I attended a fundraising trivia night over the weekend where every table had a theme chosen by the attendees. Our table was Wingspan & bird themed: Most of us wore bird shirts, there were dessert nests with candy eggs, we had two huge owl statues, and I brought a random Wingspan Americas bird card for each of the 10 of us.
The fundraiser was entirely unrelated to tabletop games–it was for the St. Louis roller derby team–but several people stopped by to say how much they loved Wingspan. One comment stood out: “I love Wingspan. It’s the only game I play.”
You might glance at your vast collection of games as you read this and wonder why this person hasn’t tried other great games, but think back to when you got into modern gaming. For me, Catan was the only game I played for a few years, followed by Agricola. The mentality was, “Why would we play something else when we already know–and enjoy–this game?”
Eventually I started exploring other games (Fresco, Dominion, Stone Age, etc), but I would bet that a not-insignificant number of people are “lifestyle gamers”–they pick a game, and that’s the only game they play. They might go deep into a modern game like Wingspan, a classic game like chess, or a trading/living card game like Magic.
I love when someone finds a game that they want to play over and over again. As a publisher, I want to support the things that bring people joy. Here are a few ways I try to support those who choose to play a specific Stonemaier game over and over:
community support: If I go deep into a game, I like to talk about the game on online forums (especially BoardGameGeek and Facebook). I try to help people feel welcome when they venture into the comments for our games, as it can be intimidating to show up in a group of 20,000 people and not know how your first question/comment will be received. Part of community support also includes supporting and encouraging fan creations (e.g., Wingspan’s bird promo packs or expansions like Scythe: The Wind Gambit).
content creators: Here’s a little secret about why we send so many games to reviewers (all games in our catalog, not just the new hotness): It’s just as much to get people excited about the games they already play/own as it is about informing people who don’t already have the game.
digital versions: The tabletop experience is awesome, but it isn’t always an option. We work with developers to bring our games to life digitally so the person who plays Wingspan once a month in person but wants to play every day in between online can do that.
accessories/expansions/promos/merch: For the two games I played over and over for several years (Catan and Agricola), we literally had one copy of the game among us. At a certain point, those of us who didn’t own the game felt the desire to contribute. We bought expansions, upgraded tokens, and promos; we might even have bought Agricola t-shirts if we had thought of it.
spinoffs/sequels: There are certainly many people who just want more Wingspan or more Scythe. But there are some who want different-Wingspan or different-Scythe; hence Wyrmspan, Finspan, and Expeditions.
gift giving: My first few games after Catan and Agricola were all gifts. I’m sure I would have eventually started buying other games myself, but I’m so grateful that people gave me that nudge by giving me Dominion, Stone Age, and Fresco. We have a gift guide at Stonemaier Games, but as I write this, I think it might be helpful to bridge the gap between popular non-Stonemaier games and our games. For example, if someone you know loves Carcassonne, they might also enjoy Between Two Castles. That sort of thing.
Did you–or do you still–have a game that you play over and over? In what ways has the publisher supported your passion for that game?
GameHead, which rebranded from GamerMats two years ago as part of a push into board game publishing, has expanded its team with a pair of senior hires.
Ryan Schoon, a veteran presenter at the Man vs Meeple YouTube channel, joins Gamehead as marketing manager, while former Ludo Fact USA account executive Mark Burke comes on board as operations manager.
GameHead said Schoon would help expand GameHead’s presence within the tabletop gaming community using his experience in communications, content creation, brand management, and community and sales growth.
Schoon has spent almost a decade producing reviews and previews as part of Man vs Meeple, which has about 77,000 subscribers. He was also formerly a key account manager at tabletop crowdfunding specialist Gamefound from 2020 to 2022, and later spent almost two years as marketing manager with Japanime Games.
Burke joins Gamehead from the US arm of European board game manufacturing major Ludo Fact, where he worked for two years as an account executive.
He previously spent two years as a wholesale account executive at Unstable Games/TeeTurtle, was store manager at Indiana-based retailer Moonshot Games, and also worked for almost a year managing social media for Western Legends publisher Kolossal Games.
GameHead said Burke will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company while directing the sales team.
The company expanded into board game publishing in 2024 after more than a decade specialising in tabletop game mats and accessories, and rebranded from GamerMats to GameHead as part of that process.
GameHead’s publishing arm is led by creative director Paul Salomon, the designer of Elf Creek Games-published Honey Buzz and Stonemaier Games title Stamp Swap.
The publishing arm was launched to focus on party games for six or more people, casual games suitable for players of all ages, and ‘thinky games’ with strategic elements and replayable decision making.
GameHead’s releases to date include Rocco Privetera’s animal-themed set collection title Trinket Trove and Taiki Shinzawa’s bank heist-themed trick taker No Loose Ends.
OffDutyNinja, the tabletop marketing specialist which has worked on $25m of crowdfunding campaigns since its 2018 launch, has been acquired by industry peer Game Brands.
The combined company will operate under the OffDutyNinja name, with Game Brands adding its web design, search engine and answer engine optimisation, and blog content creation offerings to ODN’s marketing and crowdfunding services.
ODN’s work over the years has included crowdfunding and marketing support for companies such as Roxley Games, Indie Boards & Cards and Stronghold Games, Devir North America and Allplay, while the more than 100 campaigns it has worked with include the $2.2m More Terraforming Mars! Kickstarter and Marvel Dice Throne X-Men, which raised over $4.2m.
The acquisition follows a period of ODN quietly closing down its operations, Game Brands founder Ryan Eichenwald told BoardGameWire, with company founder Kira Peavley having shifted to a full-time director of operations role at Brass: Birmingham publisher Roxley Games over the past couple of years.
Eichenwald becomes CEO of Off Duty Ninja, with former CEO Peavley staying on in an advisory capacity for the next year to help ease the transition.
Peavley told BoardGameWire, “It came down to timing, and the timing was right. I had reached a point where I was ready for my next chapter, and when the opportunity with Ryan and Game Brands came together, it just made sense.
OffDutyNinja founder Kira Peavley || Photo Credit: OffDutyNinja
“The clients, the team, the work they have all built deserve to keep going and growing, and this deal makes that possible. It felt like the right ending to my chapter and the right beginning for theirs. It has been quite emotional but also quite positive.”
Speaking of ODN’s growth and the changes in board game crowdfunding and marketing over the years, Peavley said, “OffDutyNinja launched October 31, 2018, originally as a media management consultancy. That lasted about five minutes, honestly, because clients needed more and I was able to offer it.
“Very quickly it evolved into a full digital marketing agency for tabletop games, helping publishers with their everyday marketing needs as well as crowdfunding. The scope grew, and then ebbed, and then grew again.
“Covid hit hard and when publishers/creators are having to make difficult decisions about whether they can afford to keep their doors open and keep making games, marketing support understandably moves down the priority list.
“Tariffs have brought that same energy back in a different way. Through all of it we just tried to stay flexible and meet clients where they were.
“The other challenge has been the shift in how Kickstarter works. Ten years ago you could launch with no budget and no existing audience and still find success because the platform itself was driving discovery.
“That window has been closing for tabletop for a while now, and it has fundamentally changed what creators need to consider before launching a crowdfunding project.”
She continued, “That discovery shift really gets to the heart of the biggest challenge we see now. The audience has to exist before you launch. Full stop.
“The campaigns that succeed are the ones where the publisher has spent months, sometimes a full year, building a community that is genuinely excited to back on day one. The first 24 to 48 hours drive the algorithm, and the algorithm doesn’t care about your campaign if you don’t come in with momentum already built.
“The biggest obstacle to that? Time. Creators sometimes wait way too long to get started. We’d sometimes hear from people who reached out only a month or two before their planned launch date, or in some cases after they had already gone live.
“At that point every job gets harder: the audience building is rushed, the creative is rushed, and the campaign pays for it. The earlier you start, the better every single piece of it gets.
“The other big thing is expectation calibration. There are a lot of headline funding numbers out there from mega-campaigns that skew what success looks like.
“For most publishers, especially indie and first-time creators, a realistic and fully funded campaign that delivers well is worth so much more than swinging for a number you can’t hit.”
When asked about her take on ODN’s biggest successes in the crowdfunding space, Peavley said, “Honestly, it’s hard to point to a single success.
“People probably want to hear about the big IP projects, and those are genuinely exciting. Getting to work on something like Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid across multiple campaigns, or Marvel Dice Throne, or Lord of the Rings, or Terraforming Mars is a thrill for obvious reasons.
Marvel Dice Throne: X-Men || Kickstarter image
“But the truth is every project we worked on was a big success to us, from a first-time creator finding their footing to a major publisher launching their next big title. The scale is completely different but the care that goes into it is exactly the same.
“And that’s really the point. A tremendous amount of love, heart, and work goes into every campaign, and that’s not just from our side. It’s from the client, the designers, the artists, the playtesters, the partners, the backers, the community.
“Tabletop is a real group effort, and when all of those pieces come together the way they’re supposed to, that’s the success. Every single time. That never got old.”
Crowdfunding Future
Game Brands launched three years ago as Board Burst, before renaming itself to Digital Wizard. That company consisted of Game Brands, which focused on digital marketing and web support for the board, tabletop, and video game industries, and Opmasis, which provided the same services for realtors, personal injury lawyers and contractors.
Eichenwald told BoardGameWire that Opmasis would be closing its doors following the ODN acquisition. He said the new company would also cease reaching out to potential video game clients “for at least the time being” – although added that it would still accept video game clients if they request its services.
Game Brands’ previous experience in the tabletop industry includes working with Steve Jackson Games “to help them wrangle their website”, backend work for Restoration Games which Eichenwald said doubled the company’s website traffic, and providing website design assistance for Gamelyn Games prior to its acquisition by Tabletop Tycoon (now Tycoon Games).
Eichenwald said, “ODN’s number of clients is currently at 11, including the combined client bases of both companies. ODN has started moving in a very crowdfunding-heavy direction over the last few months, and I’m very excited to continue that work.
New OffDutyNinja CEO Ryan Eichenwald
“ODN’s crowdfunding team is second-to-none, and I’m looking forward to being able to help new games reach audiences in much more concrete, measurable ways than ever before.
“ODN has also had a very board and card game-focused history, but the addition of the Game Brands team – and Brad Bound especially – gives us deep roots in the TTRPG space as well that we’re eager to bring to ODN’s experienced team.”
The ODN team will also include CFO Chris Ortega and backer experience manager Carissa Yaffe, in addition to lead graphic designer Kevin Haemmerle. Editorial manager Anais Torres was already in the process of leaving ODN prior to the sale, but is currently helping with the company’s transition, Peavley added.
Asked to give her predictions for how tabletop crowdfunding might change over the next year or so, Peavley said, “I think we’re going to continue seeing Gamefound grow, and I’m genuinely hopeful that the increased competition will push Kickstarter to make some positive changes. A little pressure never hurts.
“I personally love what the BackerKit crowdfunding platform is doing and I hope to see it pick up more momentum in our space. The platform landscape is more interesting right now than it’s been in a long time, which is good for creators and backers both.”
Eichenwald, who attended the GAMA Expo trade show as part of ODN at the end of last month, said, “One of the big things that came up was just how many people were looking for crowdfunding support, especially after the economic shocks from last year.
“A lot of the newer games seemed to be small-box or app-enabled, and I got a sense of excitement this year that hadn’t been there the year previous – which makes sense, given that GAMA 2025 was overshadowed by the first round of tariffs.”
A trio of comings and goings from the board game industry for the year so far – if you have news of a new role, hire or job change within the industry that you’d like mentioned on BoardGameWire, please send an email with the details to the editor, Mike Didymus-True, on:
Ross Thompson, Director of Marketing, Atomic Mass Games (Asmodee)
Ross Thompson, the director of marketing for Asmodee miniatures games studio Atomic Mass Games, has announced he is leaving the company after more than two years in the role.
Photo Credit: Ross Thompson
Thompson joined Atomic Mass as senior marketing manager in November 2023, following almost a year as crowdfunding and marketing manager at Gloomhaven publisher Cephalofair Games. He was promoted to director of marketing in March 2024.
The move comes three months after Thompson won a special election to be named a media and events director on the board of directors at tabletop gaming trade organisation GAMA.
Thompson has also spent the past nine years running the Tabletop Game Jobs Facebook group he launched alongside Jessica Fisher, which has grown in that time to almost 26,000 members.
Writing on BlueSky about his decision to move on from Atomic Mass, Thompson said, “With a new year, comes new changes. I’ve enjoyed my time with Atomic Mass Games over the past two years, but I’ve made the decision to start on the next chapter.
“We have accomplished so much, with the relaunch of Star Wars: Legion and all the releases for Marvel: Crisis Protocol and Star Wars: Shatterpoint. The team here at Atomic Mass Games is filled with incredibly passionate people working to bring the power of play & hobby to tabletop miniatures wargaming.
“Getting to work with all of our partners across the Asmodee space, from group, distribution and studio has been an incredible experience. I am very thankful to have been able to work with so many fantastic people around the world and grateful for those relationships.
“Looking forward to seeing where this takes me. Thank you to everyone at Atomic Mass Games and Asmodee and Ill see you around!”
Thompson kicked off his career in the tabletop industry 17 years ago as the founder and organiser of San Diego-based gaming convention Kingdom Con, which operated for a decade before its last event in 2019.
He began working in retail support and development at Privateer Press in 2010, before becoming a marketing manager at CMON in 2011 and switching to a community manager role at Soda Pop Miniatures in 2012.
Thomson’s other previous jobs in the industry have included head of trade marketing at UK-based Steamforged Games and marketing manager at The Op.
Ilya Ushakov, Director Of Marketing, Druid City Games
Former Incredible Dream marketing director Ilya Ushakov has been named director of marketing at Wonderland’s War publisher Druid City Games.
Photo Credit: Ilya Ushakov
The hire comes five months after Ushakov left Kinfire Chronicles publisher Incredible Dream amid heavy downsizing at the venture capital-backed studio due to volatile US tariff changes.
Ushakov also runs the board games-focused Kovray YouTube channel, Instagram account and Twitter feed with partner Tylor Murray.
A statement from Druid City confirming Ushakov’s hire said, “We’re incredibly excited to welcome Ilya Ushakov as our new director of marketing.
“From the moment we started talking, it was clear that Ilya brings not only a strong strategic vision, but also a genuine enthusiasm for board gaming and connecting with people in meaningful ways.
“We’re already grateful for his insight, energy, and collaborative spirit!”
Ushakov joined Incredible Dream in 2023 as social media and community manager, before being promoted to marketing manager in early 2024 and marketing director in the summer of that year.
The role was his first in the tabletop gaming industry, following a career which included project management at the Canadian Mental Health Association and project and co-ordination work at the Edmonton Chamber of Voluntary Organizations.
Ross Connell, Head of Crowdfunding at Mantic Games
Board game marketing and communications specialist Ross Connell has left North Star Games after almost five years to become head of crowdfunding at UK fantasy and sci-fi board game and miniatures maker Mantic Games.
Photo Credit: Ross Thompson
Connell joined North Star as marketing manager in 2021, and worked on projects including Nature, the redesign of the publisher’s 2014 hit Evolution, which raised about $850,000 through a Kickstarter campaign in late 2024.
After months of status updates on the World of Wingspan newsletter and a brief visual preview on last week’s livecast, yesterday I fully revealed the Wingspan Americas Expansion via our website, the Wingspan Facebook group, BoardGameGeek, and a newsletter. Over the next few days I’m sharing stories, mechanisms, photos, Instagram posts, and YouTube videos about the expansion, followed by third-party media starting on January 16. The expansion will launch on our webstores on January 21 (shared via our newsletter and ads) and arrive on tabletops around the world in February. Local retailers will release the expansion in late February, then online retailers in early March. Throughout 2026 the expansion will feature at conventions, release in various languages, and be reviewed by a diverse array of content creators.
Why the long paragraph listing these milestones? I realized recently that this method is quite similar to something I’ve experienced by searching for homes on Zillow.
Over the last few months, we’ve casually been looking at homes in St. Louis. There’s a certain joy in low-key browsing without any immediate pressure to buy (we’re perfectly happy at our small condo).
Like similar websites, Zillow lets you set some parameters, and it will notify you about homes that meet those parameters. You can also favorite specific homes that you’d like to follow more closely.
What has impressed me about this system is that it creates so many opportunities for contacting and engage potential customers (like me):
coming soon
new listing
open house
plan your weekend
price cut
take the next step
pending sale
sold
As I’ve received these notifications–which walk a fine line between not enough and too many–I’ve found myself wishing there was something like this for tabletop games. I could list the parameters of the types of games I love the most, follow the games that intrigue me, and get notifications for key milestones.
In the meantime, this is essentially what we do for people who choose to follow our games. We have our general monthly newsletter (plus Instagram, YouTube, and a Facebook page), and anyone who wants to follow a specific game or brand can do so via that game’s newsletter (or its Facebook group, BoardGameGeek, or Discord). This is followed by the various touchpoints I mentioned in the opening paragraph.
Cast a wide net, then engage deeper with those who want more info about specific products. The repeated points of contact are designed to avoid overwhelming you all at once, yet at any time you could choose to read the rulebook (or opt out if you decide the product isn’t a good fit).
Honestly, it’s also fun for the publisher: We’ve been working on this expansion for years, so I appreciate the opportunity to share it from different angles over weeks and months.
What do you think about the Zillow method? Have you seen it used well for tabletop games or other products?
I strongly believe in the importance of providing review copies to a vast variety of content creators so they can share their unbiased opinions with the audiences they serve. There were a lot of great games published in 2025, and I’m truly grateful for those who chose to play and feature Stonemaier products. I estimate that we send around 1,000 free Stonemaier products each year for reviews and other content via the system described below.
I genuinely hope content creators continue to seek joy in games (opposed to it feeling like a task, chore, or obligation). You have an amazing opportunity to add value to the people who value your insights and perspectives; it’s your choice to serve your audience instead of serving an algorithm.
If you’d like to sign up to potentially receive review copies of Stonemaier games, please read following article in full to understand our guidelines and procedures (within the article there is a link to a signup form). If you’re a relatively new content creator, please also read this post.
Overall Procedures
If you’re a reviewer or content creator on our list, I will contact you when we have review copies available. At that time, you will receive a message from me listing the products currently available for review, and you can choose one to receive (free product with free shipping). If you’re not on the list, you can sign up for consideration via the form linked in this article.
I kindly request that you follow this process rather than directly soliciting me for review copies, as it allows me to continuously provide products to hundreds of different content creators. For every product we offer numerous opportunities for you to receive review copies from us; if your schedule differs from ours, Stonemaier products are widely available for you to attain or play (on our webstore, from retailers, on digital platforms, and in non-English languages from localization partners).
Whenever I let our list of reviewers know that we have review copies available, I preface the email with these guidelines:
You do not already have a review copy (or an incoming review copy) from Stonemaier Games for which you haven’t posted substantial content.
You are available to feature the product you select in the next few months.
You don’t already have easy access to the product.
If you choose an expansion to review, you already own (or have access to) the core game.
If you are a content creator who wants to be considered for Stonemaier Games review copies, please read the following guidelines and sign up on the form within this article. Once you’re on the list, we’ll contact you when we have products available for review.
Here’s how we handle the various stages of review copies:
We only send 100% final versions of our products to reviewers, not prototypes.
Advance Review Copies: I typically receive 10-12 copies of new products via airmail from our manufacturer, Panda, a few months before we launch the product on our webstore. While I sometimes choose a few well-established reviewers for advance review copies, I also include some growing and underrepresented content creators. I provide a media date for those reviewers when they can start sharing their primary content about the product; the reason for this date is that we do not want to rush reviewers–we want them to have ample time to play the game, evaluate it, and compose their thoughts so their reviews can best serve their audience.
Early Review Copies: When our fulfillment centers receive the full ocean-freight shipments (typically a few weeks before the product launch), I reach out to a handful of content creators to see if they’re interested in receiving an early copy of the game. This is a marketing effort to reach as many people as possible, so typically these are reviewers with 20,000+ Instagram followers, 10,000+ YouTube subscribers, 1000+ podcast followers, hundreds of views per article (self-hosted or on BoardGameGeek), and/or who have medium-sized audiences with high levels of engagement.
First-Run Review Copies: After the initial product launch and fulfillment but before the retail release date, I contact more reviewers–most with smaller audiences than the early reviewers, but still good engagement from their audiences–to see if they would like the product. At this point, around 200 reviewers will have received a review request from me, and typically around 50-75 of them respond with interest. Your opinions are just as valid if your video, article, or podcast isn’t posted until a few days, weeks, months, or even years after the game’s announcement/launch/release. Your audience subscribes because of your insights and the quality of your content, not because you’re the first to get a new game.
Reprints and In-Stock Games: I don’t want all of the buzz and visibility of our products to only happen at the beginning of their lifespans, so I regularly offer review copies of reprints and in-stock games. This is typically when I reach out to content creators with small, growing audiences with less engagement (views, likes, comments).
New Signups and Newly Discovered Reviewers: Like any gamer, I discover new-to-me reviewers all the time, and if I really like their content or just want to make sure they’re better represented in the hobby, I may contact them directly to introduce myself and see if there are any Stonemaier products they’d like to review. We also receive new signups on the reviewer form all the time, so I give those reviewers a few chances throughout the first year to accept review copies and to share a link with me of the content they create for that product. If I don’t ever hear (via email) from reviewers who signed up for the list with a link to the content they create about the review copies, eventually I stop contacting them.
Damaged Games: Sometimes our customers report that they receive a damaged copy of one of our games (purchased from our webstore). In those cases, I often send them a mailing label to send the ding-and-dent game to a reviewer, and we send the customer a new game. Reviewers don’t need a perfect box to assess the experience of playing the game.
Other notes about our methods:
I Don’t Read/Watch/Listen to Reviews of Stonemaier Products: I highly value constructive criticism, of which I get plenty from playtesters and gamers. But for reviewers, I want to remain entirely unbiased and impartial to their tastes so consumers can get honest opinions from a wide variety of reviewers. I truly want all reviewers to know they can say anything they want about the Stonemaier products they play without feeling like I’m looking over their shoulder.
We Do Not Pay Reviewers to Express Their Opinions, Nor Do We Charge Reviewers for the Products They Review: If a content creator selects a free product from Stonemaier Games to feature, we ask that they disclose that information with full transparency in all related content. On some platforms, the only way to do this is to tag the post as a “paid promotion,” which, while not entirely accurate (we’re providing cardboard, not cash), is necessary until those platforms offer more accurate tags about material connections between reviewers and tabletop publishers. Here is an extensive survey of reviewers that reveals how exceptionally rare it is for publishers to offer reviewers money for their opinions.
Social Media vs Journalism: Simply being on social media does not make someone a content creator, reviewer, or journalist. I have the greatest appreciation for people who are consistently willing to spend time and effort to learn/play our games, publicly share their unbiased opinions in great detail, and contact us directly (and/or other sources for research) to ask questions about our business practices instead of making unfounded assumptions. That’s journalism. My email is jamey AT stonemaier.com.
We Ship to Reviewers the Same Way We Ship to Customers (from within their region): We ship from fulfillment centers in the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia. However, if a reviewer is ever charged customs/fees by their courier, we ask that they accept the package and then contact us so we can refund those charges.
Standard vs Deluxe: I clarified in an article the reasons that we only send content creators free copies of standard versions of our games (even if there are deluxe alternatives/add-ons). If you’re a content creator who chooses to purchase and showcase deluxe components, that’s totally fine–please just be sure to make it abundantly clear to your audience whenever you’re showcasing something that isn’t standard (to avoid any possible confusion).
I Consume a LOT of Review Content (Just Not for Our Games): At this point, I subscribe to around 750 different game-related articles, podcasts, and YouTube channels. I love hearing other people talk about games, whether they’re individuals or multiple hosts. You can see some of my favorites on our stuff we love page (see the archive section) and among our annual charity auction selections.
Feature and Focus: I’ve mentioned several times above that I ask content creators to select products of ours that they want to “feature.” From a publisher perspective (and, honestly, as an avid consumer of gaming content), I’m less interested in a podcast or video that’s about a bunch of different unrelated games (or a game haul Instagram post) instead of primarily featuring one or two specific games (or focusing on a specific category). “Featuring” a game also means going beyond just making a quick Instagram post or an unboxing clip.
A Distaste for Consistent Negativity, References to “Hype”, Clickbait, and Ragebait Tactics: I truly want reviewers to offer their honest feedback about games (whether their our games or games from other publishers). However, if a reviewer is consistently negative–for example, lists about games they hate or games that disappointed them–or is focused on “the hype,” as in “Does it live up to the hype?” (see this video and this video), I steer away from that content as a viewer (and such reviewers thus drop off my radar as a publisher too). To be clear, I have no problem with negative reviews of a game that a reviewer didn’t enjoy, especially if they take ownership over their dislike (“I didn’t enjoy it” or “it wasn’t for me” rather that “This game is bad/overrated/terrible”). But if you’re going to spend time making a top 5 or top 10 list, I simply can’t relate to someone who spends that time focusing on games they strongly dislike rather than games they enjoy. I also have a strong aversion to clickbait (titles and images) and ragebait tactics that don’t seem genuine to the creator or their content.
Brand-New Reviewers: If you’re excited to start reviewing tabletop games or you’ve only been posting for a few weeks, I highly recommend that you build up a solid base of content and an engaged audience using the games you already have access to before you request that any publisher send free games to you (as a rule of thumb, if you haven’t already created content for many games in your collection, it’s too soon to ask for free products). A mutually respectful and beneficial relationship between a reviewer and a publisher goes both ways. There’s more on this topic here.
Conventions: Attending conventions is incredibly expensive for publishers. There are so many expenses to have games, staff, and a demo team at conventions that we need to sell every possible copy to have a chance at breaking even. For that reason, please do not ask us for free review copies at conventions.
Permanent discoverability: Reviewers spend invaluable time and effort to play, photograph/film, and compose their thoughts–I believe that their content is worth finding months and years after the original post. So I greatly prefer when a creator’s content is permanently discoverable. Specifically, if you post reviews on Instagram, (a) build up an audience of at least 5000 engaged followers before requesting a free game AND (b) post your reviews somewhere that a search engine can find them long after the day when you first post (like an article or BoardGameGeek).
Written Reviews: We send hundreds of review copies to content creators focused on the written word, but for a few bigger releases we didn’t send any advance copies or text-focused journalists. After posting this article on the subject and reading the demand for such reviews in the comments, we committed to sending at least 1 advance copy of each product for a written review (followed by many more in subsequent waves).
Social Media Tags: If you post an article, podcast, or YouTube channel, a quick post on Instagram tagging @jameystegmaier makes it very easy for me to share the news (though I don’t see every post and thus can’t promise I’ll share ever post–I try my best!). Sidenote about Instagram: A personal pet peeve of mine is when I open an Instagram story and am blasted with music. I don’t want to blast anyone else with music, so it’s very rare that I share posts with audio.
Weekly roundups: Every Friday, I post on Facebook a list of all Stonemaier review links emailed to me by reviewers over the previous 7 days. While I’ve always posted these links on our website (and continue to do so), I’ve found this to be a more active way to share review content for the benefit of both the reviewers and our followers.
Featured content: If you accept a free review copy, we’re looking for substantial featured content. That is, we’re looking for more than a quick tweet or Instagram post (a series of such posts is more in line with the idea of “featuring” content). Featured content consists of more than a brief discussion among a number of other games and more than just a 1-2 minute standalone video.
I Say Yes to Every Interview: No matter the size of your channel, podcast, or website, if you want to chat with me to post a public interview on your platform, I’m happy to join you (and I think you’d be surprised by how many designers, publishers, and artists will do the same). There are a few small caveats to this–for example, you need to have some body of work posted publicly for me to first take a look at–but odds are very high I’ll agree to join you. Read more about this here.
Forge Your Own Path: There are many ways to approach content creation–your style and methods don’t need to copy what [insert your favorite famous reviewer] does. For example, I have a YouTube channel where I talk about games (mostly games by other designers/publishers). But I’m not a reviewer. Instead, I primarily focus on mechanisms: When I play a new-to-me game or expansion, I select my favorite mechanism and create a video about it. I also post weekly long-form videos (e.g., top 10s) that usually highlight a specific mechanism. I record every video in a single take using a webcam and a decent mic; most are completely unedited (I use StreamYard to share images of the game while I’m talking). I also decided a long time ago that I’m not a reviewer–just a publisher/designer who likes to talk about games–so I do not accept free copies of games (with very rare exceptions, I only play games I buy or that friends own).
Size Doesn’t Matter: I believe that review content is relevant whether you have 300 subscribers or 300,000. The only impact of size is how often I contact you about available review copies.
Why isn’t a content creator you know on this list? It’s probably some combination of reasons: They’ve been inactive for a long time, they don’t actually feature content for a free product they accepted (or they didn’t email me links to the content), they didn’t accept any review products for a long time, they’re on our private list but asked not to be on the public list, they never signed up for the list, their content doesn’t meet the above guidelines (too new, no permanent discoverability, clickbait tactics, etc), they’re in a region that is prohibitively expensive for shipping (we accept alternative addresses in regions we do ship to, though), or they consistently exhibit such high levels of antagonism to us and/or others that I simply want no association with them.
We understand that some reviewers receive hundreds of games, and it’s their choice to accept (or not accept) a free review copy from us given these stipulations.
Overall, I’m really grateful for the wide variety of content creators who take the time to share their perspectives with the gaming community. If you’re curious about my favorite content creators, I’ve most likely featured them on one of our annual charity auctions (like these creators in 2024,2023,2022, 20212020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013). There are also members of the media who cover gaming news, which I also appreciate.
Below is a list of all reviewers who have given me permission on the form to share their information with you. Over 25% of this list is comprised of underrepresented content creators–I’d love to further improve the diversity of this list! All you need to do after reading the above article is fill out the form; later, if/when you accept a review copy, please feature content for that product and send me a link.
This list doesn’t auto-update–it’s something I manually update once a year using our private list. In case scrolling within the list below is annoying, a full-page version is here. The data on the list may not be 100% accurate, as many reviewers filled out the form a while ago, so their stats and answers may not be up to date. I’m happy to update them upon request.
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If you’re a publisher, what’s your approach to reviewers and other content creators? If you’re a gamer, how do reviewers impact your decision to buy games, expansions, and other products?
I’m entering my eighth year of using Instagram as a publisher, and I continue to really enjoy the community, engagement, and photos there. I say that both as a publisher and someone who enjoys scrolling through to see what others have posted–I’m inspired as a designer by the way people talk about and photograph games there.
Back in 2019, I wrote a post that discussed different strategies used by publishers on Instagram and how they impacted follower counts and engagement (likes and comments). I followed it with this 2023 post in which I shared a sheet of publisher Instagram links and stats.
Before I get to the updated list (which is both embedded below and found here), here are a few observations and some examples of recent posts that I think provide a good strategy for Instagram engagement:
My preferred Instagram strategy is of enthusiasm, variety, elevation, and a personal touch. While I’m happy to show off our games in different ways (specific components, games in action, staged thematic photos, etc), I think it sends a powerful and welcoming message to augment those posts with photos of other things I love–things that have an impact on me as a publisher and as a person.
I try to invite engagement by asking a question on nearly all of my Instagram posts, as I genuinely want to learn what other people enjoy too.
I find that consistency is key. I post once every morning on Instagram.
Only the first 10 words or so of an Instagram post are visible when someone is scrolling, so I try to use that precious space to share (a) the name of the game and (b) impactful words that will inspire further reading.
When I recently asked people what they most value from publishers on Instagram, they mentioned a focus on artwork, info about ongoing releases, posting about other publishers’ games (i.e., not just your games), and positivity.
Since my previous post, short videos have become significantly more common on Instagram. Big Potato Games has embraced this format, and they’ve had the biggest growth of nearly any publisher on the list.
Instagram now actively encourages users to add music to their posts. I highly recommend against doing adding music to posts, as many people scroll through Instagram in places where they don’t want an unexpected audio blast.
Instagram is a highly visual platform. Taking and choosing the right photo(s) makes a huge difference, which is tough to do when you’re trying to play a game (I don’t want to turn casual gaming into photoshoots).
Instagram Stories are an easy way to share (and appreciate) the Instagram posts of fans and content creators who are talking about your games.
You’re allowed to put one URL in your profile name, and I think Linktree is the best link to use there, as it’s essentially a link to other links (your website, other social media, current project, etc).
Here is the list. I’ve sorted the top 10 most followed publishers at the top, then the rest are in alphabetical order. You’ll see that there isn’t necessarily a correlation between a publisher’s level of financial success and their Instagram follower count. There are some heavy hitters among the top 10, but there are also some major publishers for whom Instagram just may not be a priority. And that’s okay! There are many ways to reach people.
I’ve kept the 2023 stats for any publishers that were on the list then so you can see which publishers have seen a big change over the last 3 years:
Exploding Kittens and great coffee have something in common: They both offer simple, inspiring sales techniques.
On a recent Think Like a Game Designer podcast, Exploding Kittens co-founder Elan Lee revealed his secret to selling games to big-box retailers: “All I do is I talk to my friends about how much fun they are about to have, and then I prove it.” (32:25)
There are two key parts to this, and I think they both apply whenever I’m talking about a game any format (e.g., in a video, in writing, in person, etc):
Put myself in the headspace of being at game night with friends, and I’m starting to set up a game that we’ve already decided to play. I’m setting the tone for the fun we’re about to have rather than convincing them to play the game.
Guide your friends through a few turns of the game. Just start playing. If this is an in-person pitch, I don’t need to have fully set up the game. Likewise, if I’m discussing the game on a podcast or video, I can just describe a sample turn.
I’d add to this something I’ve mentioned in the past: When I’m writing or filming a video about a game, I try to imagine that I’m talking to exactly one person, as anyone reading/watching is almost certainly doing so alone rather than surrounded by others. That also helps to put me in the mindset of talking to an individual friend rather than a group of nebulous strangers.
The coffee-related sales technique is something I’ve appreciated from a newer St. Louis-area coffee shop, Pass the Past. It’s such a little thing, but I think it’s incredibly effective (especially for consumables, but I think there’s wisdom in this for other products too).
Every day, Pass the Past posts an Instagram story image that simply says, “We’re here 7am – 4pm”.
We’re here. It’s a powerful reminder, especially when there are lots of coffee shops to choose from. I don’t buy artisan coffee every day (maybe once every few weeks), but thanks to these reminders, I almost always choose Pass the Past.
Importantly, the message isn’t pushing anything. The only difference day to day is the image in the background (I think it’s clever that they keep it fresh).
I still contend that the best tabletop marketing is to give people great reasons to get your game to the table. People have so many games to choose from every day, so a simple reminder that you’re here and that your game exists might be the slight nudge someone needs to make the decision of what they’ll play (or buy) today.
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What do you think of these simple sale techniques? Have you seen companies use them effectively?
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