Rob Sparks
Creative Director
Hey buddy, my name’s Rob, and I’m the Creative Director of Board Game Bud – the chap behind the game designs, community, and marketing guff.
What started out as a hobby soon became a passion; after years of playing tabletop games, I decided to have a crack at designing them. Fast forward a year, and that went well beyond my expectations – with a mass-market game signed for a publishing deal, and winning multiple contests. I knew all that time ‘wasted’ playing games would come in useful… eventually.
Easily the best part of my job is introducing new players to some awesome games, and watching their faces light up. Between the out-pour of support from the community over on Instagram (@boardgamebud), and the wickedly talented hobby game designers I’ve met in competitions and at conventions, I feel lucky to be in such a supportive niche.
Wanna collaborate, meet up at a board game cafe, or just chat games? You can always find me at rob@boardgamebud.com, or direct message me on the @boardgamebud Instagram.
Tom Parker
Managing Director
Hi, I’m Tom and I’ll be working with Rob to make the Board Game Bud business a reality as the Managing Director. My main function here will be to handle everything ‘business’, and really free up Rob to focus on the ‘creative’ side of what we do. This means that I’ll be the guy ultimately responsible for handling any partnership opportunities, supplier and customer relations and making sure the business is well-oiled from a financial/legal perspective.
I’ve been working primarily in IT hardware and B2B software over the last 8 years since I met Rob at Plymouth Uni, and have worked with some big names in the IT industry. Rob and I also had a crack at a start-up business a few years back which never quite got off the ground, due to us both moving on to begin our salaried careers after Uni. This venture with Board Game Bud is a reincarnation of our previous partnership, and big departure from the industry I’m used to, but as an avid computer-gamer and novice board-gamer I’m super excited to get involved!
If you’d like to chat with me about a commercial relationship opportunity, my (virtual) door is always open and I’d love to have that discussion – pop me an email on tom@boardgamebud.com.
Chris Kingsnorth
Community Director
Welcome; thanks for stopping by! I’m Chris, the Community Director at Board Game Bud.
I’m keen to know how you feel about tabletop gaming and how we can help to make a great hobby better for everybody. Is there something that we could do to improve gaming for you? Are there excellent designers who are being under-represented? Do you think that games should be marketed differently?
A sense of community got me into the hobby; as a doctor I sometimes stay in hospital accommodation, and board games have provided an opportunity to relax with colleagues after a busy day. The enthusiasm of the community inspired me to start designing games; without this spark I wouldn’t have organised Nottingham Protospiel or created the 10 Minute Design Challenge. Without community, I would never have met Rob or Tom or had the chance to be part of Board Game Bud. We want to give back, and you can help.
I would love to hear from you; just drop me a line at chris@boardgamebud.com. You can also find me on Instagram (@tabletopapprentice) where I post about game design. Bye for now!