Chip Theory Games is a tabletop game publisher based in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota. We make board and card games united by high-quality components, deep and thoughtful designs, serious solo versions, and a crowdfund-first sales model. 

We’re looking to relieve pressure on our in-house development team as well as cross-pollinate development expertise with a new developer-in-residence program.

We’re seeking mid-career and senior-level game developers to work with us in our offices over a limited time. We broadly anticipate that each developer-in-residence engagement will…

• Last 6-12 weeks, as mutually agreed.
• Involve local, full-time, hands-on work with our design, development, graphic design, and executive team in Plymouth, Minnesota. We work in-office four days a week (and from home the fifth day), which is also the expectation of developers-in-residence.
• Entail focused development work, including playtesting, on a single game or line from our upcoming slate of projects.
• Include contributing to other ongoing design and development projects across our development team. We’re especially eager to learn about the best practices in your past work on other projects and at other publishers.
• Offer contract pay between $1,500 and $2,500 per week, as mutually agreed. This amount includes a variable stipend for local living expenses during the residency for those whose permanent home is outside the Twin Cities, also as mutually agreed. The highest amounts in this overall range would only be offered to highly experienced candidates with lengthy publication lists and having particularly high travel and living expenses.

We are not open to remote developers-in-residence at this time (other than on the fifth day each week). We do not anticipate that residencies are a pathway to ongoing employment at Chip Theory Games; this is not an apprenticeship or recruiting program. We are able to help arrange temporary local housing for developers who permanently live elsewhere. Developers-in-residence must be eligible to work in the United States. 

To apply, send a letter or document…

• Describing your tabletop games development experience, including a list of games you’ve worked on, the capacity in which you contributed, and — if published — the publisher and year of release.
• Summarizing your philosophy of what makes an excellent tabletop game.
• Identifying key development practices you believe are essential to developing any game, and describing an example of how that practice played out in previous games you developed. 
• Talking about the development practices you might be able to help us understand better and implement in our ongoing work.
• Communicating anything else you’d like us to know.
• Confirming that you are able to work in-person in Minnesota for a mutually agreed period from 6-12 weeks, and that you are eligible to work in the United States.

You don’t need to send a resume unless you want to. Traditional job experience and education often don’t correlate with excellence in this area.

If we’re interested in talking further, we’ll reach out to schedule an interview. We are likely to ask for references at some point in the process but you don’t need to send them to start.

Format your letter or document as a single PDF (which may have multiple pages) whose filename includes your first and last name. Email it as an attachment to dev@chiptheorygames.mom.

There is no deadline to apply. We expect this program to be ongoing, and are hoping to work with many fantastic developers-in-residence in the years to come.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!