Game Inventor Alliance

Good evening everyone,

For the past eight months or so, I have been in contact with many table game inventors from across North America. An idea that has come up occasionally is the idea of organizing inventors to work together for mutual benefit. After all, it is hard to compete with giant companies as just an individual inventor.

While obviously inventors are directly/indirectly competing, I think there are a few potential points of cooperation:

Firstly, a mutual agreement not to rip off each others games (if games are coincidentally a bit similar it's okay)
Secondly, jointly maintaining a database of what casino games are where would be beneficial to everyone
Perhaps this group could negotiate lower prices with a felt or sign manufacturer or something if they all agreed to use it

An idea that someone else suggested is that inventors in this union could get commission for helping other members get placements at different casinos.

Does anyone else have any other ideas, or would you like to join such an organization?

It can be an alliance, but in my opinion a "secret society" would be more fun

I'd join such an organization if it filled a need. If I were a freelance designer and your association offered group health plans, you'd have my attention. Find out what your prospective members need and offer them solutions.
Years ago, I was involved in trying to get a trade group going for comic shop owners. Early meetings were well attended, but when dues were declared, we dropped from thirty stores to a dozen or so. We got a meeting with Marvel's business division, and they agreed to give every member a $500 promo kit, and 100% credit for any ads we used that they approved. Suddenly, every shop wanted back in, as the dues were $200 a year. We ended up with fifty-something stores after a year and established an economy of scale that saved us a nice chunk of change. We expanded to almost eighty shops, but then we got blindsided. Our 12 largest stores split off to form their own buying group. Then Marvel changed its trade terms, and about half of our weaker members dropped out, and we no longer got the discounts we once did, and more shops quit.