On June 19, 2019, Skandalaris Center Summer Internship Program participants were treated to a tour and Q&A session at the Greater Than Games headquarters located in the St. Louis County suburb of Olivette, MO. After lunch at Simba Ugandan Restaurant, Greater Than Games CEO and co-founder Paul Bender walked the interns through the headquarters and discussed the tabletop board game publishing process.

Bender walked the students through the office, showing them where the Greater Than Games team brainstorms ideas for kickstarter and fundraising campaigns, the area where the prototypes are developed, and the space where they record the Greater Than Games Podcast.

Next, Bender showed the students the site’s warehouse, where Greater Than Games stores all of the tabletop games they create and sell as well as the games they store and sell on behalf of other publishers. In the warehouse he explained the supply chain and logistics process.

After the tour Bender invited the students to ask him questions about Greater Than Games and startups. During the Q&A he explained how the company sells their games to wholesalers who then sell to board game retailers. He also shared their three prong marketing strategy focused on business to consumer gaming conventions, business to business shows, and other traditional marketing efforts.

The summer interns were curious about the board game business and creative process. The company currently publishes dozens of core games and dozens more expansion packs for those core games. Their most popular is Sentinels of the Multiverse and best selling is Spirit Island. Bender explained how designers typically bring a prototype of their game idea to Greater Than Games who then plays the game and offers a deal so it can be tested and developed. Once the game idea is purchased all the game development, graphic design, layout, warehouse, and shipping is done by the in-house team, while Greater Than Games outsources manufacturing, design and art for most games.

The Q&A ended with Bender sharing why Greater Than Games has decided to keep their business in St. Louis. He described multiple reasons including that behind Seattle St. Louis has the second largest amount of tabletop board game sellers, St. Louis has a large tabletop board game network of publishers and warehouses, it is cheaper to ship from St. Louis, and the city has an incredible network of graphic designers.