LudoTech at GAMA Expo: Key Tips for Selling Your Board Game

25 March 2024

At the beginning of March, the LudoTech team attended GAMA Expo 2024 in Kentucky, USA, to showcase OLEM, the interactive board game robot, to the American audience at this essential event for the board gaming industry players.

GAMA EXPO: A Must-Attend for Board Gaming in the USA

The GAMA, or Game Manufacturers Association, is a US professional organization supporting game manufacturers and retailers. Each year, GAMA Expo brings industry professionals together to introduce new games, establish business contacts, participate in seminars and discussions on industry trends, and share ideas and best practices. This event is crucial in the USA for the board gaming field and attracts participants from around the world.

OLEM: The Revelation at GAMA Expo

LudoTech took this opportunity to unveil OLEM to industry professionals, along with our upcoming OLEM Expansion, “Monsters of Thargos,” developed in collaboration with SBG Éditions, creators of the game universe and publishers of “Heroes of Thargos,” a deck-building game based on factions and heroes from the “Cursed Empire” role-playing world. We were delighted to see the enthusiasm for our board game robot and the numerous possibilities discussed for future OLEM projects. This also marked the beginning of promising business relationships with some major players, and we remain confident about our next official launch.

MONSTER OF THARGOS

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Explorations and Insights at GAMA Expo: Key Tips for Selling Your Board Game

Participating in GAMA Expo also provides the opportunity to gain business knowledge, meet influential personalities, and gather valuable advice. At the Game Designer Day, for instance, we met Jonathan Ritter-Roderick, creator strategy lead at Kickstarter, and Maggie Clayton, senior business manager at Exploding Kittens, a card game that achieved great success through a Kickstarter campaign. Here’s what we learned…

Tip 1: Master the art of pitching your board game

The key to a game’s success lies not only in its gameplay or design but also in the ability to sell it effectively. It’s essential to present it convincingly in 1 to 5 minutes, generating a desire to try it out at all costs. Practice presenting it, demonstrating the benefits the customer could derive from it. Learn it by heart if necessary.

Tip 2: The importance of community in crowdfunding a board game

Setting up a crowdfunding campaign requires more effort than self-publishing your game. However, it brings greater visibility and engagement, hence greater chances of success. Some of the biggest successes on Kickstarter take up to 18 months of preparation before launch, much of which is spent building the community, as they will be the ones spreading your message.

Tip 3: Identify your audience and choose your channels wisely.

Ask your small community to provide names of people, YouTube channels, or sites they appreciate. This way, you can start identifying how your community thinks and what types of content they consume, and position yourself accordingly.

Tip 4: Tailor your event strategy to your target audience

By identifying your audience, you can be more selective about your event strategy by selecting only those events that will bring value. For example, GenCon may seem interesting, but you’ll be drowned in a massive flow of novelties.

Tip 5: Maximize engagement at board gaming events

At the events you participate in, your goal will be to obtain emails from attendees. The email of an interested person at an event is more valuable than $10 in advertising. The estimated conversion rate on these qualified emails is between 5 and 15%. Therefore, set goals for the number of emails to collect and estimate your conversion rate to calculate your return on investment if you take a stand at one event or another.

Tip 6: Collaborate with influencers to boost your project

Influencers are like representatives of your community, and we’re not talking about big stars. However, for tight budgets, focus on micro-influencers or even nano-influencers, especially if it’s free. You’ll find people willing to support your project, which will help you build your community. Opt for nano-influencers because if they are passionate, their community will grow, and you’ll be among the first to trust them.

If you work with paid influencers, make sure to respect their proposals and rates. They know their community and have expertise. Evaluate their channel and community to ensure they align with yours. Don’t hesitate to ask for some performance indicators from their social networks and examples of past collaborations before working together.

Tip 7: Document your journey and nurture relationships with your community

Document your journey, what you go through, and how you progress, then share it all with your community. This way, you’ll have content to offer and develop your bond with the public. This approach provides an opportunity to build relationships and understand what works or not in terms of content.

Tip 8: Test, observe, improve: the key to success in board gaming

Finally, keep playtesting your game. Organize meetings, move around, have it tested, then observe the emotions, reactions, and enrich your project with feedback. Once your product is ready, focus on board game bars to increase its visibility.

CREATE YOUR GAMES ON OLEM

Looking to create your own board games ?

With OLEM, the interactive board game robot, discover LudoTech’s game collection and our collaborations with publishers. Also, benefit from an expression platform for your original creations. With development tools, you’ll be able to materialize all the gameplays you imagine and distribute your games via our platform. Sign up as a game creator to receive all the project updates and explore all your creation