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If you've seen my previous article on how to prepare for designer publisher speed dating you'll know that ahead of the 2026 UK Games Expo I was accepted into a Designer-Publisher speed dating event. That article went into details of how I prepared, this one goes into what happened, what prep was particularly useful and what went unexpectedly wrong. It was a whirlwind event where I went from terrified, to full flow pitching and ending with publisher details to follow up on.
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Earlier that Day: Why the Board Game Designer Community Is Your Secret Weapon
As I mentioned the pitching event I attended was at the UK Games Expo, which meant I spent the day of my pitches in a busy convention centre. This didn't just keep me busy to take away some of the nerves, it also gave me the chance to catch up with other designers and publishers who are part of the BoardGameProtoHype community. I'd actually not met a lot of them in person so took the chance to do so - and was met by an abundance of support and advice for pitching. I can safely say without this I would've definitely been more nervous when the pitches came around.
One of the first people I spoke to that day was one of the board game designers in the group I hadn't met before and after some words of encouragement and tips he handed me some throat sweets. I didn't expect them to be too helpful for a few hours of pitching (I was very wrong) but it just goes to show what an amazing community it is.
Last-Minute Pitch Prep: Researching Every Publisher's Catalogue
Something I didn't mention in the previous prep video was researching catalogues of the publishers I'd be meeting. I did this fully expecting it to help knowing what things they were likely to be looking for and to be able to change my pitch to focus on what they're more likely to be interested in if needed. What I didn't expect though was for the tip to help with rejected pitches. One of the publishers for example, said they thought the game sounded interesting, but wasn't really for them as they focus more on family games. My cynical side could easily have thought they didn't like the game and were just being nice, but having looked at their range before I completely agreed it probably wouldn't fit. This definitely stopped it impacting my confidence going into the next pitches.
Walking Into the Room: What Designer Publisher Speed Dating Actually Feels Like
One thing I hadn't given much thought to was the very sudden and slightly jarring change from a loud busy NEC to a quiet, half empty side room for the event. At this point the nerves started kicking in but thankfully I didn't really have enough time for them to fully take hold before the pitching started. I quickly spent what little time I had before pitches getting my game set up on the table in a way I could easily talk through all the parts of it.
The First Pitch: Why It Became the Highlight of the Day
The first pitch felt like it went quite well and honestly I was just happy to get through one and take away some of the nerves. What I didn't expect though was for this to later become a highlight of the whole event. The publisher seemed interested, asked a lot of questions and quickly had to rush off when the bell went. 16 pitches later however they came back to give me a card and ask me to send some information on the game. After that I left with a massive grin.
The Retheme Conversation: A Community Tip That Paid Off Immediately
Following my previous post and video about pitching prep, someone from the BoardGameProtoHype community suggested putting some thought into re-themes and whether I'd be open to the idea. This was something I gave a lot of thought to and when paired with the research I'd done on publishers let me talk about how the game might fit in with their ranges. It led to some good conversations and is definitely something I'll put thought into if I pitch this or other games again in the future.
Halfway Through: What the Feedback Was Already Telling Me
The midway point gave me a chance to take stock of what the publishers had been saying and what they'd been asking. There were a few themes emerging in the questions and it gave me a chance to think of how I could pre-emptively answer them in my pitch. Having this chance to take stock also really shifted my confidence going into the rest of the pitches. One question that had already come up more than once was whether the cards could be made language agnostic — something I had ruled out as too tricky to be worth it, but was clearly on publishers' minds. Danny's notes were already proving their value here, helping me spot these patterns in real time rather than trying to remember eight pitches' worth of conversations in my head. Going into the second half I felt noticeably more settled than I had at the start.
Why "Prepare Don't Script" Is the Best Board Game Pitch Advice I Got
Going back to the pitch tips I got after my last post, "Prepare but don't script" was one of the standouts. I knew if I forgot the next bit of my script I'd struggle to get back into it. This paid off for a few extra reasons on the day though. Number one being the changes to the pitch I mentioned above, noting which questions were being asked a lot and working the answers into my pitch. Number two though was an even stronger case for not scripting. The format was supposed to be 4 minutes of pitch and 1 minute of Q&A, but some of the publishers just wanted to ask questions as we went. If I'd had a script I'm certain stopping to answer questions would have really thrown me off.
Bringing a Friend to Your Board Game Publisher Pitch: More Useful Than You Think
I took a friend with me for the pitching, mostly for moral support. My friend Danny though turned out to be way more helpful than I'd thought after he offered to take notes on all the pitches. This left me with a great resource for the next steps of my game as well as a list of common questions for future pitches.
What Publishers Actually Asked About at UKGE 2026
The most useful board game publisher feedback came in two recurring questions:
Could you make it without any text on the cards?
How many cards are there?
The first came up enough it's something I'd like to explore more, even though I'd previously considered it to be too tricky given the amount of text on some cards. The latter was one I'd already given a lot of thought to and being able to say how many, but also knowing I'd ensured it was in manufacturer friendly quantities was good.
Three Contacts, One Junk Email, and the Publisher I Nearly Missed
Overall it was a great first experience of pitching, made all the better by getting three cards on the day. What I hadn't thought about though was that the event organisers had given out the designer emails and they might be the ones to get in contact with me. Fast forward to Monday evening and I look in my junk folder to discover an email from a publisher asking if I could find them at the expo to play the game. This was a little frustrating but luckily they were happy for me to send over files for them to play it themselves.
What I'd Do Differently at My Next Board Game Publisher Pitch
Next time I do something like this there are a few things I'd do differently.
More publisher research - It was really helpful and having a better understanding of ranges would only help more.
Check junk email during the event - Not something I'd have ever considered before but there's no chance I won't check it next time.
Bring enough sell sheets — I ran out of sell sheets halfway through which was poor planning on my part, I assumed I wouldn't need many since they'd been sent out to the publishers already but I was wrong!
Have a text-free example card ready - I'd like to play around with the idea some more and have something ready to answer publishers with.
Always ask publishers explicitly if they want a follow-up - One of the publishers gave me a card without saying anything. I've since emailed to ask if they'd like to know more but asking at the event would have been smarter!
Lean on the board game designer community even more — they're amazing. I'm not sure what else I can add!
What Happens Next for Station Decimus
Here's where things stand after my board game pitch results from the day. I've been in conversations with publishers since, providing digital versions of the game and extra information — we will see where they go. The game development will continue regardless though. Follow along on YouTube to see where things go.
Grab the free Print and Play below and try it for yourself:
If you haven't read part 1 on how I prepared, you can find it here: How to Pitch a Board Game to Publishers
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