The Board Belongs to Everyone the Architects Abandoned

At 700 Nicollet Mall, in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, stands a building that has meant something to this city for over a century. It started as Dayton's — a family department store built on the idea that a business could be a genuine part of the community it served. That building became The Dayton's Project, a reimagined mixed-use space that its own developers describe as a place designed to "bring a sense of wonder, curiosity, and discovery." A cultural nexus.

George Floyd was murdered eight blocks away. Target Corporation — the company Dayton's became — was headquartered here when it committed to a $2 billion racial equity investment. And then, in January 2025, rolled it back.

We are not here to relitigate that decision. We are here to play a different game.

What Veiled Dominion Is

Veiled Dominion is an asymmetric chess variant built by Loptr Lab, an independent creative studio. It is open-source, accessibility-first, and built on AT Protocol — a decentralized technology where your identity, your stats, and your character live on your own data server, not ours.

The game inverts standard chess's structure in one specific way: the win condition is not about protecting the most powerful piece. The game ends when Rebirth — the piece that earns her own agency through the course of the game — loses control. Not when Death is threatened. Not when the strongest piece falls. The agency of the transformed piece is the stake.

The board has always belonged to the people the architects abandoned. That is not a slogan. It is the game's mechanical premise.

You can play it now at duet.loptrlab.com. No account required. Just show up.

The Event

We want to host the first Veiled Dominion physical hackathon and game jam in Minneapolis. One day. Open to everyone. Three tracks running simultaneously:

Play — Sit down at a board and play Duet. Rules card provided. We want your feedback and we will listen to it.

Build — Contribute to the open-source engine, the lore, or the Sealed Deck card system. Laptop welcome. Game accessible at duet.loptrlab.com. All skill levels.

Make — Paint chess pieces. Draw card faces. Engrave boards. The pieces you make become part of the documented history of this event on lore.farm, the canonical home for Veiled Dominion's community lore. Your work goes into the world.

No prerequisites. No gatekeeping. No handout. Just a fair playing field.

Want to host one in your city?

Everything you need is in the Physical Hackathon Kit — supplies, rules cards, event structure, and a sponsor pitch template.

Why The Dayton's Project

The Dayton's Project is the right venue because of what it represents and what it is actively trying to become again. Its own description: a memory maker and cultural nexus. Its own stated design objective: wonder, curiosity, and discovery.

That is what a game jam is supposed to be.

The building has five skyway connections and sits on Nicollet Mall. It is accessible. It has gathering spaces. It hosts seasonal markets featuring local makers — which is exactly what this event is. We are local makers. We are making something that will outlast the event.

We are approaching The Dayton's Project's event team, the City of Minneapolis's arts and cultural programming office, and Target Corporation's community relations team as potential partners and co-sponsors. Not because we need permission to play — we don't — but because this city benefits when its institutions show up for its builders.

Target's own data, from its own Diversity Report, showed that diverse supplier engagement contributed to a $1 billion increase in procurement from diverse-owned businesses. That stores with higher diversity metrics had better customer satisfaction and lower employee turnover. The research doesn't lie. Community investment works.

We are offering a way to demonstrate that in public, on a Saturday, in a building everyone in this city knows by name.

What We're Building Toward

This event is the beginning of something larger. The physical hackathon is a playtest session, a community gathering, and a proof of concept for what Veiled Dominion can be in a room.

The longer arc: a physical Veiled Dominion board — sensor layer, LED underlighting for veil states, connected to AT Protocol for stat write-back after every match — modeled on what smart chessboard technology has already proven is possible. A product. A thing you can hold. A thing built here, by people from here, documented in public from the first move.

The game is listed on atmosphere.games — a directory of games built on AT Protocol, where your data stays yours across every game you play. It is one of the first games from this city on that platform. We would like it to not be the last.

Who We Are

Loptr Lab is an independent creative studio. Our core value is People over Profits. We do not have a corporate backer. We have an open-source repo, a Patreon, a Buy Me a Coffee page, a PayPal link, and a Lightning tip jar for people who want to support without a subscription. We have a game that is live and playable today.

We are based in Minneapolis. We have always been based in Minneapolis.

We are asking this city — its institutions, its community partners, and its people — to show up the same way we have.

Interested in sponsoring, co-organizing, or attending? Reach out through loptrlab.com or find us on Bluesky at @the-rift.bsky.social.

The game is open. The board is yours.

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