List Your Game on BoardGameJoin
BoardGameJoin is a board game site you play in your browser, no app required. We only publish games with the rights holder’s approval. We handle development, operations, player support, ranked play, and payments. What we ask of you: share the rules and materials, have a look at the finished version, and receive your statements.
Anyone who holds the rights to a game: a game designer (an individual or a circle), a publisher, or both. If the artwork rights belong to someone else, we ask for their agreement too. We’ll confirm the name for the contract — circle, individual, or company — when you get in touch.
Benefits for rights holders
- It takes little of your timeWe handle development, servers, monitoring, bug fixes, and player inquiries. Once your game is live, we won’t ask you to do anything more.
- More people get to playIt runs in the browser, and anyone invited can join without signing up. Play with friends far away, or all in the same room.
- It brings in revenue70% of membership fees goes to the rights holders of the games played that month. For games published for free, the share comes from ad revenue.
- More people discover and play your gameWe build a tutorial and a CPU opponent for every game. Both open without signing up, so even someone who doesn’t know the rules can learn by playing alone.
- Sales links point back to the physical editionWe put a link to buy the physical edition on the game page and the results screen, and report the click count in your statement. We see the online version not as competing with the physical edition, but as a bridge to it. One survey found that 86.4% of buyers had played the game before buying it (Asmodee, "US Buyer Profile 2020").
- It builds a fanbaseRanked play, seasons, and leaderboards give players a reason to keep coming back. The game page carries an official badge and a note introducing the rights holder.
- You get to see how it’s playedGames played, number of players, average playtime, win-rate skew, drop-out rate, which optional rules get chosen, and tutorial completion — all visible any time in your dashboard. We share this as aggregated data with names and personal information removed. Game records (move histories, for example) are shared the same way, but only for players who gave consent. Use it for balance tuning, revised editions, or your next game.
What we handle
| Area | What we handle | What we ask of you |
|---|---|---|
| Development | Implementing the rules, tutorial, CPU opponent, and screens | Share the rulebook and materials, have a look at the finished version |
| Operations | Servers, monitoring, incident response, backups | Nothing |
| Player support | Reviewing reports, dealing with players who quit part-way, deciding on account suspensions | Nothing |
| Ranked play | Rating, seasons, leaderboards, matchmaking | Choose whether your game takes part in ranked play |
| Payments and revenue share | Collecting membership fees, monthly statements, quarterly payouts | Register your bank details |
| Support | Player inquiries, bug reports | Nothing |
| Localization | Translating and publishing the English version | Choose which languages to publish in, have a look at the translation |
| Links to the physical edition | Purchase links on the game page and results screen | Share the URL of your sales page |
What you choose
- Whether to publish for free, or make it a game only paying members can start
- Whether to show ads
- Whether it takes part in ranked play
- Whether to include optional rules (the official rules are the default)
- Which languages to publish in
Free or paid: which to choose
- Publish for free, and both the host and the players can join without signing up, so it reaches the most people. Good for awareness and for promoting the physical edition. The revenue share comes from ad revenue.
- Make it Premium, and only paying members can start a game, so fewer people play — but the revenue share comes from membership fees instead. Good for a game that already has a following.
- Our suggestion: publish for free for the first month to build awareness, then switch to paid. You can change this at any time. You can also put an invite code in the box, so anyone who buys the physical edition can play online too.
Terms at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Agreement | Non-exclusive. It doesn’t stop you from offering the game to other services or building your own digital version. |
| Publishing | We publish only after your approval. We never publish without it. |
| Revenue share | 70:30 (rights holder 70). |
| Funding source | Membership fees from paying players. For free games, it’s ad revenue. |
| Statements | Every month, we report plays and revenue for each game. |
| Payment | We pay quarterly, three months at a time (amounts under 1,000 yen carry over). |
| Artwork | We use the materials you share with us. If the artwork rights belong to someone else, we ask for their agreement too. |
| Ending the agreement | You can end it at any time, with three months’ notice. |
How the money flows
Example: say membership fees for a month come to 1,000,000 yen, and after payment processing fees that’s 960,000 yen. If 70% of that came from paying members who played that month, the funding pool is 670,000 yen. If your game’s player-minutes (players in a game × minutes actually played) made up 5% of the total, your game’s share is 34,000 yen, and you receive 70% of that — 24,000 yen. These numbers are just for illustration.
Guidelines for getting listed
Four requirements
| Requirement | What we check |
|---|---|
| The game is already on sale | Its release date |
| There is a sales page for the physical edition | Your own shop, or a retailer’s page |
| The rules are final and printed | The rulebook (showing which edition it is) |
| The rights belong to you | Games whose rights belong to an overseas publisher aren’t eligible |
As a guide, we implement games that have sold 300 copies or more, at our own cost. If your game hasn’t reached that yet, or hasn’t been released yet, please get in touch anyway. We would like to build and feature as many games as we can, but we decide case by case in light of our development schedule.
Self-reported sales figures are fine. It helps if you can include evidence of a reprint (edition number or announcement), a sales page, or shipping records. The number you give us goes into the contract. The 300-copy guideline may change over time.
How listing works
- Get in touch5 minutes (by form or email)
- A call, if neededAbout 30 minutes online. We’ll ask about your game, whether it’s free or paid, and timing
- Review the termsAbout a week
- DevelopmentWe handle it. You share the rulebook and materials
- Alpha reviewOnly you can play it, so you can check it matches the rules
- BetaA limited release by invite link. We fix anything that needs fixing
- LaunchWe announce it on our own channels and social media. It helps to spread further if you announce it too
As a guide, it takes 6 to 10 weeks from first contact to launch. This varies with our engineers’ availability and what the game needs.
What to share with us
- The rules (your current rulebook is fine)
- Icon art and logo for the game (and, if the artwork rights belong to someone else, their agreement too)
- A short description (one to three lines)
- The URL of the sales page for the physical edition
- Your bank details
Tips for making the most of it
- Put a QR code on the rulebook or box, and buyers can get straight to the online version. We prepare the QR code.
- The game page and tutorial open without signing up, so you can link to them directly from social media or your own site.
- Leaderboards and seasons let you run a tournament over a set period. You could pair an online qualifier with an in-store final, for example.
- Since it runs in the browser, it’s an easy game for streamers to pick up.
Frequently asked questions
Does it cost anything?
No. We cover the cost of development, servers, operations, and support. We pay out revenue share based on actual play.
Is it an exclusive agreement?
No, it’s non-exclusive. It doesn’t stop you from offering the game to other services or building your own digital version.
We’ve already published our own app or online version. Is that a problem?
Not at all. Since it’s non-exclusive, you can keep it running alongside ours. If you’re about to launch on a new service of the same kind, just let us know beforehand.
I’d like to build the program myself
We normally handle development ourselves, but if you’d like to build it, get in touch. As long as it follows our game module spec (rules, board, and results format), we can review it and publish it. The revenue share terms stay the same.
I’d like to run a tournament
We have leaderboards and seasons, and we handle counting results over a set period on our end. You can also run qualifying tables as a party. A dedicated tournament screen is something we’d take as a request (we don’t have a timeline for building it).
How do I end the agreement?
You can end it at any time, with three months’ notice. Within two weeks of your notice, we stop new games from being started, and take the game down once any games in progress finish. We pay out the revenue share through the final quarter. The rights to the original game are yours all along.
What if I want to change the rules, or release a revised edition?
Get in touch with us. We’ll propose any small adjustments needed for the digital version, and proceed once you’ve had a look. Depending on the change, it may take some time to reflect. Revised editions follow the same process.
How long does it take to get published?
As a guide, 6 to 10 weeks from first contact to launch (about a week to review terms, 4 to 8 weeks for development and review). This varies with our engineers’ availability and what the game needs.
How much revenue can I expect?
It depends on how much your game gets played, so we can’t promise a figure. 70% of membership fees is split among the games played that month, based on player-minutes (players in a game × minutes played). Statements come monthly, payouts come quarterly.
Can I choose whether to publish for free or as a paid game?
Yes. You can also change it later. For games published for free, revenue share comes from ad revenue.
Will I receive players’ personal information?
No. We only share aggregated data, such as play counts, number of players, and clicks on the physical edition link.
Who deals with trolling or cheating?
We do. As a rule, we review reports within 24 hours and reach a decision within 72 hours. We also handle dealing with players who quit part-way and any decision to suspend an account.
Can it reach players overseas?
Yes, we localize it so players overseas can play too. We handle the translation, and you can have a look at it.
Can a small game still be listed?
As a guide, we implement games that have sold 300 copies or more, at our own cost. Get in touch even if you’re not there yet. We would like to build and feature as many games as we can, but we decide case by case in light of our development schedule.
Can a game that hasn’t been released yet be listed?
Please get in touch once it’s released and the rules are final. Otherwise we’d have to rebuild it with every revision, and we couldn’t link to a sales page for the physical edition yet either.
How do you verify sales figures?
We ask for a self-reported number. It helps if you can include evidence of a reprint (edition number or announcement), a sales page, or shipping records. The number you give us goes into the contract.
I’m not sure whether the rights belong to the circle or to an individual
We’ll ask you about this up front, to settle the name on the contract. If you’re not sure, we’ll sort it out together.
What happens with the artwork?
We use the materials you share with us. If the artwork rights belong to someone else, we ask for their agreement too. We create new art only for the parts you can’t share.
Get in touch
You can also reach us by email: contact@qdan.co.jp
Last updated 2026-09-13 · Run by Qdan, Inc.