Game On! Exploring the fun world of Board Game start-up Hex Mad

Hex Mad is a board/card game publisher based in Birmingham, aiming to make fun and rewarding games that don't take ages to set up and play.

The start-up is founded by Applied Linguistics graduate Ian James and based at the university's incubator UoB Elevate in Centenary Square. Hex Mad value sustainability and inclusivity, and plan to give 10% of their profits to charity.

Ian: Our first game, Curse Words, is a word making and guessing game for adults, and will be coming to Kickstarter soon. It’s been described as Cards Against Humanity meets Scrabble, but more creative than the former and quicker, funnier, more party-ish than the latter. And you get to shout rude words at your friends!

When COVID-19 hit I was living in China, teaching English at a university in a ‘small’ coastal city of 6 million people. I was alone and the lockdown rules on campus were very strict, meaning I went close to 6 months with little to no social contact. This experience taught me two things: 

1. Always grow your hair and/or beard long during a global pandemic. It might be the best chance you’ll ever have to see if you can pull off Jesus-chic.

2. Even if you’re a massive introvert like me, spending time with people is essential for one’s mental health, I went full-on Cast Away and made friends with a shield bug!

Whether it’s board games, Dungeons and Dragons or Nintendo, games have long been a centre-point for my social life, and I think this is true for many. They help bring people together and connect over a shared experience. 

I’ve always struggled with social anxiety to varying degrees, but I’ve found that when I’m engrossed in a game any anxiety I’m feeling fades. 

So, stuck in a small flat with only Miguel the shield bug for company, I started designing games that I hoped would capture those social gaming good-feels I was craving.

I eventually came back to the UK to do a Masters in Applied Linguistics at the University of Birmingham, during which I had the idea for Curse Words. 

I used corpus analysis techniques learned during my MA to help determine the game’s letter distribution and point values based on letter frequencies (while I should’ve been doing my dissertation, naturally). 

Then, when I heard about the support the university offers for start-ups, I decided it was time to give releasing games a shot. I knew it would be difficult and might not work out, but if I could bring a bit of humour, anxiety-relief and togetherness into a few people’s lives I felt it’d be well worth it.

The university helped me a great deal. First off, I received £500 of funding thanks to the B-Enterprising Startup Fund, which went a long way towards getting Hex Mad off the ground and even more importantly, gave me the self-belief (and belief in my idea) that I needed to take the plunge.

Secondly, we were lucky enough to get a place at UoB Elevate, the university's start-up incubator run by the fantastic B-Enterprising team. This has given us access to learning and guidance from business experts, mutual support from the other founders on the programme, and a swanky office space at the Exchange building in central Birmingham, all of which have been invaluable.

Thirdly, we’ve been able to recruit two interns from the B-Experienced programme, as well as two MSc Marketing students from the Marketing Project, to advise on how to better get the game out there, something I’m not great at!

We recently exhibited at UKGE, the UK’s biggest board games convention (2-4 June at the NEC) and the interns’ help here was vital.

The best part about starting your own idea I would say is the freedom, scope for creativity, the challenge and sense of achievement, learning loads of new things, and meeting some lovely people you wouldn’t otherwise meet. 

The more challenging part is that you are always busy and never able to fully switch off, as there’s always more you could and should be doing. Having spoken to a few people who’d already set up board games companies, this is something I already knew, but it really is a lot of work.

There’s so much to do behind the scenes, all of which seems to take up more time than you’d expect, and often you don’t have much to show for it. This is not to put anyone off – it can also be extremely rewarding – it’s just to say don’t do it unless you’re really passionate about the organisation you’re creating. 

Your biggest takeaway from your experience?

Go for it! Apply for that start-up support, go to that event, do that scary thing. If you can bear to, give it a try. You might succeed, you might fail, but you’ll definitely come out wiser/more experienced, and you might make a few friends along the way.

I’d love to hear from any tabletop games lovers at UoB! We run occasional board games meetups and may have future internship opportunities available. And of course we’d appreciate any support - look out for our Kickstarter campaign and Instagram page.

Website: https://linktr.ee/hexmad

Email: contact@hexmad.com

Written by Ian James

Edited by Bob Lee