Rules & Guides

Affiliate Disclosure

Affiliate Disclosure — Rules and Guides

Let’s keep this simple: Rules and Guides is an independent site run by six people who love board games way more than we love spreadsheets. We don’t have sponsors, we don’t take payments for reviews, and we don’t have a corporate parent somewhere telling us what to write. This site exists because we enjoy helping people understand, teach, and actually play their games without wanting to throw the rulebook across the room.

That said, websites cost money. Between hosting fees, software, and the constant temptation to buy “just one more game for research,” things add up fast. To keep the lights on (and the meeples neatly organized), we sometimes use affiliate links and display Google AdSense ads.

Here’s what that means, in plain English:

When we link to a game, accessory, or resource — like a copy of Wingspan, a card sleeve set, or a storage insert — that link might be an affiliate link. If you click it and buy something, we might earn a small commission. You don’t pay anything extra. The price is exactly the same for you as it would be if you went directly to the store. The retailer just gives us a small thank-you for sending them a customer.

Those commissions are what help us pay for the boring but necessary stuff: domain renewals, web hosting, backup storage, and the occasional replacement of Thomas’s broken table after an overly enthusiastic Twilight Imperium session. Sometimes it even covers a new game for us to test and write about.

We’re currently partnered with or may occasionally work with the following affiliate networks:

  • Awin (Affiliate Window)

  • FlexOffers

  • Commission Junction (CJ)

  • ShareASale

  • Webgains

We also use Google AdSense to display relevant ads throughout the site. These ads are controlled by Google, not by us, and they help offset some of our ongoing expenses. We don’t control which ads appear, but we do our best to make sure nothing inappropriate or spammy shows up.

What’s important is this:
We never accept payment or free products in exchange for positive coverage. Ever.

If we review a game, it’s because one of us bought it, played it, and had opinions — sometimes too many. When a publisher or retailer sends us a review copy (it happens occasionally), we’ll tell you clearly in the article. And we’ll still be honest. If we think a game’s rules are a nightmare or the box insert was clearly designed by someone who hates people, we’ll say so.

We don’t do “sponsored posts.” We don’t do “collaborations” disguised as articles. We don’t accept money to bump a game higher on a list. That kind of thing might work for influencer marketing, but it doesn’t belong here.

We also don’t let affiliate relationships influence what we write about. In fact, most of the games we cover aren’t even part of affiliate programs. Some are out of print, some are niche titles from small publishers, and some are games we found second-hand at yard sales because Raymond can’t resist a bargain. We write about them because they’re interesting — not because they make us money.

Albert’s guides, for example, often include links to official rule clarifications or community-made resources that don’t earn us a cent. Christine’s articles about party games sometimes link to Etsy stores for printable versions of icebreakers or DIY props. Thomas occasionally links to obscure game databases or free resources for tracking play statistics. Those links exist because they’re useful, not profitable.

The same goes for product recommendations. When we suggest something like a card sleeve brand or a storage solution, it’s because one of us actually uses it. Lawrence’s game collection is basically a museum, so if he recommends a shelving unit or organizer, you can bet he’s tested it with 300 games already. If something’s junk, we’ll say so — even if it means losing a commission.

We believe trust is worth more than clicks. If you don’t trust us, the whole point of this site falls apart. Board gaming is built on community — people teaching each other, sharing rules, swapping strategies — and we want Rules and Guides to feel like that same spirit online. Honest, transparent, and free from the usual marketing nonsense.

Now, a quick note about tracking and privacy: affiliate links use standard tracking cookies so that retailers know which site sent a customer. These cookies don’t collect personal data beyond what’s needed to confirm a referral. You can read the full details in our Privacy Policy (and yes, it’s written in real English, not legalese).

If you ever have questions about how we make money, how a particular link works, or whether we earned anything from a specific recommendation, email us at [email protected]. We’ll happily tell you exactly how it works — and if you’d rather not use affiliate links at all, we can point you to a direct, non-tracked version instead.

To summarize — no fine print, no tricks:

  1. We use affiliate links and ads to help cover costs.

  2. You don’t pay anything extra.

  3. We never take money for positive reviews.

  4. We disclose review copies clearly.

  5. We only recommend stuff we’d actually use or buy.

  6. Transparency always comes first.

We’d rather have readers who trust us than clicks we can’t be proud of. If that means we grow slower, so be it. We built this site because we love games, not because we wanted to turn it into a marketing funnel.

Every guide, every review, every teaching aid on Rules and Guides exists because one of us sat down at a table, played a game, and thought, “People are going to get stuck on this rule — we should explain it better.” That’s what your clicks support: more clear explanations, more honest advice, more ways to help people actually enjoy playing.

Thanks for helping us keep this place running — one game, one guide, and one very honest disclosure at a time.