Hello I'm Badger, I've been playing my board game, with friends and friends of friends for a few years now. I have worn out two prototypes only to make a new even better version each time.myself and all who have played my game are convinced it will be the hottest game in stores if i could just get it there.
Money has always been the hold up until now. It's not that i have a lot of money, but my wife and I did get a small inheritance. We both feel that if we don't give it a chance, well, we'll never know what could have been.
I have a very professional looking prototype being completed at a local sign shop by a graphic designer. basically he is just cleaning up my artwork and digitizing it. I used a quad fold board and the box is the same size as the game of life. I have an estimate from a board game mfg in Pah rump Nevada called MJS Creations you can find them at boardgamedesign.com a guy named Michael Spahitz. is anybody familiar with him?
I am looking for a little advise at this point. I plan on filing for a patent, trade mark, and a copy write so as to be fully protected. For when i have any or all of the above it is then that i actually own something, therefore I have something to sell. I meant this to be more of a question than a statement. Any input will be appreciated.
I plan on marketing this game myself, at least at first. And i have done some home work on getting a board game into stores such as Walmart, TOYS-r-US, and K-Mart which is actually Sears. Sears has a really good program for getting a product into their stores. You pay like $40.00 per month to run it on their website and if people buy it they put it in the stores.
Thanks for listening, i look forward to speaking with some people who have done this themselves a time or two. Thank You
Badger999
new here from Arizona US
I bought a couple sample games from BGD to see what the production quality was like. I got one "self designed" game, meaning one a customer designed themselves, didn't look great but the manufacturing was generally okay. I got a 2nd one it seemed like a professionally designed, much better looking game. The only issue I had with both, the board itself wasn't the same substrate material in used to an it was kind of warped. That said I dont think these were new games, but overprints that likely say around a long time to serve as manufacturing samples. I do suggest buying a few samples if you haven't. Or perhaps if you have a serious bid in they'll send them to you free.
Hey Badger!
Where are you at in Arizona? I live in Mesa, and a couple of years ago I released my own board game (self published), so I've done the contacting manufactures and pay for it yourself route and everything. My game is sold at Game Depot (McClintock and Southern)[among other places, but you might know Dave and Patty if you're from around Phoenix way]. If you have some specific questions, I'd gladly let you know some of my experiences - though most of what I have to share are mistakes (in some ways I think those are more useful than successes).
One thing I will say though, is that a Patent is almost always a waste of money for a game. Unless you have a specifically brand new, never before seen gaming mechanic related to a specific process or part for your game - it won't do anything anyway - and you probably don't have one (even if you've never seen it before). Filing a registered copyright isn't that expensive (though a bit unnecessary as your work is always copyrighted) but only covers your rules text (and other text in the game), and your art.
One thing to try and get over is the idea that someone is going to steal your idea. I posted my idea here on this site just a few days ago and the feedback was invaluable. If you can get your game into Walmart and the other stores you've listed you'll have done something almost none of the big game companies have been able to do by the way, something to think about.
Trademark applies to the name of the game mainly, in theory it could apply to the name of a component or something in the game if you plan to utilize that as part of your branding.
Using a well known game as an example, Settlers of Catan
Copyright: All the artwork on the tiles, rulebook, cards, box, etc (this is one copyright you dont need to register every piece individually)
Trademark: Settlers of Catan, possibly Catan as a generic form.
I'm not saying that's what they DID trademark but that's how it would apply. Patents apply to inventions primarily. You can't patent mechanics generally, so you'd have to be really clever to find something worth patenting that also hasn't been done before.
the Board Game Industry really does rely on the Honor System quite a bit.
Sears does not
There are only a few big game publishers, and by "big" I mean they may have 10 people working there. They know each other, they know the good freelance designers, they know if somebody rips them off and steals something, and they know if they take your idea and give it a new name they won't get sued, but they won't get any more of your brilliant ideas either, and that's not worth it to them. (also they will get a bad name in the industry)
I'm up on the Colorado river in Fort Mohave. Thanks for the input, who did you use for manufacturing? and where were they located? Have you ever heard of MJS Creations out of Pahrump Nevada? that's where i got my first estimate. So you say i should ask them to send me a couple samples. That's a good idea. I'm going to do that.
I will definitely look forward to hearing about your mistakes in hopes to avoid making the same mistakes myself. So you say no patent, well that will save me some money. though i would like you to know more about my game so as to be sure. a copy write is not to expensive, what about a trade mark, does that apply? Can i pm you some info about my game? You can have a look, offer some feedback. thanks
Badger