Chris Backe

Chris Backe (rhymes with hockey) is a game designer and entrepreneur in the board game industry. Born near Chicago, IL, USA, he designed his first game at 10 years old. After graduating college with a Business Administration degree in 2004, Chris taught English in South Korea, which gave him a deep desire to travel and allowed him to be a travel blogger for a time. After meeting and marrying a Canadian woman in South Korea, they became digital nomads in 2013. Chris continued to write a travel blog and published dozens of travel guides along the way. He began designing tabletop games more seriously in 2016 and connecting with the broader industry. After selling his travel blog in 2018, he began to edit, proofread, and develop other designers games alongside his own. Chris went full-time in the board game industry in 2021, and as of December 2022, Chris has 15 games signed with publishers (with more coming soon). Beyond designing games, Chris is an entrepreneur in the board game space. In 2020, shortly after COVID locked down the world, he co-founded Virtual Playtesting (a Discord server for online playtesting) In 2021, he launched TabletopPublishers.com (a service to help designers pitch publishers better). In 2022, he launched No Box Games with two partners to make print-and-play games with no assembly required. Their first game, Spies, was funded by over 2,000 backers. Another of his projects is over at PrereleaseGames.com (a way to help designers grow their following). Chris is based in Birmingham, England along with his wife. His Kallax is full of games and game components to use in future games, and is active in several board game playtesting communities. When not designing or playtesting board games, you might find him on the tennis court, at the gym, or possibly doing yoga.