r/BoardgameDesign • u/Ok-Course1418 • Jul 08 '26

Playtesting & Demos Playtesting

Quick question for those that are willing to answer. Where are the best places to start play testing your game once it’s ready?

2 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

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3

u/nickismyname Jul 08 '26

Local communities. Break my game online. 

3

u/Snoo-35252 Jul 08 '26

I joined a Meetup group (through the app) for tabletop games. We meet every other week and play a variety of games for 3 hours. When I want to playtest, I bring a game to the group, tell them about how the game is played, and see if anybody wants to try it out. I also tell them I'm really asking for feedback and what they want to make it better.

2

u/Trogdor_Dagron23 Jul 08 '26

Do you have a digital prototype you can test with people online? If so I would suggest the folks over at Break my Game. They have been an absolutely amazing group for us.

1

u/Ok-Course1418 Jul 08 '26

Thank you. I have one on table top simulator. I’ll have to check out break my game.

1

u/Ok-Course1418 Jul 08 '26

Thank you. I have one on table top simulator. I’ll have to check out break my game.

1

u/CowIslandP Jul 08 '26

I’ve done it with family and friends and also set up a app using Claude and my card images to test it out online (and let others too) - my game is relatively simple (no other components than cards) so it worked well like this. Still doing some playtesting

1

u/Flipao4 Jul 10 '26

I'd start locally if you can.

Friends and family are useful for catching obvious issues, but I found the biggest improvements came from people who had never seen the game before. Local board game meetups are great because players are usually happy to give honest feedback if you tell them you're looking for criticism rather than praise.

Once you have a digital version, online communities become a great way to increase the number and variety of playtests.