Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

Leveraging in-person gaming conferences with The Last Gameboard founder Shail Mehta

26 Sept 2022 · 1 min

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In this interview excerpt, Shail Mehta recounts her early experiences attending board game conferences while launching Gameboard. She describes the massive scale of Gen Con, noting that around 200,000 people gather in Indianapolis each summer, and mentions that smaller regional shows occur year‑round. COVID temporarily halted these events, but they are now returning. During the pre‑launch phase, Shail would travel to various conferences, offering food and drinks to attract attention and then pitch her nascent Gameboard concept. She used these informal sessions to solicit feedback and learn about other creators’ visions for the future of gaming, shaping her understanding of the industry.

Chapters

Can you describe the atmosphere of the first board game conference that you attended as you started Gameboard? I think this was one of the most incredible parts of your pitch to me because I had never, never knew there were board game conferences. Yeah. So, okay. Unfortunately, COVID put a damper on all of it, but they're starting up again, which is very exciting. So people, Gen Con is one of the biggest ones that happens in North America. It's like, usually it's like, you know, 200,000 people descend on Indianapolis in the middle of summer to play board games, but there are usually these massive conferences, But there's pockets of them happening all over at all times. Like, it's crazy. So I would show up to these conferences. I would just drive around and show up to all these different conferences when Gameboard was just a little kernel of an idea. And I'd bribe people with like, you know, booze and food, which is apparently what I do. And I'd be like, hey, I have this idea. Why don't you come listen to my little talk and my presentation? Are you interested in this? And they would tell me about like what was their vision for the future of like gaming.