply decide on the card’s categories (Past/Present/Future and People/Place/Thing), what it represents (The Miles Memorial Playhouse, for instance), and write a short informational paragraph about what the card is (It’s Story. The Miles Memorial Playhouse is a theater that has served Santa Monica for over 50 years. The US premiere of Monster was there, for example). You may also include an appropriate image, if you would like.

Santa Monica: A Game of Connections is a collectible card game celebrating Santa Monica’s rich 150-year history with its vibrant present and exciting future. Players make Connections across time, and space, matching historical moments with modern developments, or imagining how today’s innovations become tomorrow’s possibilities. Quick, engaging, and creative —it’s as simple as connecting the threads of Santa Monica’s story through time! Santa Monica Connections encourages people to engage in rich conversations about their city and its communities.

THE GAME OF SANTA MONICA CONNECTIONS

Overview

Santa Monica Connections is a collectible card game celebrating Santa Monica’s rich 150-year history with its vibrant present and exciting future. Players make Connections across time, and space, matching historical moments with modern developments, or imagining how today’s innovations become tomorrow’s possibilities. Quick, engaging, and creative —it’s as simple as connecting the threads of Santa Monica’s story through time! Santa Monica Connections encourages people to engage in rich conversations about their city and its communities.

Ages: 8 to Adult
Players: 4-8 Players

What’s in the Box ( Once it is made, what will be in the box!)

Santa Monica Cards – Cards featuring specific moments, places, people, or events from Santa Monica’s past, present, or future, each marked with PAST, PRESENT, or FUTURE.

Quick Play Rules

Setting Up
Shuffle the Santa Monica Cards and deal seven to each player. Players keep these cards in hand.
Choose a player to be the first Storyteller.

Playing the Game
Each round, one player serves as the Storyteller who adds a card to the Timeline. All other players are Connectors who must find Connections.  Storyteller rotates each round. 

1. The Storyteller plays one Santa Monica Card face up on the table and reads it aloud, including the Time Period (Past, Present, or Future). This is the Timeline Card.
2. All Connectors quickly select a Santa Monica Card from their hand of a different Time Period that best connects to the Timeline Card. Connectors place their selected cards face down on the table.
3. The Storyteller collects and shuffles the submitted Connections, then reads each one aloud and considers which card makes the strongest or most interesting connection to the Timeline Card.
4. The Storyteller selects the winning card and awards the Timeline Card to that player. 
5. All players draw new Santa Monica Cards to return their hand to seven cards.
6. The role of Storyteller passes to the player on the left, and play continues until someone has collected enough Timeline Cards to win!

Santa Monica is marking its 150th anniversary with a citywide conversation reflecting on its past, honoring diverse histories, and helping shape an inclusive future. This major milestone commemorates July 14, 1875, the date when the original town map of Santa Monica was drawn. Residents, workers, artists, neighborhood groups, special interest clubs and local organizations are bringing the city to life with activities across the city. For the Santa Monica Anniversary Game Jam, Indiecade and Santa Monica Cultural Affairs are partnering to create a card game about the past and future of this special place… crowdsourced from you! imagining how today’s innovations become tomorrow’s possibilities. Quick, engaging, and creative —it’s as simple as connecting the threads of Santa Monica’s story through time! Santa Monica Connections encourages people to engage in rich conversations about their city and its communities.

City of Santa Monica 150th Anniversary Page: https://santamonica150.com/

City Art & Culture: https://www.santamonica.gov/categories/arts-culture-fun/the-arts

City Parks: https://www.santamonica.gov/categories/arts-culture-fun/parks-and-recreation

City of Santa Monica Library Research Page: https://www.santamonica.gov/topic-explainers/research-and-local-history and https://digital.smpl.org/

City of Santa Monica Public Art Collection: https://www.publicartarchive.org/collections/City-of-Santa-Monica–California?mapShow=true

Selected Public Art Tour https://www.santamonica.gov/media/Art/Santa_Monica_Public_Art_Tasting_Tour-1.pdf

Santa Monica Travel & Tourism’s Mural Tour: https://www.santamonica.com/things-to-do/arts-culture/complete-guide-to-street-art-murals-in-santa-monica/

City of Santa Monica Landmarks: https://www.santamonica.gov/categories/arts-culture-fun/historic-preservation

City of Santa Monica Urban Forest page (good for general info and map): https://www.santamonica.gov/topic-explainers/santa-monica-urban-forest

Public Tree Map (more storytelling): https://publictreemap.org/

City GIS maps: https://www.santamonica.gov/topic-explainers/maps-and-gis

City Airport Conversion: https://www.smacproject.com/

A game jam is a compressed period of time where a lot of people get together to make games, but in this case we’ll all be working on one non-digital card game!

IndieCade supports independent game development and organizes a series of international events showcasing the future of games. IndieCade’s initiatives and events are designated to bring visibility to emerging work and inspire and connect this global community of innovators.

IndieCade is organized by an expansive team of dedicated individuals who truly believe that we can make an impact on the industry and ultimately the way the world plays, understands, and is impacted by games.

Visit www.indiecade.com for more information on our activities like our upcoming Annual Creators Retreat, Game Jams, Horizons Talks and more. Anyone can participate and we encourage people to join as members to join the community and many member events, as well as the main support for our ongoing efforts.