Best in Play launches!

Three familiar faces from the tabletop industry have joined forces to launch Best in Play, a new agency designed to help games and brands navigate the sometimes bumpy road from idea to finished product! Board game designers Scott Brady and Daryl Andrews, alongside Friendly Skeleton boss Jacob Way, are behind the new venture. Between them, the trio has experience in game design, publishing, licensing, crowdfunding, and running tabletop businesses.

A helping hand

Best in Play is aiming to fill some of the gaps that can appear between designers, publishers, and brands. Its services will cover five main areas, including intellectual property matchmaking, crowdfunding advice, interim leadership, publisher-designer relationships, and finding publishing or licensing opportunities.

In other words, if a company has a great idea but isn't quite sure what to do with it next, Best in Play wants to be the team that helps figure it out! The agency has already picked up its first consultancy job, working with a US-based creator and merchandising company. While that business searches for a permanent head of games, Best in Play will provide senior-level support across development, publishing, licensing, production, and crowdfunding.

That sort of flexibility could be particularly useful in an industry where small teams often have to juggle several jobs at once.

Crowdfunding plans

The new agency is also already working on a tabletop game based on a major, currently unnamed video game IP. A crowdfunding campaign is planned for early 2027, although details about the game and its licence remain under wraps for now. Way says a big-name property can certainly get people looking, but the game still needs to deliver. The team plans to focus on the product itself, how it is presented to fans, and how the campaign can build support beyond launch day.

Crowdfunding remains a major part of the modern board game industry. Recent campaigns continue to pull in huge audiences, while established publishers and smaller studios alike use platforms such as Kickstarter to test demand and fund ambitious projects.

Plenty of experience

Brady is best known for Hues and Cues and boop, and has recently launched Proof-of-Play, a publishing initiative aimed at helping good games that are stuck waiting for space in crowded release schedules. Andrews is the co-creator of Sagrada, as well as games including Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Mistwind, and Donald Duck in Happy Camper.

Way previously co-founded Deep Water Games before the business became Friendly Skeleton, giving him plenty of experience on the publishing and crowdfunding side. The wider Best in Play team also includes Finspan co-creator David Gordon, Eastar Game Manufacturing boss David Du, Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game co-designer Erik Dahlman, and Daniel Pesante.

A busy time

The launch comes during a period of continued growth and change across tabletop gaming. Recent industry developments have highlighted just how many different routes there now are for games to reach players, from traditional publishing and retail to crowdfunding, licensing, and direct sales. The UK Games Expo also attracted more than 51,000 attendees in 2026, showing that interest in tabletop gaming remains very strong.

With Best in Play offering support across so many parts of the industry, it certainly won't be short of potential projects. Now we just need to see what that mystery video game board game turns out to be!