Chris Backe

Chris Backe (rhymes with hockey) is a board game designer, entrepreneur, and athlete.

In 2020, shortly after COVID locked down the world, he co-founded Virtual Playtesting (a Discord server for online playtesting). In 2021, he launched Tabletop Publishers (a service to help designers pitch publishers better). In 2022, he founded No Box Games with two partners to make print-and-play games with no assembly required. In 2025, he founded Puzzlerun to combine a 5km run with escape-room-style puzzles.

Today, Chris is based in Birmingham, England along with his wife. His Kallax is full of games and game components to use in future games, and is active in several board game playtesting communities. When not designing or playtesting board games, you might find him on a running track, at the gym, or possibly doing yoga.