If you're considering the licensee program, you probably want to know what actually happens after you sign, not just the pitch. The first 90 days as a licensee follow a fairly predictable pattern: setup, training, your first booked event, and then a stretch where you start building a real calendar. None of it is complicated, but it does take showing up and doing the work.
Here's what that stretch looks like in practice.
What happens before day one?
Before anything launches, you go through the licensee application. This isn't a formality — it's where the company checks that your area makes sense and that you understand what running the games actually involves. You'll talk through your target market, whether that's private events at venues in your area or public ticketed nights, and what territory you'd be covering.
Once you're approved and the agreement is signed, you get access to the game scripts, the booking system, and the brand materials. This is also when you start thinking about venues. You don't need to own a venue — the games are designed to be hosted at a customer's own space for private events, or at a venue you've arranged for public events.
What does week one look like?
Week one is mostly setup and orientation. You'll get logins for the booking platform, a walkthrough of how games are structured, and a first look at the training materials. Most new licensees spend this week reading through a couple of full scripts end to end, just to understand the shape of a game — how it's paced, where the reveals land, how guests are guided through it.
You'll also start setting up your local presence: a booking page, contact details, and whatever local marketing you're planning. This is a good week to look at how public events are listed by city elsewhere, just to see how other licensees present theirs.
How does training work?
Training covers two things: running the game itself, and running the business side. On the game side, you'll learn how to host — how to brief guests, keep the pacing right, and manage the reveal without needing to act or perform. It's a game guests play, not a script you perform at them, so the hosting skill is closer to running a good pub quiz than directing a play.
On the business side, training covers the booking system, pricing structure, and how private bookings differ from public ticketed nights. Most licensees are ready to book their first event somewhere in weeks two to four, once they've sat in on or helped run at least one game.
Do you need acting experience?
No. The games are built so that a confident host who can read a room and keep things moving is far more useful than someone with stage experience. Guests are the ones solving the mystery — your job is to guide the game, not perform it.
When do you book your first event?
Most licensees aim to have a first event booked and run within the first month. Private events tend to be the fastest way in, since you're working with a single customer's venue and guest list rather than selling individual tickets. You can check how private event pricing and availability works to get a feel for how those conversations go with a customer.
Public events take a bit longer to get off the ground because you need a venue partner and enough ticket buyers to make the night work. Many licensees run their first private event before attempting a public one, just to get comfortable hosting before selling tickets to strangers.
What should you expect in the first month of bookings?
The honest answer is that it varies by area, by how much local marketing you do, and by how quickly you get comfortable hosting. What's consistent is the pattern: your first booking usually comes from direct outreach — venues, corporate contacts, or local groups you already know — rather than from cold web traffic. Word of mouth from that first event tends to bring the second and third.
What does month two look like?
By month two, most licensees have run one or two events and are starting to refine their process — how they brief guests, how they set up the room, how they follow up with customers afterward. This is also when public events, if you're pursuing them, start to take shape: booking a venue date, setting a ticket price, and getting the listing live.
It's a good point to lean on the support that comes with the program rather than guessing. If something about a booking or a game isn't working the way you expected, the frequently asked questions page covers a lot of the common snags, and you can always raise something directly through contact us.
What does month three look like?
By day 90, most licensees have a small but real track record: a handful of private events, maybe one public night, and a clearer sense of which type of booking suits their area best. This is usually when the business starts feeling less like a new venture and more like a going concern — you know your pricing, you know your hosting rhythm, and you've got a couple of repeat customers or referrals coming in.
The first 90 days as a licensee aren't about hitting a target number of events. They're about getting the mechanics down — hosting, booking, following up — so that everything after that is repetition and growth rather than figuring things out from scratch.
What comes after the first 90 days?
After that first quarter, the work shifts from setup to expansion: more venues, more public dates, and building out whichever booking type — private or public — is working best in your area. Licensees who keep a steady flow of private bookings while testing public events tend to build the most stable calendar over time.
If you're weighing up whether this is worth pursuing, it's worth reading a few more posts on the blog to see how other licensees have approached their first year. But if you already know your area and you're ready to see whether it fits, the licensee program page has the details on what's included, and the application is the actual next step.