Board Game Entrepreneur

In this interview I talk to Omari Akil, co-founder of Board Game Brothas, Twitch streamer, and co-designer of Rap Godz and the upcoming Hoop Godz!   Follow Omari on Twitter, Instagram and Twitch @Akilaverse  Also check out Jay Bell @thejaybell

In this episode I chat with Scott Rogers, Professor of Interactive Media at University of Southern California, designer of Rayguns & Rocketships and Pantone: The Game, author of Level Up!, "co-cohost" of the Ludology podcast and host of the Biography of a Board Game segment, video game designer, former Disney Imagineer, and all-round cool guy! I gained a lot of insight from this conversation, as we delve into Scott's day-to-day work, entrepreneurship vs. working for a big company, and balancing various "jobbies"!

In this episode I chat with local Vancouver designer Jeremy Rozenhart, who last year designed and published his first game Wizard Thieves. He shares some of his experiences and advice, as well as some news on his next game!

In this interview with Chris Cormier, founder and designer at Geeky Goodies, an online platform where you can buy board game and "geeky" themed t-shirts, mugs, coasters, face masks and anything else you can think of, we take a deep dive into how and why he started the company, and what has attributed to its steady growth over the past six years.

This episode is all about my brand new blog, which I'm very excited about! I talk to people who have travelled and played games around the world, and it's been super interesting to hear there stories! Of course the long-term plan is to write about my own gaming experiences while travelling, once it becomes safe to do so again.

Introducing Meeple Leaf Con 20! This a fully online event I've decided to launch, to give people more chances to interact and get some gaming in. It's 20 days of gaming madness, including Christmas Codenames, Board Game Jeopardy, Drawful 2020, a Board Game Arena marathon, Creator Spotlights, and much more!   You can check out the event details at facebook.com/meepleleaf

If you love board games and want to do something to increase your activity in the community, a podcast is a great place to start. As you'll hear in this episode, it's very inexpensive to start up, and quite easy.

TikTok is the new social media craze, and with a 41% of their demographic aged 16-24 it's definitely a platform with a younger audience. How can businesses use TikTok to grow, and how does it differ from the other platforms?

Here's a bit of background and detail on a fun event that I did for Halloween! I'm planning on doing more.

In this day and age, getting anyone's attention, even for a few seconds, is not always an easy task. If we're going to convince people to buy our product somewhere down the line, it takes a lot of work up front. Here are some of the ways I've sought to foster my community.

Many of us start a board game-ancillary business out of our passion for the hobby. But getting free games is also a big perk. Here are some of my tips on how to convince publishers to give you games.

Talk about tax dollars well spent! Last year I received a $500 grant from the local government to host a series of game events--and they were glad to give it to me. Here's how I did it.

Digital versions of board games have been gain a lot of traction in the past few years, on various platforms. With all the changes 2020 has brought to the world, the board game industry has had to react very quickly, but what does this hold for the future?

Most entrepreneurs will tell you that you have to have a newsletter. Everyone else will tell you they hate newsletters. I've tried doing one for a while, and here are my thoughts.

A global pandemic is not a great time to be a board game event organizer. With all my events cancelled, like many other organizers I've turned to virtual events. They can't compare to real-life ones, but they're helping me (and hopefully others) get through this tough time. Plus I've learned a lot about live streaming videos.

Ever played Giant Jenga? Well, I made an Epic Jenga, which is so big and heavy it needs a height restriction to play. In this episode I tell you all about my plan to make giant versions of games and rent them out for events like weddings.

The pandemic has been a drag when it comes to gaming with friends. So I've been hosting a different game each week for people to play through a live feed. Some of them have worked really well, some have been a monumental headache. But the overall process has been quite a fun experience.

Board games are awesome, and designing them is a lot of fun! But in an industry that is currently so full of awesomeness, is game design the right path for you? I chose to focus on game events, and here's how I came to that decision.

Last year at SHUX (Shut Up & Sit Down Expo) here in Vancouver, I worked for Asmodee on the KeyForge Demo Team, and as a judge for the Pandemic Survival World Championship. What a cool experience that was! Hear all about it in this episode.

In this episode I share my experiences designing and printing board game t-shirts! This is an area that I see a lot of potential for growth in.

In this episode I tell you a bit about my experience hosting company team-building events, as well as the game show I'm developing, called Challenging AI: the Artificial Intelligence Game Show.

In this episode I tell you about some of the events I've experimented with, like minicons, game design jams, and a board game getaway.

This week I give you a rundown of the local events I've been running in Vancouver, including some challenges and successes I've experienced.

In the inaugural episode of the Meeple Leaf podcast, I talk a bit about starting a YouTube channel, and my future plans for it. You can find my channel here.