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!

This video was extremely helpful and has really energized me today! 🤩I hope one day I can be happy enough with one of my games to reach out to a publisher.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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 :(

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!

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!

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.

Incredibly helpful, as usual.

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.

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