Jackbox and the Moment of Mirth (Business Brilliance #25)

Who would have thought that people would play significantly more party games during a pandemic than before?

Speaking for myself, I hardly ever played party games pre-COVID. Sure, I’m always happy to play Just One, Telestrations, Codenames, or A Fake Artist Goes to New York, but they hit the table far less than the medium-weight Euro games I gravitate to.

But during the pandemic, I’ve played party games on the Jackbox platform nearly every Saturday night. And I’m not alone: Jackbox doubled its player base this year to over 200 million people.

Other than offering an impressive array of games, Jackbox does something that I think is particularly clever: When you finish playing one of the games that involve drawing pictures (e.g., TEE K.O., Drawful, Civic Doodle, Champed Up, etc), you can instantly buy a t-shirt with your favorite newly created illustration printed on the shirt.

I think this is absolutely brilliant. When you’re laughing with your friends about the hilarious drawing you just created, you can instantly buy that memory in the form of a shirt. It’s a win-win for the consumer and for Jackbox.

I love the immediacy of it. While you can buy the designs later too, I bet most t-shirt sales happen at the moment of mirth. Several of my friends have done this, and I’m sure I’ll do so at some point in the future.

Do these methods apply to Kickstarter and/or tabletop game publishing?

There are two sides to this. The first is the idea of taking a memorable moment and memorializing it in a tangible object (t-shirts are the easiest, but there are other things that can be custom-made too).

• Kickstarter: Memorable moments do happen during Kickstarter campaigns, and they’re usually shared experiences, like when the project reaches a certain milestone. I’m not sure that they’re the type of thing worth memorializing in custom objects, though.
• Tabletop games: The most direct parallel are drawing games like Telestrations. The publisher could let you take a picture of a favorite drawing, upload it for them to clean up, and they’ll make a t-shirt. I’ve also seen some games include a token or card to hold up as you take a photo of a winning game state for social media sharing. I often see players posting photos of games where they’ve built something particularly impressive (Wingspan player mats, Tapestry cities, etc). Again, I’m not entirely sure that people need a tangible reminder of those moments, but I could be wrong.

The second is the overall concept of removing barriers at key moments to create win-win purchases.

• Kickstarter: Offer easy-to-understand reward levels at fair prices with graphics that quickly explain what the product is and why it’s special. There’s a lot more that goes into a great project page, but those elements will help to create a clear path for any potential backer.
• Tabletop games: If you sell games on your webstore like we do, the same principles apply as with Kickstarter. In terms of the games themselves, making them easy to get to the table involves a number of factors (easy setup, clear rulebook with accompanying video, low rules overhead for players to start taking turns, etc.) I have videos about teaching, learning, and remembering rules and ease of setup.

What do you think? Have ever bought a Jackbox t-shirt? What’s the last experience you had buying or playing anything where the barrier of entry was low?

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Also read: If You’re Going to Sell T-Shirts…

This series features innovative strategies from non-Kickstarter, non-tabletop game businesses as they might apply to creators and entrepreneurs.

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