What is this contest about?

The Golden Cobra Challenge is a friendly contest open to anyone interested in writing and playing freeform larp. This is the third year of the contest. It ran from 24 September to 15 October 2018.

Golden Cobra Challenge 2018

The current Golden Cobra Challenge launched on September 24, 2018.

Find the games submitted in 2018 here and at the archives.

Find games receiving awards and honorable mention in 2018 here and at the archives. Some of these games were run at Metatopia 2018.

Congratulations and thank you to all who took part! Welcome to the Golden Cobra Circle of power and good luck with your game.

What is a golden cobra?

Only the baddest-ass snake in the jungle, which is something you should always aspire to be. Rules were announced on 24 September 2018.

In 2018, Golden Cobras were awarded in five categories:

Optional ingredients:

What were the competition constraints?

In order to be considered for a Golden Cobra 2018, your game must have:
  1. Support a flexible number of participants by accepting at least 5 different player counts. For example, a game that supports 3 to 7 players would be acceptable because it supports player counts of 3,4,5,6, and 7 but a game that only supports 8 to 9 players would not be (since it only supports two possible player counts).
  2. Judges will read the first four pages of your submission (four total sides of 8.5x11 or A4 paper). Additional materials don't count toward this total, but the judges only commit to reading the first four. Consider adding designer's notes or a libretto as well!
  3. Be playable with zero to minimal prep.

What were the Rules for Entering?

  1. Be a new, unpublished freeform larp. It is neither a tabletop roleplaying game or a video game.
  2. Present your game in a readable, playable format in a single file (pdf preferred).
  3. Submit only one game. Your name can appear on one entry but teams are welcome.
  4. You retain all rights to your work and ancillary material related to submissions, like play aids or commentary. These will by default be published under the name it was submitted under in the yearly free Golden Cobra Anthology and linked from this Website for the world to enjoy.
  5. The deadline for submission was 15 October, 2018. Submit your game to submissions@goldencobra.org.

So who won in past years?

You can read about the winners and Honorable Mentions and Judges Choice Awards here. Games from 2017 are now posted here. Games submitted for the 2018 contest were posted November 2, 2018.

What happened this year?

Judges read the games during late October and announce and ran the winning games at Metatopia, 1-4 November 2018. The winners get bragging rights and everyone gets a new game they designed - and admission into the Golden Cobra'™s Circle of Power!

Can I spread the word?

Please do!

Who are the judges?

Judges for 2018 are Banana Chan, Evan Torner, Jason Morningstar, Hakan Seyalioglu and Sara Williamson.

I have more questions!

Check out the FAQ! or email cobracommander@goldencobra.org.