Game Publishers

In my endless hours of scouring the web for boardgame related materials I unconvered two publishers who have a strong interest in reviewing outside submissions.

Here

I also found Fantasy Flight Games, creator of A Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, and a bunch of d20 books. They accept board games as well as a lot of other things. Don't know how easy it is to submit to them, though.

www.fantasyflightgames.com/submit

At the risk of self-pimping, Dancing Eggplant Games accepts outside submissions. It works like this:

1) Send me a 1-2 sentence description on what the game is at a high level. For example "A bidding game about horse racing". If I already am working on a bidding game or a horse-racing game, I will decline to hear anything more about your game just to make sure there can be no conflicts arising from my having too much knowledge of it.

2) Otherwise, if it sounds like something I might be interested in, I'll invite you to tell me more. If it still sounds promising, I'll have you send me a prototype.

3) Once I have a prototype, I may take up to several months to evaluate it. You have to be willing for me to show the game to several different groups of playtesters so I can get well-rounded opinions from various demographics. The good news is, if I keep it awhile it means there is interest. If my playtesters like it, I may try to get a printer quote to see if the game is commercially feasible. I've had to turn down excellent games because they weren't going to be profitable to produce.

4) At this point, I will either send the prototype back or make you an offer. If my queue is particularly long, I may suggest an option contract rather than a production contract.