4 Steps to Pitch Your Game to a Tabletop Publisher 

The amount of information you share in your different social media channels, the amount of good you do in the gaming community in general... You could just keep publishing great games, but instead you go above and beyond to support and grow the boardgame community. Thank you so much for all you do!

Thanks so much for this, Jamey. My friend and I are first time designers and everything you have shared on this channel has been so helpful in navigating the publishing world. Our game recently won a competition and we have a meeting with a publisher this week, thanks in large part to your guidance through these videos! Looking forward to the day that we submit a game to SM!

Thanks for a great and insightful video. As a games designer it's great to hear about the pitch process from the publisher side.

Jamey, this is such a great summary video. One thing that I'd add is for designers to **cultivate friendships with other designers** before trying to pitch. Other designers helped me greatly by giving suggestions aiding me to become a better designer, by presenting design situations of their own that challenged me to grow and gain experience giving helpful suggestions to them, by opening my eyes to industry trends and developments, and by sharing their experiences with publishers so that I could understand what kinds of publisher behavior are typical. Related thought: A good friend with design expertise can also say that a game isn't ready to submit, and a good friendship means being able to accept and reflect on that feedback without being defensive. Given the number of great games out there, it doesn't make sense to submit a game until playtesters love the game and are almost begging to play it again. A designer friend can help avoid approaching publishers until the game really is truly great. Anyway, sorry to be so wordy. Thanks for your video!

Videos like this are why you and stonemeier games are my favorite, not to mention you make some of my favorite games of all time. Your honesty, kindness, and transparency are truly next to none and should be the gold standard for a company. I can't wait to work with you in the future!

Thank you for this Video Jamey... it was Perfect Timing, as I am in the middle of Designing a new game to submit to Stonemaier Games. For any new Game Designers, Speaking from my own personal experience, I have submitted a game to Stonemaier Games and it got All the Way to me sending a Prototype for Jamey an Alan to play. Even though it was not accepted, I was SO Stoked that it made it that far. I also remember getting some Great Feedback from Jamey that really helped me to improve the game. I have since submitted that game to other publishers and I have to say, Stonemaier Games had a very Smooth Submission Process.

Thank you so much Jamey! I am an aspiring game designer and while I have multiple challenges being a would-be first time game designer, I think my biggest challenge has been a lack of knowledge in the industry. The problem with ignorance is that you don't know what it is that you don't know! So having you give a good run through on the process is extremely helpful, especially as I am currently half way through step two where I have created my prototype and am now working on getting a bunch of play testing and feedback. Assuming that the playtesting and design tweaking goes well, it is the next steps that I am really anxious about having close to no idea what to expect. So thank you again for all of the great information and all that you do to help people like me!

This is great! Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us!!! I CANNOT believe people don't accept constructive criticism. I'd LOVE to hear feedback from publishers about my game!!! It's really sad you're discouraged to share insights with people when you so kindly feel that'll help :(

Thanks so so much for this video! I'm a first time designer, about 4 months into what you term the preparation step, and this video is very detailed and helpful!

First time designer here. Thank you so much Jamey. Great information. I am at a stage of my game where I am trying to figure out how to "get it out there". Crowdfunding is so overwhelming and when I looked into publishing I was really discouraged and felt like publishers were this huge unapproachable machine that would never even look at a small designer. Thank you for giving me a hope. BTW big fan of Wingspan.

Thank you so much for posting this! I am designing my first board game and this helped set some things for my to do list.

This has been *EXTREMELY* useful for me as I'm gearing up from "these are my private prototypes" to "I'm trying to move into pitching." (That's not a meta pitch setup or anything). Thank you.

I am a first time developer. I never leave comments like this. I just had to because your video was most informative to me! It felt like a college seminar on game development and how to promote the game in a professional way! Although this video is a couple years old, it’s right on time because I will be attending Proto ATL 2024.

Hey Jamey, thanks so much for making videos like this! Game design became my COVID lockdown passion and I've been soaking up all your advice. I've never been to a convention and I keep my social media footprint pretty small, so "selling myself" to a designer sounds quite intimidating. But listening to you talk through some of the dos and don'ts of the submission process helps it seem more accessible to an outsider like me. Having a game I designed published by Stonemaier games would be a dream come true. So, I'll get busy play-testing and get back with you in a few months. Thanks again!

Love this video on guiding game creators in pitching to publishers. I really appreciate it.

I appreciate you sharing this. Giving context to the process by providing the publisher's point of view is really helpful for designers. Many things remind me of working relationships with an employer or potential future employer, such as graceful responses to feedback and actively listening to an interlocutor. As you mentioned, being mindful of this in any relationship is important. When individuals spend so much time creating something and building their own expectations for that product, openness to constructive criticism may be harder to accept. Thank you for explicitly shedding light on this with real examples.

Thanks for this Jamey. I have pitched a lot over the years, but still learned some new tips. The most significant being to send a short email after using an online form (if I have a known contact at the publisher). I am so used to pitching in person at conventions with a short email beforehand, that I struggle with the lack of personal contact when using an online form. But I hadn’t thought of sending a short email at the same time just saying “Hi, I’ve used your online submission process”. I did exactly that with a submission this evening, immediately after watching your video! :) Thanks! On a different note, I do often pitch multiple games in the same meeting. But that is generally because my games are very light and often I’m pitching to large publishers with massive catalogues. I think your advice of pitching one game per meeting rings true for a mid/heavy strategy game.

Jamey gave to a role community of game designers important information. That is an amazing job. Thank you so much.

Thank you for sharing your expertise with all of us! Every time I discover a new Stonemaier product I'm always impressed. These videos have only solidified them as my favorite producer.

Thank you for taking the time to cover this subject!! I'm so happy I stumbled across this video (even if it was a year late). Super informative! I love Stonemaier Games, and I looove to see a game company willing to talk about this kind of stuff. As a first time game designer, I'm excited to put all of this in practice.

Fantastic video Jamey! I've been watching as many design and publishing videos as I can, and your top 10 video on game design is what fired me up to pursue design in the first place. This video came out at the right time as we're just really getting into play testing. Knowing what comes next is a huge help. Thanks so much!

This was a super informative video that seems to have popped up just when I needed it in the height of my board game design process. I appreciate all the advise you selflessly provide and the work you do to contribute to the board game industry as a whole. This video will be a great reference for me when the time comes to prepare my own game pitch. Cheers!

What a fantastic video Jamey. It's helpful as a new game designer to see these very informative videos to help have a realistic view of the process. I very much appreciate the time you take to help the community.

Helpful advice, Jamey. Thank you for doing this for those of us who hope to pitch our game(s) someday.

Such great advice! I love the way you think and talk about the respectfulness bound between a designer and publisher. Awesome video, thank you!

Extremely helpful! Thank you Jamie for sharing your wisdom with the world. Much appreciated.

This…. This is why I subscribe to your channel, more stuff like this please.. I also enjoy when you talk about mechanisms! It helps keep me inspired to create games. So thank you for taking the time to do things like this.

Incredibly helpful, as usual.

I'm currently designing my first game, and it's daunting. Watching all these videos about publishing, and what it takes to get a game out there is so overwhelming. When I need inspiration and hope to keep pushing forward, I watch this channel. Thank you for making the games and content that you do; it truly keeps me afloat.

I enjoy are your design-related videos' (and other videos), but this one was so insightful. You are my go-to in the tabletop space for game design and publishing information and motivation. Thank you.

This was so helpful! Thanks for all your videos. It's so nice to have these resources.

This information is very helpful. Thank you so much for all the video’s

Lots of really great info and I love how you put the importance on the human aspect of submitting 🙏

Thanks, Jamey! This advice and your 10 designer tips have been extremely helpful for me as a new game designer trying to get my foot in the door. I hope I can share my games with the board game community in general soon :)

Thank you for being so generous with time and your knowledge. I'm in the process of writing a rulebook for my first board game (I've written 3 campaign books for the miniature wargame system Bolt Action), and it's become a real passion project. These videos are extremely valuable for people in my situation.

Wow Thanks Jamie! I have watched a LOT of game design videos over the years and this is definitely one of the best. Getting insights and advice straight from a publisher is gold!

Jamey, Thanks for this content. It drives home the importance of the publisher’s needs and that’s something designers/creatives can lose sight of easily.

This channel is a goldmine of information, thank you for spending so much time helping future designers!

Thanks Jamey, always open, informative and welcoming. Thanks

Thank you for doing this, I really appreciate this. For me it’s still a dream, like to be someday a Boardgame Designer, maybee I will never able to live this dream, but watching your kind, honest and generously pitched details about how it would be, if I had accomplished all those steps, is simply awesome, thank you.

An amazing video on the perspective of pitching a game. I have a working prototype (First game I'm going to pitch) that I want to pitch to publishers and this gave me extra hope towards pitching the prototype and having it ready for a best first impression. Thank you for your insight and guidance!

I'm creating a game for university at the moment and this has been such an informational video. Very helpful, so just wanted to say thanks.

As a new designer THIS video tops my list of the most helpful in providing an understanding of the process and the possible relationship between game designer and publisher. I now know it's possible to find success and the path to follow. The advice you share is invaluable. THANK YOU for taking the time to post it. I don't think my current work is right for you, but your generosity of spirit makes me want to design a game that is! Thanks again!

2 words: so helpful!! Thanks a lot Jamey for all these tips! I’m currently in this process of pitching games to publishers, so this video really got my attention. I was a little surprised by one point, the fact of naming already existant games (like “Azul meeting Taluva” for instance). But it can make sense! It’s so important and helpful to have a publisher’s point of view! So.. thanks! 🙂👍🏼

Thank you for sharing all of these tips with such detail and clarity. I've spent a lot of time developing my game, but I'm still learning how to prepare a pitch. This video provided a list of things I hadn't thought of, and it was also encouraging to hear what I've been doing right so far. Thank you for taking the time to help aspiring game designers.

Thank you for these Insights Jamey, as always very helpful! Good to get to know better the publishers pov. I have to add something to your comment concerning 'publishers are not the ones to tell you who your game might fit to'. I just had my prototype at a (german) publisher that actually really saw potential in the game but it is too big of a scope for them. It was a positive rejection with detailed feedback. So now whats interesting is that THEY would keep the prototype and take it with them to a publishers meeting and show it to other publishers that they might think it would fit to! In the end I wanted to have the prototype back to be able to work on it in the meantime, but as you see there are a lot of possibilities of how a publisher can behave and react. This was a very positive one and Id always apply to them again with a different game idea.

Always in awe of how willing you are to share your knowledge. We live in a world where most people just want to keep everything to themselves. You show that there is enough sunshine for everyone. Especially impressed by how easily you talk up other games and publishers. I hope your kindness and generosity comes back to you tenfold. I’m new to the board game hobby, and I’ve learned so much from your videos. Thank you!

Not a game designer but this is wonderful insight into how the boardgames that we love are born 😁

I'm a long time boardgame player and absolutely love your games. However, I myself am very new to conceiving the idea of and designing a boardgame. Still some way to go and I'm constantly playtesting and fine tuning it. I'm nervous about reaching out but some day I will. Videos like this certainly help guide new board game designers. And so I thank you very much!

Thanks for this Jamey! I may never try to submit a game to a publisher, but if I do I'll know there is this extremely helpful video to come back to!

Great breakdown of the process.

This is a really interesting video to gain some better insight into the publishers perspective! Thank you!

This is great information, thank you for sharing it so freely!

Thanks, Jamey, for your guidance. Inspiring and informative!

Thanks Jamey, I really appreciate the information it was very helpful as a first time designer. 👍

Thank you for this wealth of information! I’m starting the journey of Board Game creation and much better off for it due to the info you’ve given in this video. Great info as always!

Well this sure is timely…I was just today toying with a game design! Just want to say thanks for all you do for the hobby Jamey. Can’t wait to get my hands on Libertalia and that upcoming Viticulture expansion 😎

Why are you so nice and awesome? Incredible how proactive you are within the community.

That was a very helpful video - thank you! 🙂 This will definitely help when I decide to pitch one of my game designs in the future. ✌️

Thank you so much for this video, Jamey! Very helpful!

Some great tips Jamey. Thanks

Excellent video, thanks!

Great video Jamey! Thanks a ton for the tips & insight!

Thank you Jamie all of your videos have been very helpful to me as someone who is legally blind and finds it difficult to attend events and make my presence known. Happy to say it has not stopped me from designing my first game and I’m hoping to submit it for public criticism soon. I hope all is well in your life and I hope maybe one day submit it to SM games haha ☺️

Thanks Jamie, so many good advice here.

thank you jamey. i found that video very informative. i have a game that i design, its still in process i follow you and watch all the videos, i see that very usefull. you are an inspirarion and i love your games. looking forward for the next video.

Thanks for spending the time to prep and shoot this video - super helpful! Also want to shout out Cardboard Edison's "The Compendium" as an amazing directory of publishers and what types of games they're looking for.

As an avid board game fan, I have started designing my first game recently. It's already been SO fun. It's a Princess Mononoke themed strategy game, (or at least Japanese inspired with Forest Spirits, demons, and a human vs nature theme), and a sort of Root meets Rising Sun meets Dune (territory control as a means to do later actions like worker placement, very thematic tied to mechanisms, multiple routes to victory). I wish I saw this video right from the start! Over the last month I've carefully written the rules, sketched out a first board game design, and just ordered basic parts to make a prototype to test it out. Then I looked into publishers of games I already own (which Jamey mentions here to do as well) to see if it's possible to truly just make your own board game. I wasn't sure at all how to actually get a game made a month ago. Of the publishers I researched, Jamey and SM Games (of which I own and love Wingspan, and have been looking to buy/play Scythe for the better part of 2 years) is the most impressive in regards to care and information about submitting. This video is a great example. It is very clear they want great designs submitted to them, but also overall great designs/games put out into the world in general. I've been watching all the videos and reading the articles about game design they provide, including the many from Jamey himself, and feeling great that both my instincts on many of these topics are in the right direction, and that someone like Jamey has put in the effort to have these resources available. They're also just fun videos to watch, I love the top 10 lists he uploads. Hoping to send my submission to Stonemaier Games this year and before other publishers, as soon as I playtest this like crazy. This comment is me trying to 'make yourself known', even if just a little bit. Jamey if you're reading this, you're an inspiration. Even if you don't see this, or my eventual submission gets lost or rejected, you've helped me on such a fun and exciting journey.

Very helpful information! My sons designed a card game and are considering kickstarting it. But they are open to submitting to publishers too. They have other games in the works as well. Thanks!

Thank you for this Jamey!

Oooo really excited for this one!

As usual, great content!

Thank you! Really helpful content

Hey thanks Jamey, you give good advice.

I know I’m ‘late to the party’ but I really appreciate you sharing your perspective in such a thorough manner. Thanks- this will help me in the final steps of my design journey. 😊

Hi Jamey, thank you for being so transparent about the business behind board games, I really appreciate it. There is a topic that I think could be a great addition to your vlog: How to track Hit Points in tabletop games. There are a few options, like tokens, dice, dials or a tracker line. What do you think? :)

Thank you for the insights! If my games were accepted immediately, they surely would not have been as good as they are today. Now I have a way to consider feedback, iterate a new version, and print 1 new copy for myself. It is still enjoyable for me to open a new iteration when it arrives with a clear sense of completion. Then my mind is free to work on the next project and not feel too anxious about 1 publisher's answer. Whether it sells 1 or 10,000 copies, I look for ways to enjoy the process so that it is sustainable and ongoing improvement whether I get a yes now or much later. Hope that helps someone.

Thanks so much for this information. I think a lot of us have taken a first time shot at game design during the pandemic. I was curious if I should have a completed game or bring in a game that was 75% complete to see if anyone was interested first. Keep up the great content it's definitely appreciated.

Awesome video!

What an interesting video! I find some similarities with pitching a book to a publisher. Not all publishing houses do every genre, so you have to choose well.

Hi Jamey, I hope you're doing well! I used to post a lot on your "My Favorite Game Mechanism" videos. One tip I have to share is to make a Tabletop Simulator prototype of your game. There are a lot of digital playtesting opportunities now, and many publishers want to try games digitally too. Thanks for sharing this video; this detailed breakdown will surely help many people--myself included. I really like the tip for explaining your game as a cross between two other games, but with a twist. I'll have to keep that trick in mind for the game I'm pitching now.

Hi Jamie! Thank you so much for this. As a budding game designer this info is absolutely invaluable. BTW, I am in love with Wingspan right now I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the expansions! I haven't had the chance yet to play Scythe, but it's definitely on my list. Anyway thank you so much! 💖 -Ava

Thank you Jamey!

Appreciate your content as always Jamey! I'd love to hear your perspective on how to approach this topic in a remote environment. I feel like a lot of information about this is heavily focused on people who can attend conventions and get in front of publishers. Some of us live in places that don't have these and/or have higher barriers to entry for in-person meetups. I know you mentioned online presence, but it would be great to hear more specifically about this topic. What do you think about virtual pitching? Have you ever experienced/accepted one? What are the best ways you've seen to "get in front of publishers" in a virtual environment?

I have a couple games I have been working on although I have been deciding whether to try the Kickstarter approach or the submission approach. Honestly one of them my be better for traditional and the other for self publishing. I’m really close with my smaller card game and have play tested quite a bit privately, I just sent out to get a better more professional prototype printed for more public play testing. I have one game that I think would be a good Stonemaier fit but it is still in early stage’s. Enjoyed the video as always and thanks for the advice.

I mean, it'd be pretty weird to NOT leave a comment after watching this video. Thanks for the guidance. ;) Looking forward to the journey.

This tips are great, thanks! Im still deciding if I should pitch my game Arazi to a publisher or creatin a kickstarter campaign

Thank you so much! I appreciate all your videos on this subject. So helpful! I plan to incorporate these tips into my forth coming submission. I am a new game designer but really, I've been designing games to play with friends and family all my life. My Castles of Burgundy meets Everdell with a nod to Tapestry is in play testing stage right now and is going great! Rulebook composition begins next week. Thank you again for your insight and encouragement.

Thanks!

Thank you so much for the thorough, well organized overview! For games that have the potential for a more complex component hook, would you recommend designers spending some money to create a prototype component for their "fancy" pitch-ready game prototypes? Or would you recommend using the cheaper alternative and explaining their vision for the more deluxe version during the pitch/on a sellsheet/etc.?

Thank you for this video. I'm a eurogamer, so I started to design an amerygame :). Now I see that it has only one and a half unique ideas. That's not enough.

Thank you so much for this incredible video. I’ve been working on a game for a few weeks, and there is a wealth of information here. I’m trying to get ready for my first game test this coming Sunday. (No more details for now - I’m not being coy, it’s just that this is NOT a pitch. But when I’m ready, I hope to look you up!) I just want to say that I’ve gotten great advice from four friends in the industry - West Todd, Ori Kagan, Jesse Anderson, and Alex Radcliffe. This is a quick shout-out to them for their time and consideration. I hope I can do them justice with the end result.

The Seth Godin of board gaming! Ive only played one SM game once, but Im chomping on the bit to play more! Sorry if Ive ever PM'd you, didnt consider it a selfish play, but could totally see it fron a business stand point. For anyone out there, check out Jay Baer's book "Hug your Haters" for more reasons why this could be the case. Keep going Jamey!

So much great information here. As Essen is my "local" convention and I've heard that many publishers meet with prospective designers there, do you have any advice on how to make this happen and presenting your design face-to-face. Do a lot of publishers that you know of do face-to-face submissions? For me this feels like my best chance of giving a good impression of one of my game designs.

This is great info thank you so much! :) really interesting regarding the perspective on feedback! Random question, have you ever had a game that you rejected be resubmitted after improvements?

I really appreciate you saying you need to write a great rulebook! Playing games from Kickstarter with poorly edited or playtested rulebooks can easily be a games' biggest downfall, poor rule books really can ruin a game experience!

Hi Jamey, do you receive a lot of international submissions and do you handle/view them differently from local submissions? Obviously there would be a lot of logistical challenges for physical pitches, so I'd be interested in your take on it. I'm asking from the perspective of someone living in a country (South Africa) where the board game scene is only now taking off a little, but the publisher presence is still extremely limited. Lastly, thank you so much for taking the time to discuss all these design-related topics in such a transparent manner, it's invaluable to get an inside perspective as to how a publisher's approach to submissions might look.

Hi again, I had another question. After agreeing to go with a certain publisher, generally speaking, would the designer then be committed to working a certain number of hours for a certain amount of time? eg. would the expectation be that the designer would need to spend around 8 hours a week for the 4 months of development? If I have other upcoming commitments like work or university, should I be cautious of my time? Also thanks, for these videos and comments, it's super helpful and generous for someone who knows so much about the industry. You really go above and beyond.

Not exactly board gaming related, but have you ever read "On Writing" by Stephen King? One of the best works I've ever read when it comes to just creating things in general, lots of crossover with what you're talking about here. Thanks for putting out videos like this, always inspiring.