anvilJoin the waitlist

Board Game Design Workbench

Where boardgames
are forged.

Anvil gives indie designers the analytical and launch tooling that professional studios take for granted — so great games stop dying in spreadsheets.

Free during alpha · No credit card required

The problem

Great game design doesn't fail at the table — it fails in the tooling gap.

73%

of funded Kickstarter games ship with at least one critical balance issue flagged post-launch.

6 mo.

Average time a solo designer spends in spreadsheet purgatory before a game reaches playtesting.

$0

The budget most indie designers have for the analytics infrastructure that professional studios rely on.

The product

Three modules. One integrated workflow.

Module 01

Design Companion

Front door

Tell Anvil what you're building. It reads your notes and gives you honest critique — specific, mathematical, and direct.

  • ✓Accepts PDF, Markdown, spreadsheet, or free-text
  • ✓AI critique: cost-curve, ability gaps, runaway-leader risk
  • ✓Milestone checklist tied to your design stage
  • ✓Feeds directly into the Balancing Engine

Module 02

Balancing Engine

Technical core

Tune your mechanics without guesswork. Simulate thousands of plays, spot broken interactions, and adjust without starting over.

  • ✓Cost-curve and action economy scoring
  • ✓Monte Carlo simulation across N games and player counts
  • ✓Win-condition reachability analysis
  • ✓AI-applied adjustments with full diff review

Module 03

GTM Module

Launch layer

A step-by-step launch path built for indie creators — not publishers. From prototype to Kickstarter, with templates at every stage.

  • ✓BGG, Reddit, and Discord community templates
  • ✓Kickstarter page generator: story, video script, reward tiers
  • ✓Playtester recruiting toolkit
  • ✓Stage-aware nudges based on your timeline

How it works

From messy notes to funded campaign.

01

Upload anything

Drop in your mechanics doc, card list, or rough notes. Companion parses whatever format you use.

02

Get specific critique

Anvil surfaces mathematical imbalances: cost-curve outliers, action-economy gaps, win-condition dead ends.

03

Run simulations

The Balancing Engine runs thousands of Monte Carlo games across player counts and flags statistical failures.

04

Apply or review

Accept AI-generated adjustments with a diff review, or take the data and adjust manually. You stay in control.

05

Launch with confidence

When you're ready, the GTM module generates your Kickstarter page, community posts, and playtester outreach.

Pricing

Free during alpha. Fair pricing after.

Anvil is free for all designers during our alpha phase. Pricing will be set after the beta — with input from the community that helped build it.

All-in-one

Full access to all three modules

$39 / mo

Tiered

Companion $9 · Balancing $29 · GTM add-on

from $9 / mo

Freemium

Companion free, paid Balancing + GTM

Free Companion

Final pricing set at Month 3 beta — early waitlist members get input and a founder discount.

Built by designers, for designers

We're indie designers who felt this pain firsthand.

Anvil started because we were spending more time in Excel than at the table. Our unfair advantage: direct access to the design community, and no tolerance for tools that don't respect the craft.

BGDF

Board Game Designers Forum

r/tabletopgamedesign

Reddit community

BGG Forums

BoardGameGeek design threads

Protospiel

Regional playtesting events

Early access

Your game deserves better than a spreadsheet.

Join the waitlist. We're onboarding the first 50 designers now.