The Mad Fun Lab

Where good ideas get broken on purpose.

Every game starts rough. We prototype it, play it, send it to first-time players, watch what happens and keep changing it until the fun survives without us in the room.

Apply to the pool

The game-making machine

A visible path from a scribbled idea to a box people can put on the table.

01
Idea
02
Prototype
03
Internal testing
04
Blind testing
05
Pre-production
06
Manufacturing
07
Released

Live pipeline

What's on the benches

Explore every game →

GameWhat it isStage

Tardigrades Are ForeverHow do you destroy something that cannot be destroyed? With kindness.Released · fulfilling soon Camel Meets StrawMultitasking turned up to 11.In production Working titlePotato GameThrow it. Remember it. Don't get caught!Blind testing Working titlePizza GameYour hand plays one thing, while your mouth shouts another.Blind testing Working titleTrivia GameDid it happen before or after? Confidence is your downfall.Blind testing Working titleCompound GameStack real compound words faster than everyone else.Blind testing Working titleJobsite GameA race to complete the ultimate Aussie jobsite.Blind testing

The Mad Fun Standard

What every game has to survive

These are our design principles. Testing tells us whether a game genuinely lives up to them.

Easy to learn

First-time players need to understand it without the designer sitting beside them.

Nobody waiting around

Everyone should stay involved, even when it isn't their turn.

Something happens at the table

Laughing, arguing, shouting, bluffing — the game needs to create a real moment.

People want another go

A game shouldn't merely work. The table should want to play it again.

The playtester pool

Help us break the next one.

Real Australian households learn unreleased games without the designer present, film what happens and tell us where the fun — or the rules — fell apart.

Join the pool