Hard Truths for Board Game Makers

Board game makers have it tough.

I’m not joking. It is shockingly hard to make a board game. It requires a lot of time, a lot of testing, a lot of patience, and a lot of money. If you choose to self-publish, you need a good deal of business acumen as well.

I’m all about lifting others up with this blog. I’m a huge fan of writing how-to posts that will teach you how to do just about anything you want to do.

But sometimes, I like to tell board game makers hard truths. Ugly stuff I wish I knew before I started. And the reason is simple – if you have reasonable expectations, you can conquer very nearly any challenge that comes your way.

Steel your nerves, get ready for a test of endurance, and then go out and prosper!

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3 More Rude Awakenings I Had Starting a Board Game Business

So many of our sorrows are born of the disparities between our expectations and reality. It’s my hope that I can prevent you from being surprised and disappointed by some of the harsh realities of game development.

Don’t Find Your Passion, Make It

You probably won’t find your passion. I know what I just said is contrary to the milk-and-honey clickbait diet of Lifehack, Buzzfeed, and HuffPo articles that would say otherwise.

Bankrolling Your Board Game’s Development

Creating board games can be an expensive affair. A lot of people do not want to admit this to themselves.

The Agony of the Almost Finished Board Game

Congratulations, you’ve created an Almost Finished Board Game! It can scare a lot of talented people like you off the journey if you don’t know what to expect.

The Long Haul Project: Why Making Games Takes a Long Time

There’d a long haul road for ice truckers that’s over 300 miles long and most of it is built on frozen lakes. When I heard about this, I said to myself sardonically “sounds like game development.”

5 Massive Mental Shifts I Made While Breaking into the Board Game Industry

Entrepreneurship is hard. One of the hardest parts of entrepreneurship is knowing when to change your mindset.

How To Be Prolific Without Burning Out

Vacations are important. That’s not just because they’re fun and give you good memories, though these are fine reasons alone and with no other justification.

The Raw Emotional Reality of a Kickstarter Launch

I think it’s better to write openly and directly about what is one of the scariest thing creators can encounter: Kickstarter launches.





Passion isn’t a Pitch and 5 Other Ways to Misunderstand Board Game Kickstarter as a Marketplace

Today, I’m going to be covering six really common ways board game Kickstarter campaigns fall apart.

People are Weird, Markets are Weirder…Especially with Board Games

For the last several years, wildly successfully Kickstarter campaigns have redefined the rules of success in the board game industry. It’s not that easy, though, because now you have to answer to people – and people are weird.

How to Understand the Tabletop Gaming News Cycle

There’s no grand machination orchestrated by shadowy figures. There are, however, definitely weirdo group dynamics that are exacerbated by the technological advances of our era, namely search engines, social media, and an unending deluge of data

6 Right and Wrong Reasons to Make a Board Game

The right reasons will keep you going in the tough times and the wrong ones will eventually push you out of the business.

Board Games Aren’t Everything: 8 Reasons to Diversify Your Business

All of this is to say: question your underlying assumptions! I cannot stress this enough. It’s a fool’s errand to do the wrong thing the right way.

You Can Never Really Be Your Own Boss (And That’s a Good Thing)

Let’s put to bed this “be your own boss” cliche that I hear all the time online and offline. Spoiler alert: you can’t.

Need help on your board game?
Looking for more resources to help you on your board game design journey?