Growing Up With University Games: 20 Years and Still Playing

The University Games case chronicles the board game company’s early formation and growth, and culminates in two issues often faced by business owners: (a) what to do about the over-dependence that the company has developed with its founder/CEO, and (b) what are the possible exit options worth pursuing. The case describes University Games’ founding by two friends after graduating, its internal and market-facing growing pains, periods in which each of the two founders left the company, a buy-back of shares from a VC investor, and culminates in the emergence of exit opportunities. The narrative concludes with the CEO questioning whether he should court a financial investor or strategic acquirer, or even consider the options of a public offering and of a leveraged re-capitalization for the company.