Games › Board Game › Board Game + Science
Should I ship a Science Board Game?
Board Game + Science
Only 9 developers shipped a Science Board Game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Cell Command, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 10 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $180, ×0.4 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $90. Revenue is down 100% on the market, with 10 games announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $90 (exactly $90) |
|---|---|
| Median | $180 (exactly $180) |
| Top 25% | $22k (exactly $21,878) |
| Top 5% | $86k (exactly $85,812) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 9 |
| Released games | 29 |
| Announced | 10 |
| Effort | 3 / 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 down 100% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, 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
- Science
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Board Game
- Price point
- $4.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 5,270 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $90. 10 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Board Game with a different setting or mood, 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Terraformers | older | $19.99 | 3,031 88% | 91k | $1.8M (exactly $1,817,691) | Asteroid Lab |
| | Nexus 5X | older | $14.99 | 884 90% | 27k | $398k (exactly $397,535) | Whatboy Games |
| | Who Wants To Be A Millionaire | older | $29.99 | 405 52% | 12k | $364k (exactly $364,378) | Appeal Studios, Balio Studio |
| | Evolution Board Game | older | $14.99 | 348 81% | 10k | $156k (exactly $156,496) | North Star Digital Studios |
| | Cell Command | $17.99 | 159 97% | 4.8k | $86k (exactly $85,812) | Alpherior | |
| | Trivia Vault: Science & History Trivia | older | $13.99 | 85 63% | 2.6k | $36k (exactly $35,674) | Ripknot Systems |
| | 3D Math - Ultra | older | $4.99 | 218 92% | 6.5k | $33k (exactly $32,635) | Big Mind Games 9000 |
| | Nature Game System | $19.99 | 49 73% | 1.5k | $29k (exactly $29,385) | North Star Digital Games | |
| | SpaceCorp: 2025-2300AD | $9.99 | 73 83% | 2.2k | $22k (exactly $21,878) | Logix Interactive | |
| | Rockets Are Super Hard | older | $11.99 | 18 77% | 540 | $6.5k (exactly $6,475) | Propulsion Games |
| | Prism | $4.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $299 (exactly $299) | SplitCriteria | |
| | Every Step Counts | $5.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $180 (exactly $180) | nipanko | |
| | ZeroOne Terminal | $4.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $150 (exactly $150) | Jolt | |
| | Dice Chemist | $2.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $90 (exactly $90) | Jihwan | |
| | 24 Grab Points | $0.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $30 (exactly $30) | Meta Entropy Culture | |
| | 2187 | $2.50 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Lavie Games |
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.