Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Leder
Hi Patrick, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Sure!
From a very early age I have liked games, particularly board games. There were not a lot of options back then, but I did my best with many of the classic games. During the summers off in elementary school I would spend a lot of time modifying other people’s board games.
During the 80s we subscribed to Games Magazine and the reviews in it exposed me to many different types of games. In addition my older brother Howard played Dungeons and Dragons, which I eventually took from him and started playing. Sometime after college a friend returned from a study abroad in Austria and introduced us to a game called Settlers of Catan. It was fresh, invigorating, and like nothing I had ever played before. I had to understand what made it tick.
Around 2000 a friend of mine that was taking a gap year from college was experimenting with game design. During a staycation at my house that summer he showed me how to make a board game. I was hooked and started building a portfolio of little projects. I worked as a programmer at Macalester college at the time, but after hours I would pursue game design. Eventually a publisher published a game of mine in 2011.
Meeting little success, I kept working on my skills. I saved money in an attempt to print my own game and take a shot at publishing. Around this time Kickstarter was becoming larger and larger. I tried Kickstarting a game in 2013. It was a very small success but it helped me learn how to complete publishing a board game.
In 2015 two things happened to me. A game came into my life from designer David Someville named Vast: The Crystal Caverns. After some going back and forth I was able to bring the game on to wrap up the design as well as to act as the publisher. Also at that time I realized my interests at Macalester were waning. I decided to strike out on my own.
We ran a Kickstarter campaign later that year for Vast and pulled in a now modest 160,000. After releasing the game we did another Kickstarter for it and pulled in 600,000. At this point I was able to start bringing on staff and I was able to grow Leder Games very quickly.
In 2018 we had a massive breakout success in a game called Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right. Vast has sold around 25,000 copies. Root handily sold through 100,000 its first year.
Now here in 2025 Leder Games has grown to 17 people and last year we enjoyed over twelve million in revenue.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not at all. When we started the company I had a baby and spouse at home. It was a hard time to go down to a pretty limited income. We also had to buy insurance. I worked a few contracts to make ends meet. I was working all day programming, coming home to spend some time with my family, and then switching over to games at night. It was terribly stressful and sometimes I would have headaches for days, but I endured.
This is a hard space to break into. The market is relatively new and has transformed from being games built for hobbyists to a growing casual market in a very short period of time. There are many questions about how to design, produce, and market games we had to answer ourselves along the way. Some of our peers share information but this information can be hard to apply to the very different situations we are in.
As you know, we’re big fans of Leder Games. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We at Leder Games design, develop, and produce board games focused on generating an emergent narrative. We want our players to be able to tell complex stories with the tools we give them, stories we hadn’t even imagined. We layer an ambitious mix of grounded mechanics, high concepts, and gorgeous illustrations in the hope we make someone’s favorite game.
Our best seller by far is a game called Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right. In Root each player controls a faction of anthropomorphic woodland creatures that is fighting for control of the woods. Each faction plays differently. The Cats for instance are building up their economy of wood harvesting by controlling the forest, while the Woodland Alliance is leading a revolt against the other factions.
Root has been printed in 18 languages and a million copies have been produced. We have it in the smallest of game stores worldwide as well as one large retailer.
We are all very proud of Root.
At Leder Games we also emphasize a very creative studio first approach. While the majority of our peers are working with designs from outside the company most of our work starts inside of the company. We employ people involved in every aspect of the creation of the game. This studio approach allows us to integrate all parts of the process. Our illustrator is involved in the earlier stages of design and our graphic designers can be on hand to create the spaces we will play in throughout the process. In this way when we are done our games feel very lived in and every piece of the game is designed in reach.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Games are a great way to build relationships and intimacy between friends and family. You can leave your competitive nature behind and focus on building a story with the people around you. Like life, in the end it is about the journey and not the destination.
Pricing:
- Root Board Game – $60
- Fort Card Game – $30
- Ahoy Board Game – $40
- Arcs Board Game – $60
- Oath Board Game – $120
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ledergames.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ledergames/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LederGames
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ledergamesmedia
- Other: https://bsky.app/profile/leder.games
