Who we are

BoardGameBoys is a Finnish board game company. We make games born out of northern evenings and meant for the whole table, not just for gamers.

We are a young studio doing this the modern way. Design, quality control and sales all happen around the same table, without the old playbook and without needless middlemen.

Our story

Everything good starts at a table people want to come back to.

We didn't start this for the sake of one game. Our aim is to be the best game studio in the Nordics, and we measure that one way: by how many game nights run longer than anyone intended. PORO is our first attempt at it, and the next ones are already on the table.

PORO was played for the first time almost ten years ago. No rulebook, no plan, just dice, a group of friends and an evening that ran long. After that the game travelled to parties and summer cottages, and the dark evenings of the north eventually gave it its shape.

In 2026 we founded BoardGameBoys Oy so the game could reach other people's tables. It is still the same game, only printed now, with proper components and a rulebook.

Read the story of PORO (opens in a new tab)

Founders

Arvo Alanko

Arvo Alanko

Operations and partnerships

Runs the company side and looks after retailers and partners, so that a game born at one table finds its way to everyone else's.

Tommi Rahkonen

Tommi Rahkonen

Design and new games

Designs the games and makes sure the next prototype is already on the table before the previous one reaches the shop.

How a game is made

Between an idea and a finished box lies a large pile of game nights. Four things decide whether a game ever goes on sale.

  • Atmosphere first

    A game starts from a feeling, not a mechanic. First we know what experience we want, then we build the rules around it.

  • Playtesting

    Dozens of sessions and unfamiliar tables. A rule that has to be explained twice never makes it into the rulebook. A five-year-old and a grandparent have to hold their own at the same table, or the game isn't finished.

  • Components

    Thick board, proper dice and printing that doesn't wear out with use. Every batch is inspected in Finland before the game goes on sale.

  • Our own shop

    The game is sold and shipped straight from us, no middlemen. Email is answered by the person who made the game.