How an outside idea reaches a company, in its own words · checked 2026-10-29
How to pitch a board game to ThinkFun
No stated policy
ThinkFun publishes no policy on outside ideas. It licenses puzzles from outside inventors: Rush Hour from Nob Yoshigahara, and Spin-out and Hexadecimal Puzzle from William Keister.
Read off ThinkFun's own pages on
Where pitches like these are made: SPIEL, the Essen game fair · Ticketautomat, CC BY-SA 4.0
What it has bought from outside
1985
Spin-out, The Cat, The Horse and Hexadecimal Puzzle from inventor William Keister
“The two started the company from the basement of their home in Virginia, with a product base that initially consisted of four games invented by a family friend William Keister (Spin-out, The Cat, The Horse, and Hexadecimal Puzzle).” en.wikipedia.org
Rush Hour from puzzle inventor Nob Yoshigahara
“Rush Hour, invented by Nob Yoshigahara, is a traffic jam –themed board game with 40 puzzles varying in difficulty.” en.wikipedia.org
Network of outside puzzle inventors (Yoshigahara, Scott Kim) from independent inventors
“ThinkFun has relied on a network of the world's premier inventors, including Yoshigahara and Scott Kim, among others, to continue to develop their product line.” en.wikipedia.org
