Hello! I'm new, but I created & developed a BG.

I highly recommend you find and read The Game Inventor's Guidebook by Tinsman. It's out of print, so you will have to find it at a library or shell out big bucks for it. I think my copy cost 80 bucks. Worth every penny.

Here is the big question that anyone who is thinking of self publishing should answer.

Have you ever run a business, done sales, marketing, warehousing etc…or worked in the game industry?

If you have not done all those things then before you risk your lives saving spend the next 6 months to a year researching how to start a business including writing a business plan and looking into the game industry and how it works. The economy is shaky and starting a business now is an even higher risk than usual not to mention that making a profit from board games takes allot of work, skill and even luck at the best of times.

Hi Bigins,

My apologies ... I assumed your first post was a "leg pull". Zzzzz has posted "copyrights and patents to help designers with their legal questions.

Out of curiosity, what is the name of your game?

Hello Bigins,

If you're asking if you're protected from someone else making a game based on the same sport your game is based on, the answer is that you're not protected. Assuming that the sport you're simulating is a "public domain" sport, like baseball or soccer, other people have as much right to make a game based on it as you did when you made your game.

If you're asking if you're protected from someone making an exact copy of your game (art, rules, layout, etc.), the answer is that you're probably protected. Obviously, you can't stop someone from actually making the game, but you'll be able to pursue them in court for using your work without your permission or compensating you. Of course, entering the American legal system entails a whole new world of financial and emotional turmoil.

If you're asking if you're protected from someone making a game that plays almost exactly like yours, but with different art, different layout, and possibly a different theme, the answer is that you're probably not protected. This is something that I think has come up several times before on this forum, and I bet other people can answer this better than me. My understanding is that if your game is not patented, anyone can use some, part, or all of the mechanics in a different game and they're pretty safe (legally speaking). My understanding is also that a game must have unique, patentable features in order to be patentable. My personal experience is that patenting is not very fun to have to pursue.

If you're asking if one of us on the forum will steal your idea and attempt to beat you to the mass market, the answer is that this is a public forum, so anyone on the internet could read what is written here. That said, I know that I don't steal stuff from other people (although I've been inspired by the conversations here many times with great results), and my experiences with the regular posters here have been uniformly positive and constructive.

All that said, you're really quite safe.

Consider this: It takes a bunch of work (time, money, labor) to bring a game to market. You know this. You've been working on your game for 5 years. In and of itself, the work it takes to bring a game to market creates a very strong disincentive for anyone to steal your work (or the work of anyone else on this forum). Knowing the time and money it'd take to steal a board game idea and actually make money off of it, any sane person would be far better off putting that time and money toward other efforts. How many people that would be willing to steal a thing are also people who would put up $10,000+ to have a chance of making money off that thing? It's a self-selecting crowd that automatically dwindles down to almost zero. My understanding is that it's rare for ideas to be stolen in the board game industry.

Feel free to share as much or as little as you wish. I, and I'm sure several others here, have a genuine desire to help you out and to see you succeed. On that note, I have a few thoughts:

1) We know that you believe in your game. If you didn't you wouldn't have come this far with it and you wouldn't have posted here in the first place. Every game designer truly and sincerely believes that their game has what it takes to be a hit. Consequently, you don't have to sell us on it. We already believe that you believe in your game.

2) Take a moment and write up a short, simply worded list of what makes your game fun and (more importantly) certain to sell. You'll want this when you're pitching your game to publisher/distributors. Telling a publisher that everyone who's played it thinks its fun isn't specific enough – it's not objective. Figure out what it is that makes your game engaging, exciting, humorous, or otherwise fun, then write that down. Ideally, your sales pitch will be short and to the point.

3) You may want to look into hiring a game agent or contacting a distribution/fulfillment house (such as what Guild of Blades provides).

Best of luck,

Jonathan L.

Howdy Biggins ...

If you're looking for a commercial agent, then you might want to check out Excel Development Group: http://www.exceld.com/

They are located in Minneapolis and I have seen positive comments about how they work with designers on the BGG forums, but I have not personally worked with them. They seem to be the traditional toy & game agent company that takes concepts and pitches them to mass-market producers (Hasbro, etc.) for a share in the royalties. There's also an up-front cost to have your concept reviewed by them.

Hope that's helpful,
-Bryk

p.s. I live in the western suburbs of Minneapolis, btw.