How to Sell Your Original Board Game

Let's assume that you've developed a board game that you think will be the next store shelf blockbuster. You've put together a game prototype and you want to either self-publish it or sell it to a board game publisher like Parker Brothers/Hasbro.

Don't be too hasty. There are preliminary steps that you need to take before going to market.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Board Game Prototype
• Guts
• A Great Game

1. While your board game prototype may look like it belongs on the shelf of Game Geeks R'Us, play-testing is the step that you might want to take before venturing into the marketplace. A cold hard shot of reality: your game may look good but play lousy.
   
   Invite friends, family, and (best) total strangers to play your game. Take notes. You may actually have to go back to the drawing board several times. That's the creative process.
   
   When play-testing, you may want to only examine a small portion of your game's play.
   
   Or you may want play-testing to answer questions. "Is my game best played with two or more players?" "Does my game's final outcome provide player satisfaction?" "Is my game fun?" "Does my game take too long to play?"

2. Understand the costs of printing and distributing your game for the marketplace. Do at least a beginning budget break down.
   
   If you can cut back on costly elements that are not essential to game-play or entertainment value, do so.

3. Hire a patent attorney and file a patent application for your game. This will cost money, but maybe not as much as you think.

4. Decide if you'd rather submit your prototype directly to a board game publisher or whether you'd rather submit your game through an agent. If you don't have the personal or professional connections in the game business, an agent is recommended. Understand, though, that an agent isn't a panacea.

Tips & Warnings

• Have non-disclosure agreements on hand for play-testers.
• Your game may have a better chance of going to market if it has a completely unique visual element like the chomping plastic hippos in the children's board game "Hungry Hungry Hippo."
• Hasbro alone, for example, has about 1600 board game submissions every year. Most game company submissions are based on old standard game-play, are new versions of old games, or are based on popular entertainment current trends ("Desperate Housewives" might make an interesting game, unless it's already on the market. hmmmm).

Resources

• Board Game Designer's Forum
• Design tips from San Diego State University
• Game marketing tips from Gamasutra
• Game marketing tips from Tom Sloper

[maximis]

on 10/25/2009 your comment is cut off... what additional info do you have?

[gamebird]

on 7/11/2009 I am a successful board game agent and I would strongly advise against getting a patent for a board game!! First, a board game consists of the theme, the randomizer (i.e. dice, spinner) and rules. Any of those three things can be slightly tweaked to work around any patent. Second, the toy/game business is highly fad and fashion oriented and patents take a long time and are expensive. I have placed some 35 games on the market (http://www.gamebird.biz) and I have patented none of them. Not one single successful game inventor that I know has patented a board game. The only time I can see filing a patent is if you have an element to the game that has a unique mechanical feature (like the original domed pop-up dice). Then you would patent that element.

Another thing you MAY want to do in the way of protection is trademark a cool and interesting name. Often a name will sell the game and i...