Submissions & Pitches – Stonemaier Games

Submissions & Pitches

We are tentatively open for submissions. Our release schedule is booked for the next few years, but we will still process submissions–we don’t want to miss out on a great fit that will bring joy to tabletops worldwide.

HOW TO SUBMIT: Please fill out this form.* That’s it! You’ll hear from us (typically within one month) if we’re interested in learning more. Do not mail a prototype to us unless we request it and provide an address. We won’t be offended if you submit your game to other publishers in the meantime.

*You can also share a video showing a few turns and highlighting your favorite mechanisms in the game. Nothing fancy–just turn on your camera, talk through a few turns, and send a link. This is helpful for any publisher, so feel free to make the video generic so you can use it for any submission.

IF WE LIKE YOUR PITCH: We’ll contact you and arrange to see the game in more detail through one of the following:

  • Pre-recorded video of you and your friends playing the game
  • A prototype sent to us
  • As a participant of our annual Design Day. We don’t actually hear pitches at Design Day, but we look at all the games other designers bring to it.

You can read more about the various steps in our submission process here.

Guidelines and Requirements

  1. Carefully read our 12 Tenets of Game Design. Watching this video may help too.
  2. We’re looking for tabletop games (not RPGs) that capture our imaginations.
  3. The player count must accommodate a minimum of 2 players without a bot (we’ll add a solo variant to take it down to 1) and an upper range of at least 5, 6, or greater (without adding significantly to playing time or downtime). We’ll ignore submissions for 2-4 player games.
  4. We’re looking for event games–the featured main course at game night, not the appetizer or side salad–that play in 1-2 hours.
  5. We’re looking for unique games–your game must feature something that has not been done before.
  6. We’re looking for games that flow well, which typically means each player’s turn is short and there are no rounds to break the flow. If your game has a number of phases (either within each player’s turn or within each round), please don’t submit it to us.
  7. We will not publish games with historical events or people. (This was not always a rule for us, but it is now.)
  8. We’re looking for designers who are open to constructive feedback and who are willing to work on their game well after we accept it for publication, as our version of the development process is a collaboration. In return for your commitment to excellence, we offer a $10,000 advance on royalties whenever we sign a new game.
  9. If you’re looking to create an expansion or spinoff for a game we already publish, we want to be up front with you to say that chances are slim that anything official will come of it (we probably already have a plan in place for that game’s future). However, this should not deter your creativity in creating something for fun! Please read this.

Your Game Must Be:

  1. Fully Created, Not Just an Idea: Ideas are important but largely worthless. Actually taking a game from a concept to a fully-formed creation is a completely different matter–that’s what we’re looking for.
  2. Polished and Playtested: Part of our role as the publisher is to playtest and arrange for blind playtesting of your game beyond the scope of what you can do. But it’s still your responsibility to extensively playtest (and blind playtest) your game before sending it to us.
  3. Playable: The #1 mistake we see is that the prototypes we receive are unplayable, either due to the rules, the lack of reference cards, or other factors that could have been solved by blind playtesting. You get one chance to make a first impression, and if that involves an unplayable game, we’re not going to publish it.
  4. Thoughtfully Graphic Designed: It’s our responsibility to make the game look great in terms of art and graphic design. However, submitting your game to us without any art or thoughtful design will make the playtesting process very difficult. Please use placeholder art that reflects how you view the world of your game, and be intentional with your graphic design for the final prototype–user interface matters. Do not commission final art, though–that’s our responsibility as a publisher.
  5. Rules-Ready: We need to be able to figure out how to play the game by reading the rules. Just as with any written work, confusing writing, poor English, and numerous typos will negatively affect our impression of your work. A Microsoft Word file is completely fine, but please try to insert examples and photographs/images throughout the rules.
  6. Flexible: We may love your game, but there’s still a high chance that we’ll have some changes we want to make it better and make it more marketable. Please be clear with us up front if there are certain changes you will never consider. If you won’t consider any changes, you’re not a good fit for us.
  7. Unique: We’re looking for unique themes and mechanisms. Jamey typically does not enjoy stock games, tactical combat games (or games that primarily focus on combat/war), hidden-movement games, sports-themed games, party games, take-that games, punishing games, programming, and dungeon crawlers…but there are exceptions to those preferences.
  8. Hookable: Your game should have one or more hooks.

Why Would You Want Us to Publish Your Game?

  • We’ll be honest with you. If you’re deciding between publishing the game yourself via Kickstarter or submitting it to publishers like Stonemaier, please consider the pros and cons of each. If you self-publish, you can build a business, you have full creative control, and you’ll make more money if the game is successful…but it will involve a lot more work. If you just want to design games, submitting to a publisher may be a better fit for you.
  • We’re focused. We don’t publish many games, which means that when we release a game, we make a big deal about it and support it for a long time.
  • We’re passionate. We’re not trying to pump out games that we barely know or care about. Rather, we focus a ton of time, energy, and money on games we truly love, the games that we’re happy to share with the world as if they are our own. If you want that type of passion and drive at the helm of your game, you’re at the right place.
  • We love games. We truly love tabletop games. Hopefully you will find that to be the case for any publisher, but it’s worth mentioning that our love of games is why we do this. We’re not in it for the money–we’re here to connect thousands of people with memorable, fun gaming experiences. If that’s what drives you too, we can build amazing things together.
  • We’re a partner, not an employer. We want to make the best version of your game. That means collaborating with you to make sure we stay true to your vision while enhancing and elevating various aspects of the game. We will ask for your opinions, thoughts, and permission throughout the process.

If you’re just getting started on the game design process, please use these resources.

771 Comments on “Submissions & Pitches

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  1. Hello, i wondered if you would be open to an alternative wingspan – a bit like how you did wyrmspan? I have an idea for another set of amazing creatures with a unique aspect that could fit the game play and style nicely. No problem at all if that wouldn’t be of interest!

    1. Thanks for asking, Lauren! For our brands, we typically have a specific roadmap/plan for the future. However, many Wingspan fans have embarked on the creative process of either designing their own bird cards to share or even their own versions of Wingspan, sharing those creations just for fun in the Wingspan Facebook group. I think that’s helpful process for anyone to go through if they’re passionate about an idea, as the idea is the easy part–even just the act of designing one card is a major accomplishment that can take quite a bit of time. So if you want pursue you’re idea, by all means, give it a go, and share the content you create in the Wingspan (or Wyrmspan). You can read more about this here: https://stonemaiergames.com/a-fan-designed-an-expansion-for-your-game-what-should-you-do/

      1. Thank you for your reply :) thats great to hear – it was a different species i had in mind and absolutely, definitely a loooong way off! Its good to know i can post if i ever progress the idea, thank you

  2. This was a great presentation, I gained much info from it. I thought highly of you to take the time to put this together to help others with their game idea. I will be submitting my game to you, and was so impressed with you that I would be honored to have you work with me if you like my submission. Thanks for your time and presentation.

  3. Jamey,

    Thoughts on a Eurostyle Non-cooperative character building game (Non-RPG) where players manage their gold, experience, health pool to acquire items, defeat monsters, overcome traps, unlock new abilities, gain skill points. The players would try to be the most efficient in building their engine to continue to efficiently defeat harder monsters to get better items until some victory condition is met. Right now I have a 2D spatial hex-grid in mind for combat, but considering making combat/encounters more abstract. Everyone would be different variant of a rogue, to allow them to pull from the same pool of items/abilities and reduce complexity of having multiple classes.

    I would greatly appreciate your opinion as a publisher if this concept is interesting or something you would avoid.

    Thanks,
    Tyler

    1. Thanks Tyler! While it doesn’t sound like the type of game that fits with Stonemaier Games, there’s are lots of publishers that make combat-focused grid-system dungeon crawl games.

  4. Are you interested in strategy games?
    I’d like to present my game, Hexus, which is as hard as chess but the rule for moving pieces is built into the board. It is very easy to learn but incredibility challenging to play and chess players would love it.

  5. Hello Jamey,
    Your 12 tenets of game design and a few of the questions on the form have helped me think more deeply about my game designs and aided me in levelling up my simple card game into a full fledged tabletop.
    Thanks a lot!!

  6. Hey Just a question. For question 10 on the form should we leave a group name or just the name of the person filling out the form?

  7. Hi Jamey!

    I have a couple questions about the guidelines on phases and imagination.

    I’m working on a farming game, where players are tasked with rejuvenating a dilapidated farm. During set up, players choose tiles and set up their farms, face down so they’re “inactive” and throughout gameplay, they activate tiles and add to them in order to build their engines.

    Every round, a card is flipped to represent the upcoming season, with information like the yield of resources and market prices to sell resources. Players work simultaneously on their farms until everyone is ready to flip the next season’s card. Players are also able to barter and collaborate on group bonuses. The game goes for 7 “years”, or 28 turns.

    Would a structure like that count as phases?

    And would a game like this, with a farming theme and map-building mechanic, be considered a dry simulation? I’m trying to expand the game’s premise into something more unique while not losing the cozy farming vibe.

    1. Thanks Caitlyn! I like the simultaneous play your game features. This is not the type of “phase-driven” game I avoid.

      We published Viticulture, a farming game about wine, so we’re definitely fine with farming games. :)

  8. Hi, Happy New Year, I have one quick question about one of the questions on the Submission & Pitches form. I have a complete and play tested game and can comfortably answer “Yes” to all but one of the Submission questions, as my design falls in a slight gray area. One of the questions states “Does your game aim to capture players’ imaginations? And that to answer “no” if it’s an abstract game, a historical game, or a dry simulation.

    My game pitch is about a Climate Struggle and Development themed game, which isn’t abstract, nor is it a dry simulation, but takes place in the near future where players get to both collaboratively, and competitively determine the outcome of the game. At this moment in time, it is not technically a historical game, but could become one, as the game comes to an arbitrary end at the year 2050.

    1. Forgot to add! No offence will be taken if you determine this idea is not right for you, I understand it is a gray area of games that hasn’t been explored very much! Many thanks!

  9. Is there a place to submit suggestions for expansions for your current games? Like penguins into a small wingspan expansion or something like that?

    1. Thanks John! For Wingspan specifically, we hear about and collect many fan creations here: https://stonemaiergames.com/games/wingspan/wingspan-fan-creations/ If you’re looking for us to add a specific bird to Wingspan, there’s this form: https://forms.gle/ETeSEtnRkrbqrsmTA

      Wingspan has a few penguins already, and I’m sure there will be many more in the Antarctica expansion (the three remaining expansions are Africa, Central and South America, and Antarctica).

      For any game, you can post ideas in the corresponding Facebook group or the main game page of our website.

  10. Hi Jamey

    Regarding number 6, I just need to be sure, what is meant.

    Say a game has 6 rounds, where players compete for some tiles. After every round and players have used all their workers, players take back their workers, and new tiles are made available for the next round.

    Would this be ok? Or is that considered “If your game has a number of phases (either within each player’s turn or within each round), please don’t submit it to us.”.

    Thanks 😎

  11. Just to clarify when you say that games can’t have phases that means any TCG based board games are off the table ? (No pun intended ) 😂 I have a very unique game that incorporates elements of a table top game with a trading card game focus with cards being used as game pieces however it’s both a turn based game that has 3 phases per turn for each player with players able to interact with each other during the turn and phases.

    1. I think it’s possible to have a TCG without phases. Magic set the stage for multi-phase TCGs, but that’s far from the only way to have a card-based 2-player game. Many of my favorite 2-player games don’t have phases. That said, giving players a few steps to take on their turn is fine; however, having steps within the same turn when *both* players may/can do something is the style of phase I’m not interested in unless it’s completely simultaneous play.

      1. Thanks Jamey! I am listening to your “10 steps to Design a Tabletop Game” right now. Excited to work my way through your channel!

  12. Good morning mate.
    I have a fully developed game, ticked all but 1 box. Does it take between 45 and 1:30. The answer is no not really as it is a quickfire round based game. however the rounds are between 3 and 5 mins, and the replayability along with other factors could be used to make this the feature game for game night.
    Should I still submit? I’d really like to see it on shelves.

  13. Hello 🖐Greetings😁I have some interesting proposition.
    I’m a big fan of Naruto and Boruto universes, so almost 5 years ago I have made the boardgame about it.
    Such a game doesn’t exist anymore and anywhere. It’s only the one! I didn’t find anything in the Internet that might be similar to my boardgame. By the way this game also can be realised like an online-game.💻
    I would like to ask you about the cooperation and partnership 🙏🤝 or maybe you can help me to contact somebody who might be interested in this unique game and who has license on Naruto brand. I know that I must get license or permission for selling this game, otherwise it would be illegal and dishonest.🤝 But getting a license just for some person it’s almost impossible, that’s why I want to make partnership with someone who already had license.
    All the rights on this game will be belongs to person or company who has the license and I will be like partner who created this game. We can work together to make it perfect and sell it all over the world
    I’d like to say that my game was interested even to the people who didn’t like anime at all. It means that this kind of game will be liked by everyone who wants to have a great time!😉
    I’ve got a lot of photos and videos about it. I can send it and tell about all the details.
    🙏🙏 Please, it really can blow 🤯 the fan base of Naruto and even Boruto. All Naruto fans will be very surprised, very satisfied when they see this game and those people who just wanted to spend their free time with pleasure also will be happy and satisfied with this game.
    There’s my mail:
    charismatic98enigma@gmail.com
    Thanks for your attention 🙏🙏
    Best wishes 😃 (let’s make the game world more exciting with such a boardgame! Sure, you will not regret it!!😌)

    1. Thanks, Vladyslav! I’m not familiar with Naruto and Boruto, but I wish you the best in finding the right contacts for them.

  14. Hi Jamey!

    I’m designing a cooperative game with a campaign. Does the entire campaign need to be designed and fully tested before I submit or is just the first game acceptable? I have a lot of content but I’m focusing on the core game first.

    How long do you prefer a campaign to be? About 10 games?

    What do you consider a special, must have component? My game uses sleeves for the player cards so you can easily flip them to an upgraded side, translucent acrylic tokens to mark spaces on the board while still being able to see the space, character figures, a lucky coin, and packages with components to unlock during the campaign. Does any of that count or I need to have something like the gears in Tzolkin for you to be interested?

    1. Thanks for your questions, Tom! First and foremost, I’d recommend watching the videos on our YouTube channel about campaign games. That’ll give you a lot of information about how I feel about them. As for campaign length, here’s an article focusing on my perspective: https://stonemaiergames.com/the-future-of-campaign-games/ You’ll also see in that article that I have major concerns about the marketability of campaign games at this time, given the inundation of them.

      For us to consider a game, it must be completely finished. Campaign games take a long time to design, and that’s something that needs to be done up front before the submission.

      Those components sound fun! Must-have components are the types of components that draw you over to a table at game night or at a convention.

  15. Hello,

    I am finishing a game and I need to write the rules before I can send a submission. I have a few questions regarding rules and prototype.
    1. If there is an agreement, do you accept Tabletop Simulator (TTS) game as prototype?
    2. Does rulebook need to be completed to the tiniest details regarding setup if the prototype is in TTS, and those details depends also on the design/manufacturing decision, or those can be skipped as everything is already in TTS?

    Thanks,
    Tihomir

    1. Congrats on finishing your game design! I hope the playtesting process has gone well.

      1. Digital prototypes like TTS (we prefer Tabletopia) are a viable way to submit your game.

      2. The publisher will completely rewrite the rules later, but to understand how the game works (and to decrease the chances that future versions of the rules will miss an important step), I would recommend including everything in the rulebook.

  16. Hi there, thanks so much for providing the info above and your Youtube channel – it really provides a vital starting point for aspiring designers like myself with no foot in any creative industry already.

    I have a question regarding prototypes. In your video about pitching a game to a publisher, you mention the importance of having a good prototype that goes beyond just having writing on pieces of paper for cards.

    I don’t have much graphic design or any drawing ability, so I can’t make anything massively sophisticated, but I’ve designed some rudimentary icons and structured the cards how I’d like them to be in the final project. I’ve also made some themed boards and am trying to make a decent looking rulebook in Publisher.

    I was just wondering – what level of quality for a prototype would you be looking for?

    Thanks very much for reading.

    – Vee

    1. Thanks Vee! The key is functionality and clarity–it doesn’t need to look pretty or be high quality. In fact, a rulebook in Word or Google Docs is probably easiest for a publisher. I’ve even seen cards designed in Excel that work great.

      1. This was very reassuring and I’ll be sure to prioritise making rules as clear as possible rather than obsessing about the aesthetics at this stage. Thanks very much for your reply!

  17. Hi there, thank you for the detailed information above – so helpful!

    I am developing a game that has very different mechanics, but a similar theme to one of the games already on your portfolio (more specifically, it is bee themed). Is diversity of portfolio something that is considered when deciding if a game should be published?

    Thanks!

    1. Thanks Alana! From a publisher perspective, we try not to repeat the same theme. But from a design perspective, I would encourage any designer to pursue the theme they’re passionate about, then find a publisher who is looking for a game with that theme. Either way, I would suggest putting some kind of a twist on the theme (like what we did with the space bees, knowing that Honey Buzz already exists).

    1. Do you mean dry erase games? Check out our game Rolling Realms and I think you’ll find the answer. :)

  18. Out of curiosity, how much player interaction would you optimally like to see in a game submitted to you? Is there a threshold for too little (i.e. mutiplayer solitaire) or too much (i.e. tug-of-war)? And do you generally prefer positive or negative player interaction (or ideally a bit of both)?

    Thanks in advance!

  19. So you guys really don’t like 2-4 player games.? I’ve been back-and-forth on wanting to submit I know you guys got like a three-year out on submissions and I’d be looking to want to get something going soon especially with the inflation any dollar could help but if you saw potential and something even if you could switch it from 2 to 5 player, maybe would you consider it ?

    1. As gamers, we like games at a variety of player counts. As a publisher, it is a core part of the Stonemaier brand that we only publish games that play with as few as 1 player and at least 5 or 6 players on the higher end. You are correct that we currently have the next 3 years of games planned, but submissions are still open for games that have been playtested at 2, 3, 4, and 5 players. When we sign a game, we work quite a bit with the designer to make the game as fun, functional, intuitive, and balanced as possible, but it is the designer’s responsibility before the submission to make sure the game works at 2, 3, 4, and 5 players–we’re looking for someone whose game is a good fit for us specifically (per all of our guidelines, not just player count) and who is dedicated to putting in the playtesting work (before and after the submission). If you’ve designed a game that thrives at 2-4 players, the good news is that there are hundreds (maybe even thousands) of other publishers to consider for your game.

  20. Hello! My name is Stas and I am a citizen of Israel. At this stage, I am finishing the development of my own game. If you like my game, how can we proceed with signing a contract with an Israeli citizen? Have you had any experience with this?

    1. Thanks Stas! If you submit your game to a publisher and they want to offer you a contract, they’ll send you PDF to sign digitally. I’ve signed various types of contracts with people around the world thanks to this technology.

  21. My name is Aer-ki Jyr, and I’m one of the top scifi authors in the United States. I have a long series on Amazon called ‘Star Force’ and I wanted to have a conversation with you about what potential there could be for it to transition into tabletop games (which I know little about), because I met a guy who was into them heavy and he said it would be a perfect fit. If you have a few email minutes to spend I’d like to know what you think about the potential for expansion.

    1. Thanks for your note, and congrats on your success! I appreciate you reaching out to us at Stonemaier Games about this. We’re currently not looking for new IPS; however, I would recommend that you start by working with a designer who can submit the game to publishers after they’ve fully designed it. You could post about this on some tabletop game design Facebook groups like Board Game Design Lab.

  22. G’day Jamey,

    I’m relatively new to the board gaming community, so please forgive my ignorance.

    I’m currently designing a dexterity based table top game. I’ve read the 12 Tenets of Game Design and had a look at your submission form, but I couldn’t see whether or not you would consider dexterity type games for publishing.

    Are dexterity table top games part of your scope?

    Regards,
    Neal

      1. Excellent, thanks. I’ll still a few months away from submitting my game and I hope you’ll find it interesting.

        Thanks for the link.

  23. Hello Jamey,

    I am an aspiring board game designer, but fairly new to this trajectory.

    The information you’ve made available online for design, pitching, etc. is so helpful!! Thank you for spending the time and making it available for free!

    I like the publishing tenets that I’ve seen you talk about. They helped open my thought process more on the business/marketability side of design.

    A question that has been in my mind related to the publishing process is: With the growing awareness of human rights abuses in countries like China, how does Stonemaier Games keep a sustainable supply chain while maximizing profit, and simultaneously ensure no engagement with companies that abuse human rights?

    It really seems like a complex problem. From what I’ve seen, it might not be very profitable to publish board games using pieces that are produced in the US. I could be wrong about this, though.

    I am curious to know if you have any insight into this.

    Thank you in advance!

    Joel

    1. Thanks Joel! The production company we work with, Panda, is a Canadian company. Their main facilities are in Canada, but I trust that they are treating their employees very well (and considering ethics in vetting outsourced factories). I don’t believe that a company is defined by its company. Now, if China invaded Taiwan, I don’t know what we would do then (when Russia invaded Ukraine, we stopped working with our Russian publishing partners even though they don’t support the war–that’s just how embargos work).

      1. Thank you for the information, Jamey! I wasn’t aware of the company Panda. I did some looking and they do appear to have a good ethic toward their employees.

        I appreciate your response, sir. Lots of information to consider!

  24. (For some reason, I posted this as a reply to a previous comment. So I’ll post it again, thankfully right this time. Sorry for any inconvenience!)

    Dear Jamey,

    After an extensive read of the submission guidelines (and submission form) and a thorough research in the comments below, I think I pretty much understood everything regarding the vital points of a submission to Stonemaier Games. That being said, I would really appreciate a clarification, if you have the time.
    Regarding the rounds/phases, I understood what you want to avoid. But after watching your video, “19 Tools to Consider for Designing Games with Rounds”, 1 question popped in mind:

    You mentioned “Conflict” in Dune Imperium, as a good tool for a game with rounds. But before the “Conflict”, there is also the “Reveal Turn”. These 2 phases combined, seems to break the flow that the “Agent Turn” provides. Also, if we compare those phases to something like the “End of the Round” in Wingspan, they are much more complicated/longer. So, to my question; is a phase like Dune Imperium’s “Reveal Turn”+”Conflict” too long for you, regarding a submission? I am asking because my game has something like a short “refresh+scoring round” (after many
    consecutive fast player turns), somewhere between the forementioned games’ phases/rounds, regarding the complexity or time they take.

    Best regards,
    Apostolos

    1. Thanks for your question! In Dune Imperium, I think the player turns flow well. On your turn, you either take an agent turn or a reveal turn; after your reveal turn, you wait for everyone to finish the round, and then combat happens for everyone. It is a bit more structured that I typically pursue in our games, but it works well in Dune Imperium since the game wants all players to engage in combat.

      Wingspan also has a refresh-and-score phase at the end of each round; again, it’s more structured than I typically want, but this format worked much better than other versions we tested that didn’t have rounds.

      Conversely, though, look at Tapestry: When you take an income turn, it feels like the end of a round for you, but it’s just another type of turn (one you can take only a few times each game). There’s no reason that all players need to take income turns at the same time, so instead it’s baked into the seamless flow of the game, offering players a decision about when they want to take an income turn opposed to stretching their era just a little longer.

      1. Thanks for the answer! I still experiment on this structure and try to make more streamlined. Thanks for the feedback! I hope you have an awesome day!

      2. Hi Jamey,

        I wanted to have a similair question as Apostolos.

        I feel like that Viticulture does not fit a current set of guide lines. (It has phases) Am I right?

        I am working on a cooperative game for 1-5 players which should give players similair experience as Spirit Island/Viticulture World but it has (simultanous) movement phase and then (simultanous) action phase (+ AI/challenge phase) so I feel it is not something you are looking for.

        1. Thanks for asking, Lukas. Viticulture has rounds but not phases. A phase-driven game is one in which all players are doing something at the same time, then they’re all doing another thing, then another thing, etc. Viticulture would be a phase-driven game if it had a planting phase in which all players planted vines; instead, Viticulture lets players choose to place a worker to plant a vine if/when a player wants to (in the relevant season).

          The benefit to phase-driven games is that they’re generally pretty easy to teach, as you have one player reminding everyone else which phase they’re on and how that phase works. I think they lose their appeal when everyone knows how to play, though, as someone still needs to be the game manager, and it results in a highly structured experience instead of giving players freedom and flexibility. That said, there are phase-driven games that I love, like Quacks of Quedlinburg.

          1. Hi Jamie,

            I had in mind Summer / Winter / Year end phases in Viticulture. The last player always needs to say that a current phase is over. However, I see that you do not need to repeat/remind it. Thanks for explanation about what you do not like about games with phases.

  25. Hi guys. My wife and I LOVE Wingspan. We have all the expansions. One question I have is: Is there anyway to add maybe 4 more Duet goals? We absolutely love the Duet mode but would like to have more goal options. I’m not sure what they could be, I apologize. We also have the electronic version with the European expansion. Do you have plans to release the Oceanic and Asia expansion’s for iOS? If you do or don’t, you have a happy fan and happy fan wife. 😁

    1. Thanks Brandon! I’ll answer below. :)

      “Is there anyway to add maybe 4 more Duet goals?”

      There might be a way to do that in a future expansion. In the meantime, check out the Wingspan Facebook group–fans of the game share their ideas all the time.

      “Do you have plans to release the Oceanic and Asia expansion’s for iOS?”

      Yes and no. Yes in that I think there will eventually be all Wingspan content available digitally. No in that Stonemaier Games doesn’t coordinate any of that digital content–it’s all in the hands of the digital publisher Monster Couch.

  26. Hi Jamey,

    I was the CEO of Smart Iguana Games LLC, a family-owned business that unfortunately had to close down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a family illness. I have a question regarding our previously published games, Gravity Warfare (a fun family game) and DOCE (an innovative abstract game). Both games were created and designed by us, and we are now in the process of licensing them. I am wondering if it is possible to submit these games to STONEMAIER GAMES. Gravity Warfare has received an almost 5-star average review on Amazon, while DOCE is also highly rated. I must mention that there is still room for improvement and optimization on these games.
    Thank you!

    Luis

    1. Thanks for thinking of us, Luis! If the games are a perfect fit for Stonemaier based on our guidelines, you’re welcome to submit them on the form.

    2. Dear Jamey,

      After an extensive read of the submission guidelines (and submission form) and a thorough research in the comments below, I think I pretty much understood everything regarding the vital points of a submission to Stonemaier Games. That being said, I would really appreciate a clarification, if you have the time.
      Regarding the rounds/phases, I understood what you want to avoid. But after watching your video, “19 Tools to Consider for Designing Games with Rounds”, 1 question popped in mind:

      You mentioned “Conflict” in Dune Imperium, as a good tool for a game with rounds. But before the “Conflict”, there is also the “Reveal Turn”. These 2 phases combined, seems to break the flow that the “Agent Turn” provides. Also, if we compare those phases to something like the “End of the Round” in Wingspan, they are much more complicated/longer. So, to my question; is a phase like Dune Imperium’s “Reveal Turn”+”Conflict” too long for you, regarding a submission? I am asking because my game has something like a short “refresh+scoring round” (after many
      consecutive fast player turns), somewhere between the forementioned games’ phases/rounds, regarding the complexity or time they take.

      Best regards,
      Apostolos

  27. Dear Jamey,

    I am an Australian citizen. Would I still be able to submit my proposal? Thanks for your time 😊
    Kind Regards,

    Sophie

    1. Sophie: We work every day with people around the world, including designers and artists. If you have a fully designed game that meets our guidelines, we welcome you to submit it here. Thanks!

  28. Dear Stonemaier Games,

    I’ve been working in games for about 7 years now (Gameplay Programming), and have always had a keen interest in design, in both digital and tabletop games. I’ve been working on a tabletop game project for a few years now in my spare time, and have been playtesting different iterations with other developers from the office where I work. It’s gotten to the point where I’d like to start the ball rolling of trying to get it published, though I must admit, the prospect appears daunting. Before reading too much into the route of a Kickstarter campaign (which everything online seems to indicate would be a massive undertaking), I decided to test the waters and just see what kind of companies were accepting submissions.

    I thought I would reach out to your company, because I’m a fan of the games you guys make (I’ve played Red Rising, Wingspan, and Scythe), and I was impressed by what you had to say in the submissions area of your website, and the general effort and resources put forth in your website overall.

    My primary reason for writing, instead of just submitting a pitch for the game, is because I honestly don’t meet all of the criteria presented. The game I’ve been working on is a social deduction game, and sometimes it can be harder to adhere to a lot of the standard interactions and heuristics of more traditional tabletop games. I don’t even satisfy the point about player count, as this game is designed for a large group, and can’t function (currently) with only 2 players.

    The games I’ve played from Stonemaier Games also seem to have much more traditional euro-game rulesets to them, and I guess I wonder if that’s really what you’d prefer to stick to. I know there are always exceptions, but even if someone had an interesting and potentially marketable design for a game, if it wasn’t really something that played like the rest of your company’s games, is it something you’d consider pursuing? I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t think my game really fits the brand your company has established, but because I like the games you guys make, I figured I’d take a chance and send this message and get your take, rather than not submitting anything at all, haha.

    Sorry for the long-winded message. I look forward to hearing back on this, and appreciate any feedback you give me.

    Cheers,
    Will

    1. Will: I applaud you for taking your time on your game, for playtesting it, and for knowing what makes the game great (i.e., not at 2 players). I also appreciate that you value Stonemaier Games. Our guidelines are real, but there are lots of other great companies with more flexibility and also more focus on the style of game you’ve made, so I’d recommend that you look at them. Thank you!

  29. Hi Jamey,
    My colleague and I are working on an American-style board game about black holes. We are roughly six months into development. At this stage, we are very confident in its playability and appeal, however, we are debating between publishing the game ourselves through Kickstarter or pitching to publishers (such as Stonemaier).

    I noticed that in your distinction between self-publishing and working with a separate publisher, you mention that “you can build a business” through self-publishing. While my colleague and I are chiefly concerned with making games, we are also deep in the process of developing a plan for building our business (game studio).

    My question for you is this: do you see building a business and working with publishers as mutually exclusive?

    I understand there is likely a grey area in this regard so I greatly appreciate any insight on the matter!

    Thank you!

  30. Hi, Jamey. I am working on an euro board game with Chinese classical garden theme. It’s quite different comparing with Tang Garden in both gameplay and visual design.

    Concerning about the restriction on “historical events / people/ place”, I would like to know whether the theme that I am currently working on or the theme in Tang Garden fall into the restricted catagory?

    1. Yifan: Thanks for asking about this, and from what you describe, the general theme of gardening in a specific time and place in the real world is fine for a Stonemaier Game (like how Viticulture is set in Tuscany in the early 1900s, but beyond that it isn’t about specific history or people).

      1. Thanks for your response and example! It’s really helpful. I also have a follow up question which relates to the “Thoughtfully graphic designed” part as one of the must have for a submitted prototype.

        I vaguely understand the difference between polished fine art and strightforward UI/UX experience. But still not sure the exact boundary lies between them.

        Is there any visual example I can look for or can be directly provided from Stonemaier as a reference to furthur illustrate the idea of placeholder art and the requirement I need to meet in graphic design.

  31. Dear Stonemaier Games,

    I would like to ask a question regarding your “Guidelines and Requirements” for game submissions. At number 7, it says, “We will not publish games with historical events, places, or people. (This was not always a rule for us, but it is now.)”.

    I would like to ask how this requirement applies. For example, my game is about troupes in 15~17th century in Seoul, Korea. I believe that my game does not involve any specific historical events or people (random timing with random commoners). However, I wonder if the thematic location setup as the capital city of medieval kingdom of Korea be considered as historical place that you mentioned on the post.

    If a game submission whose thematic setup is against the requirement 7, under the assumption that the game is good enough, do you still consider the submission for further discussion to change of the thematic implementation or do you ignore the submission as requirement 3 (max player count must be at least 5~6)?

    Thank you for your time in advance.

    Best regards,
    Hyunil

      1. Thank you for your answer.
        I have another question regarding the game submission form.
        One of the questionaires on the form is “Does your game feature the potential for a special, must-have component?”.

        Does it mean “toy-like” components like the gears in “Tzolk’in” or miniatures in “Scythe” and “Tapestry”?
        Does it also include cards and tiles that can offer exceptional aesthetics?

        Thank you.

          1. Hello,
            I would love to clarify certain aspect of the submission process so that I can strategize my pitch better.

            I read another article you wrote (https://stonemaiergames.com/4-steps-to-pitch-your-game-to-a-tabletop-publisher/), which recommends to “compare the game to a few other games with a twist”, “highlight the hooks”, and “sell yourself”.

            However, when I see the submission form here, I find the questionaires limiting to a short description of the theme and the gameplay. Would the next step of the game submission process involve such opportunities to offer the comparison, hooks and self-introduction from my side?

          2. Thanks for doing your research! I appreciate it. I’d recommend packing as much information into the form description as possible–if it doesn’t hook us, the process ends there.

  32. I have a board game I am currently working on and had a question. I am developing a TBS (Turn Based Strategy) Where the main objective is to be the last kingdom standing. I understand that you aren’t looking for combat orientated games. This game is also a resource/civilization management. When I have the prototype fully finished I would love to submit it here. I love what y’all do!

      1. I realize my question wasn’t clear sorry, even with the combat orientation in my game. Would it still be worth submitting here?

        1. If it fits all of our guidelines, you’re certainly welcome to submit it. However, there are definitely other companies much more focused on combat-focused games–we’re focused on medium-weight Euro games with passive and positive player interaction (and no player elimination).

  33. Dear Jamie and Team

    I hope you don’t mind this comment. I am sure you are familiar with a very well regarded civilisation game called Nations. It has long been out of print and it seems the licensing rights for it has reverted back to the creators. They are looking at developing the game further.

    I am aware of the criteria set as publisher by Stonemaier games for new games most notably the player count. However there is potential scope for increasing player count in this game and it would really benefit from a graphic redesign and robust solo mode.

    I thought I would just let you know about it in the very off chance that you might be interested and consider a suggestion from a Stonemaier champion.

    The discussion thread for this is at:

    https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3057687/nations-now-free-license-help-develop-reprint

    Best wishes
    Chris de Klerk

    1. Thanks Chris! I definitely hope that Nations finds a publisher who is the right fit for it, but we already have a big civilization game (Tapestry), so we won’t be in the mix for Nations.

      1. Tapestry is definitely one of my all time favourites.
        It was purely for selfish reasons I hoped Stonemaier games would contemplate reprinting Nations.
        Thank you for your kind reply.

  34. Hello,
    This information has been extremely helpful to me! I am fairly new to the gaming community. I found answers to many of the questions I had concerning the necessary steps toward product/project submission. I recently completed a game that I feel will be fun, educational and mentally stimulating. Thank you!

  35. I just wanted to say this detailed requirements for submitting a game was extremely helpful! I don’t know if I will ever submit a game to Stonemaier but it answered a lot of questions I have struggled with when getting ready to submit a game. Big fan! thanks for all you do in the gaming community!

  36. Hi there,
    I have read through your rules for game submission and the 12 tenets of game design and I have a few questions regarding a game I’ve created. I think overall my game may be a good fit for your publishing company. However, my current version of the game is designed for 2-4 players. I do have ideas for several different expansions: one of which includes a 5th player option. Is this something you would consider publishing despite the fact that it currently only plays with 2-4 players?

    Whisker City is a family friendly cooperative deck-building game with a unique narrative of using animal shelter medicine theory (I am a practicing shelter veterinarian) to help get animals adopted from an animal shelter.

    I appreciate your time,

    1. Thanks for asking about this, Bridget! All of our core games need to play well up to at least 5 players, so we would be happy to consider your game if you design it to work at that player count too. Thanks for your work with animals–I adopted both of our cats from local shelters.

  37. Thanks for posting this Jamey.

    I note that you are not accepting games based on history, people or places. Would that include mythological figures and mythological creatures. Although they are not strictly real figures, they are ingrained in history.

  38. Jamey, as far as step 7 goes in “Guidelines and Requirements”, does that include historical time frames (ie Victorian, Wild West, etc) or just specific events like “the Space Race, Jack the Ripper” etc?

    1. Greg: If it’s inspired by the Wild West or Victorian period, that’s fine. If it’s a game specifically about the actual Wild Wild or actual Victorian period, that wouldn’t work for us.

      1. Hey Jamey! I have a similar sort of question on #7 (I scrolled back a long way and didn’t see this particular question, so I am sorry if it’s back there somewhere!) Would a setting in an alternate timeline of a real-ish place and time period (sort of like what Scythe does) meet these guidelines?

        For example, I can tell you wouldn’t be interested in a game about surviving the Black Death in medieval Europe. Would a game set in Europe (either a particular location or Europe in general) in an alternate history where there was prior warning of the Black Death (and the ramifications of that) fall within the scope of your guidelines?

        Thank you for your time!

        1. Thanks for your question, Ray. Alternate histories that are clearly differentiated from the real world are fine. :)

  39. I’m in the starting stages of looking into game developers to pitch my board game to, and I appreciate your section sharing your company’s relative openness regarding submissions. The more I look into independent publishing, the more I realize I am likely incapable of handing everything on my own.
    Sadly, my game concept is “combat/racing” and might not be the best match for your company (though I will leave a link to my game’s build in Steam’s Tabletop Simulator for any interested). I am grateful for the information posted here and wish you the best in your business.

  40. Hey Jamey,

    I am curious if you could explain this point to me a bit more.

    “We’re looking for games that flow well, which typically means each player’s turn is short and there are no rounds to break the flow. If your game has a number of phases (either within each player’s turn or within each round), please don’t submit it to us.”

    I have a game that seems to qualify for every other guideline and was actually inspired by the game you published “between two cities” however the phrase “Phase” is used in my rulebook.

    Each players turn is very short and the flow is not broken as everybody is involved during the course of the active player’s turn. However, there is a “Allocation phase” and then the “auction phase” later on in the game in which all players actively bid on tiles previously allocated.

    Would this type of mechanic/phraseology disqualify me from submission?

    Thanks,

    Wes

    1. Thanks Wes! That’s totally fine, and you’re welcome to submit your game. I appreciate you considering us as a publisher.

      1. Awesome thank you for the quick reply. I just wanted to check prior to submitting the game. I appreciate how helpful your responses and videos have been in this process.

  41. Hi! I would like to know if you accept artist submissions and where I can send my portfolio. Thank you so much!

  42. Hello Jamey! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all the insight and knowledge that you freely share. Love Stonemaier Games and am inspired by them!

    Here is my question: do you consider games that are themed around a specific IP? I couldn’t find anything about this, apologies if I missed it.

    1. Thanks Michael! We are open to games based around a specific IP, though there’s no guarantee that we can actually get that IP, so I’d recommend including a backup plan as part of your pitch.

    1. There’s too much potential to cause unintended harm by featuring the wrong character. Plus, we’re looking for games that capture imagines and provide a way to create something new, not rehashing events that have already happened.

    2. Dear Jamey,
      Just for clarification for a game i ve been working on (heavily inspired by your wonderful Charterstone):
      If in my game there is a round structure (of 2/3 rounds) but the trigger of the end of the round is decided by player actions and for the vast majority of the game players take turns in a more free-flow manner, is it eligible for submission?
      I am asking about a structure in the style of Ark Nova.

      Thank you very much,
      Mattia

      1. Thanks Mattia! Definitely, that’s eligible. We do also accept game submissions for games with rounds. What we’re really just avoiding are games where every turn involves a long series of steps/phases.

  43. Jamey,
    Would you accept a game concept that would require players to know ahead of time to bring items in order to play. It’s kind of a “White elephant” meets game board fun. The game board and pieces to play come with the game, but it is designed to be a party game.
    Thanks!
    Kim

  44. Dear Jamey,

    I have two questions regarding the game submission form.

    Referring to the question: “Can new players start playing the game within 5 minutes of beginning the rules explanation?”

    If I were to verbally explain my game to a new player, I could answer yes. However, like Wingspan, my instructions require at least 5 minutes to read through. Am I able to answer yes for this question?

    Referring to the question: “Has your game been blind playtested at least 2 times?”

    A group blind playtested my game while I was present (to observe how the group would interpret the rules). They asked a “yes or no” question, and I affirmed that they were correct in their interpretation of the rules. Am I still able to count this as a blind playtest?

    Thank you for your guidance, and thank you so much for publishing new, tangible games that bring people together!

    1. Thanks Dana! For the 5-minute rule, it’s referring to verbal explanations, not reading through the entire rulebook. The idea is that you can quickly let players start taking turns as you layer on more rules.

      If you were mostly there as an observer (and not the teacher), that’s a blind playtest. :)

  45. I have the best new game that everyone who plays it loves it. It’s called F’7. All you need is a paper for each player with the numbers 2 thru 12 but no 7. You need a pair of dice for each player. On their turn they roll their dice. Whatever number they roll they cover on their paper. If they roll a 7 they have to take a covered number off their paper and put a quarter (or chip for the faint of heart) into the pot. If the number they roll is already covered on their paper the person closest to them gets the number and the game picks up from that player. Rolling doubles means roll again unless the number was used by another player. It may sound complicated by my poor telling but I assure you, once it’s played one or two rounds everyone understands how it’s played. It is just so much fun. Everyone I’ve introduced the game to wants me to make them one. It’s a super fun party and family game.

  46. Thank you for this. Do you sign NDAs at any point? And more broadly, how can I, as a designer, prevent publishers from taking unique concepts from submissions and use in other games under development?

  47. Hi Jamey,

    First off thank you for the extensive submissions form, you have me asking questions about my prototype I would never have asked myself!

    Have a few questions:

    1) I’m assuming blind playtest is referring to a playtest where the players have not had an individual who has played before or the designer is there explaining the game.

    It’s focused on if the players can read the rules and play the game without a hitch.

    2) What would you say is the lifecycle (timewise) of a prototype that gets approved by you guys and then turned into a full on game?

    4) If a game got to step of send-in video or the rulebook what does Alan find more helpful? Are there cases where it’s easier to see gameplay then to understand the every single aspect of the game for submission?

    3) If a game got to the stage of sending a prototype, what quality would you guys be expecting? Example I personally can’t make nice cards but I can print them cut them and sleeve them.

    Thanks in advance for the response! Keep up the great work of making and publishing awesome games!

    1. Thanks for these questions, Alex!

      1. A blind (or unguided) playtest is one where the designer isn’t present to teach, answer questions, or to accidentally bias the players’ responses.
      2. We are currently booked through part of 2026, so if we were to accept a game submitted to us today, the earliest publishing date would be in late 2026.
      3. We prefer both: An overview video and a written rulebook. It’s important for us to know that designers can communicate clearly in writing.
      4. We just need it to be playable. :)

      1. Gotcha, quick follow-up question more on the industry itself.

        At what point would be a good be self-published then looking for a publisher example let’s say most of the publishers are in a similar boat of three years, would it make sense to go and create your own business and publish in less time? Understanding it’s a lot of work and has more failure points due to being a start up compared to an established publisher.

        Thank you for your earlier response!

  48. I have submitted in the past and got through a few of the stages, before being turned down. I still strongly believe in my game and want to see it on a table for others to enjoy. If I can tresubmit for review, would you suggest any other companies that would be positive to work with?

    1. Take a look at Cardboard Edison’s Compendium – it’s a list of publishers with self-reported submission guidelines, as well as an overview of what they’re looking for.
      I can also recommend tabletoppublishers.com – similar, but that one is curated by Chris Backe.
      Both have a cost, but I think it’s very accessible, and worth it.

        1. Sorry for getting your name wrong every time, Jamey – I usually double-check, but default to the Spanish form, and this time I didn’t correct myself… :(

    2. When it comes to people presenting you with a game they would liked published, what indicates whether the game is a good fit for the Stonemaier brand? I’m just curious on your process and how you decide if a good game idea isn’t for you to pursue.

      1. Dravus: The first filter is if the game fits our submission guidelines (see above page). After that, it’s largely a matter of gut instinct–does the game intrigue and excite us, both personally and in terms of marketability?

    1. You are posting on a page that is owned and managed by people in the US. Your first post was at 3:27 am. Your two follow ups were just 2.5 hours later, at 6:01 and 6:11 am.
      My first advice is: You need to work on your patience…….
      Jaime usually replies to every comment, and does so in a very timely fashion, but this feels a bit entitled on your part…

      Answering your question (though I’m sure you’ll also get a response from Jaime): I don’t have first-hand experience, but doing a Kickstarter is not just printing your game (as you have noticed). You need marketing, you need art, you need graphic design, you need knowledge of international taxes and customs and logistics, you need customer service, you need… in short, it is a business. You are becoming a publisher, no longer just a designer.
      As such, you need to treat it as a business.
      Most people I know that have self-published, have probably done most of the work, but you still need to hire people to do that work that you can’t (or don’t want to) do. And you need to allocate money up front for those tasks (no one will work for a chance of profit of your project)
      In this case, you probably need someone in marketing, and a graphic designer to do the layout. And you might need a game developer, if you need help with fine-tuning components and content, although this might just be a matter of working with your manufacturer to see alternatives and find which is the best for your game. Most board game manufacturers have a design department, and they’re great at what they do.

      If you haven’t, join the different tabletop/board game designers’ and publishers’ groups on Facebook. You’ll get to develop those contacts that you need, to know where to find the right people for the job.
      I can also recommend taking a look at Jaime’s kickstarter blog, he talks in detail about each and every step of the journey, and I feel you’ll find answers to most of your questions there…

      Good luck, and welcome to the rabbit hole! Don’t despair, it’s worth it, and really, be patient – most things that you’re about to embark in take much longer than you think… :)

  49. Hi all!

    So, a friend and I have been developing a game for quite some time now and we are pursuing the dream of launching a successful crowdfunding campaign that can bring it to life. The main issue we are having now is that, even though gameplay and rules are very solid, we are struggling to polish the game components and art up to current crowdfunding standards since we lack contacts in the industry and we don’t want to give up ownership of the game by submitting our idea to a publisher.

    What advice could you give us with our current predicament?

    Thank you very much in advance, any tips would be much appreciated.
    Greetings from Spain :)

  50. Hi Jamey!

    Is there any form submissions for freelance artists? I’d love to work on board game illustrations, I’m very passionate about how games look and the feelings they reflect when playing them.

    Thank you for reading my comment.

    Greetings from Mexico.

    1. Ana – regardless of Jamey’s reply, I would recommend joining the Facebook group Art & Graphic Design for Tabletop Games (https://www.facebook.com/groups/TabletopArtDesign/).
      I’m sure there are probably other groups – but that one’s quite active, and there you can interact with the community and get advice on how to work in it, as well as, sometimes, connect with smaller designers/publishers looking for an artist.
      Take a look and read through the posts there, and read the rules. As with most groups in the Board Game industry, it’s very welcoming, and the more you give (with advice, comments, etc), the better your call for help/advice will be received (since people will know who you are).
      Welcome to the rabbit hole, and good luck, paisana! :)

  51. Hi Jamey,

    Under your section: ‘Thoughtfully Graphic Designed’ you mention ‘placeholder art.’
    I’ve seen mixed opinions online about submissions using placeholder images taken from google for play testing purposes and submissions to publishers (absolutely not for commercial use, print and play or advertising etc.). Would the use of copyrighted images for testing and submission purposes be an issue for you?
    Or could you elaborate on what is meant by placeholder art?
    Apologies if this has been asked previously and thanks in advance.

    1. Thanks Pete! We’re just looking for functional prototypes, and if you want to use a few illustrations to set the scene, that’s fine (just credit the artist if you pull it off the web).

  52. Hi Jamey and crew,

    I hate to ask a question you’ve answered many times, but would Stonemaier ever consider exceptions to your guiding principle related to player counts?

    I ask because I have a game that showcases a unique piece of Native American heritage and culture, something I have not seen represented in the board game industry to-date. I know Stonemaier is committed to diversity and inclusivity in games, and I feel the theme and subject matter would be an excellent fit.

    However, it is a 2 player game. If you’re flexible at all on your player count requirement, I’d be humbled to submit my game for your consideration. Please let me know!

    1. I appreciate you asking, and that theme sounds great, but we seek games that can be played between larger groups just as they can be played between two people–it is through this goal that we bring joy to a variety of tabletops worldwide, not just 2 players.

  53. This comment board was a trip. Super informative (and repetitive). Player count and phases really threw people. Well done for maintaining clarity for yourself and your company!

    Gerald seems like a neat guy. Wonder what happened to him.

    I’d really like to know your acceptance rate at this point. 1 per ___,000?

    No need to spend time on me. I’m just inspired and want to cheer you on.

    1. We’ve received around 700 submissions at this point, and 6 of our games are designed by other designers. :)

  54. Dear Jamey,

    My name is Gianluca, and I want to start by saying that I love games from Stone Maier, from the playability to the layout. It is clear the passion and attention behind them.

    I work for the videogame industry, and board games are my primal passion. Together with designing video games, I designed board games mostly for myself.

    I came recently with a nice prototype for a new game, and differently from other times, the feedbacks are very positive from my public (friends and relatives, not exactly everyday game board players but enough to be able to judge you and destroy your prototype in the early stages :) ).

    However, I checked the list, and I say is all good for me, but the more important question is… how can I defend my idea?

    I’m sorry if this is a newbie question, but submitting board games is not something I do every day.

    I have full trust in your company, but it could be that the game is not good enough for you and I have to move somewhere else… so how can I be sure that my idea is preserved and not copied in future situations?

    In general, if I tell the pitch summarily, it can be that someone will pick the idea and transform it a little bit.
    Especially if I send the pitch to many other publishers or crowdfunding helping companies.
    Providing the entire game rules, layout, and special ideas can be potentially dangerous.

    What shall we do to protect our opera?

    Anyway, I think I have the right idea and this time and…I’m going to prepare the pitch. My question above is more of a suggestion to all people on how to understand what is the limit to what can share.

    Many thanks
    GL

  55. Hi Jamey,
    In guidline 4 you say the game must feel like an event, being 1-2 hours.
    Does this mean that you have no interest in a 20 – 40 min game whatsoever?

    Thanks,

    1. I’d say at a bare minimum we’re looking at 45 minute games. This is not to say that you should change a game that’s great at 20 minutes to be a 45-minute game; rather, there are many other publishers who publish shorter games, so I’d recommend contacting them instead.

  56. Hi Jamey,

    Your submission form mentions games should “present players with a thematic, visually appealing way of choosing what they do on their turn.” I’m intrigued, and wondering if I can incorporate this idea in my prototype.

    My game has a short action list (3-4 actions) like Ticket to Ride or Karmaka. Is there generally a better way to facilitate player actions in games with a very limited set of actions? Worker placement or a Scythe-like pawn are both feels like it might slow down the flow of the game.

    If there is no smoother way for my particular game to present actions, do you think that means it is not a good fit for Stonemaier Games?

    Also, thanks for publishing so many wonderful games. I have played your games (Viticulture, Wingspan, Tapestry, Scythe) with dozens of friends and it has always been a blast!

    1. Skyler: Thanks for your question. Ultimately, you need to choose what’s best for your game, but what you’re describing is an “action checklist,” which I’m not typically drawn to. Perhaps this video about action-selection mechanisms will give you some ideas: https://youtu.be/d06RLjrkVZQ

      1. Thanks Jamey! That video is exactly what I was looking for. I’m excited to test and see if there is a way to improve my project with the ideas from your tenants and submission guidelines.

  57. Hi Jamey & Alan,

    How do you guys feel about games with a political theme? I’d imagine you’d pass if it had a weight and art style like a war game, but Watergate has done pretty well and that’s more of a medium-weight experience (albeit for only 2 players). We’re working on a 2-6 player game about legislating with plans for an accessible art style that evokes Schoolhouse Rock. Didn’t want to bother you with a submission if the theme was going to be a non-starter though.

    Really appreciate everything you guys do.

    Thanks!

    1. Chaz: Thanks for your question. I can’t say that I would be interested in a real-world political theme, but if it has a speculative twist (like the politicking in Game of Thrones), that might intrigue me.

      1. Would an alternate-history gilded age America work for you as a speculative twist? Robber barons, muckraking journalists, maybe zeppelins?

          1. Would a high school student council setting interest you? Each faction could fit a well-known archetype (e.g. Jocks, Nerds, Popular kids, Drama kids, etc). All of them would be working to get their preferred policies passed into the school by-laws. Was thinking it could be set in a Wes Anderson-adjacent universe filled with odd characters, precocious young people, offbeat humor and featuring a bold, saturated art style.

          2. Thanks for asking, Charles. I appreciate you asking, but I can’t say this is a theme that captures my imagination (that isn’t to say it’s a bad theme, just not for us).

          3. What if the twist was that instead of a real-world theme, the game was about farm animals running a farm? You’d have factions of horses, chickens, cows, goats, sheep and pigs. Each would be politicking and maneuvering to advance their own interests. For example, the chickens might want heated coops, while the cows might desire a larger pasture. The book Animal Farm would be a thematic reference and the art could be inspired by old political cartoons. Title it: “Pork Barrel.” Thanks!

  58. Hi Jamey,

    I am a freelance game designer. I’ve just finished a game I’ve been working on for the past few years and have started the search for a publisher. The game is too complex for most publishers to consider but you guys immediately came to mind for potential partners. However, upon reading your submission guidelines, I have a few questions to ask first so I don’t inadvertently waste both of our times.

    1. You only accept games with a max player count of 5 or more. Is this limit set in stone? My game plays 2-4 and I saw you specifically listed that player range as an example of what NOT to submit.

    2. You don’t want games that have turns with phases in them. My game has rounds that have one big action phase where all the exciting stuff happens followed by a short production phase where players produce and consume resources. Would this count as having turns with phases or do you only want games that are quite literally nonstop from start to finish?

    I apologize if these questions are silly, but I thought them worth asking. As I said, you immediately came to mind as a great publisher to collaborate with and I think this game would make a fitting addition to your catalog but I don’t want to waste your time reviewing a submission if your answer to both of the above questions is a flat “no” with no potential flexibility.

    Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and for all that you do!

    1. Thanks for your note! I appreciate your questions.

      1. Yes, all games we consider must be fully functional and playtested for 2-5 players.
      2. I’d look at Wingspan and Viticulture as games that have rounds where most turns are taken smoothly one after another, followed by a little bit up end-of-round upkeep. That’s fine; anything more than that is not.
      3. I’m also a little concerned that “The game is too complex for most publishers to consider,” as we focus on medium-weight games. If you have a heavy game, I’d recommend companies like Capstone, as that’s more their forte.

      1. Thanks for the speedy response and feedback! I don’t believe the game is too complex (certainly not more so than Scythe) but since it has a cap of 4 players, I suppose that doesn’t matter much. :) I’ll look into Capstone within the coming days; thanks for the suggestion!

  59. Hi Jamey!

    My husband and I have been getting into some Stonemaier games recently and I really enjoy the depth and challenge associated with each game. A while ago I had some ideas come to me for a game similar in component level and depth to those I see produced by SM, though pitching the game would immediately bring any publisher to a big potential pitfall- copyright & licensing. I can explain in more detail the actual theme and characters the game includes in an email, but as it is still very early in development, I thought a general question that may be helpful to others would be best.

    Does SM entertain any games that are based off of movies or books that would require copyright license to be obtained, or are such pitches an immediate pass? And if the latter is the case, do you know of game companies interested in similar-level games as SM that will entertain licensure pursual? The game is directly related to differing goals and objectives expressed by characters in a fantasy movie world, as well as unique features that are clearly references to main props used in the movie. I cannot see a way to create such a game by making similar characters without the game seeming like a knockoff of what it should be.

    Thank you for your time,
    Aubrilyn

    1. Hi Aubrilyn, thanks for your note, and I appreciate you and your husband trying our games.

      As for submissions, we’re open to games inspired by anything. If it’s an IP we’re also really passionate about and we love the game, we’d likely pursue the IP; if we love the game but we don’t think the IP is necessary, it could end up being a game with a theme inspired by the IP but not focused on the specific IP. For example, see the game Nemesis, which pays a strong homage to the Alien movies, but it isn’t an Alien IP game.

      1. I´m interested about this topic since my game is also inspired by an existing IP. Do you have any idea (or even some study or statistics) how well such existing fanbase converts to actual sales? Or actually it is probably two groups of people; the real fans of the IP and then there are also avarage Joes, who are more likely to pick up a game if they are somehow familiar with the title like in your Aliens vs. Nemesis example.

  60. Hello Jamey,

    I am working on a Roman themed game that details the events from the Third Samnite war through to the assassination of Julius Caesar. I have been working on said game for around 18 months.

    In summary; it is a tableau building worker placement euro game where players use euro style mechanisms to shape the story of rome. The unique aspect of my game would be the fact players are building there tableau creating unique personal and collective worker placement spots. Players have significant agency over the storyline and the numbers and types of workers they have.

    My question is about flow:
    The game has a “break” mechanism very similar to ark nova, where players take turns back to back to back. Each player in performing their turns can contribute in some way to progressing towards the break and eventually triggering it. The breaks will mostly involve a streamlined election system which is aimed at being brief and changes the game state slightly until the next break.
    I am wondering is this style of “break mechanism” too much of an interruption in game flow such that I should not submit to Stonemaier games?

    Kind regards
    Jesse Irwin

    1. Congrats on designing a game, Jesse! And thank you for posting your question here. It seems like a lot of game designers are fascinated by Rome! :)

      I think the break system works well for the flow of the game–I like how organic it is. I think you just need to be careful about (a) ensuring that the “break” does indeed happen at regular intervals and that players can see it coming and (b) that the actions that result in break progression are structured in such a way that players consistently remember to move the break token (we’ve forgotten to do so many times in Ark Nova).

      1. Thank you so much for your reply!
        I’m continuing the process of internal play testing and will keep this advice in mind over the coming months; as i fine tune with my group :D

        Kind Regards
        Jesse Irwin

  61. Could you elaborate on the question below from your submission form? I apologise if you already addressed it somewhere.

    “Does your game feature the potential for a special, must-have component?”

  62. Hello Jamey and Stonemaier Games,

    I would like to start by saying that I believe Wingspan’s “Cube Trickle” mechanic is the future of popular mechanics. In the next ten years, I can see this being a genre that is used in many games.

    With that said, I have a game that uses an updated version of this “Cube Trickle”. I have spent far too much time studying your content to show disrespect by submitting a game, only to have you say, “Didn’t he read the guidelines?!”

    While I have read the guidelines, I believe that the Cube Trickle is the next Worker Placement or Deckbuilder.

    I hope this reaches you well!

    Andrew

    1. Thanks Andrew! I don’t think I’ve heard the term “cube trickle” before. :) Which guideline do you think interferes with your submission?

      1. Guideline 5. A Unique Game

        For example, my game (Enharmonic) gives each player a 4-card mat in which you play 4 unique cards. Then, once the board is filled, a little Meeple bounces on each card from left to right, triggering abilities in combination with each card the player chose to play.

        While Wingspan introduces three always-unique board rows that remain static throughout the game*, Enharmonic delivers a single dynamic and changing row each round of play. (Except for birds that allow you to cover up another card, of course.)

        And yes, I sincerely believe Cube Trickle should be added to BGG and instated as an official mechanic!

        1. Thanks for clarifying. It sounds like you’ve created something unique and innovative–I think it’s good to iterate on mechanisms you enjoy. You’re welcome to submit the game to us if you think it might be a good fit. :)

          1. As I review the submission, I only have one more thing to do before I submit: the blind playtests!

            You will see Enharmonic reach your Google Form Mailbox within the next month.

            Thank you for taking the time to answer my concerns!

  63. Dear Jamey,

    I’ve begun working on a “roll and write” adaptation of Viticulture. After reading through your submission guidelines, I noticed that it states that the game must be an “event” game. I take that to mean not a filler game which would be the case for most roll and writes.

    I’m looking for clarification on this particular case. It’s not an “event” game, but it would fit very well in your Viticulture line… please advise.

  64. Hi, I’m looking for a publisher for my game. It’s finished, except it needs to be re-themed since for now, it’s a mod of Blood Rage (I needed the components).

    This is a mod I’ve done just to prove myself I could bring great value to the table using my software engineering skills and my extensive years of playing various games. The playing time for 4 players is about 1h15. It’s for 3 to 5 players (best 4). This is sheer amusement – with no detours!

    It is tailored after what I like in board games:
    1. Straightforward rules allowing you to play as you learn
    2. Not too many pieces and bits
    3. Quick to set up & teardown (tallying the scores is also near-instant)
    4. No individual boards – one spot to watch allows catching “mistakes”
    5. Low latency, your turns will come fast enough
    6. Original dice system allowing any army to win (a cards replacement option is also provided)
    7. Variable Player Powers from the start and as the game goes forth
    8. Many paths to victory eg. running for the common quest, pillaging, obstructing, Ragnarök, etc.
    9. Great Re-playability and it offers enough variability through awesome options
    A. For players aiming at attaining the best score possible – don’t be the last in line!
    B. It would be impossible to create a bot player that would play this game in an optimal way

    Here are the rulebook: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g0Q5kyFqbu0TZ-8rhXs7glc2dPMhL7H1/view?usp=sharing

  65. I have designed a game over the past two years and of course it has evolved in many different ways. It is designed around the four elements of life, the four directions, four seasons etc. and requires 4 players so perhaps this disqualifies my game right off the start? Also – how does one determine what ‘weight’ a game is? Is this determined by time to play, complexity, mechanics, age of players or rules etc? I thought at first that I would self publish but now I am leaning towards a publisher and I would like to submit to you at some point if I can. Thanks for all your videos.

    1. Congrats on your game, Jim! I hope you’ve had fun with the process. You’re right that we only publish games that play at least 5 players.

      As for the weight, it’s somewhat subjective–it’s about the complexities of the decisions, the number of icons, the number of decisions, etc. “medium weight” on BoardGameGeek is between 2 and 3, so you could look at games in that range for comparisons.

  66. I’ve submitted the TRIK SHOT! boardgame idea and have game photos, play action video and graphics, but did not locate a submission link.

    1. I’m happy to help, Rick, but I’m not quite sure what your question is. If you’ve submitted the game via our form and we’re interested in learning more, you’ll hear from us.

  67. Your guidelines specify you’re looking for “tabletop” games. I’ve designed a game that has no board and is mostly verbal in gameplay. There will be cards like with Trivial Pursuit, and possibly an hourglass timer. Is this along the lines you publish or would consider

    1. Richard: “Tabletop” includes any game with components that are played on the tabletop. That includes cards. We aren’t looking for trivia games, though.

  68. Would you consider a game that can have 2-4 and 6 players, but not 5 players?
    Would you consider a strategy game with a light, funny, whimsical theme?

    1. Sorry, Daniel, I missed this question. We’re looking for games at play 2, 3, 4, and 5+ players (and we’ll add a solo mode). Light, funny, whimsical themes are fine as long as they aim to capture one’s imagination.

  69. Hi Jamey, I working on a game with a gold mining theme. I have been looking at your submission form and I have few questions about it as I would really like to answer “Yes” to everything. So first would you consider custom dice tower as a potential must-have component? I have been thinking it could be shaped like a sluice box. I really hate throwing dice into hard table, but a dice tower would be quite expensive and take up a lot of space in the box. And how about the maximum game time of 150 minutes? I think the game could be played in that time, but verifying that is a bit difficult since I would not like to push testers and we get easily into discussions about rules etc. So can it be assumed that time limit is with players who know the rules well and are focused into game?

    1. I hope you’re having fun with your game, Vesa! We use a custom dice tower in Wingspan that looks good on the table and isn’t expensive–I’m not quite sure it’s the “must-have” component in Wingspan, but it’s nice!

      150 is definitely longer than our target range of 60-90 minutes. The assumed time limit is what you actually see in playtesting based on setup, gameplay, and cleanup (not discussion).

      1. Yes, I remembered Wingspan dice tower just after posting my comment.. But I can probably think of something else too. And I defininitely see the value in such must-have component especially as a stretch goal in Kickstarter. About the length, I´ll see if I can streamline it somehow but I think it will be anyways closer to upper limit.

        Thanks for your comments! :)

          1. Yes, I have noticed that you don´t use KS asymore and seen some of your blogs and YouTube videos. They are great btw and a great source of information for anyone who is into board games and especially designing them.

            I just mentioned stretch goals and KS as that would be one option in case you would not be interested in the game. But for me that would really be the last resort as the competition is so hard and running the campaign would probably be work than designing the game.

          2. That’s a good point–these types of component hooks great great if you decided to self-publish through Kickstarter.

  70. Hello! I have been designing a board game for about a year and finally wanted to submit it to Stonemaier. I paid to have a final prototype produced and when that was made it featured 4 player spots. However, it would be easy to add a few more (which would also extend the game time to 1-2 hours), but for financial reasons buying another prototype for 2 more people would not be ideal for my personal situation. Could I submit the gameplay and voiceover with only 4 players, but with the assumption that expanding the board would be a simple thing to do? Thank you! :)

    1. For a sample gameplay video, that’s fine. However, we’re looking for games that play up to 5 or 6 players (and are fun, accessible, and playtested at higher player counts). What is your experience playing your game at 5 players? What’s the playing time at that player count?

  71. Hello I am curious about one thing before I begin to send my game to publishers and it is this… how can I protect my game idea/design from someone just publishing it after I submit my idea to them?

    1. If a publisher decides to steal a designer’s game and publish it as their own, it would probably get enough backlash to be the last game they publish.
      The board game community is closely knitted, and even gamers will defend your creation.
      So, counter-intuitively, the best way to protect your creation is sharing it far and wide, make it known it came from you… :)

  72. Jamey,

    I know I keep asking you about other publishers, I know that even if I win the SG submission lottery, it’ll be at least a decade, but I have a question about explaining the rules in general to a publisher.

    About half my day job includes technical writing (instructions for in-house employees), and I have learned no one reads anymore. A number of submission pages (I think your page requested one too) request or even require a rules explanation video. I hate appearing on film (the avatar in your comments section is my most photogenic side). Would an animation be acceptable for a rules video, or do publishers want to see a human being moving around physical game components?

      1. Out of curiosity, have anyone submitted a game idea that you really liked, but was similar to something you were currently working on?

        In that case, would you not accept the game, or would you consider integrating it with what you are currently working on?

        1. Definitely, that’s happened a few times, either mechanically or thematically. Though if I see an intriguing game like that among our submissions, that’s usually where I stop looking at it–I don’t know if the game is actually good or not.

          1. Sorry, last question.

            Does that mean that the game gets a pass from Stonemaier Games, or simply that you yourself stop looking into its marketability under the Stonemaier brand?

  73. Jamey,

    I’ve decided not to self-publish (but thank you so much for your kicstarter articles). However, I’ve been getting a lot of conflicting information in terms of how to present a game to a publisher. Can you weigh in on this?

    What do you prefer to see from a prototype you are considering publishing? Might other publishers answer differently?

    1. Should there be “example” art.

    2. How important is theme?

    3. Should I have a sales sheet?

    4. How would a publisher expect to receive a prototype?

    For example, is a presence on tabletop simulator or some other full digital service a requirement, or would a print and play be acceptable?

    5. (assuming a PnP is acceptable), can I assume a publisher has access to things like generic tokens, dice, etc?

    Thanks,

    Kevin

    1. Thanks Kevin! In general, these things may vary greatly from publisher to publisher, so pick the publishers you want to target and read their submission guidelines. I will answer for Stonemaier Games:

      1. Should there be “example” art. –I think it’s helpful but not necessary.

      2. How important is theme? –For us, extremely important.

      3. Should I have a sales sheet? –For us, it can be a helpful asset to understand the core concepts of the game, but it isn’t necessary.

      4. How would a publisher expect to receive a prototype? –For us, if you got to that stage, we would ask you to mail the prototype to us.

      For example, is a presence on tabletop simulator or some other full digital service a requirement, or would a print and play be acceptable?

      –We have seen some pitches on Tabletop Simulator–I don’t think it gives the best first impression of the game, but it can work.

      5. (assuming a PnP is acceptable), can I assume a publisher has access to things like generic tokens, dice, etc? –It’s a safe assumption, but I’d be mindful of how much work you’re asking a publisher to do–first impressions matter, and if right from the start you’re asking a publisher to piece together a bunch of components for you (for a game they don’t even know they’ll like), it may not set the scene well. We do not print, cut, and assemble game submissions.

  74. Hi Jamey,
    I’m aware that the Scythe Wind Gambit expansion was designed by a fan of the game. Would you consider a submission for a stand alone game that is closely connected to one of Stonemaier’s games but one that was not designed by you? Or does that create problems? For example, a game in the Wingspan universe, that is not an expansion to the base game. More of a spiritual successor of sorts.

    1. Thanks for your question! The Wind Gambit was co-designed between me and a fan after the fan (Kai) posted rules and playtest reports from a preliminary version. While those situations are rare, I think the best way to share it is do what Kai did: Share your fan expansion/spinoff in the corresponding Facebook group and on BGG, and if I’m intrigued, you’ll hear from me. :)

  75. Hello Jamey,
    Besides filling the form for submission, we have prepared a document where we highlight how our game will fit into the 12 tenets.
    Could be of any interest for you to have it?Is it possible to attach, or send something with the online form?

    1. Thanks! You can mention it on the form, and Alan will contact you if he would like to see it after seeing the form answers. You can also upload it as a Google Doc and include the link in your form response.

  76. Jamey,

    I understand that your 12 tenets is important to you in maintaining your brand identity, and that means you might have to pass on a game that could be highly marketable because it would dilute your brand. Have you ever considered producing such games under any kind of OEM licensing so that the game would not be immediately associated with Stonemaier Games?

    1. No, we haven’t. It’s much more than about diluting the brand–it’s about the huge amount of time, effort, energy, and resources we put into every product and wanting to maintain a focus on a select few products each year. We’re aiming for a small number of quality products each year, not a bunch of different products across a broad spectrum. The tenets and submission guidelines help us maintain this focus.

  77. Hello Jamey,

    I found it interesting to see that you are looking for submissions for games that play 5-6 or more players or games that play as “main event.” I can understand “main event” – as many of your games are just that (although would you consider Red Rising or Wingspan a “main event” game), but is higher player count “non-negotiable?” Also, would you be able to elaborate on why limiting yourself to high player count submissions and potentially missing out on interesting submissions built for more standard 2-4 players? Is it to differentiate yourselves and appeal to the market that plays with higher number of players?

    1. As I was scrolling through 518 comments on this page, I think the 2-4 player questions has been addressed by you. Thank you.

      1. Thanks Daniel! Indeed, as a publisher, we will not consider games that only play up to 4 players. It is a brand differentiator for us.

    2. Simple question: Assuming all other submission guidelines have been met, are there any game themes, styles, genres and/or categories that are auto-rejections?

        1. Wow, thanks for the speedy reply. I suppose my next question should be direct. What are your thoughts on a Sci-Fi Town-Defense style game. It is story driven and highly expandable/customizable. I’d say expandable card game would be one of the categories it fits in.

          1. I can’t really comment on a game without knowing some aspects of how it works, David–that’s what our submission form is for. :)

          2. Of course. Just investigating if the game would be a good fit. Huge fan of all your games. Thanks.

  78. Hi!

    I always loved the core ideas of Bang! and Samurai Sword, however I often found the games lacked agency, sometimes had jarring inconsistencies in thematic elements, and were lacking player interaction beyond combat.
    Few years ago, I set out to improve the hidden-role, draw-play formula on those points. Today, I believe I have arrived at something just some card-by-card tweaking short of a finished game. (I even eliminated an archaic round system I started with based on Jamey’s insights, thanks!)

    What are your thoughts on these types of games and are you open to publishing them?
    Should I give your submission form a shot after I’ve had my fill of playtesting?

    1. Juho: I’m impressed that you figured out how to design this style of game without rounds! The only other game in this style I can think of that doesn’t have rounds is Coup.

      I appreciate you thinking of us, but this isn’t the style of game we publish. I wish you the best in finding a great publisher for it, though!

      1. Well, technically I still have rounds, but I managed to diminish their importance to a simple math/game end check. It is a huge improvement nevertheless.

        Thank you for your honest and swift answer!

  79. Hello! I have a question that I hope you don’t mind answering. I was just wondering, does Stonemaier Games seek out artists for the pitched game submissions? Or should the game submissions already come with sample illustrations? Thank you!

    1. Katrina: You’re welcome to let us know your preferred artist or artistic style and provide a link to their portfolio, but I would not recommend commissioning any art for your game submission.

  80. Hi Jamey!
    I’ve been developing a game with a mate of mine for the past 2 years. In so, we are considering applying for Stonemaier games.
    After reading your guidelines, we’re still not entirely sure if our game fails or not the 6th one, about flow of game and having “phases” or such, and would like to ask you if anything seems off.
    It’s basically a worker placement/tableau builder, but the main “twist” is that the round is not your typical: “place all workers; resolve actions in deemed order getting those bonuses, clear them out and do it again”.
    There is a set number of actions a player can make each turn (like Terraforming Mars), so I have three actions, with which I can do 3-4 different things (such as building my tableau, flying to another players’ tableau, etc. – one of them being to allocate workers);
    If I choose to allocate a worker (which is, indeed, not a “meeple” but a 6 sided die), I have to pay a currency cost and a “time” cost, that is the set number of rounds it will take for the worker/die to be available again.
    So for example, if I place a worker in a space that requires 3 rounds. I’ll set it with the “3” side up and get it’s bonus right away. In between rounds, every player will rotate all their allocated workers down by 1, until they are free and ready to be reused.
    This means, of course, a little upkeep phase between those rounds that is basically rotating dice.
    Also, we diluted all remaining upkeep to happen in between those rounds as well (things like production, paying for meeples, opening event cards) which usually take around 5-30 seconds to happen.
    Subject to a more thorough analysis, ofc, do you see something that is definitive NO-NO for Stonemaier Games, or we should be good to go in this regard and feel free to subject it to your company?
    thanks a lot!

    1. Mateus: Thanks for your note! I appreciate you sharing this.

      First, I think it’s important to clarify that I don’t think this is typical at all: “place all workers; resolve actions in deemed order getting those bonuses, clear them out and do it again”. That’s kind of an old system on display in games like Stone Age. The more modern approach is that you place a worker and immediately gain the benefit (sometimes paying a cost).

      It sounds like you have an action point system in your game, which is something I generally avoid. I prefer games that let you do 1 or 2 things on your turn at most.

      As for the worker rotation system you mentioned, it’s interesting, but it does require upkeep throughout the game. A more organic way to integrate this mechanism is found in Teotihuacan, where you rotate the dice as soon as you move/place them (instead of adding a phase when everyone does this). Also, I should note that I tried to do something very similar to this in Euphoria, but I found that if you give players dice, it’s generally more fun to roll them instead of using them as tracking devices. Just my two cents! :)

      1. Thanks a lot for your response!

        Our first prototype had 2 actions a turn, and it took some time until we found out 3 would be better as many workers stayed idle (mainly by the endgame) when players had only 2 actions every round, also, the game took a little longer to end. With 3 actions It plays a lot similar, but smoother I’d say (and fixing the workers issue).
        But still, I don’t think I entirely get what you mean by “action points system”, would you elaborate just a bit on that? it’s a huge learning process for me, and it may be an underlying “problem” in our game that we haven’t seen by ourselves in internal playtesting.

        I’ll also have to take my time playing Teotihuacan and look into it!

        I get what you mean by Euphoria, as well (but it being the Stonemaier game I love the most, I actually like that dice mechanic – and probably why we have it somewhat similar in our game). Still, we looked into utilizing the dice the best we can, so there are many places where the dice are thrown (for example: competitive event cards where you place your workers and, by the end of it, everyone throws their allocated workers to see who wins the competition, the card and it’s points value)

        But I don’t wish to make this post a pitch meeting of sorts (so don’t mind replying something if you think it’d be inadequate).

        Thank you for your help!

        1. Mateus, an action point system, like in Pandemic, is on your turn you have a choice from a list of thing you could do. That list could be in your memory from reading the rules or it could be on a player aid, or somewhere else. Typically you can do two or more things on your turn.

          You said, “I have three actions, with which I can do 3-4 different things (such as building my tableau, flying to another players’ tableau, etc. – one of them being to allocate workers)”.

          1. Thanks, Gerald!
            Makes sense, it’s not only about how many actions you have in your turn, but how many different options of actions there are.

          2. Thanks for chiming in while I was on Facebook Live, Gerald–your answer is perfect! :)

  81. Hi Jamey!

    Love the company. My wife and I are recently obsessed with WINGSPAN.

    I have a working prototype for a hybrid capitalist-Ameritrash/Eurogame themed around the world of angel investing and startups. After LOTS of playtesting and refining, it’s working, and working well.

    For playtesting, we have a highly-functional and nice-looking prototype. When you are sent prototypes, especially “high-end” color prototypes with playable pieces, decks, instructions, etc., do you keep them, even after rejection, or would you consider returning to the designers?

    I only ask because while, yes, it’s just a prototype, it still represents a decent financial investment to produce, especially for independent designers who may be submitting to multiple publishers.

    Thanks again!

    1. Thanks for your question, Jeffrey, and congrats on designing a game! Yes, if the designer provides a shipping label, we’re happy to ship it to another destination after we’re done with it.

  82. Hi Jamey

    Could you say a little about whether the process above is different in a Covid-19 world, or for those not based in the US?

    I’ve been developing a game for a while now and ramping up the playtesting at the moment before eventually submitting, as I think it would be a really good fit for Stonemaier. But my physical prototype is out of date in terms of my developments, as my lockdown playtesting has been in Tabletop Simulator. Of course, just because a game works in TTS it might not work in real life, but I’m confident from my previous prototype testing there’s no issue there.

    If you liked a submitted game, would a video of friends playing the game in TTS be sufficient? Or would you expect me to ship the game to you from the UK?

    1. Chris: The steps are still the same. Start by filling out the form, and if we’re interested, we’ll request a video (TTS is fine) and the rulebook. If we’re still interested beyond that, we’ll need a printed prototype.

      1. Wait, so its not too late to submit ideas? It looks like you guys have the game pretty much set in stone at this point. I love your company and your games so much! Just not looking forward to a deck building or heavily card based game. If only there was a way to do miniatures (I love scythe).

        Maybe its too big a task to do ALL 3 books into one game. Have you tried focusing on just Red Rising and perhaps incorporating the other two books as expansions?

        Huge Fan of the Red RisingTrilogy and Stonemaier Games,
        Ken

        1. The Red Rising game features 112 characters found across the first three books. If we make an expansion someday, it will focus on the second trilogy (just waiting for it to finish!)

  83. Hi!
    One of your submission questions is about the game having a unique mechanism that no other game has. What does this refer to?
    Thank you!
    Beth

  84. With respect to the large amount of boardgame submissions you guys probably get, how long should I expect to wait before getting a reply once the form is submitted? Is it weeks or months? I’m new to this so please don’t take it as criticism. I am simply curious.
    Do you reply to all submitters or just the ones with games you find interesting?
    All the best!

    1. Mike: We typically only respond if we’re interested in learning more, and if that’s the case, you’ll hear from us in a few weeks.

  85. Since the art we use will not be in commercial purposes can we use Stock or copyrighted images as placeholder art?

  86. Jamey, I’m curious how you settled on the tenet that a game must play to at least 5 players. I’ve played plenty of good max 4 games such as Dominion, Splendor, Runika, etc.

    I game every Saturday with my friends and once in a while there are more than 4 of us, so sometimes someone gets left out. Is this the reason; just making it less likely that someone gets left out? Or is there more to it?

    When I started designing my character based, map-crawling deck-builder, I had it in my head that one box would get you 4 players. I figured if you want to play to 8, you would just buy another box, thereby making a single box cheaper. But price point was literally the only reason I imposed that restriction. It would be ridiculously easy to add another character to the box (which would only require adding a starting deck of 11 cards and a figure). We have playtested above 4, but other than adding more time to a round I don’t think we learned anything drastic, so I’m intrigued.

    1. Our 5/6-player target is strictly for our games; it isn’t a judgment about the many great games out there that only play up to 4 players (or 3, or 2, or 1!). :) It’s simply our designer to make games that scale down to 1 or 2 players but also scale up to larger groups. It’s become a distinctive element of our brand, and we won’t consider a game if it doesn’t play well at 5 players (and ideally 6).

      1. Good to know. Thanks for the quick reply. I can’t imagine how much caffeine you must ingest per day.

        I’m happy my game plays 1-8 without a need for a variant rule set. But, since I’m changing gears and thinking about going to a publisher, I’m trying to think about things they may ask me to change so it doesn’t come at me from out of left field.

        In fact, one of my concerns is that while I was thinking about doing a kickstarter, I had been drumming up interest on board game geek. I’ve seen other designers say something along the line of “publisher X has announced my game, so now I can finally talk about it.” So, have I already shot myself in the foot?

        1. Typically a small cup of coffee and some chocolate. :)

          I think it’s good for you to openly talk about your game in public. The only thing you won’t be able to share is the fact that you actually signed with a publisher (if and when that happens), as they won’t want people to associate the game with them until they’re ready to announce it.

  87. Dear All, thanks for the article and sincere, detailed information. We have finished designing a game (it is not an idea/early project and already won several local awards), but it is a 1-4 player game only. It does however correspond to other 11 key guidelines. So, does the phrase “we do not concider 2-4 player games” apply to “1-4 player games” as well? Thank you for your answer!

    1. “The player count must accommodate a minimum of 2 players (we’ll add a solo variant to take it down to 1) and an upper range of at least 5, 6, or greater.”

      We don’t consider games that only play up to 4 players.

  88. Hi Jamey, great article! At the moment I’m playtesting my first boardgame and I have a small fear that may be common for first-timers, and that is, someone stealing my idea (a playtester, a publisher, etc). Is this a valid worry for me to have whether I’m self-publishing or looking for a publisher?

  89. What if I have a fantastic game idea that would be an excellent sequel to Wingspan? I have a PowerPoint highlighting the rules and pieces of the game. However, I don’t have the time or resources to make a prototype and test it. Can I just pitch you my idea? And with the resources at your disposal, you can make the game.

  90. Just a general question Jeremy, I see in your content about starting a kick starter. Is that something you still would need to do if you are submitting to companies for publishing or just if you are self publishing?

  91. Hi Jamey & Alan,

    How long is the backlog of to be reviewed designs by your guesstimation? I’ve submitted a design some time ago and haven’t heard anything yet. I’m just curious and patiently waiting. You must be very busy, like all the time ;).

    And I just wanna say thank you. A year ago or so I read the article about seemless games and I changed my design (that had phases) to triggered events. It felt smooth, created an interesting dynamic and I never looked back after the first playtest.

    1. Rudi: Thanks for your question, and I’m glad our guidelines were helpful to you. As noted on this page, we haven’t been open to submissions for a while (and thus we haven’t been reviewing anything entered on the submission form). I’ll talk to Alan about looking through the form to at least let people know if their game isn’t a good fit based on the information provided, and we’ll do a deeper review of the remaining games later this year or in 2021.

  92. Hi Jamie, just a general question. As a first time designer, would you recommend self publishing or publishing submission is easier route to go for a first timer?

  93. Hi👋,
    Please help me understand what an idea behind the phases cutting and what exactly you mean by phases?
    1. “Game of thrones” have a phase where players flip 3 cards of events after each round
    2. “Sheriff of Nottingham” have order of actions
    3. In “Massive darkness” players can enter particular zone of the board which will activate “new lvl”
    4. In “Nemesis” players may activate selfdestruction timer
    5. Phases in “Not alone”

    1. The type of phases I don’t like are when the entire game is divided into various steps that limit players. Like, this is the farming phase for all players, then this is the building phase, then this is the combat phase…it completely disrupts the flow of the game instead of giving players a few options on their turn and letting them choose one of them, then play proceeds to the next player, and so on until the game ends.

      I’m fine with a few upkeep steps. Like in Wingspan, the game is divided into 4 rounds. During each round, players are simply taking turns one after another. When the round is over, there are a few upkeep steps that don’t take long at all, then players move to the next round and the flow of the game returns.

      1. Thank you Jamey,
        I’m more into Dungeon crawlers, but it’s always useful to know, what stars of gamedev do and why

  94. The submission guidelines were a great read and inspired a few improvements for my current project. As I try to ascertain if my game is a potential good fit (for when you are accepting submissions again), I have two questions:

    For the “phases” requirement: My game has a few rounds that each consist of an “action phase” where 80% of play happens as players take multiple turns building their empires, broken up by a brief cleanup phase and a “revolution” phase, where the other 20% of play happens. Players will throw the political clout they have gathered into one of a few new rising governments that will change the strategic incentives for the next round. Does this sound interesting or something you are trying to avoid?

    On a player’s turn, I sort of have an “action checklist”. However, there are only three options, and all of them involve a tactile reaction of collecting something: collect funds, collect workers, or grab a card. The unique thing about this game is that players can pick how long they want perform that action, committing to that action for 1/2/3 “years/actions” to gain 2/5/8 funds (for example). There are payoffs for spending more time performing the action, but other players might have more turns as they catch up to you, as play goes to the player who is furthest behind. In some sense, this is worse than a checklist… an action “matrix” if you will, but its simplicity has received many compliments from testers. Is this interesting enough to overcome the “no action checklist” requirement?

    Thank you for any advice or thoughts you have on this. I figured I would discuss these questions here to determine if a submission would be appropriate.

    1. Pierson: That sounds more like a game with rounds (like Viticulture), which is fine. Though if you can get rid of rounds, even better! :)

      What does the user interface look like for the action checklist? Are players placing a pawn on their player mats to indicate the strength of the action?

      1. There is a temporal element to the game, where you move your pawn forward 1/2/3 “years”/spaces on a common track to indicate the strength of the action. Let me give you a very simple example that represents several turns:

        I grab two workers, so I move my pawn forward two spaces.
        You grab 2 funds, which corresponds to moving forward one space. Then, you get another turn, because you haven’t progressed in time as much as I have. You grab two workers, so you move forward two spaces, passing me up.
        Now I get to take a turn, let’s say I move forward one space by taking a card. Now we are at the same point in time! Ties are then broken by player order. Visually, this is denoted by different tracks for different player orders (top = first, …, bottom = last) so it is always clear who the current player is (leftmost, tied by topmost).
        Playtesters love this, especially when they start moving around in the player order and start strategically leveraging their position.
        It is very likely that no two games ever have the same “flow”.

        P.S.- this “track” has the potential to instead be a cool clock component where player order is instead represented by the different lengths of the clock hands.

          1. Jamey, Gerald,

            Thanks for the thoughts. I’ll dig a little deeper into games like Glenmore and Kraftwagen, as those are new to me.

            Jamey, this video reminded me of Auztralia, which I have played before. That is the closest thing to what I have, except that player order is constant each round, only changing at the end of the round.

            I think this answers all my questions about the submission guidelines. Thank you for spending your time action points on this!

  95. I have answered some of the questions on the form with no. I understand that SM games are looking for a specific type of game but I do believe my game has some innovative features. I have worked on the artwork to match that of the 90’s comic books and I have added a story to match the theme.

  96. Grubs and Berries: A fully co-op deck building survival permaculture story with asymmetrical character abilities and progression. The tone is not dark and gloomy, but serious and hopeful. This is all about teamwork and the story that slowly adds complexity and choice with each new chapter. I have an interesting quarterbacking prevention mechanic as well (though probably not original). I was thinking 2-4 players, but your rules say otherwise! Hopefully I can work with that, and hopefully you will have this in your hands someday! I am still designing/playtesting the game, but I am doing the research now. Once I am happy with it I want to partner with a co-designer, graphic designer, and a writer to take it to the next level unless a publisher sees the vision and can make it come to life. Jamey – I noticed you just posted a video about how much you have been enjoying shards of infinity. There should be a similar feel with this design with the character progression and will feel very different depending on the character chosen. The survival/permacutlure theme seems very relevant given our current economic and political climate. Does this spark your interest at all? I would love to hear your thoughts.

    A little about me. I am 37 years old married for 17 years with 4 kids living in a rural area in southern, OR. I am new at designing board games, but have been enjoying them for many years now.

    1. Hi Daniel! Be sure to read all of the submission guidelines (and included links) and submit your game if you think it fits. We can’t comment on anything without a full submission. :)

  97. I am in the play testing process of creating a 2-6 player tabletop game that is for adults that is a fantasy rpg drinking game, as many of my friends and i play other tabletops: 40k, DND etc and we thought it would be fun for people like ourselves who are of age to have a one of a kind game like this. If your company doesn’t consider games like that do you know any that would? -Gunner Soma-

    1. Thanks Gunner! I know very little about RPGs–they’re not something we publish, and I don’t know about RPG publishers.

      1. Well its a board game but is not a true rpg some of the game mechanics are just rpg esc as far as the feel of it goes. :)

        1. I associate RPGs with free-flowing discussion, acting, and a game master. We don’t publish that style of game.

          1. Ok I apologize that is not the case with my game. I hope im not bothering you all with these questions. But yes my game is a goal oriented, has rules and a set goal or way to win. so not an rpg I mis labeled.

    2. Gunner, is this like Red Dragon Inn?

      I suggest you take the game to a venue that might allow you to make the connection you’re looking for. I recommend Protospiel. Back when the world was normal, Protospeil was a convention that was held in several major cities throughout the year so you could find one close to you. Right now, however, because of Covid, they are operating online, so you would have to digitize your game as you would if you put it on tabletop simulator. Attendees include game designers who can offer way more robust feedback than your average playtesters, and there’s plenty of playtesters too, but there’s also production companies looking for another title to pick up.

      Of course, you can always self-publish, and Jamey has written at length about that.

      1. Not entirely like red dragon inn, less cards more board play but it is a fantasy game that can be a drinking game as well thats why I had asked about the adults only game types.

  98. Hi Jamey, I have designed a game about trading and bluffing. It is not completely polished, but it is pretty close. What publishers would you recommend that I pitch to?

    1. I’d recommend pitching to a few of your favorite publishers that publish games that feel like your game (but don’t have any games exactly like yours) and that are accepting submissions.

  99. Hi Jamey. Glad I found your site! I’ve designed a multi player (co-op or competition ) Cannabis dealer game in which you start small (selling locally to regular stoners) and work your way to a larger market among the rich and famous. Opposition to your progress are rival gangs, police raids, and with the level of difficulty alternating as the government either claims down or eases off the drug war. Thoughts?

    1. Thanks James! While that theme wouldn’t be a good fit for Stonemaier game, I’m sure there are some other companies that may consider it. I’d recommend that you select some of your favorite tabletop game companies and target them.

      1. comment I posted ended up as a reply to a comment way back in 2015. Trying once more to see if it works this time. I’ve noticed lots of people have asked about phases already, but I’m still unclear about your definition. I’m still piecing together the mechanics for a game with 2-3 what I would call phases each round. But I’m realizing what I call a phase might not be what you mean. As in viticulture there are two seasons (I’ve only played earlier editions) the first where you build structures and plant grapes and the second where you harvest and make wine. The game I’m making is also worker placement with phases where in the first you buy buildings from a selection available to all players to engine build, the second you place workers on those buildings to produce, and the third you need to protect your city from invaders who are trying to steal your resources which is the resolution to each round and contains no player turns. I could try to combine the first two phases similar to games such as keyflower, but the last phase was added to create more immersion rather than less. Are these the kinds of mechanics you like to avoid? And if so could you give an example of a game with the kinds of phase structures you don’t enjoy? Thank you very much!

        1. Ethan: Thanks for your question. Viticulture was my first published design, and ultimately it does have the kinds of phases I learned to avoid (though they’re integrated pretty seamlessly into the UI). I think Tuscany is a better example, because in Tuscany, each turn and season simply flows into the next. There aren’t separate phases where all players build, then all players farm, and so on. So yes, what you’ve described in your game is the type of phase system I’m generally not a fan of. I’m okay with a little upkeep at the end of the round, but when the entire game is broken into phases, it requires a game manager, it doesn’t flow well, and I’m constantly reminded that I’m playing a game instead of feeling immersed in the world.

          In your example, I would definitely combine the first two phases–let players choose between building or placing workers on each of their turns. Then, at the end of the round, the invasion happens.

          You could also take it to the next level and remove the round structure, instead triggering the invasions using another trigger (thematically that probably makes more sense, as invasions rarely happen like clockwork in the real world). Look at Architects of the West Kingdom for a great example of how the game flows from one turn to the next without rounds.

          1. Thank you so much! This was very helpful, and I apologize for the double comment. I see what you mean with having the immersion being broken up with the phase structures, and I’ll definitely go check out architects of the west kingdom!

          2. Ethan, like Jamey said check out Architects of the West Kingdom. In particular for your game checkout the two ways the Black Market can reset.

  100. Dear Sir

    Our warm greetings to you and your team from India

    CORONA YUGA – BOARD GAME (Yuga Means Era or Period)

    My son Veer Kashyap (AGE : 9 YEARS, Class 5, Army Public School) has designed a creative and informative Board Game during lockdown which educates about all precautions to be adhered during present pandemic.

    The game enhances awareness about Social Distancing, Wearing Mask, washing hands, Buying grocery, penalties during seal down, and self Quarantine. The game also promotes YOGA and appreciates COVID Warriors.

    A document and video link enclosed for your consideration and publication.Your encouraging words and support would be greatly appreciated and will boost morale of YOUNG BOARD GAME DESIGNER – VEER V KASHYAP

    Please click the link below to see the YouTube video

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaITIYGeAjY&t=3s

    Looking forward for your positive response.

    Regards
    Vinayaka K

    +91 9717476360

  101. Hi Jamey,

    I hope you and your family are safe and well at this time.

    I submitted a game via video to you a while ago and have taken the feedback on board.

    I have made some changes based on the feedback and wanted to know if I can resubmit for consideration?

    Kind regards

    Lee

  102. Game is completely designed…2 prototypes…one on standard board game size.matt finish.
    2nd on 26″ glossy finish board
    can send you pics or video of and game character pieces
    Thank you

  103. I’m currently in the later design phases of a game I’m working on, and wanted to ask some advice on the turn mechanics. The game has a sort of clock, where 3 turns are daylight, and 2 are at night. The days are like rounds, where each player takes a turn, then the clock ticks down, then repeating. This is supposed to simulate the players running out of time to complete their goal, but does this disrupt what you would call the ‘flow’ of the game?

    1. Connor: To me it sounds like it doesn’t disrupt the flow, but please pay attention to the flow during playtesting–you’ll know better than me from observing your playtesters. :)

      1. Thanks! I’ve only tried it once with playtesters, and it got me some mixed signals. It was easy enough to follow, all the players go, tick it down, repeat, but each day brings another event from the antagonist. The look of dread and panic is priceless, but sometimes they forget to tick it down, or forget who’s turn to tick it down on. I was thinking of assigning a ‘first player.’ Any other ideas how to improve that?

  104. Hello Jamey, I recently submitted a board game that I’ve worked on since 2017. It has been tested and retested many times and tweaked to simplify the game so that even a child as young as 6 years old can play with older family members and friends. The board game can be played with 2-5 players and each move on the board will cause excitement for all players because that move might affect them as well. Let me know if my submission was reviewed and if it has a chance for publication with your company.
    Thank you

    1. Thanks for your submission, Deborrah! But as it says on the top of the page, we are currently closed for submissions. However, you may still submit your game to us, and when we reopen submissions (possibly in mid/late 2020), we will review your form.

  105. Hi there,

    6 years ago, if I’m not mistaken, you’ve made a video about designing tips, which is very useful and helped me a lot.

    I’d like to ask if you would want to make a new video, now that you are a lot more experienced than before. This is so helpful (and also encouraging) for us, amateur (pseudo-)designers, who are working on and editing a lot of our games.

    If possible, I’d like tips for bigger grandiose games, and how to deal with it. Should we start huge? Should we consider the costs? (assuming that we’re only designers and not publishers [refering to your last article]). And when it’s huge, is there a way to deal with it little by little, so it doesn’t devour us? Most times I feel consumed by the ideas and notes I’ve made. Also there’s this feeling when you introduce your beloved prototype to others, which you think is a genius idea or at least an interesting game. But while presenting it, it looks mundane. Is it universal or is this only me? How to deal with it, beacuse I found out when it’s one of my friends and not me, who is presenting the game, it looks a lot more interesting.

    I want to add this last question. Regarding bigger games, is it a wrong thing to do to test a little portion of it? I mean, I have the idea for the whole game, but I want to know if the initial idea is working and then I put time on the other parts of the game.

    A video about all this and more things that come to your mind would be very valuable to me.

    Thanks in advance.

    1. Thanks for your questions, Pouya! A quick answer is that it’s good to have multiple projects (maybe one big and one small) so you can jump back and forth between the two and not burn out. And yes, I think it’s fine to test small parts of bigger games with people to see if they work.

      Here are some interviews with me, some of which are about game design: https://stonemaiergames.com/about/jamey-stegmaier/

  106. Hi Jamey. I am currently designing a board game “The first actually” and because I am new to the field I have been reading different stuff here and there about the process. I was wondering after you finish designing the core mechanics and play testing you start balancing it. However, I was wondering about Stonemaier games submission policy. As I have read but it doesn’t clarify it that after the game has been approved further improvement and development is going to be needed. So does the game need to be perfectly balanced before submission the application or not speaking from the respective of Stonemaier game and other publishers.

    1. The game should be balanced, fun, and functional, but as the publisher, we would be responsible for continuing to playtest and develop the game so that it is even more balanced, fun, and functional.

  107. Hi Jamey. I love Scythe and truly appreciate the transparency you have with your company. As a board game designer, that information is very helpful.

    I do have an idea I would consider submitting… it would be an engine building game for 2-5 players with players being circus managers trying to put on the best 3 ring circus to attract the most prestige. But, I wanted to include a separate engine so to speak that would represent the forces that tried to disrupt the circus’ from happening, really nodding at the history of the circus and the struggles it had.

    I have a large portion of this complete but artwork would really be the crucial make or break in my opinion, that I just don’t have the resources to acquire. Would this be a fit, potentially?

    1. Thanks Gary! Designers aren’t responsible for artwork, so I think you’re making the right choice in not investing in art. Thematically, the circus theme isn’t something that interests me, but hopefully you’ll find the right publisher for it!

      1. Jamey, I will preface this by saying currently I am planning on going solo (with a business partner) and launching a kickstarter, but in getting to this point your site has been a godsend, so thanks for that.

        In case someone else has a similar question, I wanted to ask this of you anyway:
        I would like to know more about your disdain of what you call “phases” as compared to what I would call “steps” of a turn (i.e. simple things you must do in order).

        So, taking your example:

        1. Income
        2. Farming
        3. Building
        4. Attack
        5. Sundown

        Is it because you don’t like the game forcing each player to go through these every turn?

        Second question: what if the section in the manual was prefaced with “On your turn, you may…”? Would that alleviate some of it, or would you still find it problematic because a player could still do all 5?

        So, with that being said, my third question is, what if each of these steps were a single, quick action, like taking a cube or placing a worker. Would shortening the time of each of these actions to a couple seconds a piece (I would consider these steps rather than phases at this point) alleviate some of your disdain?

        Or, final question, would you prefer that things are sped up by allowing only one of these per turn?

        1. Kevin: Thanks for your questions. For the question about phases, I think it’s that those types of phases remind me constantly that we’re playing a game (instead of allowing me to fully immerse myself in the themes and mechanisms). They require players to constantly manage play (“Okay, we’re entering the farming phase now. Now we’re in the building phase.” etc). I think the more elegant approach is to create an interface where players can simply farm, build, attack, etc whenever they want. It doesn’t matter how quick or easy those phases are–it’s the actual structure that bothers me.

          That leads into your second question, which is about the action selection mechanism itself. That really depends on the game, but I can say that I would not let a player do all of those things on their turn. Let them choose one of those things (using a good interface, not an action menu card) per turn. Another option is to allow for simultaneous action selection. Let players puzzle out and execute what they want to do. See Fantastic Factories and Orleans for good examples of this.

          1. Still curious about this, so one more question:

            I’m starting to think what you are describing is the type of phase that breaks up a turn (first player one performs the income action, then player two performs the income action… and then repeat for the next item on the list).

            But what if that list you made up was things that every player could do (in order) on their turn
            (i.e. do you have any workers on the income space? OK, gain X. Do you have any workers on the farming space. OK, gain Y, etc).

            I realize we’re moving into your “players are doing too much on their turn” criterion, but at the very least would that cease them from being targeted as the odious “phases”?

            In other words, where do you draw the line between “turn structure” and phases?

          2. Kevin: The method you describe is mostly turn structure. Like, in Viticulture, on your turn you typically (a) place a worker on an action, (b) pay the cost of the action, (c) gain the benefit and bonus on the action, (d) end your turn. It ends up being a seamless thing that players do because of the user interface. If instead you’re asking players to go through a checklist every turn, I would find that cumbersome, especially if it leads to the average turn lasting longer than 30 seconds or so.

          3. I think the following examples might help:

            Pandemic: No (checklist instead of UI)

            Scythe: Yes (UI & no phases)

            Dungeon Petz: No (phases)

            Roll for the Galaxy: No (phases)

            Troyes: No (phases)

            Navegador: Yes (UI & no phases)

            Brass: Probably yes???

            Railways of the world: No (checklist & phases).

            Tapestry: Yes (UI & 1 income phase that in taken by 1 player when they want or it’s clear to do so, it’s not taken by everyone at the same time).

  108. Jamey, thank you for all of the articles and videos you have produced about game design, they have helped a lot with the design I am working on. We are working on a worker placement game with a poker subtheme, and once it is presentable, I plan to pitch it to you with your guidelines in mind!

  109. Hi, Jamey. I’m an aspiring game designer in Australia. I was wondering if living in a different country, I assume you’re based in America, would affect any potential game submissions?

    Thanks, Sebastian

    1. Yes, we’re based in St. Louis. I work with people around the world, so that doesn’t factor into submissions at all.

  110. Hello there,

    After lots of thoughts, I’ve decided to contact you about this.

    I’ve read your guidelines concerning game submissions, several times. But there still remain some ambiguities for me.

    I don’t want to ask for clarification, that would be a waste of your time. Instead, i would like to ask if you can do a video of games, out there in the nature, that would have been accepted in Stonemeier Games, should the designers of those game have worked with your company instead. That’s the 1st question I ask myself when I see a new game (would this element in game design please Jamey, or not.)

    I’ve seen a video where you talked about games you wanted to integrate, but it didn’t happen, for various reasons. I hope you plan for a video like this too. This would help me a lot to understand the stretches in game design for games to be accepted in your company.

    Thanks a lot.

  111. Hello Jamey,
    I’m starting a prototype for a worker-placement game in which you run an antique shop (it involves buying, restoring, and reselling items), with different types of specialization and paths to victory (I hope). I know the theme might seem a bit unusual. Just as a heads-up, does it sound like something you would be interested in?
    Thanks in advance

  112. Hello,
    I’m not sure if you accept “social deduction” game type please? (Regarding other requirements of yours, I think my game can fulfil them). Thanks,

  113. Hellow Jamie my question is about game rules. I have gamecards that clearly explain how to complete an action required and what you are awarded for anwsering or completeing a given task.Do I have to include a separate set of rules for these gamecards or if the information is comprehensive will the gamecard info be sufficient outside of the games general rules I have written?

    1. Gary: It sounds like you have reference cards, which are a great component to include in a prototype. Usually information on reference cards is pretty succinct, though, and the rulebook is a good place to elaborate and provide examples for that information.

  114. my name is Leah malazdrewicz and i am 10 my game is yoshi dive and it is not a real game yet but can you give it a chance

  115. I am under age so I was wondering if I can still upload game ideas, have two that follow all things you are looking for, board games are fun to make for me so I want to know if I can still upload it.

    1. Thanks Jesse! Age is not a requirement for our game submissions, but please make sure you look closely at the other guidelines.

  116. Hi Jamey, I just submitted the google form for game design consideration and was unable to find any link to upload a video/concept to you?
    I would love to give you more than just a few sentences which don’t do my game proper justice :). Thanks for all your hands on attention.

    1. I would recommend uploading the video to YouTube (unlisted) and including the URL in the form submission. Thanks!

  117. Thanks Jamie for the submission guidelines, I was still trying to decide if I go down the self publishing route or try to find a publisher for my game https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/262905/nova-solis when I was browsing your website.

    The question “Is the flow of the game dictated by players?” really got me thinking and as a result I shuffled around some things which helped me really streamline the gameplay and remove a lot unnecessary downtime as well as allowing to remove a lot previously necessary reference material.

    I now have a nice little action board where the players place a token after performing their turns to indicate the increase in cost for the next time they try to play the same action and I let the players choose when they want to perform a reset… the price being that every time they do brings them closer to the next turn of the AI antagonist and the end of the game!

    1. Adrian: Thanks! I’m glad that question helped you look at your game from a new perspective. That’s a really neat twist on action selection.

      1. It sort of happened organically. I was looking for a way to not have an arbitrary limit on the number of times a player can perform an action but also stop them from spamming the same action multiple times in a row. This way they get to choose if it is worth it for them to spend the extra energy do do something again

  118. Hi Jamey. Would you consider a medium weight roll and write with a unique theme and player interaction? 1 – 10 players. I’m about to start blind tests.

    1. If it meets all of our submission guidelines, yes. Though for roll-and-writes specifically, I’m interested in those that scale infinitely (like On Tour and Welcome to).

  119. It’s so interesting and beneficial reading all the comments. As someone said a few months ago, Jamey, the way you treat your backers, both officially as a Guiding Principle and practically in the blog, on BGG, etc, is both admirable and imitateable.

    Unfortunately, I see from one of the comments that you were looking at Red Rising submissions til last September. I got excited about the idea when watching the YouTube video where you introduced the idea. Then, after reading through the Submission Guidelines, buckled down to designing the game in my free time. It’s still not ready for submission (need the blind playtests after I finish turning the rules into a rulebook). With working on a Master’s and having a new baby, I haven’t been faithful to watching all your videos (much as I enjoy them), so I wasn’t aware of the timetable on that project. In my mind, since it’s Brown’s IP and there was talk of a TV series, I figured a board game made with art aligning to the actual art of the series would be really cool. So I thought I had more time. Since I’m really excited about the project and just enjoy playing my game :), I’ll keep working on it anyway. I just 3D printed my basic idea for the “must-have components” (previously wooden cubes) and my wife and I are having fun using them.

    I think I said this to you before in an email about buying one of the games, but I want to reiterate my thanks for you doing what you do, Jamey, and the way you do it. You’ve brought so much joy to our family via our tabletop – so, with us, at least, your mission has been successful.

    As a general note too, I think all the guidelines you give on this page, in some blog posts, and even on the submission form itself are really helpful. Not meeting them doesn’t necessarily mean a game is bad, it just means that it’s not your type. And you’re very good at encouraging people with quality ideas to pursue other routes. Thanks for making things so clear for aspiring designers!

    1. Thanks for your note, Gabriel! I appreciate the affirmation. I think it’s great that you’ve pursued a design for Red Rising. I’m certainly happy to take a look at it if you submit it to us. I’m actually brainstorming a new idea for it myself with a local designer–something clicked recently, and I’d like to give it a try. :)

      1. That’s great to hear! and very cool that another idea clicked for you! Thanks for the quick response!

      2. Jamey, have you looked at the Village and Amerigo for inspiration? Could help with ideas for all those colors.

        1. Thanks Gerald! I’ve played those games but didn’t look at them from a color perspective–I’ll do that!

  120. Hey Jamey, I was wondering if you could give me a ballpark estimate of how many copies of scythe, viticulture, and wingspan you’ve sold… I was telling someone about your company and was curious about some of the numbers… Appreciate all you do:)

  121. Very interesting article, i do however have one question. Are you interested in licenced games? Lets just say someone designed a Jurassic Park or Harry Potter game, would you attempt to get the licence or would you rather change the game slighty to create a new world?

    1. If there is an IP I’m really, really interested in, I might consider it. But I’m more interested in creating new worlds.

  122. I have copyrights from the library of congress for the board game i created.I have full mock up in writing of game from invent help.I have a blue print of the board game.Looking for licensing deal

  123. Hi Jamey, I wrote this for any budding game designers out there that are subscribed to this. Maybe this will help some of them, and help submissions to you too :)

    2 DISADVANTAGES OF DESIGNING COMPETITIVE “SKILL-REQUIRED” GAMES

    This is my personal advice (from experience) for anyone that creates a game requiring the players to become “skilled” at your game before the fun even starts. One of my prototype (a family game that children can play) is a game that falls flat on the first play, but is said to feel good and even great after the third or fourth play. There are 2 big problems with games like this that I experienced. Games that are Zero sum (you win and they lose) based on skill like Raptor can feel flat and shallow on the first play. A competitive game only showing it’s fun and depth after a few plays has disadvantages compared to other types of games.

    1. YOUR BLIND PLAYTESTS’ FEEDBACK ARE MISLEADING
    If playtesters have agreed to try out your prototype three or four times and then give feedback, their feedback and ratings of your game are based on that.
    Publishers, reviewers, and customers may only play your game once, especially if the first game they play falls flat. There will be a shockingly large discrepancy between your playtest feedback and their feedback. In this case I was blind not my playtesters :)

    2. CONTROL YOUR SHOCK
    You may normally be happy receiving “negative” feedback, as it helps in the long run, and you may normally be perfectly fine and carefree if someone doesn’t like your game. However a new game designer may not be expecting or prepared for a publisher, reviewer, or a customer to judge your game/prototype on their very first play. Which in hindsight you should be expecting. If your prototype falls flat on the first play for any reason (including requiring skill to make it fun) then most likely non-playtesters will only ever play it once. The first time you get this shock say nothing, as you wont be yourself. Don’t try to convince the publisher to play it again. Wait a day for the shock to pass. Now that you’ve read this; you probably won’t be shocked, and you’ll actually be expecting it. So you will be your normal self :)

    CONCLUSION
    Nowadays with so many games being created if you want to *increase your chances* of making a good impact make sure your prototype delivers on the very first play. If it’s only fun after three or four plays don’t send it out to the real world yet. Get blind-feedback on the first play, not blind-feedback AFTER four plays! Don’t put your prototype at a disadvantage, find ways to make it fun on the first play, or design a game that doesn’t 100% require the players to learn how to be skillful BEFORE the fun even starts. Not to be confused with fun games that you become more skillful at. Puerto Rico and Scythe require skill to become a “master” at them, but they don’t require you and your competitor(s) to already have a high level of skill before they are fun. They are fun the first time you play them, and they show you things that you’ve accomplished even if you have lost.

  124. After reading the Guidelines of your Submission for new games I don’t feel this simple card game is what your company would be interested in. The game is roughly a 30 minute play through of up to 6 people with a simple deck of cards. I’m not sure if all the other questions apply. I would really love to submit it but it comes nowhere close to Scythe lol. I’m still going for playtesting & I still need to conduct the blind playtesting. I do have prototypes printed but feel it need more still. If your company ever do decide to go for a more educational family fun type game you have my email address. I have submitted to another company. Wish me luck lol

  125. Hello Mr. Stegmaier
    when someone submits using the first step
    how long should he expect the waiting period to be
    and if the submission is rejected, should he be expecting an email about it?

  126. Hello Jamey
    First I have to say thanks for this Blog and the courteous way you treat all the questions. there is a lot I have learned from your comments advises and recommendations.
    I have been developing table top games since 1984 an still do it. Playing them all with any kind of people. From kids to smarts adults. All of them are done with a purpose, funny way to learn something good.
    I Have some good to very good ones. Blind testing is my best way to really appreciate the idea goes in a good way or not and also helps me to modify some rules.
    I think some of them could fit your requirements. and I would like to send it.
    We have some with the prototype already done ( all the games are done at home ) and some in progress.
    Can I send something without the prototype well done. I mean Just with the picture, rules and tokens?
    Thanks a lot.

    1. Jesus: Thanks for your note! If you’d like us to consider one of our games for publication, please read the guidelines on this page and fill out the form at the top of the page. If we decide to request a prototype, you’ll send us a basic, playable prototype of the game–no art is necessary, just good enough graphic design so we can make sense of the game.

  127. I have a 2-6 player family card game that plays roughly 30 minutes and has 96 cards in the deck. It’s still in playtesting phases. Right now it’s being tested for autistic Children and children in our local school. It has some strategic gameplay with just some simple mechanics. Yes I’m still playtesting and getting ready for playtesting this Saturday at a gamers guild library gameday for blind playtesting. The game requires memory with a point system to win. The game has bright colors like Uno/Dos/Skip-Bo. Would Stonemaier be interested in a game like this once I complete another possible 6 months of playtesting? It’s been played since late 2017 with my local game designer group & family and friends. I feel that the gameplay is easy enough for families to pick up and read the instructions and be playing/understand in roughly 5 minutes & play all while having a great time.
    Thanks for your time.
    T. Byrd
    ThunderChicken Productions

    1. Thanks Tommy! I appreciate you sharing this. I must admit that a memory game isn’t really up my alley, but if it meets all of our other guidelines, we could potentially consider it. Please go through the guideline list to see, and if it’s not a good fit, I bet there are other publishers for whom it might be a better fit. I applaud you for putting such a big focus on playtesting and accessibility!

  128. I appreciate your contest! It is the driving force for tabletop games (not RPGs). I do not know much about tabletop games, however I will take the time to learn about it! Thank you, very valuable article!

  129. Hi, I am currently working on a 2-6 player game and I feel I meet most of your criteria, but I just want to ask one question in regards to the 1-2hr play time requirement. If at the higher player counts, 4-6, the game reaches 90-120mins, but at 2-3 it only reached 30-60mins, would this be acceptable? Thanks for taking the time to read over my question.

    1. Henry: Thanks of considering Stonemaier! Sure, it’s fine that the playing time scales down at lower player counts.

      1. It seems to me that it’s very hard to design a game that does not do this. Even with simultaneous turns you’re always restricted by the slowest player.

        I know you slapped the actual average play time on the box for Scythe, but most publishers get the play time wrong (by accident or by choice) and how long a game takes is often very variable.

        Do you have any rules of thumb about how long it takes players to make decisions in a game? Given you’ve designed a number of worker placement games now, have you measured how long on average it takes players to take a turn in a worker placement? Does that change much with more/less players?

        1. Stephen: Sure, there are a few exceptions (and I wouldn’t count the slowest player as a factor in player scaling–even in a 1-player game, if you’re the slowest player, it’s going to take a while), but you’re right that most games vary in time based on the number of players. Euphoria is an odd exception for non-obvious reasons in case you’re curious about a counter-example.

          I haven’t measured exactly what you’re asking about (though it’s a good question). Rather, I try to give players a limited number of interesting options on their turn, and I ask them to do only do 1 or 2 things (default is 1, but if they’re playing optimally, 2). And I try to keep those decisions in front of the players, not on action menus or bonus action checklists. I also try to give players short- and long-term goals to help funnel their decisions even more (without making them feel constrained).

  130. Hi Jamey. I created a game and I just need a few comments of you about it.
    It will be an elimination game. Each person will have 2 card (1 character card and 1 ability card)
    Then you will spin a Wheel to get a number, a bomb or an ability card
    If a number you will give the wheel to a person when you count from you to the person at that number
    If a bomb you die
    If an ability card, draw 1 card and spin again
    You can use ability card while playing and special skill of the character
    You can lie about your character card. If someone wants to check your character and find out you are lying, you die, if not, they die
    I think my game can be played by 5-10 or more people

  131. Do you publish games that could be of the sort like magic the gathering but with board aspects as well? Like to the potential scale that themed board “packs” would be sold as well as card packs in major retail stores? The game plays as a competitive 1v1, 2v2 (and upwards) as well as free-for-all. I’m thinking my concept could stand along with the greats of card games, but the difference being you would have board elements as well

    1. Jake: I’m certainly open to card-driven games, but it would need to scale out of the box from 2-5 players (that’s one of our core requirements).

  132. 1) totally agree with Justin Schroeder
    2) does a player limit to 4 players make it out of the question for you? I’ve been working a lot on a medium-complex strategy for 2to4 players.I’ve nothing against games for a larger number of players, but I think it would be hard to reconfigure the game in order to add an extra player. Would that be a huge problem for you?
    Thank you

    1. Norman: Yes, a 4-player limit is against our guidelines–we only consider games that play at least 5 or 6 players. Fortunately there are lots of publishers that don’t have that restriction. :)

  133. Hello Jamey. I have a question for you regarding the time constraint required for submissions. I have a polyomino tile-drafting and -laying game in development that plays quickly (15-30 min). However, because of the completely variable scoring, most people want to play 2-4 times once the game is on the table. Is that something you would still consider as a main event game, or would it be best to consider another publisher? Thanks!

    1. Justin: Thanks for your question. That sounds like it fits my definition of a filler plus, which is a great game for any publisher to have…it just doesn’t qualify as an event game. I’m sorry!

      1. Thanks for the quick reply. I think I speak for everyone when I say we really appreciate your level of interaction with the gaming community!

  134. Hello! I’ve been working on a board game for over a year now and I have a few questions:
    1-The game has “phases” that are basically “every player by turn prepare his board by using cards and sending units to the battlefield” (each gets 1 fast turn) and then “war starts, every player plays an attack card and counts his total army power”
    is that acceptable? since it’s in the core of the game, and are you open to a few variations to that rule?
    2-The game is 100% playable, all cards have placeholder art and flavor, all tokens and units either have temporary cards to represent them or use poker chips as replacement for testing purposes, I’m trying to minimize confusion, diversify and clarify the playtest process as much as possible, is that acceptable, if not, any advice?
    3-I am Lebanese (middle east), if I submit the game in the future, is it ok with you if I ship you the prototype that I made? (everything was made in photoshop, then printed and sleeved)

    I’m in the blind test phase right now, I want to make sure that the game manual is as clear as possible).
    I have one shot at this and I don’t want to blow it!

    1. Joe: Thanks for your questions.

      1. Those types of phases are fine with me. I know it’s ambiguous, so thanks for checking! :)

      2. Yes, that’s totally fine.

      3. If you submit the game to us, you’ll first do so on the form, and if Alan is interested, he’ll ask for rules and maybe a video. If he’s still intrigued, we’ll request a prototype from you.

  135. Hi Jamey.

    I’ve been following Stonemaier Games for a while, and my wife and I finally mustered up the courage to open up your submission document to send you details about our game. You may remember following us on instagram – the game is called Grimmsdorf. I can enthusiastically answer “yes” to every one of your questions, except for the fact that our game is 2-4 players. I don’t doubt that you have a good reason for this, but I’m curious why your threshold is 5 instead of 4 players for its upper limit?

    1. Mike: Yes, I remember seeing your game! Our 5+ requirement is a brand differentiator. I figure there are plenty of companies that publish 2-4 player games, so when people think about Stonemaier Games, I want them to think about games that accommodate couples (and solo players) as well as larger groups.

      1. That makes sense – there are a lot of publishers out there, and I think you’ve chosena great differentiator. Thanks for the answer! PS: I’m really looking forward to checking out Scythe: The Rise of Fenris. I met Ryan Lopez at a convention last week!

  136. Hi Jamey,

    I’m working on a design revolving around worker placement combined with a time mechanic. In essence, the idea is that some action spots are printed on tiles that progress through a timeline, and workers placed on these actions are retrieved when the action tile reaches the end of the timeline, and that is also when the action is resolved.

    From my early tests it seems that this provides an interesting push-your-luck-tension as to when you should place a worker on an action spot. Early bird gets the worm, so to speak, but the early bird might be stuck on that action for more rounds than necessary.

    Now, I dont believe this fits within your aversion to phases as I understand it (farming, combat, trading etc), but it does mean that the game dictates when certain actions occur (for the player(s) with a worker on that action). How do you feel this complies with your requirement that “the players should dictate the flow of play, not the game”?

    1. Tor: Thanks for sharing this. I love time as a mechanism (in fact, we’re working on a game right now that does this, though with sand timers, not tracks). And I love Tzolk’in, which technically does have rounds that impact the flow of play, but moving the gears (which represent time) makes the transition so smooth that you barely notice.

      Based on that and your description, I think it fits our guidelines.

      1. Thanks for responding, Jamey.

        I also find time, whether real time or discreet, to be a fascinating mechanism. I look forward to hearing more about your sand timer project in the future. And maybe, somewhere down the road, there’ll be room for both games in the Stonemaier portfolio.

        Have a nice day!

  137. Hi Jamey, I just wanted to know is there a deadline for submissions to the Red Rising IP you’re interested in?

  138. When people submit games to you do you want them to have everything finished or are you happy to take/would you prefer a submission where the designer is still making certain components, but the game itself is in a fully playable state? For example if someone submitted Viticulture to you with only a dozen or so of each card type made whilst they were still working on the others.

    1. Steve: That’s a good question. If the game is fully playtested and playable in its current state, I’m fine with the designer having ideas for more cards (or asymmetric abilities) that have yet to be implemented.

      1. In that situation, assuming you wanted to take on the game, how would you prefer the designer proceed? Continue to design independently or provide you with everything unchanged and discuss ideas etc? I’d assume it would be better to have more work finished, but on the other hand much could change during Development so perhaps it would be better to keep these ideas on paper to discuss instead?

          1. This is all great to know Jamey, thank you. It helps as I’ve been able to build myself a list of targets and time frames for them. I work better with a definitive structure.

          2. A final question if I may. Regarding playtests what evidence or information do you want from them? I don’t wish to call anyones ethics into question but it wouldn’t take much for an unscrupulous sort to fabricate playtest details. I think it would be helpful for everyone to know what you’d like us to get from playtests and what you want us to provide upon submission. :)

          3. We trust people to accurately report how much they’ve playtested the game (and we often know right away from reading the rules if someone hasn’t blind playtested it). The purpose of local playtesting is to make the game fun and functional. The purpose of designer-led blind playtesting is to ensure that someone else (me) can learn and play the game smoothly from the rules, as you only get one chance for us to try it.

          4. That’s one of the many things I respect about you Jamey, you trust in the best of people.

          5. Jamey, you said “we often know right away from reading the rules if someone hasn’t blind playtested it”.

            That is interesting as almost every professional game published has 1 or 2 rules that really confuse people, or are unclear, that cause people to play it wrong until they get clarifications on facebook, BGG, or through the publishers FAQ.

          6. Gerald: Definitely. We don’t expect submitted rulebooks to be perfect. But many of the rulebooks we receive as part of submissions aren’t functional in any way–you cannot learn the game from them. That’s when we know the game hasn’t been blind playtested.

          7. Wow! I was thinking stricter. That constantly happening would drive a person crazy.

  139. With regards to game length, how do you feel about games that are story driven or have a primary objective that can dictate the length of a game? I’m thinking specifically about players being in a race to complete the story/objective or perhaps working together to complete it but also needing to work on other areas to ensure their victory.

    I personally prefer games to have a more fluid ending rather than a hard limit of X number of rounds, so I’m designing with that in mind, but I have some concerns over how quickly a game that should be an event game can end given the fluid nature of the design.

    1. Steve: I like fluid endings too. Like, technically Scythe, Viticulture, and Charterstone could take dozens of hours if players simply choose not to advance the game. However, I like it when games give players a feel-good incentive to move the game forward, resulting in playtests lasting (on average) the target length.

  140. Jeremy: Thanks for considering us for your submission. It sounds like your game also doesn’t meet our playtesting guidelines yet either–they’re very important! :)

    If you want to submit the game to us, you’ll need to get rid of the phases first. I’m fine with a few simple phases (like, on your turn, take an action, then draw a card). Rather, it’s when a game is broken down into phases (okay, everyone take a farming action. Now everyone draw an event card. Now everyone take a build action) that just doesn’t fit at all with the flow we seek in games we publish.

    I do help to develop the games we publish, but they need to already fit our guidelines before I’ll accept them and start to develop them.

    1. Wow, quick reply! Thanks.
      Yeah, I totally understand. I wanted to see what your response was to that now rather than after the game is created (with phases) so I am glad I asked. We have only playtested very little. We plan on playtesting until it’s flawless… If we decide to go a different route that doesn’t include phases we will submit it!

  141. Hi Jamey,
    First of all, I just wanted to say I am a huge fan your games, so thank you. They have brought a lot of joy to the table in our living room :)
    My friend and I (although I give most credit to him) are creating a tabletop game that is very unique and I don’t believe there are any like it that I’ve seen. We are at the beginning stages of it right now so we still have a lot of thought/ideas and time to put into it. The few people we have talked to about the game have received it well so we decided we are going for it. We have put some ideas onto paper/board/cards/dice etc. to begin testing it.
    Anyways, our game fits all of your guidelines except for phases. It’s possible that it could change, but we aren’t necessarily sure how. If we were to submit the game to you, would you still consider it with flexibility in changing certain aspects of the game such as phases? Or would it be best (if we want to), to change the phases before submission if we are really interested in partnering with you?
    Thanks for your time!

  142. Curious question here Jamey but what is YOUR goal in publishing 3rd party designs? A desire to see more games in your preferred mould in the market? Purely financial? A perverse need to dominate the gaming landscape by cherry picking the best new designers to become your designing Legionnaires, thus enabling you to conquer the industry? Just paying it forward?

    1. Steve: My overall goal is to bring joy to tabletops worldwide. We try to accomplish this goal by publishing 1-3 games and a few expansions each year. I personally have neither the time nor the talent to accomplish that goal as the sole designer at Stonemaier Games, hence why we seek outside designs to publish.

  143. That’s fair enough. It just seems a bit strict. With my game the players set the speed in which the game plays. I like to be conservative with my timings and the 3 hours is for a 6 player game, set at the lowest speed and assuming there are new players who will need the rules explaining. With 4 players, at the lowest speed and new players it takes 2 hours, with 2 players, lowest speed, new to the game, it takes 1 hour. Those times can also be massively increased at the fastest decay settings. It’s all down to the players preference. It just seems harsh. I feel a little bit of flexibility is expected, especially for the sake of 30 minutes. Especially as I assume you would expect designers to be flexible with you as part of the development process.

    1. Absolutely, we need to work with designers who can hear (and effectively respond to constructive criticism). We also want to work with designers who know when flexibility is okay and when it isn’t. We don’t have that many guidelines, so it should be an indication to you that the guidelines we have are pretty darn important to us. Fortunately there are plenty of other publishers with different guidelines–you have a wealth of choices here, Lee, as do we.

      1. I agree and designers can always self publish. I want to apologise if you feel i was attacking you in anyway. You seem very defensive, I just wanted to make prospective designers, looking to publishing with you, aware that if they submit rules and a video that don’t exactly meet your specifications, such as you wanting a game between 1-2.5 hours and mine being 1-3 hours that it will be turned down, without being played. You have made it clear in many posts how busy you are and that you don’t even look at the games unless they get prior approval from colleagues you work with and I am sure the designers submitting the games are also very busy, so just want to ensure no one wastes their time or yours. I wish you all the best for the future.

        1. Thanks, and good luck! Though, if your instinct is to view conversations through the lens of attack and defense, I think you’re going to have a hard time working with a publisher or with backers (and vice versa).

      2. The reason I really like Jamey’s personality is that he always talks about how other publishers may fit better for some users than him and doesnt put himself in the middle if the world.

  144. I have to say the submission process is rough. Mine was turned down before ever getting played, purely on the rules. The reasons were it takes too long, which I don’t know how that can be determined by the rule book and me knowing it meets the submission guidelines. The other reason was too much downtime between turns. I don’t think people wait more than a few seconds before their turn, but most games you have to wait for people to move pieces or make decisions, including Scythe. My advice is to ensure your rules are short and sweet and don’t go into detail as it is unlikely to get through the first stage.

    1. Lee: You’re right, we have a lot of filters in place, as we don’t have time to play the dozens of submissions we get each week. As for playing time, I wasn’t the person to reject your submission, but it appears that you submitted a 1-3 hour game even though our form asks for games that play at most in 2.5 hours.

  145. Gerald: Thanks for sharing these examples. I’ve played Puerto Rico, Fresco, and Roll for the Galaxy, and I think they all flow well despite having phases. Even though I haven’t played Kraftwagen, it sounds a bit like the system I implemented in Charterstone, which I like. :)

    1. Thanks for the answer. I can see that now, they don’t break the all important flow and don’t break players “in the zone” mental state.

      Charterstone has that syatem, cool. Which reminds me to add Charterstone to the “games to buy next” list, after after I buy My Little Scythe.

  146. I just watched your interesting video “13 Glorious Gaming Exceptions to My Personal Preferences”.

    With regards to doing phases differently, do you think the following 4 games pass through the guidelines on how they deal with their “kind-of-phases”?

    Puerto Rico:
    Player selects a role and everyone does it or not. Next player selects another role and everyone does it or not.

    Fresco, and Roll For The Galaxy:
    Players simultaneously select their worker placement actions on their own board. Then in order (left to right) resolve each one for everyone who selected those.

    Kraftwagen:
    Players take turns doing their actions, however a marker progresses every time a certain action takes place (a certain condition is met), which in Kraftwagen is attract a buyer. When the marker reaches a certain spot the game gets an exciting interruption (like with combat in Scythe), cars are sold. Any players with a car on the market has a chance to have their cars bought. This happens pretty fast, takes about 60 to 180 seconds to resolve. It’s resolving what is there already on the market using the knowledge of how the rules work for cars being sold. No new actions by the players take place.

    7 Wonders:
    3 decks, 1 for each age/phase.

  147. My game is a 1 on 1 strategy game. In the bottom of the rules I have written that u can also play it in 2 on 2 if you want and decide together for your next attack. Does that make the game a 2-4 player game and is automaticly declined? Since there is no way to play with 3 people but only 2 or 4 I believe its ok right?

    1. George: Thanks for your question. The game would at least need to play with 2, 3, 4, and 5 players (and ideally 6).

      1. So its completly fine to submit a 1 on 1 game that if the party prefers can be played 2 on 2 (by four players)

          1. Sorry if I repeat my self here but I have submit a game that is ONLY 1 v 1 right?

  148. Cheers Jamey. Considering how difficult it was to get my game to a standard I would be happy with sending to a publisher, having 400 submissions to compete with is eye opening. Fingers crossed and hopefully you get to see it at stage four. Kind regards, Lee

  149. Good afternoon Jamey, I hope you are well. I am just about to email Alan the video and rules for my game as requested. In the video I have explained the rules and shown the pieces and stage of the game, with the end of the video showing my friends playing the game. I work in Uni and have no experience in making videos, so can only apologise for my monotone voice. I have the unedited videos of my friends playing the game as well if you would prefer, but it includes many shots of the ceiling as I was getting distracted by the game and chatting with friends. My question is what happens after I send the video and rules? The submission guidelines only really explain up until that point. I hope you enjoy and look forward to discussing with you further. Kind regards, Lee

  150. Hi Jamey, I am back seeking advice lol.

    I really want to know your opinion on conditions in the end game. Do you think it is too much when a game has multiple end game conditions? For example: If Token A reaches the end of the track, the game ends and everyone loses. If Token B reaches the end of the track, count up points. However, if Token A reaches the end of the track and Item A or B is in a player’s hand, count up points regardless and Token A’s conditions are negated.

    Thanks!!!

    1. Thanks Joseph! I think this type of question is best posed in one of the following Facebook groups (feel free to tag me if and I’ll chime in when possible), as this page is specifically about questions regarding submissions to Stonemaier Games (not my opinions about game design, but rather questions about the submission guidelines themselves).

      So if you’re asking if multiple end-game conditions conflict with our submission guidelines, they do not conflict.

      https://www.facebook.com/groups/GameDesignersGuild
      https://www.facebook.com/groups/BGDLCommunity

  151. Good afternoon Jamey, I hope you are well. I submitted my submission which was approved and I was requested to send a video and a copy of the rules. The file of the video is just short of 5 minutes long, so can’t be attached to an email. What would be your preferred method of me sending it to you?

    1. Our preferred method for videos is as an unlisted video on YouTube so we can potentially watch it at 1.5x speed. But Dropbox and Google Drive are fine too.

      1. Cheers Jamey. I might send it via Google Drive, if that is ok, as I can send the rule book at the same time. I will send it across tomorrow night. Kind regards. Lee

  152. Hi Jamey, I’m really curious. How much time did you put into play testing Charterstone? I would imagine for a legacy game it can prove quite difficult.

    1. I personally playtested Charterstone maybe a dozen times, but because it’s a legacy game, I wasn’t the focus. The focus was on blind playtesting Charterstone, in which it was played close to 300 times.

      1. Hi Jamey,

        To clarify, was that 300 sessions of Charterstone or 300 full legacy campaigns of Charterstone?

        I’m quite interested in the development of legacy games. It would almost seem easier to playtest them through digital means rather than physically.

        1. Steve: I would say that’s average. Scythe had over 1000 playtests due to all the asymmetry. My Little Scythe had a few hundred playtests.

          Stephen: 300 sessions, not 300 full campaigns. :) If you’re curious about the legacy design process (which I think requires cardboard prototypes–nothing digital “feels” permanent, and the core feature of a legacy game is permanence), I’d suggest checking out the extensive Charterstone design diary here: https://stonemaiergames.com/games/charterstone/design-diary/

          1. Thanks for your answer Jamey!

            Your comments on cardboard vs digital have got me thinking.

            On the one hand the permanence is really important to a legacy game. Each permanent decision adds weight to the game and gives you a greater sense of ownership of the story behind the game.

            During development I would have thought that testing mechanics digitally may have been easier at times. Though I guess you’ve made enough worker placement games that you have a very good idea from the beginning about what will or won’t work in a worker placement game. And when Rob Daviau and Matt Leacock made Pandemic Legacy season 1 they had a huge amount of prior experience with Pandemic and its exapansions. Having such prior knowledge going into a design would certainly shortcut development time required.

            I’m just pondering whether it would be worth testing the systems in a legacy game digitally (maybe even not letting play testers know that it’s a legacy game at the time) in a new legacy system.

          2. Also Jamey, I think you’re a bit more of a sucker for components than a lot of other designers. I mean look at the gorgeousness of your games, and how you commission artwork early in the design process. It’s great and I’m glad you have been pushing the envelope for the aesthetics of game design so hard.

          3. Stephen: I think you make some good points here. If you’re in the “poking and proding” phase of design, I think a digital version would work well. It’s just when you get to the point that you need playtesters to interact with the components and feel the permanence of their decisions that I think cardboard playtesting is important.

  153. No thanks! You can easily see that by reading through my submission guidelines and by watching the video. Good luck in your search.

  154. Thank you Jamey. Jamey could you kindly highlight to me exactly why that a soccer boardgame isn’t a good fit for your company?

    1. Hi Dagan, the video link Jamey gave you is an 11 minute explanation by Jamey of why a soccer, or any sports themed board game, is not a good fit. I recommend watching it, it’s very interesting. The publisher of Baseball Highlights might be interested in your game.

      1. Thank you for sharing that video Jamey.My invention aint about playing soccer.It is basically a trivial roll play board game combined with unique gameplay rules.Im sure you are aware of what a huge sport soccer is around the globe and the millions of soccer fanatics that goes along with it.Soccer fanatics follow players,clubs,managers,player transfers and soccer history and that is what the questions are based on.My game as been tested from 2010 till date by numerous soccer fanatics.

        1. Thanks Dagan! That isn’t a good fit for Stonemaier, but I hope you find the right publisher or audience for it.

          1. Thank you Jamey.Do you know of any publishers that accept sport boardgame submissions?

          2. I would suggest looking at popular sports-themed games and finding the companies that publish them.

  155. Hi Jamey, hope things are good. I just wanted to know your opinion on the rules of heavier games. Since the rulebooks of these games are thick, should designers consider putting in a tutorial for the game in the rules to help learn the rules?

    1. Yes, I think any way to help people get the game to the table the first time is a great idea.

  156. Hi Jamey, I generally would just like advice on this. What do you think is the limit of how many times you count Victory Points? For example: Now we count sets, now we count resources, now we count this and now we count that. At what point, do you think it becomes too much? Thanks!

  157. I read as many posts as i could but didnt see anything specifically prohibiting dice. My game uses mostly cards but has some dice rolling in it to introduce luck. Is that a deal breaker for you?

    1. Scott, for your answer see Euphoria, and My Little Scythe (listed in the website menu under ALL GAMES).

  158. Hi Jamey, sorry to bother, but i would like to know your take on exploration as a mechanic and your views on if games do it well whether its tile revealing, from a bag of tokens etc.

    1. Thanks for your question! I like exploration, and I’ll add it to my list of Sunday Sitdown discussion topics. :)

  159. Hi Jamey, I would please like to know what do you think about soft vs hard end game triggers, and whether or not games benefit from having one or multiple end game triggers? Thanks!

    1. Naadir: I generally prefer soft end-game triggers, not so much for the trigger itself, but because it’s often reflective of smooth end-to-end flow of play. However, there are plenty of great games with a set number of round that I enjoy too.

      As for one or multiple end-game triggers, I typically prefer just one, as it can cause mental overload to keep track of a bunch of different systems. I am intrigued by shoot-the-moon mechanisms, though. Like, perhaps there’s a standard way the game ends and players count up points, but there’s also a super risky way that a player–possibly a player who has fallen behind–can do something remarkable for the insta-win (Yedo has one of these).

      1. Alright, thanks for the response.

        I tend to go for soft end game triggers as well. It just gives an added layer to me of not generally knowing when it’s going to end. If you had to implement the insta-win, it would have to be extremely difficult to complete. Yedo does do it well with the Shogun card.

        I was curious because I’m currently implementing a system where players can lose the game if there’s no sort of cooperation between them, but you are all personally going for the win. I haven’t come across a term that describes this. Sort of like semi-competitive, but more on the competitive side?

        For example: Counting up points would be the standard obtained from different things in the game, but each person would have like three objective cards that give them bonus points if completed which are drafted in the beginning of the game. (If a player would complete all their objective cards, it would be the way the achievements work in Scythe. It would be the end of the game.) All while this is happening, a track similar to the progress track in Charterstone would be occurring throughout the game to trigger an end game as well.

          1. I will work on it hard. I want to say more, but I really want this game to be a surprise.

  160. Phew! I finally reached the end. All of your responses are awesome to me as a game designer, and my brain is full of new and exciting ideas!
    I have a question regarding one of my games – it’s designed for 3-10 players (and has a variant for 2). It’s called Business is Business, and is basically a wealth accumulation game, through different mechanisms, but the ultimate goal is to be the only company left (kind of like Risk, though players are not “out of the game” when their company disappears – they can still compete in wealth through other mechanisms, and I’ve seen players win with no company on the board).
    Is the “attacking” other players to grow your company (and shrinking theirs) an automatic turn-off for you? The game checks every other tenet, but for this one there’s no workaround. Reading your other responses tells me that this is one of the “must-nots”, so I wanted to confirm before submitting.

    1. Thanks Ben! Attacking itself isn’t a complete red flag–after all, you can attack in Scythe. :) The key is that the game does things to prevent players from attacking a player purely out of spite. So if your mechanisms are built such that “attacking” in the game doesn’t create a platform for spiteful play, it could potentially work for us.

      1. Thanks! (and I have to say – WOW at your quick response!)
        I still have to playtest a new board design (I had to take out one component of the game that was more noise than help), but will definitely submit it here when ready! :)
        Thanks again!

  161. Hi Jamey, My 10 year old son– like many kids his age– is obsessed with Greek (and other) mythology. He has created a board came based on Monopoly called Mythopoly. Is this the kind of thing you or anyone would be interested in? Or do the Monopoly folks have a monopoly on that sort of thing? ;-) Rachel

    1. Rachel: I think it’s great that your son has designed a game! While that’s not the type of game we publish, I’d encourage you to introduce him to some more modern gateway games like Ticket to Ride and King of Tokyo. Santorini is also an excellent introductory game to play that has a Greek theme.

  162. Hey Jamey,

    Firstly well done on a great website and company the time and effort you obviously put in to everything you do is incredible. My question is how much thought do you put into cost when designing your games, do you limit yourself to a certain amount of “expensive” pieces like miniatures before you start designing or do you go back after designing the rules and see if you can change some of the more expensive components. I noticed a lot of the hyped games lately (especially on Kickstarter) have more and more very detailed miniatures and other components. Just wondering if you would choose miniatures over 2D tokens if it made the game cost $20RRP more.

    Thank you in advance,

    Sam

    1. Jamey wants a game to have an interesting component. That probably means it will cost more than normal components. So he likes that. His game, Scythe, has 25 miniatures. I heard Jamey say before that he would prefer to keep a game’s price below $70 MSRP. He also said designer’s should not worry about the cost, just focus on the game. What might cost $20 extra to manufacture for 1 company might only cost $5 to manufacture for another company because of their relationship with the manufacturer and the volume they will produce.

      1. Gerald is right that we’re always looking for a component “hook.” Something that makes gamers think, “I must have that!” I’m often thinking about what that component–or components–will be even from the earliest stages of design, though it may evolve over time.

        At the same time, as Gerald mentioned, I often aim for a specific MSRP. Like, My Little Scythe could have bloated into an $80 game if we had prepainted the miniatures. But a family-friendly game at that price probably isn’t going to sell nearly as well as a $50 game with unpainted miniatures.

  163. Hey Jamey,

    Just reading about your submission guidelines and it looks like you’ve got a great vision for what board gaming should be about and what makes a good tabletop game.

    I’m working on a game at the moment and It fulfils everyone of your criteria, except one which you have isolated as an “essential criteria” :(.

    My game involves trading as a core mechanism, which is to mean it wouldn’t really retain the same flavour if it was played with 2 players, because of the zero sum problem (There is no reason to trade in a two player game as there is no mutual benefit – this is why settlers of Catan doesn’t work for 2 players, for example). I’ve toyed with a kind of work around which involves a betting mechanic, but haven’t pursued it too far as it changes the core working of the game so much.

    I just wondered what you thoughts are about the problem I have suggested. I’d be very willing to film us playing the game and submit it, if that isn’t too much of a turn off.

    One other quick question… do you attend any conventions to look at games?

    All the best,

    David

    1. David: I’m sorry, this got stuck in spam for some reason, so I just now happened to see it.

      It is very important that our games can scale down to 2 players, as we want couples, roommates, and friends to play our games with each other and with bigger groups. I see how that’s a bit tricky with your game, so it’s really up to you to either (a) find a way to make it fun with 2 players, even if it’s more of a variant than recommended play or (b) not submit it to Stonemaier Games (I appreciate you considering us, though!).

      At Gen Con I hear pitches from designers–see our last e-newsletter.

  164. Quick question about the ‘rules’ of a blind play test, does it have to be a stranger or can I give it to some friends along with the rule book for them to read but not be there when they read it or play it?

    1. Sure, as long as you don’t interfere with the playtest, it’s considered a blind playtest.

  165. I’ve got an idea for a game, I haven’t finished it yet, but it requires a lot of dice, (probably around 80). I was just wondering if that would be too hard to manufacture or if I should try and come up with a way of doing it without as many dice.

    1. Jasper: It isn’t a problem to manufacture lots of dice. Blind playtesting can be a bit tricky, though.

  166. Do you accept Trading collectible card game.
    its fast and like about 5-10 mins per game if 1v1.

    2v2 can also played and much fun.

    thank you.

    1. If it plays up to 5 players and lasts between 1-2 hours you might have a chance. Guideline 3 and 4 above. Above it also states, “We’ll ignore submissions for 2-4 player games.”

  167. Hey,

    I recently crowdfunded a small game with 100 copies yet to ship. I know i raised some money but i want my game to travel further and it cant.

    My game is a game in which players control teams of bugs from one of four groups. These bugs are aiming to take flags from each others bases. The game however is played entirely outside and the natural terrain affects how the game plays. Bugs are also free to climb up any natural scenery making it a very immersive experience.

    Tammy.

  168. Quick question for you young master Stegmaier, were there any particular difficulties you encountered, or specific challenges you came across when designing games for up to 6 players as opposed to 4?

    1. Steve: I would say the key challenge is ensuring that turns are fast and simple (to keep downtime to a minimum) but still interesting. Also, it’s crucially important that players can plan ahead for their turn, which means that the things other players do on their turns shouldn’t have a significant impact on what I do (yet ideally there’s still some amount of interaction).

      1. Thanks for getting back to me.

        I assume that in the case of mechanics such as worker placement or area control etc the ‘significant impact’ is a given considering the nature of those mechanics. In those cases then I assume the paramount importance is making sure players don’t feel like they don’t have any GOOD options if their initial plan has fallen through?

        Regarding fast turns, do you think slower turns can be acceptable if each turn can be made to feel exciting or if a number of players can get involved in some fashion?

        1. Steve: Yes, I would agree with your first statement. As for slower turns, I think they’re much more difficult to pull off. It’s one thing if players make simultaneous decisions, like in Libertalia–that can work well. But if each turn takes a few minutes, and only one player has significant agency during that time, I think it’s a problem.

  169. Hi Jamey, on your live facebook chat you asked what my views were on the wicked character’s in family games question.

    Some children’s books really try to avoid conflict, and wrap everything in bubble. So do lots of family games. My children lose interest in those books.

    Book’s that do hold their interest are the Witches (Roald Dahl), the Jungle Book (Scary Tiger), and Harry Poter hold their interest. Disney use wicked characters in their movies. Children love Snow White, Star Wars, and the Wizard of Oz (wicked witch). I think these show more respect to children’s minds and create a more interesting tense story.

    Games like Raptor, and The Grimm Forest don’t shy away from this. With the recent tiny epic Zombies game, my children thought it was cool that you could be the zombies vs the rest of the family.

    I was wondering if Stonemaier Games have or will have a “do or don’t” guideline with regards to this. Will Stonemaier’s family games be Nickelodeon ONLY or also open to be as cool as the movies, books, and games mentioned above?

    1. Thanks for explaining this! That makes sense, and I can see why kids would enjoy that. I would say that I’m neutral on this. It’s a non-factor for me (no guideline either way).

      1. Sounds like a good approach. That way you could have the best of both worlds instead of one. Have family games like Kingdomino and family games like Grimm Forest, and Survive.

  170. Hi Jamey, are you still considering publishing family games? If so does the time requirement go down?

    From my experience any thing over 60 minutes for a family game is pushing it. Children’s attention span and physical patience seems to be pushed if it is over an hour. The best time for families for main attraction games (not a family filler) tend to be 45-60 minutes (which would probably play at 30 minutes for 2 players). I would not buy a game to play with children if a typical game took 90 to 120 minutes.

    P.S. Family fillers with high player counts would probably take 15-20 minutes.

    1. Gerald: I agree that a family game should be around 45-60 minutes for 3+ players, and maybe a little less for 2 players. I’m open to publishing family-friendly games in that space, most likely if they still have appeal among gamers who primarily play with their friends.

  171. Hello! I am making a 2-6 player game set in the Great Depression, where players are workers looking to earn enough money to buy property and live a comfortable life, and avoid trouble while doing so. However, the game incorporates phases, which is clearly undesirable. So my question is, how much do you like the base premise, and should I take the time to conform it more to your requirements? Also I’m only 14 so that may complicate things a bit if so.

    1. Lev: Thanks for your question, and I think it’s great that you’re designing a game at your age. I started when I was around 8 years old, but I definitely wasn’t doing the level of research you are!

      I should clarify that while I don’t like a certain type of phase structure, there are other companies that are perfectly fine with it. So if you think the phase version of the game is the best version of it, you don’t need to change it just for Stonemaier Games–instead, consider other publishers.

      That said, while I appreciate you picking a unique theme, I wouldn’t say that the Great Depression captures my imagination as a gamer. I think it’s an interesting time period to research and build a game in, but it isn’t something we could market well. Maybe talk to Academy Games about it?

  172. I’m looking for a fully designed prototype. That is, you’ve playtested a number of times, iterating each time so the game is fun, unique, and functional.

  173. My game’s time can vary from a few minutes to a few hours, depending on a player’s choices. Is that okay?

    1. That’s a pretty broad range. I think when people sit down to play a game, they like to have a rough idea of how long they’ll be at the table. Something like 60-90 minutes is fine, but 5 to 120 minutes is too big of a range.

  174. Is the 1-2 hours rule a strict thing? I have this wonderful game that fits all of your other guidelines, and stands out in the best of ways, but each game is only 10 minutes or so.

    1. Ash: Unfortunately a 10-minute filler doesn’t meet our guidelines of “event” games–we’re looking for the main course at a game night.

  175. Can i ask the range of the percentage (corresponding to annual revenues) that you offer to boardgame designers, in order to proceed in publishing their games?

    1. If you’re the sole designer of the game and you’re a relatively new/unknown designer, we will likely offer you 7% of revenue.

  176. I think these are good examples escalating chapters or stages of a game–I wouldn’t call them phases, though we don’t need to get into semantics. Your examples add theme to a game instead of removing it, and they still offer a smooth flow within those stages, which is important to any Stonemaier Game.

    1. Wow – thanks for the amazingly quick reply!

      I see your point on stages vs. phases, that seems like a good terminology/distintion. Thanks for the clarification, and keep up the good work!

  177. Hi Jamey,

    As others have done before me on this page, I want to dig a bit deeper into your tenet regarding phases and action checklists. As I understand it, the main reason why you prefer to avoid phases and action checklists is that they break the connection between theme and mechanics.

    Now, I understand your stance on this when you discuss typical examples like, for instance, a game where each round players first make investments, then collect income, then hire soldiers and finally do battle.

    But I want to challenge the assumption that phases in general break the connection between theme and mechanisms. In some cases, the theme itself might suggest that the game should be split up in phases involving different gameplay mechanics.

    To clarify, let me give two (random) examples:

    1: A car racing game where there’s a scheduled race every xth round, so players first do actions to prepare for the race for a number of rounds (e.g. upgrade their car, driver training etc), and then compete in the race when the xth round comes, before repeating the cycle. A game like this would have two distinct phases (preparation and racing), but those phases fit with the theme.

    2. A game about exploring a jungle, where the players spend the first half of the game preparing for their expedition, and the latter half venturing into the jungle, with their success being hinged on the preparations they’ve made. This is similar to the first example, except that the phases are not repeated.

    Do you feel that these phases break the connection between theme and mechanics, or impact the flow of the game negatively? Or maybe you agree with the premise of these phases being necessary, but those kind of games are simply not a good fit for the Stonemaier brand?

    If the latter, it seems like you would not be interested in publishing any game where the players are forced to interact with the same part of the game world at the same time. Is that a correct assumption, or am I bending your words a bit?

  178. Hi Jamey, hearby my submission questions:

    My game is a 2-6 player game that also allows for teamplay (2v2, 2v2v2 and 3v3). A 1 player version is very well possible but would take additional components/time etc to develop. Would you say it’s best to submit it with a 1player version included or submit it as 2-6 with the remark of 1 player future possibilities?

    My game currently features 16 different alien races with special abilities and different playstyles. In order to create a very unique world I have decided to work out extensive concept notes and lore about the planet and the history of every race. Do you believe this to be a real plus for a boardgame in the current market?

    I am currently facing serious dilemma’s for my prototype (and future final) version and the estimated total component cost. I have several possibilities at hand but these differ greatly in quality. I believe that with the current KS market a high quality and component heavy game can be succesful (for example Rising Sun), especially with the goal possibilities for upgrades. What do you deem to be an acceptable price range for a game?

    Thx!
    Thomas

    1. Thomas: We actually have a special team of developers (Automa) who design the solo versions of our games, so you don’t need to do that.

      I think lore and a strong sense of story and place are huge pluses for the current market.

      The acceptable price range highly varies depending on the game. It’s also something you don’t really have to think that much about if you’re submitting to publishers–that’s for them to figure out. I think the only instance where you have to think about price is if you have a crucial component in the game that is incredibly expensive, that may make the game unappealing to a publisher.

      1. Thanks Jamey for the very clear answers. Good to hear I’m on the right track with the lore and concepts.

  179. Hi Jamey, curious to know, where do you stand on dice in games in general and what’s your favourite dice mechanism?

    1. I like dice! I talk about quite a few games with dice in my YouTube videos. It varies from game to game, but I would say dice-drafting is high on the list.

  180. Jamey,

    I see mixed feelings on CCGs between guidelines and your comments, but I’ll ask anyway. 2 or 4 players (could be geared up to 6) – even numbered teams. Time scales so 30-60 minutes for 2 players is our target. Ultimately a best of 3 games for 2 hours for 2 players.

    Similar to Summoner Wars, heavier theme, “rounds” only exist to roll 6 new dice to match symbols for Action Point Allowance System, low luck (matching symbols from dice for attacks instead of rolling during attack). Players take turns interacting with 1 unit until out of dice. Has hand management, Tile Placement during game setup for variance and determining where units can be deployed, Multiple unit powers for each unit(variable player powers), Global grid, point to point movement (can’t easily move into enemies capital region).

    Ordering initial prototypes from TGC early next week, have a tabletop simulator prototype, and going to unpubs soon then conventions. Currently have a small team so if we go Kickstarter we’re honestly 9 – 12 months out but would love to find the right publisher to work with.

    Does it sound like something you might consider?

    Thank you for your time, sorry if it was long winded.

    1. Thanks for thinking of us, Bryan! While I don’t think this is a good fit for Stonemaier, I wish you the best with it. :)

  181. Hi Jamey, I was wondering would a player controlled end game trigger be counted as rounds? For example: The players decide when the game ends by using an action, you can place a token on a spot that moves up the end game token and when the end game token moves up to the final spot, the game ends.

    1. Joseph: That’s almost exactly how the end-game trigger works in Charterstone, so yes, that’s fine. :)

      If you want to submit a game to us but you don’t know about our current games, that’s a problem. I’d recommend that you play them or watch videos about them.

      1. I have sat watched videos about all your games except Charterstone x_x. I’ve been trying to get Scythe to the table, but everyone on my group doesn’t want to.

  182. I have been working on my game for I think two years now and hopefully, I’ll be able to submit it for consideration soon. :) :)

  183. Jamey I’m curious, would either Lords of Waterdeep or Champions of Midgard have been games you would have published?

    1. Steve: I haven’t played Champions of Midgard, but I’ve played Lords of Waterdeep many times. It checks almost all of our tenets, with the two exceptions being (a) the attack cards and (b) the cubes. I would publish the game, but without the attack cards and with little meeples instead of cubes.

      1. Ha, we remove the attack cards when we play. Champions of Midgard is much like Waterdeep but heavy on the dice rolling rather than gathering cubes, which makes it heavy on the luck side. In a situation like that would you prefer the game lose the dice altogether or for there to be ways to influence/mitigate dice rolls? (the worker tiles in Castles of Burgundy for example)

        Thanks for the reply.

        1. I’m okay with dice (see Euphoria). My personal preference is that you don’t have a ton of dice manipulation, but rather a lot of options to choose from so you’re not pigeonholed based on the dice you roll.

  184. Hi again. I’ve read every single comment In here. Does that make me weird lol? To the matter at hand, with the flow of a game dictated by players? I’m not saying too much here, but would action selection from cards that have the actions explained on the cards be a viable option or would they be considered list-esque.

    1. Not weird at all–it makes you dedicated! :) Action selection on cards is a fantastic mechanism. I talk about it in my video for Civilization: A New Dawn, and many other games I respect have the same mechanism (Concordia, Bunny Kingdom, Professor Evil and the Citadel of Time, Inis, etc.)

      1. Alright I was a bit worried because I employ a system like New Dawn with the Action Cards shifting as you use them in front of you, but there are consequences when you use a specific action causing heavier consequences the more you use the action.

  185. Hi Jamey, I was wondering about the unique twist or mechanism part of your survey and how strict are you on that? And what would you consider to be innovative enough to count? Thanks for what you do man. Keep up the great work!

    1. Joseph: Thanks for your question. It’s somewhat of a subjective thing, but I’m really just looking for a mechanical hook. Some people look for unique themes in games, others unique components, others unique mechanisms. I want to check all of those boxes in our games.

      1. Alright thanks, one thing I have noticed about Stonemaier is that the themes are more like a self contained grounded world. Chatterton, Between Two Cities, Euphoria, Scythe. What made you decide that Scythe had to use Mechas instead of like spaceships or fantasy beasts etc. Is it for that uniqueness?

          1. I did not know this, thanks! Just a simple query what exactly do you mean by punishment and backwards movement in the 12 tenets? Does this apply to like any backward moving of any kind like building a structure and losing it without gaining anything?

          2. Right, this refers to destroying or losing things you’ve worked to attain and had little to no control over losing them.

          3. So is that a set rule? Losing things you’ve worked on? I’m making a game right now that uses that thematically.

          4. If I’ve worked hard to make something, and either you or the game can take it away without recourse or mitigation, it’s not a good fit for Stonemaier.

          5. But in a general sense, I shouldn’t just trash my game because that’s something that absolutely will never work?

          6. It will stop me buying a game if something you have worked on can be destroyed by another player, but I’m fine if the game does it. If the game is designed to do that (not the players) then it can feel fine.

            Even the carebear Rahdo is fine if the game attacks him and Jen. He like Pandemic, Forbidden Dessert, Tiny Epic Zombies, Galaxy Trucker, Peloponnese etc… But in those ones you can plan for the loses as you know they are coming. In a player vs player game an attack can come as a surprise, and cause feelings of hurt or guilt for lots of people (but not all people).

            I don’t know the exact reason Rahdo would not review Scythe. I can only guess that after reading the rulebook he might have foreseen a situation that in a 2 player game if you are losing and want to catch up with the other player you would have to attack them, or the alternative is just accepting defeat before game is over. That is what it might seem like from the outside. Because for example you could steal 4 resources that a player just produced by attacking them with a Mech, causing their farmers to be pushed back to their home base, and the attacked player would lose power if they tried to defend themselves. That is 3 negative things at once. Lots of husband and wife gamers similar to Rahdo would not buy the game just on seeing or hearing that in a review.

            Jamey: Scythe is ranked as one of the best games ever, it is your best selling game, and there is a big market that love attacking each other, but have you decided not to design that way anymore (well, for the near future)?

          7. Kiefer: The tenets are just for Stonemaier submissions, not for all games. There are plenty of great games (even games on my Top 10) that I wouldn’t publish because they don’t fit our brand.

            Gerald: The reason Rahdo told me he wouldn’t play Scythe is that there’s direct combat between players that is connected to victory conditions. He couldn’t see himself attacking his wife (and vice versa), and thus he felt that he would be missing out on a significant portion of the game.

            The games I’m currently working and am publishing in the next 2 years don’t feature directly conflict between players.

          8. Thanks for sharing that. Makes total sense.

            P.S. Someone told me that Scythe is a 9 rating with player vs player, and a 10 as 2-player co-op vs 2 automas. As a result Scythe has jumped in to second place on our to-buy list. So we will have it in April. I was searching for 1 year for a reason to push me to buy it for my wife and I. Because it looks and plays so good I kept searching for that reason.

          9. There’s also a module in The Rise of Fenris that I designed from the ground up for cooperative play (no Automas). I’m really excited for people to play that module. :)

          10. Well that remove all doubt about co-op. Scythe and The Rise of Fenris it is :) Hopefully that will be out in April as well.

  186. Hi Jamie,

    Nice to see you’re still replying to comments and questions. I’ve read through the comments, and noticed several people asking for clarity on your tenets, for instance the “no phases/checklist”-requirement.

    I started wondering whether the game I’m currently working on would be considered a game with phases or not, and wanted to run my concept quickly by you. Of course, as you´ve mentioned yourself, I should design my game the way I want it to be, not to fit the bill of a certain publisher – but I’m still curious to get your two cents on it.

    In my game, players take on the roles of rival ceramists, competing to become the most renowned craftsman in the city. Worker placement is a core mechanic, and players will place (and remove) workers on different actions throughout the week (Mon-Fri) to gather resources, turn, fire and glaze pottery etc. Players may also place their workers on certain actions which are resolved when the weekend comes (sell pots at the marketplace, purchase new tools or donate goods to prestigious families in the city). If players place their workers on these actions early in the week, they get an early pick on e.g. customer orders to fulfill, but they obviously lose a number of actions as their workers are getting ready for the weekend instead of working on other tasks.

    Now, without going into further details, you could say that the game has an end of round phase where the weekend actions are resolved, before a new week (round) begins. But on the other hand, the number of players who will carry out weekend actions (if any) are entirely up to the player themselves, based on where they place their workers.

    Where would you place this in the “phase/checklist-landscape”?

    (And, of course, at first glance, does this game concept sound like something that could be of interest for Stonemaier?)

    1. Torbjorn: Thanks for sharing! That fits within the type of phases I’m okay with. :) At first glance, I’m intrigued by it.

  187. In the submission form, it says you only need to follow ten of the twelve tenets of game design. Does this mean that if I made a game that followed eleven of them perfectly and did nearly the opposite of the last one, you would still consider publishing the game?

  188. After I did a google search I found you have a blog post about this. I understand now. In my mind I will just translate “must-have component” to “attractive customized component”.

    I put too much emphasis on “must-have”. I thought it meant I must buy the game just to get that component even if the game is not suitable for me. That only happened once to me in my life, and it would not have been good if I bought the game just for that 1 reason.

    I get it now. The dice in Euphoria are fascinating, the glass in Viticulture is impressive quality and the wooden pieces are lovely. The miniatures in Scythe are super cool.

    If anyone else wants to read the article, here it is:
    https://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-75-include-at-least-one-must-have-component/

    1. Thanks Gerald! I was going to reply right away, but then I got caught up in a few things. Your second comment perfectly captures what I mean by the “must-have component.” :)

  189. Hi Jamey,

    I was reading the submission FORM again. There is only 1 I don’t understand and I feel the question is 100% personal and subjective. I get the mechanics question but this question below seems to be different than mechanics.

    “Does your game feature the potential for a special, must-have component?”

    This seems to be visually cool or something, not mechanics (because there is already a mechanics questions). For me personally I can only think of 1 game out of hundreds of games I know that had a must have component for me. The black abstract pieces in Samurai (the old version). With Viticulture, for me, there are no must have components, but the theme of the game is a must have. With Scythe I can not think of any must have components, for me, but the art of the game is so wonderful that it strongly compels a purchase even though I don’t like area control and combat in a 2 player game (which is 99% of the way am able play regularly). The components of Scythe are cool but do not compel me like the overall art, so the components are not a must have for me. For me Tzolk’in fits into your mechanic question. Before or after Samurai I have never experienced a “must-have” feeling for a component.

    I would like to learn what is a must-have component for you or most people (IYOP)? Could you please name some examples.

  190. The 12 Tenents is a guide not only for Stonemeier games but a great blueprint for solid game design. I have read a few books on board game design and nothing comes close to giving a blueprint to a successful design as these tenents. I know they are being overally general but it isn’t helpful. This is very concrete and practical. Please consider a series of videos on each tenent with succesful examples along with exception to the rules or successful games that could have been improved by adhering to one of the tenents.
    Thanks!
    Leon

    1. Thanks Leon! I certainly wouldn’t say that all designers should follow all of these tenets…they’re just my opinion of what Stonemaier usually looks for in submissions. But I appreciate the input, and I really like the idea of a video discussion of them (either a series or a single video).

  191. Good afternoon Jamey,

    I hope you are well.

    I submitted a board game for consideration and the concept was accepted and I was asked to send over a 5 minute video of the game and the rules (this was back in September).

    I had arranged for a professional film crew to film the game and for a laser cutting company to cut the prototype properly. Unfortunately the foam board used gave off smoke and even though I managed to get a safety report on the foam board, I had missed the date for filming.

    I have had the prototype printed on high quality A1 size paper and will cut out and stick to card but I currently work full time, I am a single dad of two and I am undertaking a masters in Project Management, so the process is taking longer than I am happy with.

    My question is: Have I missed the boat? could I send over the files and the rule book so you can see that I have taken the project seriously? Do you have a finite deadline between project submission and video/rule book being received?

    Kind regards

    Lee

        1. Gerald: Definitely! The video doesn’t need to be fancy at all–it just needs to clearly communicate the core gameplay.

  192. Would games that rely on teamwork be a good fit for Stonemaier, or do you prefer games that revolve more around players working against each other to reach victory.

    1. Hi Jasper, I asked in the comments above about Pandemic. Pandemic would fail on #8 of the 12 Tenets of Board Game Design for Stonemaier Games
      https://stonemaiergames.com/about/mission-statement/

      A lot of cooperative games do the opposite of tenant #6.

      I think Stonemaier games would review any game that perfectly matches all of their guidelines, must haves, and tenants. It doesn’t say No cooperative games. If it meets all of those and it feels great, I don’t see any reason why they would not publish an amazing unique game. So go ahead and make that one-of-a-kind game.

      1. We’re certainly open to both cooperative and competitive games. We would also consider an all-against-one game or possibly a team game (though it would need to be functional 1v1).

  193. I second Jasper’s helpful question.

    Besides the games you have already published (as your requirements change with time and experience), what existing games would Stonemaier Games publish if those games were never published, in the general category and the family category?

  194. I have always wanted to make a proper board game, I make many simple and more complicated games by myself, most of which don’t fit the guide lines very well. I would like to try and make a game that might get a chance at being published by Stonemaier Games because I love their games so much. Could you tell me what games would be best suited for being published by Stonemair games so maybe I could try and design a that might one day be published.

    1. Jasper (and Gerald): I appreciate your question, though that’s the reason the guidelines are there! There are certain things we care about (hence the guidelines), and beyond that, we’re open. You can look at the type of games we’ve published and the games on my top 10 lists at jameystegmaier.com.

      Though overall, I’d recommend that you just focus on designing a game that people love and that you enjoy designing, and then find the right publisher for it, whether it’s Stonemaier or someone else. I think if you try to design a game specifically for Stonemaier, it’s not going to work out. There’s no formula.

      1. Jamey, I don’t think your top 10 or your favorite mechanic videos would help with games that would pass the Stonemaier Test. Blokus, Telestrations would not pass.

        I know loads of games that would not pass the test: Dungeon Petz, Ground Floor, Pandemic, 7 Wonders Duel, Escape: The Curse of the Temple, The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire, Prêt-à-Porter, and so on… But it is more difficult to think of ones that do pass except the 5 Stonemaier games and Fresco.

        Only a few big publishers accept submissions so I can understand why designers would want to design games that those publishers would even consider to glance at.

        But Jamey is right, it is best to create a game you love, as guidelines could stifle that love. Plus, the publisher might make an exception to 1 or 2 of their guidelines to accept the new game that is wonderful.

        I could be wrong but I think there is no way Stonemaier games would make an exception to these core guidelines: Player count, game length, quick player-turn flow, unique in some way, and no action lists.

  195. Jamey, Would you all consider taking a look at a kids board game I created? It is pretty complete and I already play it with my kids. If not, do you know any publishers that might take a look? Thanks, Mike Roth

    1. Michael: We’re open to making family-weight games if they meet the requirements of our submission guidelines (see form at the top of this page).

      As for other publishers, I would suggest looking at other games of similar weight/complexity of the game you created and seeing if the publishers of those games are accepting submissions.

  196. Hey Jamey! I’m currently developing a strategy combat card game. It’s not ready for submission but I just had a quick question. It can be played with as few as 3 and as many as 8 players. Your guidelines say the range should be 2-6, is the minimum player count of 2 a necessity for the game to fit into your criteria?

  197. Jamey,

    I’m curious if SM games has a vague connection between in games in regards to the art/graphic design of its games? Seems like Charterstone certainly follows a bit of a new direction in regards to its art and graphic design as opposed to Scythe and Viticulture. Would SM games ever publish something with art that is more cartoonish like Mission: Red Planet (FF reprint) or Welcome to the Dungeon?

    I guess my big question is how much does a publisher want their games to look like they belong in the same publishing family without making them all look the same?

    -Matt

    1. Matt: Sure, we consider different artists and styles for each individual game (we don’t have a brand-wide “look” to our games). There are some publishers that always use the same look as part of their brand, but I think that’s pretty rare.

      1. To piggy back on this, would you consider artist recommendations/requests along with submissions or during the development stage or do you have your preferred artists you want to keep to?

        1. We’re open to chatting with designers about artists they like, and if we agree, we can approach those artists to see if they’re available, communicative, able to work in digital formats, and affordable.

  198. Thanks. Got it.

    I will look into Civilization (1980) to understand the difference. But from reading this I feel you are saying that a round can have different parts, that is okay, but only if those parts flow together well, and the transition between those round-parts must be almost effortless with almost no upkeep or upkeep that takes 10 seconds or less.

    Quickly off the top of my head an example that maybe just passes that part of rule 6:

    A Game Publisher Game: Each round everyone trades cards that some how make a game. The person with the best game gets to add that game to their publishing portfolio. Then you all sign games (pre-made games) that are available on the board since setup to add to your publishing portfolio. End of round. When all the pre-made-games on the board are gone the game ends, so there is no cleanup at the end of each round.

    I won’t be buying another board game for about a month but for now I will watch a how to play of the Tuscany Essential extended board.

  199. Hi Jamey, I thought I fully understood rule 6 but after buying and playing viticulture I am very confused about that rule. Viticulture is wonderful by the way, I rate it at 9.5. There are so many great things I want to say about Viticulture but I will hold back on this blog post.

    As a result I’m now confused about what a round phase is: “If your game has a number of phases (either within each player’s turn or within each round), please don’t submit it to us.” In Viticulture a round (1 year) has 4 phases (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter), maybe even 5 if you count the end of year tall up of grapes, wines, and payments.

    1. Anthony: Well, there are two important things to keep in mind here:

      One, I’m not claiming that all Stonemaier games perfectly following our guidelines. I’ve evolved as a designer over time, and the guidelines have evolved as well. The guidelines are a list of requirements for games we will consider, that’s all.

      Two, Viticulture has seasons and some upkeep, but not phases. If you want to see a game with the type of phases I’m not at all interested in, look at the rulebook for Civilization. It has a market phase and an attack phase and a trading phase… You need a game manager to keep everyone on track, and there’s no sense of flow.

      Three, tying back to one, Viticulture does have a more regimented structure than I’d like it to, as you kind of need a game manager to say, “Okay everyone, it’s time to select wake-up times. Okay, now it’s time to place workers. Okay, now it’s time to draw visitor cards.” And so on. It’s too close to phases for my liking. If you want to see how I evolved in my tastes, play with the Tuscany Essential extended board. Despite having seasons, it has a really smooth sense of flow without any kinship to phases.

  200. Hi Jamey, just out of curiosity what size of first print run would you expect to have for a game from a first time designer? Lets assume the game is roughly the same size and weight of Viticulture Essential Edition if that factors into it at all.

    Thanks for your time.

  201. That is great, I’m really look forward to it.

    I was leaning towards Ticket to Ride failing on those, well my interpretation of my guess of what those tenets meant. The reason I thought that way for 6 was that you can get punished at the end if you don’t complete a ticket, you get deducted points (in Nordic Countries at least), some big tickets can cost you the game. Some players can go out of their way to cut off your path (tenet 4) which can cause the end punishment. Ticket to Ride doesn’t feel hostile to me, but Rahdo may think so (Note: Rahdo is cool). It was great to get more info on those points to understand the Stonemaier way a bit better. Thanks.

  202. Hi Jamey, I hope the launch of Chartersone is going great. Most of the guidelines are easy to understand but some important ones are subjective. I would like to fully understand the ones I don’t and I feel others would too. I think a video for the more subjective points would be an amazing video on your youtube designer’s channel. But reading about it would be fantastic too.

    I think this would be super interesting, help budding designers make more games that would pass the test, and increase the quality of game submissions you get. You could get hundreds of game designers working to submit to you and increase their chances of success. A Win/Win situation I think. A video with examples of board games for each subjective point would be easy to understand. 1 good board game that passed (just on that subjective point), 1 good game that fails, and 1 good game that walked the line but failed (this would probably be the most helpful of all). Below I’ve listed what I feel are subjective points that you fully understand, but we are not to sure of where your “bar” is on these.

    Guidelines and Requirements
    4 and 6.

    12 Tenets of Board Game Design for Stonemaier Games
    2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12

    Ticket to Ride is a great game but it’s not a Stonemaier type game, but would it fail or pass on tenets number 4, 6, and 12? I’m not sure of the Stonemaier’s interpretation of those tenets. But I very much want to know. Pandemic would not pass on a few of them but would it pass on tenet number 5?

    1. Thanks for the idea! I definitely like the idea of providing examples. I’m hesitant to make a video about it, because these guidelines might change over time, and it’s much easier to change the text than a video.

      As for your questions, Ticket to Ride would pass 4 (there’s tension in selecting cards and building routes, but it’s not overly hostile), it would pass 6 (the more tracks you have one the board, the better routes you can complete), and 12 (you can focus on short tracks, long tracks, short routes, long routes, and various combinations of routes and tracks). For a cooperative game like Pandemic, it would pass #5 (some luck is important to a cooperative game). Pandemic wouldn’t pass #8, though.

  203. Heaven forbid — but what happens to a game if you get sick or aren’t able to continue with your company since your the only employee?

      1. The company continues to exist–it’s in our operating agreement. I’m our only full-time employee, but there are other shareholders.

  204. Could you elaborate on the number seven — there are very few rules exceptions, are you referring to alternate rules or something else?

    1. “Exceptions” refers to places in the rules where it effectively says, “Here’s the rule, and it applies in all cases…except this case.”

  205. Hey Jamey I have a card game for 3-7 players, using the standard 52 card pack, with the best games played with 7 players. The reason for this is there is fewer cards left in the deck as the game progresses.

    There are a total of 20 rounds and each player starts the first round with one card each, then two for round two and so on up to the seventh round. The next three rounds after this (8-10) consist of three unique concepts to add some spice to the gameplay. The players then receive seven cards on round 11 down to one card on round 17 and the last three rounds (18-20) are again the unique concepts.

    Hopefully I haven’t lost you yet! The gameplay with seven players can take up to an hour and half sometimes more. This is dependent on how quickly players make their choices. I have been refining this game over the last ten years and regularly play with friends. Some are even addicted which is why I think I need to submit it to you Gurus out there. It requires a certain amount of skill, luck and determination. This game can put you at the top and quite easily back at the bottom of she has her way. And believe me she can be a harsh mistress.

    I will omit the unique three rounds but will say that in each round you have a ‘trump’ card that will enable players to have a better chance of winning that round provided they have a matching suit. The player from round one need to decide whether to call to win with the card/cards they have or lose. Calling is just as vital because a game can be won by one point that’s all it takes.

    Anyway this is just a sample of the game and I would be interested to hear if it’s something you would consider. The game can be altered for different concepts and even different age groups.

    I look forward to hearing back from you.

    1. Shaun: Thanks for your question. While it sounds like it doesn’t meet our core requirements as listed in the survey at the top of this page, I wish you the best in finding a publisher who is interested in this style of card game!

  206. Hello Jamey. My game is a real-time party game for 1-8 players, ages 12+ that gives the players the chance to discover the MCs in them in a fun and creative way.

    In a very simple and short way (so I won’t take up much of your time) the rules are as follows:
    Each turn the players must choose 3 words from cards of 12 different categories, use them to write their own verses on any subject, as long as they rhyme, rap them on the beat and collect points. At the end of 4 rounds players will have created their masterpiece – a 16bar rap song. The player that accumulated most points is the winner.

    I wanted to self-publish the game but on January 2017 we had our son which takes way much time from my schedule so I thought to give it to a company and being a huge fun of you Jamey I wanted to start from here ?

    However, I did manage to take the game through U.K. Games Expo 2016 and Essen 2016 and those conventions convinced me that I have a great game in my hands.

    During those exhibitions:
    Tom Vasel and Sam Healey played my game and Tom told me to send it to him to review once published. He even uploaded the video I took of them playing, on his Tweeter account.

    Pegasus Spiel approached me and told me that they are willing to create the German version of the game once I published the game.

    Esdevium games approached me and told me that once I published the game they would like to distribute it.

    Tabletop Gaming magazine wrote an article about my game saying it was one of the hidden gems of the U.K. Expo.

    I got interviewed by a dozen people that liked my game idea.

    All the people that played it, ages that ranged from 8 to 67, loved it.

    I even send the game to Undead Viking to review it and told me that he thought that my game is amazing.

    So only one question remains, what do you think of the game? ?

    The only “problem” with the game is that it goes up to 90 minutes with 8 players but I took the liberty to write this message because in one of the comments above Steven Schultz wrote on June 25, 2016 that his game goes up to 40 minutes and you replied that he can submit the game to you.

    In any way thanks a lot for your time. You are a very hard-working person and a very nice guy and create amazing games. The industry needs you so keep up the good work.

    1. Thanks for considering us, Adonis! While a real-time party game isn’t a good fit for Stonemaier Games, I hope you find the right publisher for it!

  207. Is there any leniency on the amount of players the game must have? I have developed a prototype and tested it multiple times, but due to the board/map, there can really only be up to 4 players.

    1. Sean: There are lots of great companies who will publish 4-player max games, but Stonemaier isn’t one of them. Sorry!

  208. Hi Jamey, would you guys be interested in a strategy game that can be played with 1-12 players for anywhere from a couple hours to a few months depending on the game mode?

      1. Awesome, thanks for the quick reply! The only parts of the core requirements that really concerned me was the possibly insane length and fairly large size of the game.

        1. We may see the details and realize it’s not a good fit, but if you really can play it in 90-120 minutes and have a full session (while returning to it later as part of a campaign), that’s totally fine.

  209. Hello Jamey,

    Can you please tell me how long I have to submit my game? I want to get in just a few more blind playtests and want to make sure I will make the cut. I am thinking I can be ready to submit around late June will this be acceptable?

    1. The more blind playtests, the better! I don’t foresee us closing submissions at all, so take your time. :)

  210. I really like this: “Pairing them together with the base game manages to give you a very different game feel that’s instantly familiar.”

    Though keep in mind this is just one person’s opinion. :) My gamer preferences have an impact on my publisher perspective.

  211. Hi Jamey, surprised/impressed to see that you’re still answering questions here. Thanks for staying in the comments as it answered a lot of questions about what you’re looking for besides what’s covered in the other blogs. (Which are a great resource as well)

    Only have a question considering how you feel about game design that includes modules. For an example that’s currently published, something like First Class, where it would meet your submission guidelines most of the time.

    1. Jesse: Thanks for your question. I think my opinions about modules depend on how modules are used. Sometimes they’re presented as mini expansions in the core box–when that’s the case, I prefer for there to be a narrative reason for the modules to be added (kind of like a mini-campaign). If they’re in the game just to offer a little variety (which seems to be the case in First Class), my preference is for the game to have specific parameters about how those modules are used. That is, they’re more like core variable elements than optional modules.

      In my opinion, the biggest pro about modules is that they make a game more accessible to new players, with whom you wouldn’t use the modules. But it’s also the biggest con, because what I’ve found in my experience is that after establishing the core game as the game, my gaming group very rarely gets over the hump of adding the modules. I’ve played Fresco dozens of times, often using it as a gateway worker-placement game, and I’ve never added the modules.

      1. That’s interesting. I recently had started weaving a narrative as well while waiting on another round of testing. Mostly just to do something while waiting though.

        I had originally intended to have modularity and replayability to be a focus, and I played around with adding and subtracting various different functions. Later on I would realize that they basically fit into 2 seperate groups, mechanical and sub-theme.

        Pairing them together with the base game manages to give you a very different game feel that’s instantly familiar. Having it be easily accessible at first was also an obvious advantage.

        Had not realized that I was potentially gutting my player base at the same time.

        Thank you for your time and your input.

  212. Jamey: My game satisfies your Guidelines and Requirements and your 12 tenets of game design quit well except for one thing, rounds and phases. I think there is a good chance you might not mind this too much, as the meat of the game happens during the first two phases, where play goes around the table with players taking actions until they have no more actions they can take. This is a worker placement game.

    Phase 1: players play one meaple type once they have some.
    Phase 2: Another meaple type is played. There is a competition for controlling board spaces. Working out each round what gets you the best chance of winning the best, or most, board spaces is a challenge. This dynamic will change each round since one of the meaple types is also a resource. So, how many meaples players have to place on the board each round will vary, frequently by a fair number. Board spaces available each round varies also.
    Phase 3: Players resolve the board spaces they won.
    Phase 4: You can make purchases if you set yourself up to.
    Phase 5: Get benefits from what you purchased this round, a previous round, or from your starting condition if it gives you benefits during this phase.

    Should I submit the game to you or does it not seem to fit what you’re interested in. If not any suggestions for who to submit to.

    Thanks

    1. Martin: Thanks for checking with me. Unfortunately, these are definitely the type of phases that I’m not a fan of.

  213. Jamey: Your submission form asks “Does your game present players with a thematic, visually appealing way of choosing what they do on their turn? Answer “no” if each players selects from an action checklist.”

    I’m trying to figure out exactly what this means. Can I assume if Pandemic didn’t exist and was submitted to you that you wouldn’t be interested? The actions are all very visually and thematically driven however you do essentially choose from an action list.

    1. Janice: Hopefully if Matt Leacock got a rejection from Stonemaier for Pandemic, he would have submitted to other publishers so it would still exist. But yes, I don’t want to look at a checklist when I play games, and I wouldn’t publish a game with that mechanism. Imagine Viticulture where instead of 12 different actions you had a checklist of 12 choices. They both have thematic labels, but one is significantly more user friendly than the other.

      1. Based on your submission guidelines I would have expected to get a rejection letter if I tried to submit pandemic. It actually doesn’t nail all of the points of the Stonemaier submission guidelines.

        I think pandemic could have worked for the Stonemaier brand if it had some changes.

        Here are some ideas:
        Replace the checklist with worker placement. Each player gets four actions per round, which are represented by tokens. You place a token on each space you wish to use. Each space has a maximum number of tokens it would accepts per round. Only 1 flying action might be available per round (and it might take two tokens). Lots of driving actions are available each round.

        If each of the actions were limited in this way, the team would need to plan their moves together in advance and it would introduce a “push your luck” element (the first player could fly to clean up a potential outbreak in Paris or we could save the flight for the last player who is stranded in the middle of Africa with no research stations nearby.

        It would make the game more complex and each of the decisions harder but it would make for a game more aligned with the stonemaier brand.

        I really like pandemic. It had a lot going for it but the action list is not my favorite mechanic. In Star Civilizations I give each player a hand of orders. Of that hand, 3 or 4 are played each round. Players cannot double up on an order which makes not only the orders important, but the order of execution important. I feel that this is a far more interesting mechanism than simply giving players a list of things they can do.

        Puerto Rico tackles the problem differently. The roles ensure everybody is always engaged but you can’t always get what you want and your opponents can mess with your plans or force you into helping them.

        Pandemic is a huge success and there is good reasosn for that. The turn actions though are one of its weakest design points (and are the hardest part of the game to teach).

        1. Stephen: Well done! That’s the type of thing I would have encouraged Leacock to do if he had submitted Pandemic to us. Obviously this is largely a matter of subjective personal taste on my part, though–I can’t argue with Pandemic’s success. :)

      2. Thanks for the clarification Jamey :) I won’t bother you with my submission then!

  214. Jamey: is there someone you know or a place I can find info on people that are in the business but are willing to look over games for feedback? I’ve gotten feedback from so many people but much like a medical diagnosis, I’d prefer to have a professional opinion.

    1. Kiefer: I’m aware of some developers who work for pay–is that what you’re looking for?

      1. I mean, obviously I’d be happier if someone just looked at my game for love of the game, but I guess I’m not opposed to paying.

        1. Based on that, I’d recommend simply sharing the game on various Facebook groups throughout the process. You’ll get a variety of opinions, including some from experienced designers. If you actually want an experienced designer/developer to play the game and offer you detailed feedback, that’s a service that most will charge for.

  215. Stephen: Thanks for sharing! Again, I think it’s great that you’re considering all of these factors up front. The cubes are a minimal cost difference, but miniature moulds can be quite expensive. So I like the strategy you outlined of starting with one mould and expanding from there. You could also find a company with an established world in space and have your game set in that world, as they may already have some moulds that can be used (like Xia and Tau Ceti).

    You might be at a good place to share these thoughts on one of the Tabletop Kickstarter groups on Facebook. You’ll get some great (albeit blunt!) feedback there.

    1. Stephen: feel free to contact me on BGG. My username is meowcows. It’d be great to get to know someone going through the same process of game design. We could bounce ideas off each other. It seems we are in a very similar situation. I’d love to discuss it more with you.

      Jamey: I’m trying to figure out what the best route for me is: KS or finding a publisher. What tips can you give a fledgling game designer in this predicament?

        1. Wow! That is a veritable treasure trove of information. Thanks!

          And I look forward to hearing from you, Stephen!

  216. Hi Jamey,

    I noticed that you are very strict on the requirement for a game to be able to be played two player. What is the reasoning behind this?

    My situation is the following and I am wondering whether or not it would be a good idea to develop a two player variant of Star Civilizations before approaching a publisher with it.

    Star Civilizations (you won’t find it on BGG yet except as a WIP post I haven’t updated in ages) is a big box game which takes 2h to play. I’ve run maybe 15 to 20 play tests, including a number of semi-blind tests (I gave an overview of the rules, left the rule book and was absent for the game, which was filmed) and am still refining a few things before I seriously consider publication. It plays 3-6 players and involves some direct conflict (think Twilight Imperium 3 levels of conflict).

    I’m concerned that the player count may turn off potential publishers.

    Thanks in advance for any advice :-).

    -Stephen

    1. Stephen: Our focus is on games that couples can enjoy together or with larger groups, hence the requirement that the game can be played with only 2 players (and for most games, we’ll add a 1-player Automa variant). This requirement is just part of the Stonemaier brand, not a reflection on the industry as a whole–there are plenty of great companies who don’t have that limit, so if you’re happy with your game as a 3-6 player game, I think you’re totally fine to submit it to those companies. :)

      1. Thanks for the answer Jamey. I definitely understand the need to focus your brand (though when I think about games the size and length of Scythe or Viticulture I think “gaming group”, not “play with wifey”).

        I have enjoyed reading over your blog, it’s been quite informative. As an unpublished designer one of the things I have been focusing on is trying to keep my game within the realms of publishability – keeping component costs down and making Star Civilizations more attractive to potential publishers without sacrificing my vision for the game.

        Thanks again for your time and congratulations on Scythe becoming such a huge hit.

        1. Stephen: That’s very wise of you to try to keep component costs down. Though, if I may say this, something that gets me really excited about a game (as a publisher and/or as a gamer) is a unique, special, or stand-out component. So that’s something to keep in mind too. :)

          1. Interesting. I got a board game recently that had acrylic cubes instead of wooden ones (I’m guessing that’s not what you’re meaning though).

            Minis are all the rage on Kickstarter and I understand their appeal (though they’re by no means the only centrepiece components possible). Star Civ can be most closely compared to TI3 in terms of components. It would be possible to use minis to represent these, or alternatively have a single injection-moulded sheet of minis ala risk/TI (reviewers and gamers seem to be moving away from these though).

            The main things running through my brain at the moment is how to balance the need for roughly 60 (acrylic) cubes per player (I could cut this to a minimum of around 35 per player but that would cause players to have to do a lot more manual accounting), 30-40 plastic figures (spaceships/starports etc) per player, five decks of cards and a bunch of cardboard components. I can lower the plastics used and even go with cardboard tokens for the bulk of the ships but plastic feels better.

            The spaceships are needed to give the “epic space fleet” feel. The cubes are intertwined fairly deeply into the game economics.

            One thing I’ve thought is that the base game would be 3-4 players with a 5-6 player expansion. That would cut 50% of the plastic component needs.

            I know that these are all publishing questions but given I’m trying to sell a big box game with a big box price tag to a publisher, I think I should be able to talk through those issues in a way which shows I’ve at least thought them all through in advance.

            I have actually been thinking that maybe the best way to approach all of this from a publishing point of view (assuming I was a publisher, loved the game and had decided to publish) would be to croud fund and start with a single injection moulded sheet of spaceships with maybe one unique mini and minify the ships one at a time as stretch goals were unlocked. As I understand it the cost of creating separate moulds is far higher than creating a single mould. I could also start with 8mm cubes (though I think these feel terrible in the hand) and move up to 10mm cubes as a stretch goal.

            Anyway, your thoughts are appreciated :).

    1. Cool! It sounds along the lines of Black Fleet, Merchants and Marauders, Seafall, and North Wind, with a little bit of Oracle of Delphi and Archipelago mixed in. And, of course, the Explorers and Pirates expansion to Catan. :)

      I don’t think TMG has a naval game yet. It could work for Greater Than Games or Stronghold. I think Renegade is doing great work, as is Roxley.

  217. So you’ll really ignore a game if it only plays 2-4? That’s basically the only thing barring me from submitting.

    1. That’s correct–as a publisher, a Stonemaier game needs to play up to at least 5 players, ideally 6. Fortunately, there are lots of companies that don’t mind if a game only plays with 4.

      1. But not all of them have as good of a business model. I liked the section you put in about steering candidates what route would be the best way for them, even if it doesn’t benefit you. As a designer, I’m scared to put my baby in anyone’s hands that I don’t trust BEFORE I push that submit button.

        1. I appreciate that trust. There are many other great companies out there, though. I could recommend one if you tell me a little about your game.

          1. It’s a bit hard to compare it to other games, but Catan comes to mind (could be the fact that I use Catan pieces in my prototype). Basically, it’s a rule-discovering naval game where players must complete a variation of one of three paths to earn victory points. The three paths are piracy, completing contracts, and selling resources on other islands. When a player completes one of these things, they draw from a bag of victory points.

            But with a deck players draw from each turn, and tiles that could be anything, the game is quite treacherous. I often say it’s a game as brutal as the sea itself.

  218. Good afternoon Jamey,

    I hope you are well.

    I have started play testing my game, which has gone amazingly well. I have a few artist friends who can create some place holder art for me, so that I can submit a sell sheet and rule book that look half professional. I have a few questions though, which are as follows:

    – Do you require a fully completed prototype? I currently have everything printed on paper and stuck to card, with proxy pieces to represent 3D units, so am concerned that this would not be up to required standard.
    – When I submit, is it worth while attaching a word document to outline where I meet your criteria? I am concerned that I meet the criteria strongly in most areas and loosely in a few others.

    I genuinely feel, based on the games you have published, that you will love the theme and the mechanics of the game I am designing, but I am concerned that I do not completely meet all your criteria and I was not sure on how strict you are as part of the initial purging process.

    I look forward to your response.

    Kind regards

    Lee

    1. Lee: Thanks for your questions and for considering Stonemaier as a publisher. If we request a prototype from you, it simply needs to be functional, not professional.

      As for the Word doc, the first phase of submission is just the form at the top of this page–it’s after that when we’ll request more information if we’re interested.

      All of the criteria on the form are very important to us, but the most important part is the question at the end where you have a few sentences to pitch the game to us.

      1. Thank you Jamey for the quick response.

        Based on your feedback, It will take a few months to get the placeholder art designed, but you should expect to see a submission for consideration on completion.

        I look forward to future correspondence with yourself and Stonemaier Games.

        Kind regards

        Lee

  219. Hello Jamey,
    I am totally new at this boardgame process! I have designed and in the process of testing my prototype my question is: Will you accept a Christian boardgame? My game is for 2 or more players. Please advise. By the way, I enjoyed reading the questions and your responses. Thank you for taking the time to address so many questions and concerns.

    1. Rebecca: Thanks for your question. Could you please click through the survey listed at the top of this page? It asks questions that show our requirements (a game being non-Christian is not a requirement).

  220. I’ve created a board game based on Greek Mythology. It’s a quest with question cards, a board and playing pieces as well as a tracking sheet and item tokens. Players work cooperatively. It’s been tried-and-tested many times with adults and teen students who provided critical (and often brutal) feedback. It’s been tweaked and revised many times, and the most recent groups of testers (facilitated by both myself and when I was not present) said they’d love to buy it (even though that wasn’t my initial aim in creating it). Originally it was created as an intro / review to Greek mythology for students, but a wide range of people have now played it.
    Sounds like it might be of interest?

    1. Thanks Abena! I can’t really respond with limited information, but please fill out the form at the top of the page if you’d like to submit it to us for consideration.

  221. Good afternoon Jamey,

    I am still in the play testing phase, so no need for a speedy reply, but would you be willing to work with someone from the UK? I am a big fan of Scythe, which I thought was brilliantly put together, Specifically the art work and I am very impressed with your guides and commitment to supporting the gaming community, which is one of the main reasons I would like to pitch to Stonemaier games. My only concern is whether the distance apart would create logistic issues.

    Kind regards

    Lee

  222. Craig: Thanks for asking about this! I don’t think we’re a good fit for an adult party game, but I hope you find the right publisher for it. :)

    1. I understand, thank you very much for feedback! This has been a common theme among the publishers we’re spoken with, we also just had some great feedback from the Cardboard Edison contest and have been working on improving the scoring and removing some of the ‘luck’ element of the game. I’ve been working on some games that are very different from our first game (CrimeTime) for a while, so I feel like I’m approaching it with fresh ideas!

      Thank you again
      Craig Smith

  223. Hi, Jamey
    We have a “adult party game” thats been worked on and play tested for about 2 years. we have looked at self publishing but haven’t had a lot of luck getting the game out there. Is there a chance you would be interested in a game like this? it is a simple game that take about 30 to 60 mins to play and can be 2 – 6 players. the website has the manual and all the cards on it.
    thank you,
    Craig Smith

  224. Good afternoon Jamey. I have a racing game that also has an educational element for children in Key stages 1 and 2. It is playable by 2-6 players from age 5 upwards, and can also be played by adults and families. It is a very simple-to-follow game that takes on average 30-60 minutes to complete. It has been play-tested by my family, and other people outside the family and feedback has generally been good.

    Based on this, does this have the potential of being a decent fit on what you are looking for? And if so, what would you like me to do next?

    1. Keiron: Thanks for asking. While it sounds a little light for what we’re looking for, it’s possible we might like it, and it meets our core specs (I’m assuming you’ve read my 12 tenets of design, as linked on this page). The next step is to read the instructions at the top of this page and follow them.

  225. Jamey, do you have an estimate for how long this submission window will be open? Apologies if I missed an estimate, or even deadline, among the detailed guidelines and interesting discussion.

    It may well be that the window closes when enough potentially suitable games have been submitted through it, rather than on a specific date.

    All the best for 2017 to you, Morten, Alan, and the SMG community!

    1. Andrew: Good question, though I’m not really sure. If we get an influx of submissions we need to sort through (or if we get several great submissions we need to delve deeper into), we might close submissions until we catch up. But I think we’ll be fine for a few months.

  226. I have been putting significant time into backtracking and revising, is it okay to have the game playable for more than 6 players? What I mean is is it okay for your submission guidelines in the future to allow my game to be 2-8 players?

  227. Just to clarify, I have read all the information.

    My partner and I are in the phase you described in the video as the protype phase. The first one to specify.

  228. Jon: Thanks for your questions. I’ll do my best to answer them.

    1. This is answered in #3 on the above page: “Thoughtfully Graphic Designed: Another part of our responsibility is to make the game look great in terms of art and design. However, submitting your game to us without any art or thoughtful design will make the playtesting process very difficult. Please use placeholder art that reflects how you view the world of your game, and be intentional with your graphic design for the final prototype–user interface matters. Do not commission final art, though–that’s our responsibility as a publisher.”

    2. Multiple paths to victory is good, but players should have clarity as to how to score and progress in the game.

    3. Simple vs. complex: Some great games are simple (streamlined), and other great games are complex. There is no right answer. I talk about the important things in the second of this page about the 12 Tenets of Game Design: https://stonemaiergames.com/about/mission-statement/

    4. I’m not drawn to most games where I’m walking around fighting stuff, but many gamers are. If it’s something you enjoy designing, playing, and teaching, I’m sure you can find some publishers who like that kind of game to submit your game to.

    I’d also recommend reading the following article. It sounds like you’re a little past the idea phase, but it’s really hard for people to speak to the merits of the game when we only known a few core ideas. The best feedback you’re going to get is from playtesters, as they’re fully informed about what the game is, and the second best way you can learn how to improve the game is to play a lot of great published games while wearing your designer hat.

    https://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-204-your-idea-is-brilliant-your-idea-is-worthless/

  229. A buddy and I are in the prototyping phase of designing a magic battle game. It is a grid like board currently with moving pieces that have a free range mobility. When you land on a tile, you draw a card of that color. The various colors have different abilities. There are four different buffing/utility spell colors, four attack colors, healing, and curse colors. The battling mechanic is simple, with mechanics in range, damage, and special effects.

    So this leads me to my questions.

    1) For your company, and for others in general, how well developed would you like the aesthetics? I mean this in terms of the pieces (just simple movement pieces) and the quality of board and cards. I know that you have mentioned that it needs to be easily play tested etc. can you give me a goal idea?

    2) What are your opinions on games that are a little confusing as to where to put your strategy in? This game has eight different colors and you have to move around the board to get to different areas with certain colors being closer to certain starting points. At first our game is a little confusing as to where you should go until a few times through.

    3) Should we go simpler or more complex? Our game right now has potential to slide either way as towards an intense strategy game or towards a simpler one. Your feedback in this regard would be great.

    4) What are your overall thoughts on the present information about our game?

  230. And now I’m just wittering on in a public forum like it’s my own personal chat room…. Apologies! In my defence I have the flu and am a bit addled.
    Thank you for taking the time. Looking forward what you bring out next.

  231. It’s oddly liberating to have less choice in terms of actions but no less beautiful complexity in strategy. Plus I enjoyed the emphasis away from warring. So refreshing!
    I’m trying to figure out a mechanic based on staying calm. The idea is that if your stress levels are too high it may change command structure (first player), limit your options (concentration actions) expending extra oxygen and/or force poor decisions with ramifications such as making you run off wildly into unexplored dangerous territory. It’s just tricky figuring out how to balance calming down with just being boring :)

    1. “A mechanism based on staying calm.” That’s really interesting, especially in regards to the various game states it impacts. I like the idea that as you get less calm, you have less control over your decisions!

  232. Btw I just wanted to commend you on your design. I adore Scythe and it’s really opened my eyes to the possibilities of smarter, more economic structure. I love games like terra mystic but I drive my meta mad when my brain freezes trying to figure out a mechanic. Scythe blew my mind, but for the better. Thank you!

    1. Thanks Helen! That means a lot to me. I love Terra Mystica, and as an experience player of it, I never have to look at their action-selection tiles, but I’m always looking for ways to integrate a player’s available choices seamlessly into the game’s interface rather than giving them a checklist of things they can do. Doing so ends up inspiring what I hope are interesting systems, like the player mats in Scythe.

  233. thanks for the quick response. I think I agree with you on all counts. And I think there’s probably always a smarter and more appealing way to do something. And technical of course doesn’t mean easy.
    Immediately after posting this I started scribbling ideas about bubble tokens :)

  234. What are your thoughts on tech supporting board games? both personally as a gamer, and in terms of your company’s design ethos. I appreciate that this isn’t obviously a natural fit for you and I have my own significant reservations, but the ability to cut analysis paralysis or self manage dwindling resource has some appeal. This could be a significant contribution to the game, perhaps an app that adds atmosphere (to my mind, Mansions of Madness is could be more ambitious) but could also in the most simple sense – e.g. a game that asks you to use a timer on your phone.
    Part of my idea is dabbling with oxygen use, but I’m terrible at remembering to move a turn marker in a game so I’m not a fan of self-managing diminishing resources. That said I’m still interested in it, as a threat and to encourage cooperation (and potential heroic saves!). It’s not key to game – I only thought of the game idea today so nothing is really :) but I’d be very interested in hearing your thoughts.

    1. Helen: Thanks for your question. I have a few different thoughts:

      1. I love innovation in games, and apps are a neat way to innovate. Mansions of Madness does this brilliantly, especially in streamlining an elaborate setup process that made it hard to play the original game.

      2. As a gamer, my personal taste is that it’s pretty rare that I want a screen anywhere near the table. In my group, we don’t look at our phones, there’s no TV on in the background, etc–we’re completely unplugged and focused on each other and the game. I really like that.

      3. As a publisher, I’ve never seen an app delivered by a developer on time, or even remotely on schedule. This hasn’t impacted us because none of our games have ever been dependent on apps, but I would be really hesitant to make an app for that reason.

  235. Hello Jamey.. Thanks again for this great information! I am a new inspiring board game designer and I have created a great 18 and up, 2-6 players relationship board game that takes you on a rollercoaster ride that relationships go thur in reality. So far i have designed the board game twice and have many play test rounds on it with a lot of great feedback. Now im will like to know what is my next step to getting my game out to the public? And when submitting my game will I have to submit a prototype as well?

    1. Shantell: Thanks for your questions. They’re pretty big questions! You may want to look through this page on board game development–there are some tips for what you’re looking for.

      https://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter/lessons/develop-board-game-projects/

      I just want to be honest with you and say up front that theme is really important for our games, and while it sounds like you’ve picked a theme you’re passionate about, it’s just not one that interests me for a game. Fortunately there are lots of publishers out there, so hopefully you find one that’s a great fit!

  236. Hi Jamey –

    Thank you for the wonderful site and resources – much appreciated for someone stepping into the industry.

    Quick question about Tenant #6 and blind print and play play-testing. What if print and play isn’t an option? I’m working on a game with some fundamental 3 dimensional mechanics that would be very difficult (though certainly not impossible) for someone to easily replicate at home. I have access to other play groups where I could pass my game along to people there whom I don’t know. I assume the spirit of your point really is just get lots of blind play-tests in wherever you can find them?

    Mike

    1. Mike: Good question. Yes, that’s definitely the spirit of the idea. I’ll edit that description to be more all-encompassing for blind playtesting.

  237. Hi Jamey. Forgive me if you have touched on this elsewhere. I have read the 12 Tenents and am also aware you are not looking at more games until 2017. I am in the early play testing phase of one of my games, so it will be some time before it is ready. My question is regarding art. Knowing that a) you or another publisher will probably change it along with b) it is preferred to have presentable art/graphic design for a submitted prototype, are you ok with copyright free clip art as place holder? Thank you,
    Abe

    1. Abe: That’s a good question. I kind of talk about it on this page, but I added a sentence to it. Here’s the pasted paragraph, which is now found in full above on this page:

      “Thoughtfully Graphic Designed: Another part of our responsibility is to make the game look great in terms of art and design. However, submitting your game to us without any art or thoughtful design will make the playtesting process very difficult. Please use placeholder art that reflects how you view the world of your game, and be intentional with your graphic design for the final prototype–user interface matters. Do not commission final art, though–that’s our responsibility as a publisher.”

      1. Thanks, Jamey! I did see that paragraph initially, but wasn’t quite sure how to best make plans for the art portion of the game (which is important to the theme). I appreciate your prompt reply and the added sentence for clarification.

  238. Fair enough! Would you ever look at a game that was 2-4 players if it could be reworked to fit 5? It has been balanced and playtested for 4 and it would be significant work to scale it up to 5. But of course if there was interest it would be a worthwhile endeavour. You get a ton of submissions so its probably a no to this question but you guys are my first choice of who I would pitch my game to so I thought I should ask!

    1. Carl: We’re looking for games submitted to us that already work with 5 or 6 players. I know how much time and effort it takes to playtest a game, and we would spend a fair amount of time developing a game after we receive it. But we’re not going to develop a game just so it fits our guidelines–that’s your job. :) I appreciate that we’re your first choice, and if you believe the game is best at 2-4 players, hopefully there are some other publishers on your list who don’t care as much about player count as we do. :)

  239. Hi Jamey! How important is the “5 or 6” upper limit guideline? I am working on a family game that is 2-4 players that I think plays best at no more than 4(in terms of learning the game) but could easily go up to 5 and maybe 6 as soon as players are use to the game(I was thinking of adding in the extra players in expansions of some kind).

    1. Carl: Player count is a big part of our brand, so that’s a hard limit. it needs to play well with 2 players and play with at least 5 (ideally 6) players out of the box.

  240. That does help me understand the differences. Thanks for the quick reply. Good luck on Charterstone. Break some records!

  241. I noticed that the guidelines require a game to not have phases. Are these phases something like what Roads and Boats has, or most Splotter games actually?

    Richard Ham recently did a runthrough on my design: Ibyron: Island of Discovery, and I was wondering if that game has phases (wilderness,village) as what you do not want? So, if you mean phases, does that equate to a game that has multiple rounds? e.g. every player takes a turn in order, like Agricola, Le Havre, actually, most worker placement games? I think your current line has a few like that so I was wondering of a clearer definition if you have one.

    1. Scott: Thanks for sharing your question here. What I mean by “phases” is, for example, a game that has this kind of phase checklist each round, where all players get the chance to do each of these things during the corresponding phase:

      1. Income
      2. Farming
      3. Building
      4. Attack
      5. Sundown
      etc…

      I greatly prefer games where I take a turn, then someone else takes a turn, then someone else, and so on until the game is over. I’m also okay with games where players take sequential turns until the round ends, then there might be some upkeep (retrieve workers, etc) before the next round begins.

      It’s all about the flow of the game.

  242. Hello Jamey,

    I created a card game a couple years ago and life happens and it didn’t move anywhere. We’ve play tested it about 100 times and made adjustments along the way. I hear people I know still play it all the time to this day.

    It’s a strategic card game with some luck involved that plays with 2-8 players and is more of a card game for a game purist or strategist. You need to be thinking moves ahead and strategize. No two games are ever alike. We typically play 8 people and I have a fully working prototype that I need to tighten up the rules on just slightly.

    We even play tested this in the classroom with high school kids and they liked it. We’ve determined this game could fit with family and friends, the classroom, and even for corporate or team building events. With 8 players, our typical game play runs around 40 minutes.

    I’m trying to motivate myself to pull it off the shelf and revive it. Found your site and thought I’d see if this is something that might be a potential fit for Stonemaier. If so, I can proceed to your next step sonyou can see how the game is played.

    I will add that a group out of Chicago did evaluate the game two years or so ago for mass market appeal. Their recommendation came back not to proceed because they did not feel it had mass market appeal (at least not without a gimmick center piece – uno attack was an example given). They agreed it was a specialty game for more of a game purist and might be one I could market myself. If sales were solid over a period of time, then it might be considered mass market material down the road with the proven sales.

    I’d love to see it get to market. Hopefully this write up will give you an idea if you think this would be a good fit for you. Thanks for taking the time to read through my message

    Steven
    Coatesville, Indiana

    1. Hi Steven, thanks for your question. Sure, you’re welcome to submit the game to us, though please keep in mind that our core requirement is that it’s a game that captures one’s imagination. It’s pretty tough to do that with a light card game. :)

  243. Hi
    I just bought a ticket to pitch my prototype to your company at gencon. I’m very excited to show it to you as i think that my game mechanics are quite innovative (never saw it in any games as of now). Hope it will appeal to you, if not, at least it will be quite an experience for me.
    2-6 players, did countless of playtest and blind playtest. I will update the prototype by then to be as clean as possible.
    See you there :)

  244. My game is Mafia based that is almost a mash up of risk and monopoly. It is enjoyable to play and it involves both luck and strategy, although a big part of the game is rounds and action fulfillment. Would you be interested in it?

  245. Hi Jamey. Do you accept submissions for children board games? I and my business partner have developed a fun, colorful and different board game. I am a mechanical, aerospace and computer engineer and my partner is a fifth grade teacher. Both boys and girls love it – its for 2 – 6 players. It can be a math learing game – but it does not have to be – it can be played just for fun also. The packaging is unique and colorful and would catch the eye of a child as well as an adult shopping for a gift. The game is a theme – so if a child has a love for that theme – as soon as he sees the packaging he/she will want it. It can be played buy older children alone or with help from a mom, dad, sister brother etc. The game is fast paced and should take about 1/2 hour to play. There always is one winner – but getting the points to win is very unique – and absolutely understandable for children 5 and up. We have tested the game on many children – male, female ages 5 – 12 – they all love it. This game goes back to basics like Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders – models that we based this game on. No computers, fancy rules, timers, clocks or anything like that. Just a good old fashioned childrens game.
    .

    1. Lisa and Alexa: Thanks for asking about this! While it doesn’t sound like a good fit for Stonemaier, I think it might have potential at a company called HABA. One word of caution, though: I wouldn’t recommend comparing it to Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders. Those games don’t involve interesting choices (or any choices at all), and it’s crucially important for any modern game to have interesting choices, even kids games. Good luck!

  246. Jamey,
    I’ve had over a hundred people play over the years. What I meant was no game company has seen it. I put artwork on it for my family, the artwork can be changed. I was wondering if this game might fit your criteria for submission. I will submit if it does.

  247. Bill: Thanks for your question. You’re welcome to follow the submission guidelines outlined above, but I should say up front that the art is irrelevant. The vast majority of publishers will use their creative team to determine the best visuals for the game and seek out artists and graphic designers who can maximize that vision.

    Also, it’s a problem that the game has only been seen by family and friends. You need to get blunt, honest feedback from complete strangers before you pitch it to publishers.

  248. Jamey,
    I have a board game that already has the artwork done. I just received it Tuesday. It turned out beautifully, but not sure where to go from here. Can I submit the game to for review?
    It’s a fast paced family board game where you capture players, trade places, and race to get your four pieces home and hope the rolls of you other players don’t cause you to become another player. I know you are busy and really appreciate some guidance. My family and friends have been playing this game since 2004 and I put artwork to it this year. No one has seen the game other family and friends.
    Best regards,

  249. Hi Sean: Yeah, that’s probably not a good fit for us, as we typically look for games that play up to at least 5 players, and usually the idea of capturing one’s imagination requires theme.

  250. my game takes magic and monopoly and elements from many games in a modular form so you can have a complacated or simple game game play on simple can range from an hour to 3 and as you add elements it adds to the game play whean useing the full game you progres thrue simaler to d&d

  251. Thanks Jamey! Appreciate the quick response. I’m not yet ready to sell my baby so will be going down the ks routine on my own. Bought your book and am already loving it! Appreciate what you do!

  252. Jyoti: Thanks for your question, and congrats on designing and playtesting a game. Stonemaier doesn’t partner with people in the way that I think you’re thinking–rather, designers can submit games to us, and if we really love them, we’ll sign the rights to them and publish them, paying the designer a royalty % based on revenue. If you’d like to be more than just a designer, that’s great too–it’s not an arrangement we work with. In that case, you can just run the Kickstarter and essential start a business around publishing the game. Good luck!

  253. Hi Jamey, thanks for this detailed and exciting blog! I’ve created a board game with about 60 rounds of play testing at this point. I’m debating going down the self publishing route or partnering with someone. I like the idea of partnering with a company like yours and would really love to have the first launch be a kickstarter. My game is a gateway game for 2-6 people, but best played with 2-4. Before going too far down the path of making a video etc I was wondering if you have any example parameters of how you typically structure deals like this, of course knowing that each situation is unique. Please let me know, thanks!

    Jyoti Agarwal
    Explorador Games

  254. would we need to patent our game before presenting it to you? or are patents not required early on in cases of licensing?

        1. Not CCG, but we could consider something more along the lines of FFG’s living card game model. Keep in mind that we look for games that play from 2 to 5 players, though.

  255. Jamey I have invented a unique Bingo game that is played as your watching a live Baseball, Football, Basketball or Softball game. I am having a tough time to find publishers. Are there publishers that specialize in bingo type games? I have a working prototype but I am sure an experienced publisher could improve the game. Any advice for a rookie inventor? Thanks

    1. John: I’m not aware of any publishers like that, but I’m sure they’re out there! Search around for bingo-style games to see what you find. :)

  256. Would you be interested in publishing a dexterity risk/reward strategy game that brings dexterity to a backgammon type of game play with opening moves, penalties and an end game? It’s best played with 4 players/teams and is suited for 2 player/teams as well?

    1. Herb: I appreciate you asking, and I’m sure there’s a publisher for your game, but I don’t think it’s a good fit for us.

    2. Hey! I’ve noticed lots of people have asked about phases already, but I’m still unclear about your definition. I’m still piecing together the mechanics for a game with 2-3 what I would call phases each round. But I’m realizing what I call a phase might not be what you mean. As in viticulture there are two seasons (I’ve only played earlier editions) the first where you build structures and plant grapes and the second where you harvest and make wine. The game I’m making is also worker placement with phases where in the first you buy buildings from a selection available to all players to engine build, the second you place workers on those buildings to produce, and the third you need to protect your city from invaders who are trying to steal your resources which is the resolution to each round and contains no player turns. I could try to combine the first two phases similar to games such as keyflower, but the last phase was added to create more immersion rather than less. Are these the kinds of mechanics you like to avoid? And if so could you give an example of a game with the kinds of phase structures you don’t enjoy? Thank you very much!

  257. You said you wanted to publish one of each type of game, does that mean if i have a game that uses a similar mechanic (worker placement for example. Even if its not any thing like viticulture) you wont publish it.

    1. Keegan: Sorry if this page led you to think we’re that strict! :) No, we’re open to any type of game, and I love worker placement games. There are certain things listed on this page that will certainly increase your chances of catching our attention, but anything goes. Design your game, playtest the heck out of it, then film a video of people playing it and send the video to us. Thanks!

      1. i am 10 and my name is Leah malazdrewicz i had a realy good idea but it not a real game yet i submited my idea it is called yoshi dive pleas just give it a chance.

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