Games › Board Game › Board Game + Gambling
Should I ship a Gambling Board Game?
Board Game + Gambling
Of 55 developers who shipped a Gambling Board Game in the last 2 years: 3 in 10 made under est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 4 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 20 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 48 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 2 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $480 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $120 for a 2 / 10 build. 37 developers shipped in the last year and 48 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $178 (exactly $178) |
|---|---|
| Median | $475 (exactly $475) |
| Top 25% | $5.8k (exactly $5,846) |
| Top 5% | $76k (exactly $75,524) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 55 |
| Released games | 113 |
| Announced | 48 |
| Effort | 2 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue up 460% on the market, supply 105% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 18%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Board Game
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
- Gambling
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 2 / 10 · static 2D art, simple logic
- Systems
- Board Game, Gambling; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Tabletop, Card Game
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, Comedy
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 3,221 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 8 in 10 of the 26 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 48 games are announced against 37 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Board Game with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Party-Based RPGFair
- + Asynchronous MultiplayerFair
- + JRPGFair
- + Local Co-OpFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + HistoricalFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + SpaceFair
- + Alternate HistoryFair
- + MahjongFair
- + Party GameFair
- + DragonsFair
Comparable games
Tharsis 2016 · $647k 
Bogos Binted? 2026 · $187k 
Menherarium: Deadly Dice 2026 · $180k 
LuckLand 2023 · $114k 
Dice Have No Eyes 2026 · EA · $76k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Tharsis | older | $14.99 | 1,438 71% | 43k | $647k (exactly $646,669) | Choice Provisions |
| | Bogos Binted? | $5.49 | 1,134 91% | 34k | $187k (exactly $186,770) | underbadger | |
| | Menherarium: Deadly Dice | $8.99 | 669 92% | 20k | $180k (exactly $180,429) | テスカトリポカ | |
| | LuckLand | older | $8.99 | 422 95% | 13k | $114k (exactly $113,813) | e-Jade |
| | Dice Have No Eyes | · EA | $9.99 | 252 95% | 7.6k | $76k (exactly $75,524) | Franek, Max Cahill |
 | Capote | $5.99 | 397 97% | 12k | $71k (exactly $71,341) | Luski Game Studio | |
 | Roll | older | $4.99 | 407 91% | 12k | $61k (exactly $60,928) | Joseph Distler |
 | Cut That Wire | $6.99 | 243 84% | 7.3k | $51k (exactly $50,957) | WakaStudio | |
 | Midnight Mahjong | older | $6.99 | 227 64% | 6.8k | $48k (exactly $47,602) | AleCubicSoft |
 | Mahjong Nagomi | older | $4.99 | 245 79% | 7.4k | $37k (exactly $36,676) | Zoo Corporation |
 | ColdRidge | $9.99 | 97 73% | 2.9k | $29k (exactly $29,071) | Frog Collective | |
 | Spider Roulette | $4.99 | 143 91% | 4.3k | $21k (exactly $21,407) | Kud | |
 | One Last Hand | $6.99 | 86 70% | 2.6k | $18k (exactly $18,034) | Fire Brick Games | |
 | Break Shoot | $4.99 | 106 99% | 3.2k | $16k (exactly $15,868) | UPTRAND | |
 | Anomaly Mahjong | $4.99 | 94 65% | 2.8k | $14k (exactly $14,072) | YUTAMARO WORLD |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.