Calling all board game designers, from aspiring amateurs, to full-fledged companies! We’d love to have you show off your game at our Indie Board Game Showcase Event, which is coming to a city near you in 2026. An application form to exhibit your game can be found below. As of right now, we still have space in several cities, and we will continue to take applications until every spot is filled.
But first, what is this? The Indie Board Game Showcase started in Boston in 2017, took a hiatus during COVID, then came back in 2023, having grown every year since. And now, we’re going nationwide! This year, we’ll be hosting this event in six cities (for which people can buy tickets right here).
It’s an opportunity for board game designers to show off everything from pen-and-paper prototypes to innovative designs bound for Kickstarter to published products, and it’s an opportunity for players to discover new games and meet the brilliant minds behind them.
The events take place in cool breweries, restaurants and food halls across the country. Many events are small and intimate in nature, though ones we hope will grow over time. Boston, for example, started off with 25 players, last year it had 200, and in 2026, we’re hoping to build something even bigger.
Because our events are smaller, in all non-Boston cities it is free to demo your game, and even in Boston, we worked to keep the price low and to reward designers who have come back year after year, while also creating more affordable opportunities for designers who don’t have the resources to pay full price for a spot. In addition, we are the only indie board game showcase (that we know of) that will pay you if you bring some customers in the door!
Here’s a table with some basic info about each upcoming event (and yes, if you like driving, you can demo in multiple cities). In the notes column, we mention any cities in which all the designer spots have been taken. If your desired city is filled up, you are still welcome to apply, in which case, you will be added to a waitlist and we will notify you if a spot opens up…
Indie Board Game Showcase 2026
We tried to be conservative with our player count estimates, and we hope to bring in bigger crowds than the projected numbers above.
We are asking a few things of each designer…
We are asking each designer to sell 2+ tickets to the event, and we’ll pay you to do so! Each designer will get a unique coupon code good for 10% off the cost of a ticket. We ask you to share that coupon code with your community so we can create a full room of players. And as a thank you, for everyone who uses that coupon code, you will earn a $10 commission. And there’s no need to stop at 2 people. If you can sell 30 tickets, we’ll give you $300. The more tickets you sell, the more money you make.
Please note: We will also give preference when selecting designers to people who have brought guests in the past, and we will give preference for better locations to designers who bring more attendees.
We ideally would like for each designer to demo a game that you’ve never showcased with us before. Our goal is to build an event that people attend year after year, and to accomplish that, we want players to see mostly new games whenever they come (or at least, games that look significantly different from the last time they were demoed). We know that not all designers have a new game you’ve built since the last time, and that some of you specifically want to focus on the game that is your bread and butter or is due for Kickstarter. That’s totally understandable, and we want to make space for as many of these games as possible. But there is a finite space for how many games we can demo, and we will give preference to people showing off games they have not demoed at an event in that city before.
For those of you intrepid souls who want to demo your game in multiple cities, you can demo the same game in each one, as the player pool will likely be different.
In Boston, there will be a fee to demo your game. We will outline different options and packages once we’ve received our submissions, but the higher price will be for locations closer to the front of the room, as well as options to have your game spotlighted in our programs and on the big screen TVs in the venue.
We want this event to be affordable for all, and we understand that not everyone’s financial situation is the same. If you’d love to demo at our Boston event, but can’t afford the prices we charge (which we will work to keep reasonable), please let us know, and we’ll see what we can do. We intend to make a few spots available at especially discounted rates for those who could use it the most.
To grab a spot, please fill out the form below by end of day Tuesday, January 6. We’ll then hope to get people a decision on whether or not they were able to get a table by January 16. If your game is not selected, we will add you to a waiting list, then reach out if additional space becomes available.
Please know that we have an ever-growing list of designers that we email when registration opens up for these events. Whether you demo at this event or not, we’ll add you to our list, and if you can’t make a date you see here, but still want to join the list, email host@quirkevents.com.
A few FAQ are included below the form.
Some questions designers often ask…
What stage does my game need to be in? Your game can be in any stage that is playable. Paper and pen? Cool. Weeks away from kickstarter? Great. Available for retail? Awesome. The goal is to give players an opportunity to see games in all stages of development.
What genre of game are you looking for? Everything from party games to hardcore strategy games are welcome, just note that we want players to have a chance to try as many games as possible. If your game takes more than an hour to play, we recommend you find a way to demo the game in 30-60 minutes.
Can I sell games at this event? Yes you can! Just note that space is limited to the table area you have and you can’t set up a separate area for selling next to your table (though you are welcome to put games underneath the table). We will also have a front desk where we check people in, and we are happy to have copies of your game available for sale there.
Can I request a specific type of table? We are trying to make sure each designer has enough space to demo one copy of their game. Due to the nature of where we host these events, not all tables are a uniform size. This means we might give a bit of a bigger table to someone who has a bit of a bigger game. Which is all to say that yes you can request a table that you think would be the best fit for your game, but we can’t guarantee you’d get it (in Boston, different price points will be associated with different areas in the food hall, but we still cannot guarantee a specific table within that area).
In general, we do give preference for better table spots based on the following factors…
People who are demoing games with us that we have not showcased before in that city
People who have gotten a high number of people in their community to buy tickets with their coupon code.
Can I have signage at my table? You are welcome to have an 8.5x11 sign on your table if you’d like, just be aware that it will take up real estate that can also be used to demo your game. Because these events take place in restaurants, breweries and food halls, you cannot bring the giant table signage you might have at other board game conventions.
Okay, that’s everything. Fill out that form if you’d like to demo a game with us and we hope to see you there. Game on!