How to Earn a Living by Inventing New Board Games - Online Income Generation, Income Growth Strategies, Freelancing Income

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It’s possible that you can make money designing and selling board games, but you have to do it at a large scale to make any meaningful profits.

That doesn’t mean that small production runs can’t make good money, or that designers that sell 20,000 copies of their game will make a good income. There are always outliers that defy statistical success and failure.

However, most people who want to make money in board games will have to design a game that is popular enough to sell quite a few copies or find a way to increase their profit margin.

This article will provide tips on how to make board games and earn money from them as a tcg trader. Also, you will learn how to make your first board game and make money from it. Pay attention to the following points.

Cost of Designing a Board Game
How Much Can You Make Designing a Board Game
How to Make And Publish a Board Game
How to Survive as a Board Game Designer
How much are the royalties for an independent board game designer?
How to Promote Your Board Game
Can You Make Money Creating Board Games?
Are Board Games Making a Comeback?
How do You Make Your Own Board Games And Sell it?
How to Make a Professional Board Game
Self-Publish Board Game
Making Money From Board Game
How to Create a Tabletop Game
Do Game Designers Make a Lot of Money?
How Much Does it Cost to Self Publish a Board Game?
How Long Should a Board Game Last?
How do I Protect my Game Idea?
How Much Does it Cost to Patent a Board Game?
How Big is The Board Game Market?
How do You Sell a Game Idea?
How Can I Publish my Game For Free?
How do You Price Board Games?
What Makes a Board Game Successful?
What Are The Benefits of Playing Board Games?

Cost of Designing a Board Game

Before you start looking at how much money you can make from producing a board game, let’s see what you’ll have to pay. If you aren’t providing a complete end-to-end solution for the production and delivery of your game, you’ll have some people in between you and your customer that will have to do some of the work.

Of course, they aren’t going to work for free, so you’ll have to pay them a lot of money to do so. To have a game to sell, you’ll need to have it produced. But before you can even get to that stage, you’ll need to create a game worth playing.

So, you’ve finished coming up with the concept for a game that’s going to be the next monopoly, so your next step is to get it produced, right? Wrong! If you’re the only person who has seen or played your creation, you’ll need to have some playtesters test your game.

You could have your friends and family test your game – and you should to get feedback from as many people as possible – however, it’s probably a good idea to pay some playtesters to find problems with your game and give you their thoughts.

Read Also: Hire Game Developer

Otherwise, you might spend your money producing a game that consumers can’t stand playing. From what I’ve seen from designers, paying for playtesters is pretty much a must.

Your game should be ready for production now, right? Not unless you happen to be an artist that also moonlights as a game designer. Your consumers aren’t going to want to buy an ugly game.

So, if you don’t have an artistic bone in your body, you’ll need to pay someone to make your game look good. Depending on the amount of art that you need to put into your game, this can be a pretty sizable expense.

How Much Can You Make Designing a Board Game

On average, board game designers make between $56,000-$113,000 a year. A board game designer with less than 1 year’s experience makes between $42,000-$87,000. With 7-14 year’s experience, a board game designer can expect to earn between $51,000-$113,000.

Entry level

An entry-level board game designer, with less than a year of experience, can expect to make $42,000-$87,000.

However, those starting on $87,000 are exceptional given that board game designers with 7-14 year’s experience can make as little as $51,000+.

They will spend some time designing games, revising rules and taking on feedback from playtesting. They figure out how people play the game, how to make it fun, what the rules are, how to make it fair to every player and lots of other decisions besides.

But they will not have the final call on any of the decisions they make. These will fall to a more senior game designer. Just how senior that person is will depend on how many levels there are in the company hierachy. The bigger the company, the more management levels there will be.

Senior level

At the top of the career ladder will be a Senior or Principal Game Designer. Using Glassdoor data, board game designers with 7-14 years experience make $51,000-$113,000. This may sound like a lot, but other senior level roles are likely to pay more.

At the most senior role, this person will have years of experience in developing and publishing board games.

They spend their time overseeing multiple games, managing partner relationship, liaising with different departments, managing budgets, schedules and teams. They will be in a leadership role and be expected to be constantly up to date with industry developments.

How to Make And Publish a Board Game

1. Come up With an Initial Idea For a Game

This can be based around a game mechanic that you like from another game, a combination of multiple mechanics, a specific theme, a general idea, or anything from life (any person, place, or thing).

Take that idea and build something from it! We find our inspiration from traveling, reading books, watching movies, playing other games, and thinking of interesting concepts from economics.

2. Make a Prototype

This can and should be ugly. The uglier it is, the more people will be able to focus on the core rules and concepts of the game. It can be printed out cardstock and coins. As long as it is functional for testing, then it will work! We use Google Docs to write our rules, and Google Slides to make our cards.

Each time we make a new version we duplicate those docs, change the version number on top, and archive the now out-of-date version. This lets us keep a record of past versions, in case we want to revert back to something that was working well.

In Google slides we created a large table so that each section is as big as a card, and then write inside each section what text and image we want on the card. Each slide contains 12 cards.

3. TEST, TEST, TEST!

Strip the game down to its core and make it as simple as possible while keeping the intrigue high. Your final game will look nothing like your initial idea,and that’s ok. Most games are literally tested hundreds of times and go through about a hundred different versions. The final game is often completely different from where they started.

Always remember that your baby is ugly! Of course you are going to love your game, and of course your close friends and family are going to love your game (at least that’s what they’ll tell you). So be sure to realize that your game isn’t as fun as you think it is.

Test it with strangers, or test with a group enough so that they’ll be honest about what isn’t working. We hold a weekly game night at our house. This forces you to make good changes each week, and gives you a group of people who get to be part of the innovative process and help you find the flaws quickly.

4. Give Your Game a Theme

This can happen alongside steps 1-3 and can sometimes even be the initial spark for step 1. Find a theme that matches the game play and makes sense. For your games, you can choose witches, pirates, and cowboys! Whatever your theme, make sure that your rules, components, and mechanics all people into the world of the theme. Make your game an immersive experience.

5. Decide if You Want to Piblish Your Game, or License it to Another Company

At this point you can reach out to established game companies and see if they are taking game submissions. If yes, then you can send them your rules and they’ll decide if they’d like to publish it. If they do, then they’ll take it from here!

You will only get about 3-5% royalties, which doesn’t amount to a lot, but it also means that your game will be in good hands and will more likely see the light of day and become a reality.

But keep in mind that it is hard for games to get picked up since companies get lots of submissions. So self-publishing may be the way to go. You can check this post FAQ page about guidelines for game submissions.

6. Find an Illustrator

If you have decided to self-publish, now is the time to find an artist! There are also places online like upwork.com and fiverr.com where you can look. You can also just keep your eyes open.

Often you will get what you pay for. The more experienced artists are going to charge more. That’s life! Some publishers will offer their artist a percentage of whatever they make on Kickstarter.

So you could see if they are interested in something like that. You also don’t need to pay for every card to be designed right away. But you need enough designed so that your game looks complete and ready when you show it to people when you are trying to get funding for the game.

7. Find a Graphics Designer

Sometimes step 6 and step 7 can be the same person. Search online for graphic designer who are willing to work on your board game. You can use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for your graphic design work.

8. Make a Pretty Prototype

Create your finished game! You can pull together each piece using places like makeplayingcards.com (cards), 3dhubs (3D printed pieces), inked gaming (play mats), game crafter (various game pieces), etc. You want your game to look exactly like it will when it is manufactured. This is important for people so that they can see your whole vision.

9. Contact a Factory

Sometimes they will also create a full sample of the game for you (usually around $200) so that you don’t have to worry as much about step #8. Some easy factories to work with for new designers are Panda Games (pandagm.com) and Longpack (kathy@longpack.com).

Panda Games has a great quote builder on their site that you can use to better understand what types of materials you want to use in your game.

10. Build a Kickstarter Page and Launch!

If you have enough money on hand to cover the minimum quantity indicated by your factory, then you can also just skip Kickstarter and make your game right away. But Kickstarter is great because it gets people excited about your product and lets you know if you’ll need to make more than the minimum quantity.

11. Manufacture Your Game

Now that you have the funds, it’s time to make your game! Hopefully by this time you’ll already have sent designs to your factory and they’ll be ready to start production.

Make sure you communicate a LOT with your factory to make sure everything is how you envision for your game. Ask them to send you digital and physical samples as often as possible so that you can make sure everything is being made correctly.

12. Send The Games From Your Factory to Your Fulfillment Center

Oftentimes your fulfillment center (see step 13) or the factory can help arrange freighting your games across the ocean from your factory to the fulfillment center. It takes about 6-8 weeks for this process. Be sure to factor in the cost of freight when you’re funding the game in step 10.

13. Fulfillment

Now that the games are at your fulfillment center, send them to your backers! There is a company called Ship Naked and they have been great to work with. Contact them at https://www.shipnaked.com/apply/ to start getting an idea of what shipping costs will be for you. If you haven’t made a lot of games, or you don’t have many backers, you can also handle shipping yourself if you’re up for the work!

But oftentimes a fulfillment center can get better postage prices anyways, so it makes sense to use them.

14. Ongoing Sales

Now you sell your game! You can sell it through a game website, list your game on Amazon, or reach out to local game stores and see if they would sell your product. You can also reach out to distributors and see if they’ll carry your game and sell it to stores for you.

How to Survive as a Board Game Designer

If you’re hoping to “make it” as a game designer, there are some things you can do to help yourself reach your goal. You can keep your day job, design multiple games, and learn to market yourself.

Don’t quit your day job

If you’re hoping to achieve success as a game designer, you shouldn’t start by quitting your day job and diving into it full time. Take your time to test the waters with your games, come up with your concept and go through a few rounds of playtesting.

Then start looking at the next stage of development, whether that be selling the design to a publisher, finding an artist to create the art for your game, or taking it to a crowdfunding platform.

Once you get a few successes under your belt, you should be able to gauge the type of lifestyle your career as a game designer could support should you go full-time. For many designers, their games provide enough of an income to supplement their full-time job. It’s rare for a designer to make enough to be able to leave their 9 to 5.

Does that mean you shouldn’t pursue your goal? Absolutely not! The industry will always be in need of great designers, and that designer just might be you! Your game might become a blockbuster hit, selling millions of copies all over the world. Just because something isn’t statistically likely doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the chance.

Design multiple games

Since most designers get a percentage of their games that sell, it stands to reason that if you design multiple games, you’ll have a higher likelihood of succeeding as a designer. If you created 12 games a year and each one averaging 4,000 copies, you’d stand to make about $48,000, even by conservative estimates.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating for you to produce subpar games to flood the market, just that designing multiple games could help you get to your goal of becoming a full-time designer.

Producing 12 games a year isn’t possible for most people – even professional designers, but if you could do two or three games, you might just produce a game that could support a career.

Learn to market yourself

Many board games fail because they aren’t marketed well. It’s easy to let your ego get in the way of success by assuming that your game will sell well based on your genius and ingenuity. However, if no one knows your game exists, then there’s no possible way that they can buy your game.

There are a lot of marketing strategies out there, but you don’t need something over the top. A website where you can showcase your games should be able to do the job.

You can also consider starting a YouTube channel where you could give overviews of your game, host playthroughs, or even give behind the scenes insights into the design of the game. Hint, this could also help you make money to support your games through advertiser revenue.

Remember, as a game designer, you aren’t only selling your games, but you’re selling yourself, too. If you’re like me, when you buy a game, you check to see who the game designer is, which may influence your decision.

There are some prolific designers that most people in the industry will know their games and whether their design style produces games that they’ll like.

So do yourself a service and market yourself as a part of your games. Attend board game conventions to promote them. Feature yourself on your website with your games. Help gamers make a connection between you and your designs.

None of these things will guarantee success. However, following these tips could help you succeed as a game designer. Whether you just want to publish a game to cement yourself as a game designer in the industry, or if your goal is to replace your full-time income through game design, put the work in, and you should get some measure of success.

How much are the royalties for an independent board game designer?

In short, it depends on the contract. The royalties may be:

A percentage of the game’s wholesale price
A percentage of the game’s retail price
A percentage of the games wholesale price that rises on units sold
A percentage of the game’s sale price
A percentage of the publisher’s profit

New game designers with no proven track record will mostly get lower percentages.

Taking a conservative royalty and an average priced game like Settlers of Catan, if your game retails for $45, then the publisher is likely selling it to the retailer at 40% of that price. So, $18. If you have a royalty of 5%, you’ll earn 90 cents per copy sold.

A small to medium print run is 2000 to 20000 copies. So if every copy sold – 20,000 * 0.90 = $18,000. Not bad, but not that much money, especially when you consider all the time and money you will have invested in getting the game to that point. And the 2 years it may take to get a game on the shelves.

Royalties are paid:

Quarterly 52%
Annually 12%
Bi annually 24%

The margins on board games are really small because there are a lot of costs associated with manufacturing, marketing and dispatching a game.

For a publisher, the risk is high when creating a new game. They need to invest a lot of money getting the game released, and even when they do it might be a flop. They will need to sell a lot of copies to make their initial investment back.

Kickstarter

The amounts raised on Kickstarter for board games is huge! So you’d think the board game designers were making a decent amount of money from their games.

Hours and hours go into creating a game, and by the time they get to Kickstarter most of these games have a decent prototype that they have play-tested countless times.

They also need to make a video and run a campaign. To make their game appealing, the artwork needs to be done by someone and the video needs creating.

This all costs money and/or time. But let’s look at just the production side.

Let’s price a reasonably simple game like Carcassone with River expansion. How much would the components be? Using pricing on The Game Crafter, with an order size of 100+ games, this is how much it would cost.

Item	Amount	Cost ($)
Score board	1	3.25
Folded instructions sheet	1	0.90
Box	1	5.00
Blue meeples	8	0.40
Red meeples	8	0.40
Green meeples	8	0.40
Black meeples	8	0.40
Yellow meeples	8	0.40
Land tiles	80	5.25
Total	16.40

A print run of 1000 would cost $16,400.

Assuming that if it was made at a very large scale, we could save 50% on manufacturing costs, so $8.20 per game.

Carcassone’s current retail value is about $34.95 on Amazon. Let’s assume it’s sold at the usual wholesale price of 40% of retail = $13.98.

$13.98 – $8.20 = $5.78 gross profit per game to deal with all the selling, marketing and administration of the game.

That is not a lot considering the amount of time spent on these activities, their associated costs and the number of people involved getting a game to this stage.

Add to that, the pressure to learn how to manufacture, distribute and market a game with no previous experience – it’s done for love, not money.

How to Promote Your Board Game

1. Forums and Facebook Groups

Don’t just browse, be an active community member and contribute to posts. It is important you can help others as this will be well received. Share your skills, insights and knowledge, this is a powerful way to build up a following.

Then slowly start to promote your own prototype board games and try to provide as much detail about its mechanics and, if possible, provide photos.

Ideally you should be an active member of forums and groups at least 3 months before posting about your own games. So that when you do some members on the forum/group will know you have already contributed to their games and will be more likely to contribute towards your post, giving you more feedback and replies.

Don’t forget Twitter also which has a huge amount of board gaming groups and discussions. The more replies you get, you tend to see more come along to contribute. When you post your prototypes or work in progress games still actively contribute to other posts to show that your still a valuable member of the community.

What is actively good for marketing is to post up pictures of the play testing groups playing your game, and try to get them to go onto your posts about the game so everyone can see how much they have enjoyed playing it.

After you draw more interest into your project, think about when you are ready to launch your crowdfunding campaign and try to plan it out so that it doesn’t come too soon, but towards the interest of your game getting hotter. You want to launch the campaign when the interest is at its highest.
Here’s a quick guide:

Get on the main forums and groups 3 months before you post about your own games, contributing to other peoples’ posts.
After 3 months of being active post your board game ideas to get feedback.
Still contribute to other posts and keep being active.
Don’t promote your crowdfunding campaign until at least 6 months of promoting your prototype on the forums/groups to draw up interest. Ideally you want to wait 9 months and plan out the release of your board game(s)
Avoid just promoting your games as this can be belated. Be a valuable member.
When you are ready to launch your crowdfunding campaign, contact everyone that has contributed to your board game posts. Ensure you post in the correct section of the forum and in the right groups about the campaign. Try to launch it at the busiest time of interest.

2. Promote your website and blog

What if you don’t have a website, blog or podcast, then this won’t be the end of the world, but it does help in the long run to gain more interest into what you are doing, particularly if what you are doing it also helping others.

Board Game Links is a useful site to get your blog, podcast or website listed – what is important is getting people to like it so that your listing goes up to the top half.

You might not see this as vital, but really it is: have a mailing list, because when it comes round to promoting your crowdfunding campaign this will prove valuable. Ideally you want to have a regular podcast or newsletter to send out to your followers, and keep it consistent with relevance to the industry you are in – Board Gaming.

Forums and groups are a great place to promote what you’re offering, but you want to be careful because if you are just posting links then it could end up annoying people. Trust me, I have been there and done it so plan it out. You want to make sure you are aware of the posting rules on the Facebook groups as many don’t allow you to post up promotion links.

Instead contribute to posts regularly, be active and then start to post links about your website/blog/podcast in your replies, but keep it relevant to the content. If it’s a helpful link then people are far more likely to receive this with open arms, but if it’s just for the sake of just promoting something then they won’t.

You also don’t want to be seen as someone not being helpful and bombarding people with links that aren’t relevant. It is also about timing, for example, if the key topics on groups or forums are about crowdfunding, and you have done a blog about this then that is going to interest a lot of people and worth shouting about.

Relevance is the key word, if people find it is relevant and something that can assist them in gaining more knowledge and information then they are far more likely to want to click on the link. You can now and again promote what you are offering in a direct post, but be mindful that doing this too early without contributing regularly to people’s posts won’t go down too well.

If you have a website competitions are a great way to attract traffic and also create a good buzz around you. You can get some good social followers this way and when launching competitions try to promote your prototypes and games at the same time.

Try some of Gleam’s apps for your website to have competitions and offer rewards. It is a convenient way of doing it and keeping track of things, but it does cost (however there are free plans and it is one of the best out there). Alternatively you could just create a basic competition and have people email you their answers or use Google Docs.

3. Play-test your game to wider communities

Look for play-testers and gaming groups. There lots around, but start off with your local community before going further a field with your prototype. That way you can iron out any bugs with your board game before stretching out. If you have a finished board game contact as many gaming groups as you can and ensure that you can send out your prototype.

Be mindful that play testers give up a lot of their time so do them justice by play-testing a lot in-house first.
Don’t just stick with your country, go much further than that and reach out to as many as you can. This will be a great way to spread the word about your game.

We highly suggest you have a launch date for your Kickstarter campaign and mention this in a short letter with your prototype game to playtesting groups. That way you are likely to get more backers if they like your game, but don’t forget to contact them again on the launch date.

Get as much feedback as possible about your games so that you can make the necessary adjustments before sending them out for reviews, and considering using a feedback form like the one created, which you can find in Feedback For Your Boardgame blog.

Consider broadcasting some playtesting groups live via Facebook, which now lets you do this. It’s a great way to gain interest in your game and you can also record your event live on Youtube. We advise you putting together a Facebook group first to get some followers.

4. Feature in blogs and podcasts

Try to get some interviews on the go about what you are working on or games you have created in the past. This is a great way to gain exposure, but ultimately you need something that will interest people.

Generally you will only be interviewed if you have already released games, are about to release one or have something that will be of great interest to people (particularly something that will be helpful).

Before you contact bloggers and pod-casters, do your research to find out what they generally write/talk about and mention why you would be a good candidate. If you have experience in certain areas of the gaming industry this will be a good starting point as well as your game(s).

You want to try and link the timing in well with number 5; Reviews. That is because you will have more ways for people to research your game that will back up what you are saying about it. Also try to have the interview or blog about your game when you also have the date for when your crowdfunding campaign launch is, that way you can promote this also.

Keep things positive and stay on this path. If you are doing a podcast try to get the questions before hand so that you can be prepared. With a blog you will have far more time to analyse what your answers are.

Don’t miss lead people, it is always better to slightly under-hype something rather than over-hype that could lead to disappointment so that when they look at reviews about it they will get more excited themselves.

The key is the tease people into thinking it’s a good game but leaving enough for when they find it or see a review about it they will get more excited by discovering how better it actually is than they first thought.

5. Attend Gaming Conventions

Assuming that you have a finished product or one that has already been released, gaming conventions are an excellent way to sell your board games. It is also a great way to promote your crowdfunding campaign, so make sure you get the timing right.

Make a list of all the gaming conventions you are prepared to attend, and make up a marketing plan for these:

How much are you prepared to spend for each convention?
Where will you set up? In a prime spot (expensive) or in a less desirable area (cost effective)?
Consider if you will be using banners or marketing display stands, work out the cost of getting these designed and also the cost of using them at conventions.
Considering using tables for people to play your game.
Consider what promotional materials you will be using.
Take into consideration the cost of travel and overnight stay.
Make sure you add up all the costs, and always have extra for emergencies, such as overnight stay, delayed flights, broken down car, food and drinks etc.
Be well organised and create a spreadsheet for keeping track of everything, with a column for what you are using, cost, actions, contact details and a preparation list for the day.

6. Be Creative at Gaming Conventions

Let’s assumed you have done your research, planned everything out and know how you are setting up. If you’re short of ideas, here are some to get you thinking about:

Marketing display stands are a great way for people to take notice of you.
Consider having a competition for people to enter – this will draw in some crowds to you – and announce the winner at the event.
Make sure you have a good display out promoting your crowdfunding campaign; launch date, link (and QC code), and some brief information about the game.
Arrive early to set-up and be well prepared.
Take someone with you so that you can have a wonder, engage with people and assess other stalls.
If you have a theme it’s a good idea to consider using a mascot – you can hire consumes relatively cheap – you just need to find someone to do it. This will appeal to kids.
Are T-Shirt’s worth investing in? You can get them relatively cheap with a logo printed on and will stand you out.
Consider being different to stand out – what promotional ideas do you have that will make you appeal to everyone? Balloons, banners, hiring staff to dress up for you, free give away for every purchase.
If you have glowing reviews, display the best ones and provide links for people to view the video reviews.
Take plenty of board games with you, as conventions are normally a great way to sell games. If you run out, have a backup plan – can people write down their details and be contacted when the next batch is ready?
Create a mailing list, especially if you have a blog, podcast or newsletter.
Always take paper, pens and other creative utensils with you – you never know when you might need to make a sign.

7. Sell your game to shops

You should only sell a complete finished game that is fully manufactured to a shop. Start off with the big guns and main shops like Barnes & Noddle (US), Amazon (world-wide), What (UK). Then venture into the specialised shops that are both on-line and in your community.

If you can get your game on Amazon and with the other big guns then you are far more likely to get better sales than with a local shop. You can still get good sales through smaller board game shops however, but these are few between.

A distributor will help you get your game in shops a lot quicker and also take away the pain staking work you will have to do. It does however come at a price and they typically take around 55-60% of profits, but consider that they will have far more connections than yourself.

You might not find your game in the smaller local shops with a distributor but you can do that yourself with relative ease, it’s when you want to start getting your board game into larger shops that are a distance away, as you need to consider shipping costs which is one reason why Distributors charge so much.

Distributors are worth their weight in gold if you manage to get a good one, but when starting off go small first and try to do it yourself so that you can learn the trade, and better prepare yourself when making a decision next time between doing it yourself or using a Distributor.

8. Monitor your marketing

Create a spreadsheet to keep track of what is effective and what’s not working. For example, if you have several marketing mission statements you want to track which ones work best.

So you would release one a month, or every 2 weeks, and monitor the amount of hits you get to the link your are promoting. It is important to try and use the same link (but different messages) so you can see which message is most effective across which social network.

Can You Make Money Creating Board Games?

It’s possible that you can make money designing and selling board games, but you have to do it at a large scale to make any meaningful profits. That doesn’t mean that small production runs can’t make good money, or that designers that sell 20,000 copies of their game will make a good income.

There are always outliers that defy statistical success and failure. However, most people who want to make money in board games will have to design a game that is popular enough to sell quite a few copies or find a way to increase their profit margin.

Are Board Games Making a Comeback?

Board games are making a comeback. They cater to our need for adventure by placing us into a new world where the focus isn’t on daily house chores, work projects, or homework, but instead on winning the game at hand.

In fact, board games and puzzles are thriving. In 2016, over 3,900 new board games were released to the public. A study by Euromonitor International found that board games and puzzles grew in revenue from $9.3 billion in 2013 to $9.6 billion by 2016. The growth isn’t stopping there, as board games and puzzles are expected to yield a 1 percent sales growth rate year-over-year.

New human-to-human interactive games like Hunt A Killer murder mysteries, The Oregon Trail, and Exploding Kittens have paved the way for board games to make a comeback. Family, friends, strangers, and colleagues alike search for fun and memorable experiences to share, and board games provide this social activity that society craves today.

10 Reasons why Board Games are Making a Comeback

Need for Human Interaction
Team Building and Break Rooms
New Service Offering for Bars, Cafes, and Restaurants
Technology Overload
Family Time
Decreases Stress
Happiness
Goal Setting and Patience
Health Benefits
Drink and Play

How do You Make Your Own Board Games And Sell it?

Over the years we’ve had hundreds of aspiring board game designers ask us about the process of publishing a board game. We’ve created this handy little guide to help you on your way!

1. Come up with an initial idea for a game

This can be based around a game mechanic that you like from another game, a combination of multiple mechanics, a specific theme, a general idea, or anything from life (any person, place, or thing). Take that idea and build something from it! We find our inspiration from traveling, reading books, watching movies, playing other games, and thinking of interesting concepts from economics.

2. Make a prototype

In Google slides we created a large table so that each section is as big as a card, and then write inside each section what text and image we want on the card. Each slide contains 12 cards.

3. Test, test, test!

Get a weekly group together, or go to a game convention. Hold a game night or go to local or university board game club. Each time you test, notice what works and what doesn’t. Subtract the bad, add some new. Strip the game down to its core and make it as simple as possible while keeping the intrigue high.

Your final game will look nothing like your initial idea,and that’s ok. Our games are literally tested hundreds of times and go through about a hundred different versions. The final game is often completely different from where we started.

Test it with strangers, or test with a group enough so that they’ll be honest about what isn’t working. We hold a weekly game night at our house. This forces us to make good changes each week, and gives us a group of people who get to be part of the innovative process and help us find the flaws quickly.

4. Give your game a theme

This can happen alongside steps 1-3 and can sometimes even be the initial spark for step 1. Find a theme that matches the game play and makes sense. For our games, we chose witches, pirates, and cowboys! Whatever your theme, make sure that your rules, components, and mechanics all people into the world of the theme. Make your game an immersive experience.

5. Decide if you want to publish your game, or license it to another company

You will only get about 3-5% royalties, which doesn’t amount to a lot, but it also means that your game will be in good hands and will more likely see the light of day and become a reality. But keep in mind that it is hard for games to get picked up since companies get lots of submissions. So self-publishing may be the way to go.

6. Find an illustrator

If you have decided to self-publish, now is the time to find an artist! We found our incredible artist, Sarah Keele, on a university job board. There are also places online like upwork.com and fiverr.com where you can look. You can also just keep your eyes open.

Any painting you see or poster or advertisement or cards in your favorite board game were designed by someone! And often you can find the artist’s name. Google them, contact them, and see if they’d like to be a part of your project. Often you will get what you pay for. The more experienced artists are going to charge more. That’s life!

Some publishers will offer their artist a percentage of whatever they make on Kickstarter. So you could see if they are interested in something like that. You also don’t need to pay for every card to be designed right away. But you need enough designed so that your game looks complete and ready when you show it to people when you are trying to get funding for the game.

7. Find a graphic designer

Sometimes step 6 and step 7 can be the same person. In our case, we have taken the finished illustrations from our artist and then my wife Holly has put them onto cards and the boards, etc. She adds borders and fonts and brings the whole look together.

This is a big step so don’t ignore it. Holly is a semi-professional designer, so usually it’s not as simple as just doing it yourself. We use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for our graphic design work.

8. Make a pretty prototype

9. Contact a factory

Reach out to a factory and tell them what pieces your game needs to have. They will then get you a quote for how much each component will cost. They’ll also tell you how many you have to order for them to produce it (usually around 1,000 units). Sometimes they will also create a full sample of the game for you (usually around $200) so that you don’t have to worry as much about step #8.

Some easy factories to work with for new designers are Panda Games (pandagm.com), Longpack, Gameland, Whatz Games, etc. Panda Games has a great quote builder on their site that you can use to better understand what types of materials you want to use in your game.

10. Build a Kickstarter page and launch!

We have written a whole article about Kickstarter, and we encourage you to read it! If you have enough money on hand to cover the minimum quantity indicated by your factory, then you can also just skip Kickstarter and make your game right away. But Kickstarter is great because it gets people excited about your product and lets you know if you’ll need to make more than the minimum quantity.

11. Manufacture your game

Now that you have the funds, it’s time to make your game! Hopefully by this time you’ll already have sent designs to your factory and they’ll be ready to start production. Make sure you communicate a LOT with your factory to make sure everything is how you envision for your game. Ask them to send you digital and physical samples as often as possible so that you can make sure everything is being made correctly.

12. Send the games from your factory to your fulfillment center

13. Fulfillment

Now that the games are at your fulfillment center, send them to your backers! Some good companies to reach out to for board games are Funagain, Quartermaster, Easyship, Spiral Galaxy (EU/UK) and Floship (International).

There are also many local “3PL” companies that can help you out. If you haven’t made a lot of games, or you don’t have many backers, you can also handle shipping yourself if you’re up for the work! But oftentimes a fulfillment center can get better postage prices anyways, so it makes sense to use them.

14. Ongoing sales

Now you sell your game! You can sell it through a website, list your game on Amazon, or reach out to local game stores and see if they would sell your product.

You can also reach out to distributors and see if they’ll carry your game and sell it to stores for you. We work with a consolidator called PSI who sells our game to distributors who then sell them to retailers.

How to Make a Professional Board Game

Step 1: Pick a Game Style

To start building your game you need to first need to decide what kind of board game you want to build.

With the immense number of board games out there, this task does seem a little daunting. However it is not impossible.

Wikipedia has a list of every board game that currently exists. Looking at this list for inspiration you can create your own board game and even develop your own unique set of rules. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_board_games

Step 2: Sketch It Out

After picking the style of your board game, the next step is to NOT to start crafting the board and pieces. The next step is to sketch the board and trying to figure out the rules.

Figuring out the look and rules of your board game will provide you with the ability to carefully craft your perfect board game. The sketches can also act as a guide during your stage when you put your board game together.

The sketch can be a detailed or simple as you want. But laying out your ideas on paper will make building game easier in the long run.

Step 3: Build the Board, If Needed

Not all board games need a board but many do. There are a variety of ways that you can construct your game board from the simple printed out sheet to a crafted laser cut piece of wood.

1) Draw it out.

Using cardboard or paper found around your house you can design your board using simple tools such as pens, pencils, markers, and paint. You could even use glitter!

2) Print it out

Using a design software such as Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape you can design a board for your game with a little more precession. Using a design software also allows you to become more complicated or integrate board.

3) Machine it out

Laser cutters are awesome and can produce really cool designs in a variety of materials.

Step 4: Make Your Pieces

After your board has been finalized you need pieces to play your game. There are a varitey of ways to generate your pieces for your game.

1) Use existing board game pieces or things from around the house.

There is nothing wrong with using tools already available to you. Look to your existing board games or small items around your house to find the pieces of your game. My personal Favorite is discarded beer bottle tops

2) 3-D designs and printing

Thanks to the massive number of 3D printing companies the price of reliable 3D printers has dropped considerably. This makes 3-D printing objects in your own home feasible. Another great advantage of this is that you don’t need to design the pieces yourself.

Thingiverse- game pieces is a great resource that has objects that makers, designers, and engineers have uploaded to the public domain

It is also possible to order prints of your design online if you do not have access to a 3D printer.

Step 5: Cast a Die

Not every board game needs them but let’s face it many of them do. So let’s figure out ways to get dice for your game.

1) Existing Die

Use die from existing board games. Resourceful but kinda lame.

2) Print or design your own die

Using your favorite modeling software you can always design your own dies to be as special as you want. Of course, if you don’t have a design software but still want to print things out you can always use existing designs from online resources such as Thingiverse.

For a simple die design DB3JHF crafted a design that is print ready and easily solves all you six sided die needs.

3) Smart Phone die

The great thing about smart phones is that there are millions of applications, so luck beholds there is an app that turns your smart phone into dice.

IOS: Dice by Benoit Layer is a great allows you to ways play games even if you forgot the die.

Android: Dice by Teazel Ltd forfeits allows you to pay games without physical pieces.

Step 6: Playing Cards

Playing cards, the easier piece of any game to get destroyed or lost over time.

Again, not all games need playing or game cards. Still having a full tool set makes you a better Board Game developer

1) Hand made cards

Using paper, cardboard or any other household material you can produce your own playing cards. Simplicity at it’s finest. I opted to make hand cut and designed cards for my game.

2) Printed Out Cards

Another option is to print out your cards. Using Microsoft word you can design your cards to be printed out on a basic. A design software, like photoshop or illustrator, will allow you to design more eloquent cards. The best part is that if you lose a card you can just print out a new one.

Which might be needed after your family tosses the board after a crushing defeat…

3) Virtual Application- Flash Cards

There are a number of flash card apps designed to help people memorize a certain subject. Using this existing technology you can produce your own game cards and cut back on paper waste.

App Advice has a list of the 5 best flash card application for mobile devices. Any of these applications will provide you the means of producing your own playing cards.

Step 7: Quick Wrap UP

By this point you have all the core pieces for making your own board game.

– The Rules

– The Board

– Player Pieces

– Dice

– Playing Cards

Note that not every board game uses all or any of these pieces.

So now you are wondering why did I read this. Honestly, I don’t know but I’m betting you are a resourceful individual who is looking to add new skills to your board game development toolkit.

The idea is to make your own game fun and enjoyable without heading to the store.

Be as creative and innovative as you can be when you build your very own board game and show the world what you created.

Self-Publish Board Game

Without a doubt, the most compelling reason to self-publish your board games is the fact that you have complete creative control. You are not forced to make any edits to your work for any reason.

You do not have to conform with genre standards. You can take big risks and do strange things. You do not have to prime your work for marketing and you do not have to bend to the will of companies which have their own standards and norms.

As an individual creator or a creator within a small, independent group of creators, you’ll be able to connect with others on an individual basis. You do not have to run your ideas across a company before talking to others. You can simply just do it.

You can reveal as much as you want to reveal, you can completely open your game up to the public, or alternatively, keep everything hidden. People will know you by your name and not just as someone with Asmodee, Stronghold, or some other publishing company.

When it comes to money, you’ll get all of it if you work alone. If you work within a small group, you’ll walk away with a much bigger share than any publishing company would be willing to offer you. Even if you sell less, the profit margin is much, much higher.

Though you might be walking away with a higher percentage of the profits, the odds of making a profit are pretty slim. In fact, you’re a lot more likely to sell a lot of units if you go through a publisher.

Even if you make less money per unit, you could still come out better when you’re not trying to sell the game alone or in a small group. Selling is really, really hard. It takes a lot of time to learn and it’s an entirely separate discipline from game development or any other responsibility that you will handle on a regular basis.

If you self-publish, there will be enormous demands on your time. This is true for solo developers and small groups. You do the game development. You do the play testing. You go get the art. You promote the game. You run the Kickstarter. You ship the units. You do the accounting. You pay the taxes. You are quality assurance. You are customer service. Most of your time will not be spent designing.

Making Money From Board Game

Designing board games isn’t usually a lucrative venture, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make money. The costs of producing a board game can be high, so going through a publisher or using a crowdfunding platform could help you get your game through production.

It all depends on the situation at hand. Helpful information on the box. Playing with Young Kids – the best game length when playing with younger kids is under 30 minutes and ideally around 10 minutes. You’ll want games that are quick to set up and quick to play.

How to Create a Tabletop Game

There are many avenues to choose when throwing around your idea for a project.

Now, more than ever, developing things like board games has never been easier. Not only that but people who aren’t even familiar with making a board game can easily do it.

Additionally, you could eventually shop your board game around to see if there would be interest in a possible board game. The transition from tabletop games into videogames has been one of the most creative and fun transitions in role-playing history.

Not convinced? Try these 5 easy steps to creating your very own tabletop game!

1. Brainstorm & Play

You need the idea, or at least the seed of an idea, ruminating around in your head to even begin the process of making a board game.

If you are like Adam Poots, you have an idea stemming from making something better. You could take this route, or just pursue something you are passionate about. Do you like puzzle games, RPGs, or strategy games? Any of these are viable options, especially in the brainstorming phase.

For added productivity, inviting people to help throw ideas around is a great benefit. Where you could have a solid idea, other people could add new perspectives to the process that perhaps you had not thought of.

It is important to know what style of game you want to create primarily. Is it easy and fast like Exploding Kittens, or more in-depth like the H.P. Lovecraft-inspired Mountains of Madness? With brainstorming, you have an amazing opportunity to world-build. Like any good fantasy/role-playing title, it usually includes a rich backstory or world that the author has put blood, sweat & tears into.

This is really your chance to let your imagination run wild.

Draw maps, name characters, build a tapestry of awesome bits of lore and story.

Many writers, namely George R. R. Martin of Game of Thrones fame, emphasize that if you want to be a successful, better writer, the prospective writer must-read.

Read all the time. Read more than you write. There is no better way to become better at your trade than to completely immerse yourself in the product.

This applies to game development too. Play a lot of different games to get a good grip on what you want your game to resemble.

2. Outline Your Ideas

Just like brainstorming, outlining is crucial to the first foundations of your project. A killer idea is great and exciting, but unless you have it written down in detail, it won’t be easy to sell it.

Honestly, some of the best ways to do this are good old-fashioned pen and paper followed by a step by step of the theme of the game, rules, and other aspects that will tie it together.

A heads up though: both of these two steps could take a while. It might not happen overnight, but don’t fret! As long as you keep your creative juices flowing, you definitely can’t go wrong.

A simple way to get started is just by sketching out how things will look.

What will the board look like? How about the game pieces? Will they be unique pieces like from Monopoly? What are you trying to accomplish aesthetically?

Aspects of the game could include how long you want a typical game session to last, how many players can play at once, and how easy the rules are to learn.

With Kingdom Death, the average playtime for one complete game with friends is upwards of an unbelievable 60 hours.

That is 2 and a half days of stressful RPG gameplay. Hopefully, your board game won’t initially take a huge chunk out of people’s time and lives!

3. Building Pieces & Possible Expansions

There are many ways to implement the vision of your game board. You can simply draw it, print it, or use software to develop it.

Of course, this depends if your game depends on an actual physical board.

For the Mountains of Madness, the game board is drawn out as a large, Arctic mountain, complete with spooky, forlorn visuals. Feel free to design to your heart’s content, but make sure you have the rudimentary aspects of the board drawn out in some way.

In 11th grade woodshop, we were able to etch designs into our wood projects. If you have access to the tools, why not actually make your board in a similar fashion? Tools like this and designing software like Adobe Illustrator allow you to bring your vision to life.

Adam Poots utilized a 3D printer to make his insanely detailed game pieces. Now I know that a high-quality 3D printer isn’t exactly an easily accessible tool, but it is now a proven method for making your game pieces.

In his case, he actually developed the game board and cards based around the miniatures.

Also, keep in mind that you can always add new things to your game via expansions released at a later date, so whatever you design and show people could technically be added to forever.

Kingdom Death, as of 2018, has nearly 30 expansion packs that were promoted and created with the help of backers.

4. Build the Game & Selling

There are some sites and software to really help you along on your creative journey. Sites like The Game Crafter can help you build the beginning pieces of your game.

By using Game Crafter, you can really begin to let your game take shape. Not only that, but you can sell your finished game through the shop at Game Crafter, it being available for purchase by other users of the site and outside users.

Before the company will skim and review your game for any possible errors, (you got this far, you would hate to have an embarrassing typo lodged in some of your crucial text!), and then they can put it on sale.

The company heavily emphasizes that you don’t need to sell the game through their site and that your project can remain private unless you want it to be sold via their store.

If you decide to sell it through the company, you won’t need to worry about lengthy or complicated transactions, with Game Crafter handing the exchanging of goods, leaving you with the responsibility of collecting a sweet royalty check from your sale.

5. Test Your Game

If you were fortunate enough to get to the point where the prototype of your game is out, you will need to playtest. Playtesting allows you to see how the game works, and most importantly, flows.

Think of it as real-life beta testing. You need to work out any potential kinks that may arise from unforeseen complications. Maybe an aspect you thought clicked really well during development falls flat on its face when actually utilized during gameplay.

First, you can go through the game by yourself as a little dry run. Then, you can expand to a few friends, keeping the game hush-hush, and using your friends as an unofficial focus group for your project.

Not only can you find immense success with your board game, as Kickstart has shown with examples like Exploding Kittens and Rising Sun, there could also be an interest in turning the board game into a video game.

If you follow these steps, you will be well on your way to creating the tabletop game of your dreams. If you are successful enough, perhaps you could partner up with video game companies and translate your game into a great gaming title.

With a great foundation for a game formed from creativity and proper outlining, you can easily move on to the next steps to actually making a tangible product.

It may prove to be a long road, but with playtesting and honing of your material, you could have the next Kingdom Death on your hands. Most importantly, you need to have fun with the process.

Do Game Designers Make a Lot of Money?

Individuals in this industry earn $70,000-$90,000 annually.

A Video Game Designer can get a salary between 40000 – 60000 based on tenure level. Video Game Designers will most likely earn an average compensation of Fifty Thousand Four Hundred dollars annually.

Video Game Designers obtain the most salary in Washington, where they earn a compensation of approximately $70360. People in this career can expect the most salary in Management of Companies and Enterprises, where they earn an average salary rate of $69890.

How Much Does it Cost to Self Publish a Board Game?

Costs are highly dependent upon the type of game you are creating. There are costs that come prior to Kickstarter and costs that coming after Kickstarter. If you decide not to use Kickstarter or a similar crowdfunding site, you’ll be bankrolling the entire project yourself with no help. Here is an idea you can use:

$3,000 for a card game with 1 deck and 50 cards per deck
- $1,000 for set-up costs
- $2,000 for a modest Kickstarter
$12,000 for a simple board game with modest art demands
- $5,000 for set-up costs
- $7,000 for a modest Kickstarter

Of course, it’s a little silly to ballpark project costs in the abstract. Every project is different, every set of needs is different.My guesses can only help you narrow down the “order of magnitude” of your project.

Here are some things to consider:

How much artwork do you need to buy? (Before Kickstarter)
What components are you using? (Before & After Kickstarter)
Where will you have your game made? (After Kickstarter)
How much will your game cost to fulfill? (After Kickstarter)

How Long Should a Board Game Last?

The length of a game is frequently a deciding factor for consumers in determining whether a new game is something for them. Games with a shorter listed playing time may have fewer components and expectations of a lower price point.

Games that require several hours to play will eliminate a group of gamers strained for time. The midpoint which divides these segments seems to be right around 90 minutes. There are a multitude of reasons which contribute to this threshold, but lets look at three reasons why the current market may favor shorter games:

Time Constraints: People are always becoming more and more restrained for time. Technology has increased our expectation for immediate gratification when we use free time. In recent years board games have had a resurgence, but the expectation remains in which people want more value for their time.

A 3 hour activity may or may not be a significant investment for someone but a 30 minute game will always appear to carry less risk of dissatisfaction.

Attention Spans: Many studies have evaluated the attention span of humans to find the optimal duration for activities. The range most often cited is about 40 to 50 minutes for sustained attention: the amount of time a person can spend continuously on a task before becoming more susceptible to distractions.

This range will increase if the participants are active (such as playing board games) or intrinsically motivated by the activity (players who find board games enjoyable). The longer a game lasts the more difficult it will be for the game to maintain the focus level of a group.

Alternatives Options: Hundreds of new titles are being published every year that cater to a myriad of preferences. Gathering a group of friends for a board game night will bring together a diverse set of interests. Few games will elicit unanimous enthusiasm and gaming groups may be better served by compromising and playing three or four games rather than a single game for 4-hours.

While short games have grown in popularity, they also carry design drawbacks. The role of game design is to maximize the experience of players by using their time efficiently. To do this we must first identify our target audience.

Here are some potential situations that will affect the decision of optimal game length:

Playing with Young Kids – the best game length when playing with younger kids is under 30 minutes and ideally around 10 minutes. You’ll want games that are quick to set up and quick to play. Shorter games also allow for either quitting time or repeated play depending on the continuing interest of the child.
Time of Day – taking time to play a game on a weekend afternoon will offer more options than a game just before bedtime. If we’re looking for a board game to play at bedtime, we’ll pick something that can be played quickly. We’ll leave our games of Risk, Mystery of the Abbey, or Power Grid for the weekends when we can be more relaxed with a game that takes more time to play.
Late Comers – when we invite friends over to play games, they won’t all arrive at the same time. So the first games we play will be short games that will end quickly when others arrive. Or they’ll be games that others can join in when they arrive. Starting a longer game when you know others will want to join later is a problem. The same is true in a family setting. Playing a 2-hour game with one child will be a problem when their siblings show up in the middle wanting to play.
Mental Effort required – choosing which board game to play should also take into account the level of brain power the players want to exert. Longer games will take more mental effort, if not in terms of strategic choices, at least in the length of focus. There are plenty of short games that also require strategic choices. But because they’re short, the thinking comes in quick bursts. Whereas, “meatier” games will engage your thinking for extended periods of time.

In the end, the best length of game will completely depend on the situation you find yourself in. Having a board game and card game shelf stocked with games of different lengths will ensure that you’ll have the right game for the right time.

How do I Protect my Game Idea?

Fortunately, there are several strong safeguards in place to ensure that you can protect your intellectual property and stake your claim on that original game idea and everything that comes from it.

Learning how to implement the laws and activate strong protections for you is the eventual job of each state and the legal process involved, but knowing which protections exist can go a long way towards helping you understand the basics.

Here are ways to protect your game idea and ensure it stays that way.

1. Patents

By definition, a patent is a protection for your intellectual property (that you invented) from being copied. In the case of your game idea, in the form of a patent, it is considered your invention.

A patent is unique in the fact that it can protect your idea.

The concept for your game that is uniquely yours can be patented and the idea behind it protected.

That way, if during the course of your game development, one of your friends or coworkers helping you out tries to market their own version using your idea, they would be in violation of your patent and you could take them to court to make them stop.

2. Copyrights

Game design copyrights differ from a patent in the fact that they protect the actual expression of your idea. For example, if Tic-Tac-Toe is patented using X’s and O’s, you could still create a game using apples and oranges because the expression of the idea is different.

You can register your copyright officially by registering with the United States Copyright Office, which can offer legal protection as well.

3. Trademarks

The game you’ve created might come along with a specific name or logo that is crucial to identifying it as yours. Depending on which state you live in, you will need to check with the trademark office to find out the protection your state offers.

Or, you can register your game’s brand name or logo with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office which offers you national protection.

4. Company Trade Secrets

A unique form of intellectual property protection exists in the form of a trade secret.

A trade secret can be defined as a company or business information that is designed to stay confidential. Sometimes it is a manufacturing secret or maybe it’s the secret end of your game?

Anyone who leaves your employ and tries to use your trade secret to market their own game could be in violation of the law, depending on your state’s legal system.

How Much Does it Cost to Patent a Board Game?

In the US, copyright is given automatically and for free to any original works of authorship when they are in fixed form.

But to register the copyright for your board game to gain additional rights (such as filing a lawsuit against someone for using your work without permission) it costs $35, $55 or $85 (depending on your application).

In the UK, copyright is given automatically and for free to any applicable created works as soon as they are made. This includes the right to take legal action against someone for using your work.

How Big is The Board Game Market?

The global board games market is expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 13% during the period 2020−2026.

Key Highlights Offered in the Report:

The board games market is dominated by North America and would realize an incremental growth over USD 4 billion significant leap in revenue between 2020 and 2026.
Buoyed by the growing demand in the residential segment, puzzle segment is expected to post an incremental growth around USD 5 billion in 2026, registering CAGR over 12% during the forecast period.
a healthy growth CAGR around 14%, the tabletop games will contribute over $4 billion in incremental revenues during 2020-2026.
Owing to the growing demand of education through games, educational theme games registers a growth in CAGR over 13% by 2026.
The US held the largest revenue share with over USD 3 billion in 2020.

How do You Sell a Game Idea?

Think you’ve got an idea for the next great computer game? While you probably don’t have the next Gauntlet or World of Warcraft, you might have a viable idea that can be marketed in either the independent game market or to one of the major video game companies. Here are steps to evaluate your idea and proceed to sell it.

Creating the Game

Define a reason for creating the game. It should be about having fun, not about a fancy look or overly clever rules of play.

Consider the audience for which you’re making the game. The game should be simple enough to grab the player’s interest, but complex enough to hold it. It also should be easy for the player to save and exit at any point.

Figure out the key moment of your game; develop that part first, then go back and create the starting point along with the end.

Come up with a number of game ideas. Not all will be viable, but by continuing to come up with ideas, you will get better and better, just as continuing to write will make you a better writer or practicing your instrument will make you a better musician. You also will have another idea ready to pitch if your first idea is rejected.

Show your ideas to people you know or post them on forums or websites dedicated to sharing ideas.

Marketing Your Idea

Hone your ideas into a clear, coherent description of the object of the game and how it is supposed to be played. This is known as creating a “pitch” for the game.

Contact the research and development department of a company to which you’re interested in pitching the game idea to see if it accepts submissions. This is more likely to happen with smaller game companies than larger ones; however, remember that smaller companies lack the resources of larger companies. Pay attention to their submissions requirements.

Pitch your idea to company officials.

Tips

Attend game fairs and expositions, such as the Origins Game Fair and the GAMA Trade Show. The GAMA Trade Show offers business advice, while Origins gives you direct contact with potential buyers.

How Can I Publish my Game For Free?

1. ITCH.IO

Itch.io is hands down the best platform available for indie game publishing. Itch.io was created to give indie game developers maximum control over their product page, as well as provide developers the ability to change the default publisher cut from 10% to either 30% or 0%.

Games priced on this platform range anywhere from Pay What You Want to $20, with the average paid game costing about $10. To be featured, your game must be found interesting by the website’s creator.

2. INDIEGAMESTAND

IndieGameStand is a robust platform to market your game, and is great for strong short term sales if you choose their pay-what-you-want deal. However, this platform does take a 25-30% publisher cut based on how you choose to publish your game on their website. This website also encourages publishing your alpha and beta games to get ratings, feedback, and reviews.

Games priced on this platform range from free to $20, with the average game costing about $5. To be featured, you must publish through their pay-what-you-want systemwhere the game’s revenue is distributed 10% to a charity, 20% to the publisher, and 70% to you. Your game will be featured on the front page for 4 days, reaching much wider audiences.

3. DESURA

Desura seems to be in a state of evolution, while still being a strong platform for publishing. With around 2 million visitors each month, Desura’s unique edge comes from it’s community, with small fan communities from games like Warhammer 40K or Mass Effect. This way you can target very specific audiences of gamers, while also creating or joining your own fandom for genres of games.

Desura takes a straight cut of 30%, and featured games are selected by the publisher. Games on Desura average $10 in price, and range from free to $135.

4. KONGREGATE

Kongregate is another strong publishing platform, and it’s weakness/strength is that it is very rating heavy. If your game performs well with most gaming audiences, then it will perform well on Kongregate. Another aspect is that Kongregate games are very achievement and high-score oriented, driving competition and traction to your game and Facebook page. However, it does not offer paid games, rather it drives revenue to your game through advertisements and microtransactions similar to mobile games.

The publisher cuts are 30% for microtransactions, and 50% for advertising revenue. Featured games are entirely selected by high ratings, with a minimum of a 3.6 out of 5 required to be considered. This platform can immediately generate millions of players in days based on ratings, and frequently showcase games that are also popular on mobile platforms.

5. ROAST MY GAME

Roast My Game is a growing platform for game feedback. The idea is that you submit your game for feedback, but first you must give feedback on someone else’s game. It’s an innovative system that’s gaining traction and, if you’re unsure about if your game is up to snuff, can be a fantastic platform to ensure your game is polished by rating other’s games.

There is no ability to sell your game on the platform, but you can drive traffic to your webpage or social media. Being featured is relative to the amount of views your game receives.

How do You Price Board Games?

Price matters. The amount you choose to charge for your board game says a lot about your game. Naturally, as the price goes up, fewer people will be interested in purchasing.

Before you set out to apply a price to your board game, ask yourself these questions:

How complex is my game?
What components does it come with?
How long does it take to play?
How physically large is the box?

Price isn’t merely the amount of money that someone has to pay to get a copy of your work. It’s one of the most useful pieces of information about your game available to a board gamer. It is shorthand for the above questions. Along with your box, the theme and mechanics of your game, and the reviews you receive, board gamers will make a decision to buy or not to buy.

Different price points have different psychological effects on people. A $19 game is an impulse buy – people usually don’t think too much about spending that amount of money. For that price, they expect a small game without a whole lot of parts.

On the flip-side, people are perfectly okay shelling out $100 or more for a giant game like Gloomhaven or Food Chain Magnate. Those games come with lots of parts and are complex, long-lasting games.

Pricing board games is about far more than simply breaking even on manufacturing costs. It’s yet another way to signal values to prospective customers. Board gamers are accustomed to looking at games, and have internalized an intuition about what to expect out of games priced in a certain way.

What Makes a Board Game Successful?

Multi-Path Strategy – There should be multiple paths to victory and not a single dominant strategy (that is obvious, at least).

Decision-Driven Play – Like a few others have touched on, the game should revolve more around player decisions than raw luck.

Player Interaction – Players should interact heavily with each other. Games that include negotiation, deception, and cooperation are my favorites.

Immersive Theme – It’s always a bit more fun if a game can really have you believing you are a general, soldier, etc. Good aesthetics help with this.

Replayability – Elements of play that change every time the game is started help ensure the game doesn’t get stale, and also help push players down the different multi-path strategies.

Tension – A game that leaves you aching to see what the next card, dice roll, or player turn will bring helps build immersion and mental investment in the game.

Involvement – Nobody wants to sit idly at a table for 45 minutes while others plot their turns. Turns should be quick and simple or have the opportunity to draw in other players.

Simple Framework – Complex Outcomes – This one is tough to explain and tougher to design, but the idea is something like “simple to learn, tough to master.” A game should have a clear enough structure and simple enough rules to get your head around after playing once or twice, but complex enough that it will still have surprises after 10 or 20 plays. This one also feeds replayability.

What Are The Benefits of Playing Board Games?

Playing board games is entertaining, but that is only one benefit of board game playing. There has been quite a resurgence in the popularity of board games, and for many people, playing board games connects them with their past. A few of the many benefits are the following.

Playing board games brings people closer, strengthens relationships, and can help you meet new people.

Board games can be for two or more players. The foundation of board game playing is cooperation. It requires players to engage by teamwork. It is the perfect way to spend time in nice company and strengthen bonds with other human beings.

Playing board games increases brain function.

Playing is exercise for your brain. Playing stimulates brain areas that are responsible for memory formation and complex thought processes for all ages. Engaging in play assists in practicing essential cognitive skills, such as decision making, higher level strategic thinking, and problem solving.

Playing board games teaches you how to set goals and be patient.

Winning takes strategy and patience. In a happy environment these things are learned in a stress-free and challenging but fun way.

Playing board games is great for reducing stress and makes for laughter.

A side effect of board game playing is laughter. It is one of the vital ingredients for an enjoyable learning experience and increasing creativity. Also, laughing and having a good time in general helps to decrease stress.

Playing board games creates more happiness.

Playing board games triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural “feel-good” chemicals. “Happy hormones” have the power to improve conscious and unconscious mind functions, leaving a person feeling cheerful, compassionate, and ultimately content.

Playing board games enhances creativity and self-confidence.

Playing board games is a perfect opportunity to connect and open up; it also helps to display a creative side of personality in non-intrusive ways, which can be beneficial for quiet individuals. Board games are an amazing tool for shy children and timid adults. Playing helps them to develop stronger senses of individuality and creativity. This leads to greater self-esteem and a feeling of being included and noticed.

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Conclusion

Designing board games isn’t usually a lucrative venture, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make money. The costs of producing a board game can be high, so going through a publisher or using a crowdfunding platform could help you get your game through production.

The bottom line is: if you want to be a game designer, do it because you love designing games, market yourself and your game well, and you’ll do just fine.