A trio of veteran board game industry professionals have launched a new tabletop gaming agency, with the aim of helping businesses within the hobby get their games developed and into the market.

Hues and Cues designer Scott Brady, Sagrada co-creator Daryl Andrews and Friendly Skeleton CEO Jacob Way said Best in Play will offer everything from interim executive leadership and designer representation to publisher submission management and crowdfunding strategy.

Brady said, “Best in Play was created to bring together people and opportunities that should already be working with one another.

“Great intellectual properties need the right designers and publishing partners, designers need better access to decision-makers, and companies sometimes need experienced leadership without the time or resources required to build an entire department.”

Best in Play says its five core service areas comprise IP matchmaking, crowdfunding consultation, interim replacement of key personnel, publisher-inventor relations and identifying publishers and licensing opportunities for individual games, multiple projects or designer catalogues.

The company announced at launch that it has already been hired as a consultant for an unspecified US-based “creator-brand merchandising and e-commerce company”, providing senior-level leadership and games-industry expertise while the client continues its search for a permanent head of games.

Best in Play said that project will run the gamut of product development, licensing, publishing, production, crowdfunding and portfolio strategy.

Andrews said of the assignment, “An important initiative should not lose six months of momentum because a key role is temporarily vacant.

“Our model gives clients access to an experienced team that can step in quickly, evaluate the situation and keep products, partnerships and internal teams moving forward.”

The company is also working on a tabletop project based on an unnamed “major video game intellectual property”, with a crowdfunding launch planned for early 2027.

Way said, “A recognizable property may attract attention, but a successful crowdfunding campaign still needs the right product, positioning, audience strategy and operational plan.

“Our goal is to build campaigns that respect the fans, communicate value clearly and create a foundation for success beyond the initial launch.”

As well as the founding trio of managing directors, the Best in Play team also includes strategic contributors David Gordon, the co-creator of Finspan, Eastar Game Manufacturing founder and CEO David Du, Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game co-designer Erik Dahlman and Daniel Pesante.

The launch comes hot on the heels of Brady having unveiling his new publishing initiative Proof-of-Play late last month, which is designed to tackle one of the tabletop industry’s growing challenges: promising games sitting unpublished because publisher release schedules are already full.

Brady previously launched his development studio A Game Studio at the start of 2024, following the 2020 release of the big-selling Hues and Cues and the success of his cat-themed abstract strategy Boop in 2022.

He is also the co-founder of Play to Z, the publishing house led by former Z-Man Games founder Zev Shlasinger launched by a host of board game industry veterans in 2023.

Fellow Best in Play managing director Daryl Andrews is best known as the co-creator of award-winning tabletop game Sagrada, while his other co-designs include Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – The Game, Donald Duck in Happy Camper and Mistwind.

He previously spent two years as head of talent acquisition at Maestro Media, following several months working in investor relations, before leaving the company in early 2025.

Jacob Way, meanwhile, began his board game career as COO and co-founder of Deep Water Games, which for several years operated as a subsidiary of Ox Eye Media.

Deep Water, which is best known for sketching game MonsDRAWsity, spun out from Ox Eye as an independent business in 2022 under Way before rebranding as Friendly Skeleton.

The publisher is currently in the process of delivering the heavily delayed crowdfunding campaign for Monsdrawsity: Unusual Suspects, created in collaboration with renowned board game review site Shut Up and Sit Down, which was initially estimated to reach backers in May of 2022.

Anyone interested in getting in touch with the team can visit the Best in Play website or email info@thebestinplay.com.

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The designer of hit mass-market board game Hues and Cues has launched a new publishing initiative to tackle one of the tabletop industry’s growing challenges: promising games sitting unpublished because publisher release schedules are already full.

Scott Brady believes many outstanding games never reach players not because they lack quality, but because publishers must plan their release schedules years in advance – and with only so many publishing slots available each year, excellent games are often left waiting for an opportunity that may never come.

Brady told BoardGameWire his Proof-of-Play model will make ‘limited edition’ runs of between 1,500 and 3,000 copies for previously unpublished games, in the hope a quick burst of sales will persuade larger publishers to take a chance on them and accelerate a wider retail release.

He said the editions sold through his company A Game Studio would be offered direct to consumers and specialty retailers through channels such as B2B wholesale marketplace Faire, allowing each title to generate real-world sales, player feedback, and retail validation before presentation to larger publishing partners.

Brady added that the full license for the games – which will mostly be mass-market-friendly family titles – would remain with A Game Studio, which will sub-license the titles to other publishers.

He said, “Our goal isn’t to compete with traditional publishers, but to support them. Publishers make difficult decisions years in advance, and that is simply the reality of today’s market.

“Proof-of-Play gives great games the opportunity to prove themselves through actual customer demand, giving publishers more confidence and less risk when considering a wider release.”

The initiative launches with two games from external designers – area control card game Lock & Chain, and number combination card game Perfect 10 – with Brady telling BoardGameWire they helped inspire the concept after struggling to find homes with publishers despite being “amazing products”. “The timing wasn’t right”, he added.

Although Brady said he had not discussed the concept with publishers before launching the initiative, he believes it reflects a process that already happens informally across the tabletop industry, in which publishers hunt for successful games with tiny distribution and then take it larger – citing Qork as one example of that approach.

That game, which was initially self-published by designer Birger Norup as PlayProp back in 2015, was released as a Walmart exclusive by The Op in May this year – and has become something of a viral hit on social media sites such as Instragram and TikTok.

Asked how he plans to help Proof-of-Play titles with the problem faced by publishers across the hobby – how to stand out among a vast number of releases – Brady told BoardGameWire, “I am personally staking my reputation on the games I choose to help.

“I do not need to invest in full marketing etc as the goal is to simply get the games out there and let their quality do the selling.

“By bypassing traditional distribution and relying on organic social media, my personal network and word-of-mouth, I hope this becomes a platform for many budding designers who would like to see their game on retail shelves.”

While some publishers make use of crowdfunding sites to validate demand before going into production, Brady said his model would be a better fit for the style of mass-market games he is targeting.

He said, “Crowdfunding is great for a $50-plus game looking to reach a hobby audience. This is for games with wider appeal. The games I choose will sell on their own merit and not because of crowdfunding hype.”

Brady launched his development studio A Game Studio at the start of 2024, following the 2020 release of the big-selling Hues and Cues and the success of his cat-themed abstract strategy Boop in 2022.

He is also the co-founder of Play to Z, the publishing house led by former Z-Man Games founder Zev Shlasinger launched by a host of board game industry veterans in 2023.

Brady’s own board game releases this year are set to include If Then, Wee Folk – which is co-designed by Stefano Di Maria and Rosa Linda Romano – Size Wise, Boop Shuffle and an expansion for Caution Signs, the fast-paced sketching game he co-designed with Danielle Reynolds.

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Erst gehen uns die Buchstaben aus, dann die Wörter. Insofern hat der Titel dieses kooperativen Wortspiels eine prophetische Bedeutung. „Out Of Words“ (Queen Games) verfolgt dabei einen klassischen Ansatz: den gesuchten Begriff mit einem anderen Begriff erklären. Eine Person gibt im besten Fall nur einen Hinweis, alle anderen raten. So weit nichts Besonders. Doch wie die Eingangssätze vermuten lassen, muss da noch mehr kommen.

In der Tat: „Out Of Words“ versteht es durch zwei Regeln, eine Herausforderung darzustellen und Wortakrobaten zu reizen. Da ist zum einen die begrenzte Auswahl an Anfangsbuchstaben, die für das Hinweiswort genutzt werden dürfen. 25 Buchstabenplättchen liegen anfangs aus. Jeder verwendete Letter wird anschließend abgelegt. Wird der Begriff nicht auf Anhieb erraten, dürfen bis zu vier weitere Tipps erfolgen – was vier weitere Buchstaben verbraucht. Der Vorrat wird kleiner, die Suche nach passenden Hinweisen schwieriger. Siehe Satz eins. Doch gerade dieses Handicap weckt in mir den Ehrgeiz, ein passendes Wort zu finden. Was sagen, wenn für die Erklärung von Urlaub weder ein F wie Ferien noch ein R wie Reisezeit ausliegen?

Wofür es bei „Out Of Words“ eine Belohnung gibt

Die Krönung ist es natürlich, wenn der gesuchte Begriff auf Anhieb geraten wird. Das befriedigt nicht nur den Tippgeber, sondern schenkt der Gruppe auch eine Belohnung, Denn dann – und nur dann – darf das genutzte Plättchen durch einen neuen Buchstaben ersetzt werden. Das fällt leichter, je größer die Auswahl ist. So sollte es Ziel sein, möglichst lange mehr als 20 oder gar 25 Plättchen in der Mitte liegen zu haben.

Weil viele Begriffe auf den Ratekarten eher schlichte Substantive sind, hilft es der Rategruppe oft, eine einfache Lösung zu wählen. Pro Hinweis muss sie sich auf einen Lösungsversuch einigen. Klappt’s nicht, folgt eben Hinweis zwei. Oder drei. Nach drei Fehlversuchen können alle gemeinsam passen und den nächsten Begriff wählen. Dann ist die nächste Person dran, gute Assoziationen zu finden. Spätestens nach fünf Versuchen pro Begriff muss gewechselt werden.

Was bei „Out Of Words“ das Ziel ist

Ziel ist, so viele Begriffe wie möglich zu erraten, ehe die Buchstaben ausgehen. Fällt es der Gruppe schwer, passende Hinweiswörter zu finden, neigt sich der Spielverlauf eher schnell dem Ende entgegen (weil die Buchstaben fehlen). In Gruppen mit Menschen, die über einen großen Wortschatz verfügen und besonders ehrgeizig agieren, reicht die angegebene Spielzeit von 20 Minuten nicht aus. Dann kann sich eine Partie auch schon mal über eine Stunde ziehen.

Gerade zum Ende hin droht es, zäh zu werden – wenn mir beispielsweise zu den übrig gebliebenen Buchstaben V, N und C überhaupt kein passender Hinweis einfallen will. Die Wartezeit ließe sich verkürzen, indem alle schon immer eine Wortkarte ziehen, um sich vorzubereiten – auf die Gefahr hin, dass der präferiere Buchstabe nicht mehr ausliegt, wenn ich dran bin. Ferner sind wegen der zunehmend begrenzten Buchstabenauswahl auch die Hinweise nicht mehr so prägnant.

Was ich bei „Out Of Words“ noch erreichen möchte

Das verleiht „Out Of Words“ eine kontraproduktive Dynamik. Während die Denkphasen größer werden, wird das Raster aus vorhandenen Buchstabenplättchen irgendwann immer schneller kleiner. Gleichwohl bleibt die Aufgabe, vor die uns dieses Spiel stellt, reizvoll. Und wer es etwas einfacher (oder auch schwieriger) haben möchte, schaut sich die Regeln für Varianten an. Ich bleibe jedoch noch solange beim Standard, bis ich es in den höchsten Wertungsbereich geschafft habe. Dieser wird nur mit zwei Worten beschrieben: „Als ob …“ Wartet’s ab!

Out Of Words | Queen Games | Scott Brady und Michael Davis | 2 bis 10 Personen | ab 10 Jahren | 20 Minuten | Spielanleitung | Meine Bewertung: ★★★☆☆ (gut)