SO YOU INVENTED A BOARD GAME, NOW WHAT?

SO YOU INVENTED A BOARD GAME, NOW WHAT?

One of the best features of the Board Game business is that the barriers to entry are fairly low. You can come up with a new gameplay mechanic, get some graphic design done, or potentially do it yourself. You then find a factory, send them the specifications and the artwork files, and then you are ready to place an order and get your Game manufactured.

Sounds easy right…? Well we may have summarised a lot of different steps and difficult decisions and creative developments here for the sake of brevity, but the point is this – from a commercial perspective, developing the Game is the easy part!

The easiest thing to do in the business of Board Games is to press the button & write a purchase order for inventory of your Game – that’s what so many Board Game startups do. The hard part is to actually sell it.

Number one point here – please think very carefully about manufacturing your Game. You can easily create a mock up, or prototype of your Game, you can even today produce a more or less final looking and working version of your Game at a comparatively affordable cost. You may want to go and try to sell that sample to potential customers first before you even think about starting a manufacturing run.

Imagine if the feedback you get is a). that might work, but here’s some things you need to change or b). That product has no chance of working, we would never buy it. If you get this feedback, you will feel silly to have run manufacturing and to be sat on thousands of copies of a Game that nobody wants to buy, or which could have been saleable if you had presented it to the market first and then taken on board the market feedback to tweak your product to make it a much more compelling proposition.

We have advised plenty of companies who have run production and then failed to secure any Sales for the Game. Over the decade and a half we have been in this business of Consulting on the Board Games business, we have had plenty of people pay us to run, in effect, a post mortem for their Game. And routinely within seconds of looking at the Game we spot various critical flaws or misconceptions which make the product commercially unviable.

But that’s not just us, we aren’t saying that we know everything – far from it! But ANY industry person can tell you if your packaging size/format is a problem, if your theme is off, if your gameplay has fundamental flaws, if your product is likely to have any commercial appeal or not. You don’t have to come to us for (paid for) advice and feedback on your product, although you can if you want, but there are many industry source you can validate your Game with first before you start incurring major costs and ordering inventory.

The bottom line then is this: the answer to the question of ‘So you invented a Board Game, Now What?’ is that you need to validate the potential for the Game and seek feedback from the market – both consumers and where relevant to your proposed business model, from Retailers as well. The ‘Now What’ should not lightly be the fact that YOU like your Game so much that you’re going to order 5,000 units of it, at least not until you find out if other people share your enthusiasm for your Game! Please don’t make the same avoidable mistake that so many Board Game startups make…

 

If you want to check our Board Games Business Consultancy services, just click here: https://www.boardgamebiz.com/index.php/board-game-business-consultancy-services/

BOARD GAMES PACKAGING – 5 KEY THINGS TO GET RIGHT FOR A SUCCESSFUL GAME

BOARD GAMES PACKAGING – 5 KEY THINGS TO GET RIGHT FOR A SUCCESSFUL GAME

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BOARD GAMES PACKAGING – 5 KEY THINGS TO GET RIGHT FOR A SUCCESSFUL GAME

There are a couple of major drivers of board games sales. Arguably the most important is the quality of the game experience itself, because a good game, or even better, a great game, will eventually start to sell itself when enough people have played it. Games are innately sociable, so you are automatically sharing a good experience with other people, which will therefore beget a ‘viral’ effect. The second most important driver of board games sales (arguably) is the packaging. Unlike a Toy, where the functionality (and therefore the fun) of the game is the critical factor, game packaging needs to do something more complicated – it needs to communicate the basic game concept of course, as well as the theme, but most importantly it needs to communicate how & why the resultant social experience will be better than all the other games around it in retail. It’s quite difficult to be certain of why one pack design is more effective than the other, as there are so many subjective factors. But after years of working on Games, research testing them with Gamers and listening to (often firmly delivered!) retail feedback, the key factors I believe are:

1. Clarity– on one level, mystique can be very successful in marketing products. But for Games, you definitely need to overtly or covertly communicate the type of game, a basic but clear idea of the theme or game concept, who it is for and why they should buy it.

2. Graphic design style that fits the genre of the Game, the consumer target and the retail channels. For example, a ‘Hobby’ or ‘Gamers’ Game which is heavy on instructions and strategy, and primarily, or at least initially, targeting the German market, will have a very different illustration style to a mass market game launching in the USA. This factor is not difficult…look around at other Games in the same space and you will usually find it easy to identify the prevailing style. For sure you can try to make the mould if you want to, but just have a good reason for doing that – if every other Game in your genre has a particular pack design style, how do you deliver what the standard approach delivers while doing something different? My creative colleagues may (and many times have!) berated this mindset as they naturally want to innovate & break the rules, but in that case, there should be a clear rationale, and not just a vague desire to do something different. Something different requires consumer education, because purchase habits in the Games space are fairly habitual, and if you break the habit, you need to work much harder to educate and incentivise people than you do when you just feed an existing habit!

3. Clear communication of mandatories– if you look at Games from major players in the industries, they tend to have some mandatory communications which appear as a visual callout. Think about the classic MB Games stripe down which used to appear down the left hand side of all classic MB products like Guess Who, Connect 4, Operation et all each have a very different theme and game play, but yet the consistent communication of age target, maybe even typical game play length. In short, this approach to communicating mandatories in a clear and repetitive format, in a way which is visually distinctive from the creative graphic elements of the pack is a proven part of successful games packaging design. But you don’t have to literally carve out a distinct mandatories space on the front of pack, you can deliver the necessary information in many ways as long as it leaps out to the eye quickly & clearly.

4. Details belong on the back of pack– it is definitely possible to over complicate a front of pack design. So normal practise is to put details, as well as actual vs idealised visuals on the back of pack. There is debate over whether you should show people playing the Game on back of pack or not. Showing people of a particular demographic gives a clear signal of who you are aiming the Game at. Not doing that potentially makes your audience broader. I have worked on many of the best-selling (as well as some of the worst-selling) Games of all time in some way or another, and some fd those Games featured images of people playing on the back, and some didn’t.

5. Don’t forget the sides of the packaging – in some retail formats (especially in some European countries), Games are stacked on top of each other instead of side by side. This makes the communication on the sides of the packaging critical therefore. Some Games feature only the Game logo on the side of the pack, which seems like a lack of thoughtfulness does it not? Surely you would also add in any critical mandatories (like age target), a position strap line & and an intriguing image, character or illustration to get the shopper to take the game of shelf?

Our Consultancy call service offers you the chance to ask any questions you have about your business, your products, export markets, manufacturing – pretty much anything about how to get ahead in the Toy business or in the world of Games, We can also give you some additional contacts of key people across the business from distributors to factories to product developers. If you want to find out more on how this service works, just click here: https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/services

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Make the Board Game of a TV Gameshow – 51/55 Features Of Best-Selling Board Games

Make the Board Game of a TV Gameshow – 51/55 Features Of Best-Selling Board Games

Mass market TV Gameshows are often THE best-selling Board Games, because millions of people sit through the gameplay pattern regularly and can thus understand and connect with the Board Game when released. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Deal or No Deal & others were massive smash hits. Bear in mind the creators and TV companies know how hot Gameshows can be, so expect to spend big to get the rights.

One of the biggest barriers to game playing is the general apathy towards reading rules. People want to play games for fun, and while there is a significant minority who find fun in learning a gameplay and then explaining it, the biggest sellers are usually either a). simple and quick to understand gameplays i.e. Dobble/Spot It or b). the gameplay is already known. The latter of these is of course one of the primary drivers of sales of gameshow-based board games – people already know (more or less) how the game plays from watching the TV. You also in effect get an extended TV commercial for your gameshow board game every time the TV show airs.

 

Our Managing Director, Steve Reece, works with a limited number of companies as a non-executive director, independent board director and as a board adviser. If you are interested in finding out more about this, just click here:

https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/services/board-advisory-service/

Have you checked out our PLAYING AT BUSINESS podcast? We talk all things toy & game business & interview interesting people from across the business: https://playingatbusiness.libsyn.com/

 

Allow Kids (and Big Kids) To Bash Or Crash Something Frantically!

Allow Kids (and Big Kids) To Bash Or Crash Something Frantically!

48/55 Features Of Best-Selling Board Games

If you hadn’t already noticed kids love smashing and bashing things. Games which allow them to exercise this urge without censure sell by the bucketload. Two of the best examples of this would be Hungry Hungry Hippos and Whac A Mole.

Hungry Hungry Hippos launched back in 1978. Industry veteran Fred Kroll reportedly discovered the game in Japan and licensed the international rights for the game. After selling those rights to Hasbro, Kroll was able to live comfortably from the resulting royalties. The game has sold many millions of units over time. The long-term success of the game is based on the impulse of kids (& big kids) to bash things and to compete in a frantic fashion.

Physical games can be massive sellers, as long as the play is frantic and compelling!

 

We run a Consultancy business helping board games companies to grow. We have experience of most major board games markets around the world and our team has developed more than 200 board games including versions of classic games like Monopoly, Clue/do, Risk, Game of Life etc. For more information on our services (including our Export sales Consultancy) please just click here: https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/services/

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Make the Board Game of a TV Gameshow – 51/55 Features Of Best-Selling Board Games

Make the Board Game of a TV Gameshow – 51/55 Features Of Best-Selling Board Games

Mass market TV Gameshows are often THE best-selling Board Games, because millions of people sit through the gameplay pattern regularly and can thus understand and connect with the Board Game when released. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Deal or No Deal & others were massive smash hits. Bear in mind the creators and TV companies know how hot Gameshows can be, so expect to spend big to get the rights.

One of the biggest barriers to game playing is the general apathy towards reading rules. People want to play games for fun, and while there is a significant minority who find fun in learning a gameplay and then explaining it, the biggest sellers are usually either a). simple and quick to understand gameplays i.e. Dobble/Spot It or b). the gameplay is already known. The latter of these is of course one of the primary drivers of sales of gameshow-based board games – people already know (more or less) how the game plays from watching the TV. You also in effect get an extended TV commercial for your gameshow board game every time the TV show airs.

 

Our Managing Director, Steve Reece, works with a limited number of companies as a non-executive director, independent board director and as a board adviser. If you are interested in finding out more about this, just click here:

https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/services/board-advisory-service/

Have you checked out our PLAYING AT BUSINESS podcast? We talk all things toy & game business & interview interesting people from across the business: https://playingatbusiness.libsyn.com/

 

Take It On The Road – 49/55 Features Of Best-Selling Board Games

Take It On The Road – 49/55 Features Of Best-Selling Board Games

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Some Games are tailor made to be taken on the road, and therefore, when people are planning a road trip, the occasion often stimulates a purchase propensity. Anyone who has tried to entertain overactive children on a long car journey, flight or train trip can testify that things get fractious pretty quickly unless you pre-plan and take entertainment with you. Needless to say, this often today results in ‘zombiefied’ screen time to keep those little darlings quiet, but with a little planning, long boring journeys can be turned into quality family time.

From basic card games using a standard 52 card deck, through to more complex games, the lay opportunity is strong when you get a group of people with nothing much to do for a while.

One of our team travelled the world for a year with a deck of cards, a travel chess set and the classic French card game ‘Mille Bornes’, which loosely translates as a thousand milestones. Coach trip after coach trip, long haul flight after long haul flight, our team member entertained themselves, their travelling companions and plenty of other random strangers with just these 3 games!

So perhaps a portable version of your best-selling game may prove to be a lucrative spin-off, or perhaps you can create a bespoke gameplay and theme around the central topic of people travelling.

You don’t want a lot of loose playing pieces and complicated balance/dexterity involved though if you are selling to people travelling on jerky trains and bumpy car rides.

 

Our Managing Director, Steve Reece, works with a limited number of companies as a non-executive director, independent board director and as a board adviser. If you are interested in finding out more about this, just click here:

https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/services/board-advisory-service/

Have you checked out our PLAYING AT BUSINESS podcast? We talk all things toy & game business & interview interesting people from across the business: https://playingatbusiness.libsyn.com/

 

 

Let Kids Play At Being Grown Ups – 46/55 Features Of Best-Selling Board Games

Let Kids Play At Being Grown Ups – 46/55 Features Of Best-Selling Board Games

One of the most fundamental underlying foundations of the entire toy & game industry is that children like to play at being adults – from toy stethoscopes allowing children to play at being doctors, through to toy workbenches, children playing as adults is a major theme.

The same applies with board games. If you look at some of the all time best-selling board games, several iconic games follow this same path of children replicating and playing at being adults. Just to name three – Operation, Game Of Life and Pay Day. Operation is again back to kids playing with stethoscopes, except in Operation they go one step further they have been promoted to the role of surgeon! Game Of Life is at the very core of the gameplay a simulation of adult life. Pay Day (one of our favourites) is a simple family game based on the concept of replicating the monthly cashflow cycle of a salaried worker.

 

We run a Consultancy business for toy & game companies. We work with major companies through to start ups. For more information on how we help toy companies grow their distribution around the world: https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/blog/toy-co-growth-booster-program/

Create Games Where Couples Can Compete – 44/55 Features Of Best-Selling Board Games

Create Games Where Couples Can Compete – 44/55 Features Of Best-Selling Board Games

Aah, the after-dinner Gaming opportunity. And what could be better than intimate couples showing how well they know each other (or not!). Many a long evening has been bickered away over a game of Articulate!

Board games represent a social interaction experience, and there are certain often repeated occasions where people can & will play games. Traditionally, one of these is dinner parties with adults, who sometimes need a bit of a hand to get the conversation going. Games like Articulate, Scattergories, Taboo or Battle of the Sexes allow couples to compete & facilitate entertaining conversations (or even conflicts!).

 

Our Managing Director, Steve Reece, works with a limited number of companies as a non-executive director, independent board director and as a board adviser. If you are interested in finding out more about this, just click here:

https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/services/board-advisory-service/

Have you checked out our PLAYING AT BUSINESS podcast? We talk all things toy & game business & interview interesting people from across the business: https://playingatbusiness.libsyn.com/

 

 

Add Another Dimension – 43/55 Features Of Best-Selling Board Games

Add Another Dimension – 43/55 Features Of Best-Selling Board Games

Scrabble is one of the most successful Board Games of all time, as mentioned earlier in this series. The game play is classic – arranging letters to lay down words and win points.

BUT – that’s a largely 2d play experience. What about adding the height dimension also, how would that change things? Well, that’s what Upwords does. By just adding 3d elements board games can be revolutionised, made more intriguing and appealing, the gameplay can be improved, and it becomes easier to advertise or create video content about them.

The classic MB Game ‘Hotel’ featured a number of high rise 3d buildings which made the game raise above and beyond the board thus improving the experience for players of the game.

And finally, Connect 4 had a 3d version – called Connect 4 Advanced which enjoyed some success at the time. The gameplay was quite radically changed by allowing players to connect on 3 dimensions instead of the normal 2.

 

Our Managing Director, Steve Reece, works with a limited number of companies as a non-executive director, independent board director and as a board adviser. If you are interested in finding out more about this, just click here:

https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/services/board-advisory-service/

Have you checked out our PLAYING AT BUSINESS podcast? We talk all things toy & game business & interview interesting people from across the business: https://playingatbusiness.libsyn.com/

 

Let The Players Collect & Compare Their Heroes – 42/55 Features Of Best-Selling Games

Let The Players Collect & Compare Their Heroes – 42/55 Features Of Best-Selling Games

Top Trumps is a great example of collectability combined with comparison-based gameplay. There are so many versions of Top Trumps today, with one for seemingly every fanbase or niche topic. The brand is on sale in more than 30 countries with at least 10 language versions on sale.

But beyond such simple gameplay we can take a look at trading card games including Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokémon. Pokémon has reportedly sold more than 34 billion cards since first launching back in 1998. There are more than 20,000 unique Magic: The Gathering cards in circulation with more than 20 billion cards printed over time. Yu-Gi-Oh cards had sold more than 22 billion by as far back as 2009.

In short, cards which are collectable and have an underlying gameplay can be really popular and massive commercially speaking. Of course, Yu-Gi-Oh & Pokémon demand has largely been stimulated in conjunction with TV programming, with hugely popular animated content driving both.

Beyond these mega-brands, we can also look at sports collectable cards and stickers – baseball cards have been a huge cultural phenomenon in the USA, whereas football (soccer) cards and stickers are massive business in Europe.

 

Our Managing Director, Steve Reece, works with a limited number of companies as a non-executive director, independent board director and as a board adviser. If you are interested in finding out more about this, just click here:

https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/services/board-advisory-service/