I guess I would start going to game conventions, where vendors display their wares, and try to get to know some of these people. Gen Con in Indianapolis in late July/early August and Origins in Columbus, OH in late June are the two biggest, and there are many regional conventions that may be worthwhile as well. Get to know the companies and people. Networking and market research.
Also, Magic: the Gathering was commissioned. Peter Adkison asked Richard Garfield for a game that could be played in 30 minutes by two people in line at a convention after Richard Garfield had submitted Roborally. Of course, the submission did not quite fulfill requirements, but as they say, "The gameplay shone through." In this case, M: tG was not unsolicited, but it was the result of an unsolicited submission.
Well, these three companies are bad examples. Looney Labs only produces games by Andrew Looney and his friends. So, you'll have to move to Maryland and work on becoming a friend of Andy. Rio Grande exists to print English versions of European boardgames. I wouldn't say that Jay would never publish your game, but he's running a business by himself and probably doesn't have time to look at "over the transom" submissions. Hasbro will throw away your "over the transom" submission sight unseen, to avoid any legal problems. You'd better have an agent and past credits, or work on the staff of Hasbro to get published there.
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I guess I would start going to game conventions, where vendors display their wares, and try to get to know some of these people. Gen Con in Indianapolis in late July/early August and Origins in Columbus, OH in late June are the two biggest, and there are many regional conventions that may be worthwhile as well. Get to know the companies and people. Networking and market research.
Also, Magic: the Gathering was commissioned. Peter Adkison asked Richard Garfield for a game that could be played in 30 minutes by two people in line at a convention after Richard Garfield had submitted Roborally. Of course, the submission did not quite fulfill requirements, but as they say, "The gameplay shone through." In this case, M: tG was not unsolicited, but it was the result of an unsolicited submission.
Well, these three companies are bad examples. Looney Labs only produces games by Andrew Looney and his friends. So, you'll have to move to Maryland and work on becoming a friend of Andy. Rio Grande exists to print English versions of European boardgames. I wouldn't say that Jay would never publish your game, but he's running a business by himself and probably doesn't have time to look at "over the transom" submissions. Hasbro will throw away your "over the transom" submission sight unseen, to avoid any legal problems. You'd better have an agent and past credits, or work on the staff of Hasbro to get published there.