Indie Problems: Demoing your new board game at conventions

It’s no small feat to get a game from conceived to designed to published (or ready to publish). You’re already amazing. Now we need to get that game in front of as many people as possible because your hard work deserves to be seen.

Demoing a new tabletop game can be a strange position to be in at a convention. It’s not a playtest where a lot of the appeal is getting to play something that’s still being created, knowing that your experience and feedback may help shape the final product. You’re not just a player asking other players to join you in your favourite game or something new, the stakes are much lower for those people; if the game goes poorly, it won’t affect their livelihoods.

You’re in the unenviable position of having to flag people down and ask them to try this new game that, unless you have an AMAZING marketing team, they’ve probably never heard of. On top of that, you both know that you’re going to spend the whole time trying to get them to buy a copy or sign up to the mailing list or back the Kickstarter or whatever stage you’re at because that’s the job. It can feel like people are coming into your demos with their defences up and they might be. Maybe they’ve promised their partner they won’t buy anything else or they don’t usually like a game until it’s become popular or they’re hungry / thirsty / tired / warm / overwhelmed or any number of things. Don’t worry, you got this.

There are lots of things you can do to fill up your demo tables and keep them full.

Steps to take leading up to your tabletop demo event

Hype up your game online pre-convention.

If you don’t have a large publishing house behind you (good on you for self-publishing!), this is the time to call in every favour you can from friends, family, co-workers, your kid’s cricket coach, the barista at your coffee shop, and your mechanic. The more you can splash the image and tagline for your game across any and all online platforms, the higher your chances of having enthusiastic people find you at the convention. Much like when one person stops to look in the water under a bridge, others will stop to see what they’re looking at, especially if there’s a buzz in the crowd.

Prepare your pitch.

Refine a one sentence pitch for your game that covers the theme, the dominant mechanism(s), and the weight or style. Here’s a board game example: Treetop Tango is a light, fast-paced, card-drafting game played in pairs where the animal duo with the best combination of moves by the end of the song will win the dance contest.

This pitch should be in the Description section of all your planned demo games on Aftergame and on the tip of your tongue at all times.

Practice your teach.

Teaching a board game is an artform. You’ve been living in the world of your game for… let’s assume a long time so you know all the rules and strategies very well. It can be hard to come back to that beginner mindset and teach the game without making assumptions that this or that is really obvious. Nothing is a given when introducing your game to new players. There are lots of great articles and videos online that can help you learn to teach your board game effectively; check them out! Here’s a quick-start guide:

Start at the end and work your way to the beginning. I find it helpful to create a series of unasked questions to guide me through the teach. Here’s an example of how I would teach Treetop Tango.

• What’s this game about? Treetop Tango takes place over one epic song. You and your partner are jungle animals who pair up to compete in the biggest dance competition of the year. You need to have your costumes and full dance routine in place by the end of the song. Each animal has a little bonus, some work better together than others, and the best couple will take home the trophy! Beginning with a bit of the lore of the game will help scaffold the learning if your game is well-themed.
• How do you win? The goal of the game is to get the most Dance Points.
• How do you get points? Dance Points mostly come from the combo moves (cards) you add to your dance over the course of the three rounds multiplied by the relevant cards in the orchestra. You can also get points for Best Costume and Biggest Oopsie, double the points if you get both but it’s really hard to do that.
• How do I get cards? Cards are drafted over three rounds. Drafting means you’ll each start holding six cards, choose one to keep, then pass the rest to the player on your left. Once we’ve passed the cards, we’ll play our cards at the same time on the table in front of us and resolve any effects. Notice what your partner has played so you can try to make sweet combos. We keep doing that until five cards have been drafted; the sixth is added to the orchestra to increase the power of your combos. That’s one round and we’ll play three rounds altogether.
• What kind of effects might happen? Some things that might happen when you play a card are Tripping (move a card from your play area to the play area of one of your neighbours), Getting Dizzy (you spin the spinner in the middle of the table and give the card to the person the arrow lands on), and Dazzle the Competition (draw three cards from the pile and give them out to anyone at the table, including yourself, in any order with each card going to a different player).
• Anything else I need to know? It’s possible for no one to win if the orchestra gets too powerful. No one will be able to pay attention to the dancers because the orchestra is too awesome. As a group, you need to manage the cards you add to the orchestra so they continue to support rather than overpower you.
• How do we start? I’ll deal out six cards to everyone, we’ll go around and make sure we understand our animal’s special bonus, and then we’ll start the game by choosing our first card to draft.

Prepare your printed materials.

The minimum here is a printed sheet with info and a QR code that you can keep on the table (preferably in a stand) and direct people to. If you’re on a tight budget, maybe that’s enough. You can rely on your natural sparkle and enthusiasm for the game to grab peoples’ attention.

Some other ideas you can use to try to bring more people to the table:

• Print a larger poster to hang off the table or multiple posters that you can put in strategic places around the con.
• Print a brightly coloured roll-up banner with your game’s title, main image, release date, names attached to the project, nice things people have said about it, or any other images or info you think might help sell your game.
• Make T-shirts for you and anyone you can convince to be in your entourage to wear around the convention. We can’t ignore multiple people wearing the same shirt. It’s human nature, we gotta know what those shirts say!
• Produce a memento for people to take with them if your game isn’t available right this minute. Stickers, pins, pens, or even just a business card sized hand-out with game info on it are fairly cheap ways to remind people about your game when they clean out their bags after the convention.

Make sure your game is in Aftergame.

If your game has been published, it’s probably already in the Aftergame app, but it’s worth double-checking the details and sending a note along if anything needs correcting. If you’re pre-publication or at any other stage and your game isn’t there, use the submission form to have it added. (Go to the Profile tab, Settings, then “Are we missing a game?” to find the form.)

Tips for keeping your game demo tables full on the day

If the convention you’re at is using Aftergame, schedule some demo times in the convention’s event page. One of Aftergame’s main features at an event is helping people find others to play with, so you’ll get your game in front of people who are not only open to playing something new, they’re actively searching for a game to join.

If you’re planning to play full games during your demos, make sure to schedule more time than you think you’ll need. You don’t want to be rushing the current group to finish once the next group starts to assemble. Plus, if you rush them out, you’ll be missing the opportunity to close a sale or give them a pen or encourage them to sign up to the mailing list.

If you’re just playing the first round or a shorter version of the game, it may take a bit of trial and error to figure out the ideal amount of time to make that happen. The games you plan on Aftergame can be edited at any time, so you can adjust the times if you need to, and there’s a chat feature you can use to communicate with upcoming groups if you’re running behind.

Here are some more tips for attracting players to your game and getting them to play through the demo:

• Be as visible as possible. You’ve got a table and hopefully some printed support. Be as big as you can without annoying everyone around you.
• It’s okay to ask people if they want to try your game, playing games they didn’t expect to play is what most people have come for. Don’t just sit at the table and hope someone stops by. Get out there and chat!
• Be open and friendly but don’t speak like you’re reading from your sell sheet once you’ve hooked them with your pitch.
• Read the person you’re speaking with and match their energy. If they make a joke, relax and feel free to crack one yourself. If they seem serious, try to appeal to their practical side by talking about what sets your game apart. Either way, try to answer the (likely unasked) question “why do I need this in my collection?”
• Always take “No” for an answer. If they don’t want what you’re selling, move on.
• Connect with the enthused players that come through your booth/table on Aftergame so you can invite them back to fill up the table if you need more players later in the day. This will work outside the event setting, as well. You can plan a demo, full game, or playtest anytime and invite anyone you’ve connected with on Aftergame to claim a seat. If you don’t already have a community around your design work, this is a great way to start connecting with board gamers who are interested in your designs.

Good luck! You don’t have the easiest job right now, but at least you can have a lot of fun doing it!

If there are other topics you’d like to read about as an indie game developer, email chalene@aftergame.co to make a request.

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