TL;DR
The BIY brand denotes GSG products that don’t include a box, require assembly, or in some other way may not fit with your normal game-purchasing expectations. We want customers to know that before they make a purchase, and a catchy name and image are a good way to announce that fact.
What is a BIY product?
B.I.Y. (or Box It Yourself) is a branding we use to distinguish certain games and products that include one or more of the following characteristics:
- The product does not include a box or another immediate means of storage.
- The product may require some assembly, such as cutting out pieces, gluing pieces, etc.
- The product may require common game pieces that are not included such as dice, a timer, or a pen and paper.
Why does Goblin Society Games use the B.I.Y. brand?
When you buy a product anywhere, there are some default expectations we all have. A typical board game includes a nice box and everything you need to play it right inside. But for a small company like ourselves, the startup costs for manufacturing a “normal” product like that can be either too high, or high enough that it takes time and resources away from other projects. BIY-style products are our compromise; we put out finished products more quickly, efficiently, and at relatively low cost to the customer by counting on them to handle things like finding a box or cutting pieces out.
Of course, not every customer is interested in a game that requires those extra steps. So we use the BIY branding (the box icon itself) to maintain transparency with potential customers, notifying them in advance when their expectations might not be true of one of our products.
At the same time, by using the BIY branding we also distinguish our products that aren’t BIY. As we grow we hope to release more games and accessories that do include a box, don’t require assembly, etc. We may even remake a BIY game into a version that is not BIY. In short, we want to make clear that not all our products are BIY, so we clearly mark the ones that are.