Bootstrapping

Bootstrapping is a 2-player card-based story game about the accidental creation of a sentient AI and its path to omnipotence as it overrides and rewrites itself in light of its interactions with humanity.

Bootstrapping is a series of up to 7 microgames. While some will always be played, others might not be, and the ordering of the games varies. It requires no dice or other randomizers, and the players' experiences are highly asymmetrical, providing replay value even between the same two players.

The printed cards are overwhelmingly the best way to play the game. The print-and-play version in the PDF requires a 54-card poker deck and a pile of fully transparent card sleeves. This is absolutely functional, and was how I played for years while prototyping, but the actual cards really enhance the experience.

Despite being a game about a digital sentience, I must emphasize that no generative AI was used to design or make the game.

Cost: $7 (PDF), $20 (Physical Deck)

Screenshots

Designer’s Note

This game is special to me. I love all of my games, but Bootstrapping has a very particular kind of magic. It was designed at a rough point of my life, and it came together very quickly. My friends and I knew this one was different. It has an incredible ability to open up connection and personal understanding, and to do so quickly. I met my partner when a friend connected us to play it. It took me years to feel like it was fully ready to publish, mostly driven by my layout abilities rather than the design, which has only shifted only subtly over time. In its brevity and prompting it is the tightest, most effective package it can be, and my layout skills finally were up to the task. I feel passionately that every game I make is basically the best thing I’ve made yet, but I always come back to Bootstrapping being my masterpiece. You should really play it with the Print-on-Demand deck.