Guide to Promoting Your Game

There are many good and many bad ways to promote a game you have designed and/or published on BoardGameGeek.

• Be sure the game has a complete game entry in the database.
• Announce your game in the Press Releases Forums - promoting outside of the Press Releases forum is not permitted
• Be responsive and thorough in replying to community questions and comments. (Also see "Things to avoid" below)

• Advertising your game on BoardGameGeek with a paid ad can be a very effective approach.
• The BGG community enjoys participating in Official Contests used to promote a game. Email Chad@boardgamegeek.com if you want to offer a giveaway/contest to the BGG community. Unofficial promotional contests are not permitted.
• Sending review copies to prolific reviewers will often yield good buzz, but you should be prepared that someone being given a review copy is no guarantee they will like the game.

• Inevitably, your game will be criticized. Be thick skinned, and avoid being defensive about criticisms of your game, even if they are unfair or antagonistic.
• Shilling. Feel free to rate your own game, but if you are going to rate it very highly, it's considered good practice to note in the comment that you are the designer/publisher/etc. Similarly, encouraging all of your friends to rate your game highly is likely to be looked on with suspicion.
• Excessive promotion. Promoting outside of the Press Releases forums, or sending promotional private messages through our Geekmail system can result in your account being warned, suspended, or even deleted depending on the extensiveness of the promoting. If you want regular constant appearance on the site, consider buying Advertising.
• Comparing your game to Monopoly. Outside the gaming community, this is often perceived as positive. Within the BGG community, it is usually not.