In this blog post, we dive into the journey of Strong Point Games, a dynamic duo that transitioned from board game enthusiasts to innovative designers and publishers. Si and Gill, the creative minds behind the successful Strong Point Trivia Game, share their experiences, challenges, and triumphs in the game design industry. Discover how they launched their game without crowdfunding, their unique strategies for reaching new audiences, and valuable insights for aspiring game designers eager to make their mark. You can find them on instagram here. Enjoy.
Joe: Welcome to the What If blog! Can you start with a short introduction? Who are you, and what brings you to the world of board game design?
Si: Hi Joe, thanks for inviting me to share my thoughts via your blog! I’m Si, and I’m one half of Strong Point Games. The other half is Gill, who is largely the brains behind most things at Strong Point, but together we generally work well, complementing each other’s strengths. We got into game design around 4-5 years ago. We have always loved and played games, and during lockdown, we came up with an idea (didn’t everyone?), and naively thought we should turn it into a game, not quite realising the rabbit hole we were about to enter! After about 18 months of design, redesign, testing, more redesigning, and more testing (you know how it goes!), the Strong Point Trivia Game was born. We founded Strong Point Games as a way of self-publishing the game, and somehow, we are still here!
Joe: That’s a sweet origin story. I enjoy hearing some of the wonderful stories that have emerged from that period. I’ve chatted with many people who make games, but not many who have also created a method of publishing that didn’t involve crowdfunding. I wonder if we can start there; how did you bring Strong Point into existence without a Kickstarter?
Si: Good question with a long answer! We did actually consider Kickstarter, but spoke to a couple of people who had experience of it for non-games related things, and (rightly or wrongly) the predominant opinion was that unless you a) really knew what you were doing when creating your campaign and b) had plenty of money for marketing, it was not very easy to get the necessary funding. As complete novices, with literally no clue what we were doing, we didn’t want to risk going that route.
Si: Actually, the first thing we did was contact an organisation up here in the North East called BIPC, which gives free advice on Intellectual Property, amongst other things. We spoke to them because we thought we needed to protect the game’s IP, and trademark and copyright it. At this point, we didn’t know that regarding games, that can generally be a bit pointless! But as a result of that conversation, we were put in touch with a business advice service called PNE, which suggested a Start-Up Loan, provided via the Government-backed British Business Bank. We applied for and received the funding that allowed us to manufacture the first print run, but again made a novice mistake by only applying for the amount needed for manufacture and not any more. However, the initial print run sold, and we were able to fund a second printing of a lot more units, which we’re pleased to say has also now sold!
We naively thought we should turn it into a game, not quite realising the rabbit hole we were about to enter!
The other cool thing from that story is that the business advisor who we first spoke to almost five years ago still calls us once a month for a catch-up and to see how things are going. So we love Brenda for all the advice she gives us and our monthly coffee morning chats! Even more amazing, another advisor who guided us through the Start-Up Loan application was our very first customer. We’d literally just made the website live and hadn’t even put anything out on social media to announce it, and he placed an order: it hadn’t even been a minute from the game being available. To this day, we don’t know how he managed that!
Joe: That’s such a lovely story. I do get the sense that the world around tabletop games seems to bring in lovely people. So, with the loan spent and a print run completed, I assume your next step was selling the game? Was that an easy thing to accomplish? I know you are regulars at many UK conventions; is that your main route to selling your game?
Si: When we first started out, we thought we would just sell through our website and on Amazon. Even though we have played board games for years, we didn’t really know about Games Expos and conventions! The week after we launched, our mentor at PNE asked if we would like to do a local Christmas Market as they had a stall we could use, so we said, “Yeah, why not!” We rocked up with a couple of boxes of the game, and that’s it! No promotional materials, no card reader machine, nothing but the games and a cash tin! Then we realised that loads of people wanted to pay by card, so everyone who did had to buy it from the website and put their delivery address as the market! Surprisingly, everyone was happy to do that! We sold 40 games in a few hours and thought maybe we should do this more often!
Joe: I love this panicked quick-thinking from you!
Si: Since then, we have continued the online sales, and Amazon has been a steady sales point, but we have been more active at games conventions. We were at the UK Games Expo in 2023, and are back there again this year. We have exhibited at Tabletop Scotland in 2023 and 2024, AireCon in 2024, and the North-East Tabletop Expo in 2024 and again in 2025. We have found that these are great for building awareness of not just the game, but also us as Publishers/Designers. While we do sell at those conventions, they aren’t necessarily our best venues, perhaps surprisingly. Where we do our best is selling at some of the larger Christmas Markets in the region, such as Living North. Our game is probably the ideal Christmas gift kind of game, as it appeals to board gamers but also non-gamers who might only play games at Christmas time or family gatherings. When we explain the concept of the game to people, we usually get the same response, which is, “Ooh, that’s a good idea!”
Si: We have just come back from The Toy Fair 2025, which was a different experience for us. This wasn’t selling to people wanting to play the game; this was selling to retailers, distributors, and the games industry. This is going to be the next step for us, trying to put Strong Point and its expansions into as many retail outlets as we can. It was a really positive experience, with loads of great conversations, but you don’t get the immediate sale, so we shall see what happens in the coming weeks!
Joe: This is super inspiring, and it feels realistic, like it might be something many of us could do. Before we talk game design, I’d like to ask another question. I know you are now full-time working as Strong Point, and you moved from a regular job to this. Can you tell me what that jump was like? How did you find the courage to make that leap?
Si: Mmm, bravery or stupidity, it’s a tough call! I think I was lucky in a way because circumstances almost pushed me towards that decision. For several years, alongside Strong Point, I was still doing my freelance work in education. At the end of the last academic year, my largest contract informed me they were looking to move in a different direction with the area I worked on in the school, which was their sports provision. I was faced with the choice of either starting again by seeking out new contracts or committing all my time to Strong Point Games. I’m very happy I made the choice to devote all my time and energy to games design and publishing. I’m not sure my bank manager is as happy with that choice!
We rocked up with a couple of boxes of the game, and that’s it! No promotional materials, no card reader machine, nothing but the games and a cash tin!
The downside is that Gill, for the near future at least, is still working part-time in her other job, and there are times when she struggles to juggle both things. She definitely wants to be full-time with me, and we would absolutely benefit from her being able to do that. She is without a doubt the more creative and design-oriented person, and there have been times, such as in the run-up to the Toy Fair, where she really needed to focus on creating elements for our stand or getting designs ready to send to the manufacturer for sample games, and her other work has got in the way of that.
But for myself, being able to focus solely on Strong Point Games has allowed us much more freedom to do the things we need to do to move forward. For instance, from September through to December last year, we were able to commit to being at a lot more Christmas events than in previous years, as I could always go even if Gill couldn’t. It has also meant I have concentrated on getting the Junior Expansion ready for production. Stronger Point Expansion One, released in December 2024, took almost 18 months to get ready. The Junior Expansion took about six months, purely because I was able to spend much more time on researching and writing the questions and sifting through the range of possible categories for the game.
I wouldn’t say taking that jump has been easy, but it has been a necessary one for me. For other people, you definitely have to weigh up whether it’s best for you in your circumstances. If you are in a position where you have that opportunity, that freedom in your personal and financial circumstances, I would say take the leap. What’s the saying? It’s better to regret something you have done than something you haven’t?
Joe: I’m certainly glad you took the jump, and even happier that it’s working out for you. Let’s talk a little about your upcoming projects. Back in the autumn, you chatted with me at the Newcastle Games Expo and mentioned you’re looking to start creating a new game. What can you tell me about it?
Si: Yeah, we’re excited about creating a game that isn’t trivia-related! We both like to run, and Gill is really good. She runs marathons; she has run the London Marathon three times (or is it four?). In 2023 she ran the Berlin Marathon (in a time of 3 hours 17 minutes, which is fast!), and last September, she ran in the New York City Marathon. In March, we are off to Tokyo for her to run the marathon there, and in October, she is doing the Chicago Marathon, all in a bid to eventually complete the set of World Marathon Majors.
With all of this marathon running, we started thinking of a game based around running a marathon. So we have just begun work on a game called ‘26.2’. At the moment because, as we know, things can change in game design, the aim is to make the game play in two phases. The first part of the game is likely to be a card drafting/engine building ‘Training Phase’. Then the plan is for the cards you have drafted and your engine built in training to influence your hand management in the race phase of the game.
This is a very different direction for Strong Point Games, much more of a ‘board gamer’s game’ than our trivia/party games, but this is a game we have had in mind for quite a while. This is one where even Gill’s artistic and creative skills will be pushed to the limit, so the hope is that we are going to find an artist to work with us on it. It would be great if we could find an artist based in the North East to collaborate with. So that’s the plan! But, as Mike Tyson once said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face!” However, one thing about game designers is that we are very good at rolling with the punches; we have to be!
Joe: Fantastic! It sounds like a really interesting project. How far along are you?
Si: So far, we are very early in the development, focusing on getting an idea of how the game is going to work before getting down to the nitty-gritty of all the necessary cards, boards, etc. I think with game design, you can approach things in two ways: start with the theme and come up with the mechanics to implement that theme, or start with the mechanics and devise a (somewhat unique) theme that can utilise the mechanics. We started with the theme, and it naturally led to racing mechanics, but we wanted it to be more than just a race. So figuring out the way to make the Training Phase work and integrate it into the race part of the game is key for us.
The ambition is to have the Kickstarter ready to launch on 26.2.26! Wish us luck!
The other factor we are keen to bring into the game is something very important to runners: a way of scoring a ‘personal best’. Runners are all about beating their previous time, so we are looking at ways of making that part of the game, so even if you don’t win the race, there is an element of personal success when playing. We have ideas for this, but this will definitely be a process! What we want to achieve is a game with enough challenge to appeal to board gamers, but is also intuitive enough for non-board game playing runners to want to play as well. The ambition is to have the Kickstarter ready to launch on 26.2.26. Wish us luck!
Joe: The thematic integration sounds brilliant. I suppose having an expert runner on the team is incredibly useful.
Si: Yeah, in terms of developing the cards for the training phase and events that can occur in the race, that knowledge is great, thematically.
Joe: You’re choosing Kickstarter as your publishing route, which is different from your first, self-funded game. Can you explain a bit about your rationale for this route?
Si: Yeah, it basically comes down to two factors: knowledge and cost. Firstly, we are now in a position where we have a bit more knowledge of how Kickstarter works, especially regarding board games, and secondly, Strong Point was a relatively small game with minimal components and was therefore reasonably cheap to manufacture. 26.2 is going to be very different, with many more components, a large (potentially) double-sided board, and a lot of artwork. We simply wouldn’t have the capacity for self-funding a project this large and, for us, ambitious. You only have to look at the Kickstarter pages; even some of the largest publishers out there are using Kickstarter. Of course, this is not because they can’t afford not to, but because using it can really generate pre-production, pre-release interest.
And that is where we hope to double our interest and backers. Our plan is to utilise not just Games Conventions as a means to gather pre-release interest and backers but also to take the game to some of the big Running and Marathon Expos. For instance, the New York Marathon Expo typically has about 100,000 visitors over three days. That exposure to running enthusiasts, as well as board game conventions, could hopefully be very valuable for finding backers.
But ultimately, it all starts with creating a game that people are going to enjoy playing. You can create a game with a great theme, great artwork, and run an all-singing-all-dancing Kickstarter campaign, but none of that matters if the game isn’t fun to play. So, we start there. And if 26.2 isn’t fun, it ultimately won’t matter what conventions we attend. So we’ll put the time into developing and testing and making sure that the game is fun to play. We think we got it right with Strong Point; now it’s applying everything we’ve learned since then to make sure 26.2 is just as much fun.
Joe: There’s some clever marketing you’ve got there. The idea of turning up to a marathon convention with your game is really neat. Let’s round out with a final question: how can we support your work?
Si: Great question. I think one of the great things we’ve found about the game design community, and also the small business community here in the North East, is how supportive everyone is. There are so many people out there who want your game or your business to succeed, and there seems to be a collective joy in seeing another game designer be successful with their game. So what you see is other designers offering advice on all manner of things, from artwork to manufacturing to playtesting.
With that in mind, once we are at that point where we are ready for game testing, hopefully, you can help put us in touch with some people willing to give it a go! That could be some way out yet, so in the meantime, spreading awareness and publicising what we do is invaluable help. Marketing is one of the most challenging aspects of being in this industry, especially when it is new to us. So sharing our story, getting more people to know about Strong Point through such great things as BoardGameProtoHype and your blog, is a great help. And if you or any of your readers have friends or family that love trivia, quizzes, and all that malarkey, tell them about Strong Point! It really is the best trivia game no-one (well, not enough people) knows about!
And of course, once we have 26.2 launched on Kickstarter, then backing it would be quite nice!
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