How to protect a board game idea (mechanics, rules and art)

You can’t usually protect a board game idea or its mechanics on their own. What copyright protects is your rulebook’s wording and your artwork, and a trade mark can protect the game’s name. Most publishers won’t sign an NDA, and designers say that’s normal: publishers see many similar ideas and rely on their reputation. What protects you in practice is a clear, dated design trail: rules versions, prototype photos and playtest notes. Before you send a submission or post publicly, timestamp the rules PDF and prototype files with TimeBinder. A timestamp shows those exact files existed no later than a recorded time. It doesn’t show you invented the mechanic or own it, but it gives you a dated record if timing is ever questioned.

Disclosure: I’m Inna Hall, co-founder of TimeBinder, the file timestamping tool mentioned in this guide. This page is general information, not legal advice.

What’s protectable

• Rule text. The way you have written your rules is protected by copyright automatically.
• Artwork and graphic design. Card art, the board, box art and icons are protected by copyright.
• Name and logo. These can be registered as a trade mark.
• Mechanics. Generally not protected by copyright. Someone else can write their own rules for a similar mechanic.
• Physical components. A genuinely new component might be a registered design or, rarely, a patent. Ask an IP attorney.

This is general information, not legal advice, and the details vary between Australia, the UK, the US and elsewhere.

Why publishers rarely sign NDAs

Publishers receive many submissions, and lots of them overlap. Signing NDAs would expose them to claims every time they release something similar. So most won’t, and that is normal in the industry. Reputable publishers depend on designers trusting them; a good record of what you sent, and when, is your practical safeguard.

Keep a dated design journal

• Each rules version, saved as a PDF with a version number.
• Photos of each prototype, including components and card sets.
• Playtest notes: who played, when, what changed.
• Emails with publishers, playtesters and artists.

For 3D-printed minis and components, see proving a 3D model existed before a date. For a running record of versions, see a dated draft history.

How to protect a board game idea when sending it to a publisher

1. Read the publisher’s submission guidelines and follow them exactly.
2. Export the rules as a PDF and gather prototype photos and your sell sheet.
3. Open TimeBinder and TimeBind them together (one Pooled TimeBind covers up to 10 files). Files are hashed on your own device, which means the app works out a fingerprint of each file, and nothing is uploaded.
4. Send the publisher the same files you TimeBound, so the fingerprints match what they hold.
5. Keep the certificate with the frozen files and note who you sent them to.

If your rules are a PDF, see proving a PDF existed before a date. If you think you have a genuinely new invention, read how to prove you invented something first before showing it to anyone.

The options compared

	Copyright (automatic)	Trade mark	NDA with a publisher	Public dev post (Reddit/BGG)	Timestamp (TimeBind)
Covers mechanics	Generally no	No	Only what’s shared, if signed	No	No
Covers rules text and art	Yes	No	If signed	No	Dates them only
Public date	No	Filing date	No	Yes (public)	Yes (no later than; the file stays private)
Discloses your game	No	Name only	To the signer	To everyone	No (only a fingerprint is recorded)

Which plan fits

The Free plan is $0 and gives you 1 Token a month. A Pooled TimeBind costs 1 Token, covers up to 10 files and is usually recorded within 24 to 48 hours, and often sooner, depending on Bitcoin network activity. An ASAP TimeBind costs 3 Tokens and gets its own Bitcoin transaction straight away. Checking a file is always free, and no credit card is needed for the Free plan.

If you TimeBind more often, Essential is US$20 a month for 5 Tokens ($4 per Token, against $5 pay-as-you-go) and Expert is US$50 a month for 15 Tokens (about $3.33 per Token). Paid plans replace the Free plan’s monthly Token, so Essential adds 4 Tokens for US$20 and Expert adds 14 for US$50. See pricing.

What a timestamp does and doesn’t do

TimeBinder anchors each file’s SHA-256 fingerprint to the Bitcoin blockchain and gives you a Proof of Time Certificate. That is verifiable evidence of when a file existed: it shows the file existed no later than the anchor time, and any later change to the file is detectable. Your file is hashed in your browser and never uploaded. ASAP TimeBinds can be checked independently from the certificate and the Bitcoin blockchain; Pooled TimeBinds are verified through TimeBinder.

It doesn’t show who created the file, whether its contents are true, or whether AI was used to make it, and it can’t tell you how a court or anyone else will treat it. It also doesn’t cover versions you didn’t TimeBind. Pooled TimeBinds are verified through TimeBinder; ASAP TimeBinds can also be verified independently from the certificate and the Bitcoin blockchain. A timestamp doesn’t stop someone making a similar game. It gives you a dated record of what you had.

Plan details were checked against timebinder.io/pricing on 30 October 2026.