Sell Async Feedback as a Strategy Game Coach

Strategy game coaches sell async feedback by replacing free DM replies with a priced Paid Question for a single quick question and a custom request for a full game, replay, or draft review. Followers pay upfront, submit their question or game file, and the coach responds by text, voice, or written notes on their own schedule. Custom Work lets you offer clearly scoped commissions and services: you set the price, the scope and the delivery time, and followers submit a brief and pay before you start.

Paid Questions let a follower pay upfront to ask one private question, and you send one written reply on your own time — no live call or scheduling. Use Custom Work when the review needs a full game, replay, decklist, draft, screenshot set, or file.

No monthly fee, you only pay a small platform fee when you get paid. 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work, 5% platform fee on tips and goals. Card processing is separate. pricing

Coaches and serious players of strategy games run into the same free-labor pattern no matter which game they play: someone sends a screenshot, a replay file, or a decklist and asks “what should I have done here?” A Discord DM, a forum reply, or a stream-chat message feels small until the coach’s inbox becomes the unpaid part of the job. The pattern is not unique to gaming, either — instrument teachers face the same free-feedback drain from recorded practice clips.

The strategy-game communities are real, but the numbers below measure game revenue, membership, or sales — not demand for paid coaching. Hasbro reported that MAGIC: THE GATHERING revenue was up 59% versus the prior year in fiscal 2025, its strongest year ever, in the Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 results release filed with the SEC on February 10, 2026 (Hasbro, Q4/FY2025 press release, Exhibit 99.1).

"Wizards was a standout, anchored by record MAGIC revenue."

— Gina Goetter, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Hasbro, in Hasbro's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results release, February 10, 2026

Other strategy-game communities publish their own numbers rather than sharing one benchmark. Chess.com announced on February 27, 2026 that it had reached 250 million members (Chess.com, "Chess.com Reaches 250 Million Members"). CATAN GmbH states that more than 45 million CATAN games were sold worldwide between 1995 and Q1 2025, in over 40 languages (CATAN GmbH, About Us). Market-research firm Mordor Intelligence estimates the global board games market at $18.95 billion in 2026, growing to $30.06 billion by 2031 at a 9.67% compound annual rate (Mordor Intelligence, Global Board Games Market). That estimate sizes tabletop games as a commercial category. It does not say how many Go, chess, Catan, or StarCraft II players will buy coaching.

On Brillay, a client opens your page, chooses the priced review or question, sends the details you ask for, and pays by card as a guest before you start work (how it works).

What does "selling async feedback" mean for a strategy game coach?

Selling async feedback means charging for game or match analysis without booking a live call. A client sends the position, question, replay, VOD, decklist, or screenshot set, and you send back the written answer or one-time review later, inside the delivery time you chose.

The same setup works whether the game is Magic: The Gathering, Go, Catan, Twilight Imperium, StarCraft II, Age of Empires, Hearthstone, or a chess variant. The examples change — a mulligan decision instead of an opening move, or a build order instead of an endgame plan — but clients still need a clear price, scope, delivery time, and boundary. Chess-specific pricing and framing have their own dedicated coverage in how chess coaches make money and charging for game strategy questions; this page covers the setup that carries across strategy games beyond chess. The split between a question and a file-based review also shows up outside gaming, such as selling feedback on a candidate's mock interview performance.

What's the quickest way to answer a strategy question?

The quickest way to charge for one strategy answer is Paid Question: one private question, one written answer — clients pay upfront, and you reply in writing within the window you set. You can decline a request.

Paid Questions fit questions a client can fully describe in words: “Was expanding to a third base here too greedy?” “Should I have kept this land in my opening hand?” “Is this trap sound against a Sicilian setup?” A Paid Question carries the typed question and your written reply, so anything that depends on seeing the actual position — the board, the replay, the opening hand — belongs in Custom Work, where the client attaches the file with the brief.

When does a full game or replay review need to be a paid service?

Use Custom Work when a client needs to send a replay, match VOD, decklist, screenshots, or draft log for a scoped paid review. You set the price, scope and delivery time before the client pays, and send one finished delivery. Brillay lets you choose a custom request delivery time up to 5 days.

What should a strategy-game feedback listing include?

Before payment, spell out the accepted file, one-game scope, deliverable, delivery time, exclusions, and outcome boundary; the listing and submitted brief then provide a written record if a client disputes what was promised. That way, the client knows what they are buying before you start.

• Input — name the exact file type, not “your game.” Go coaches can ask for a Smart Game Format record, the text-based standard for storing two-player board-game records, whose current published version is FF4. StarCraft II coaches can ask for the .SC2Replay file that Blizzard's own open-source s2protocol library decodes for all retail-version replays. Chess coaches can accept a game URL instead of a file, since Lichess publishes rated games to a free open database in PGN format that listed 8,038,784,095 standard rated games (lichess.org open database).
• Scope — one unit of play. One game, one draft, or one decision point keeps the order small enough to price and finish.
• Deliverable — say what the buyer receives. With Custom Work, you can deliver text plus files of any allowed type and/or a link. Paid Questions are one typed question and one written reply.
• Delivery time — pick a number you can actually keep. Brillay lets you set delivery time up to 5 days, so 24, 48, 72, and up to 5 days are practical choices.
• Exclusions — list what is not included. Say if the review does not include a second game, rules explanation, meta commentary, or tier-list advice.
• Outcome boundary — feedback on decisions. Do not sell a guaranteed rating jump, rank climb, or tournament result.

Two example listings that meet those conditions: “One written breakdown of one submitted .SC2Replay file, up to 30 minutes of play, covering the three biggest decision points; delivered in 72 hours; does not include a second game or ongoing coaching.” And: “One annotated SGF review of one submitted Go game up to 200 moves, with a short recorded summary; delivered in up to 5 days; does not include opening-repertoire planning.”

How much should async strategy-game coaching cost?

No public data set prices for async strategy-game feedback, so a coach should price by scope and delivery time rather than by rank alone. The nearest public benchmark is instructional pay: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $43,350 for tutors in May 2025 (BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook — Tutors), a full-time employee figure rather than a per-review price.

"The median annual wage for tutors was $43,350 in May 2025."

— U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Tutors

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also projects employment of tutors to show little or no change from 2025 to 2035 (BLS). A flat employment projection for hourly instruction is one reason to price a scoped, one-off deliverable instead of assuming more lesson hours will appear on their own. Spread across a standard 2,080-hour work year, the BLS median wage of $43,350 works out to roughly $21 per hour before taxes and expenses — arithmetic on a salary figure, not a benchmark for expert game analysis.

The sample tiers below are illustrative structures, not earnings claims or observed Brillay prices. You set every price yourself.

It also helps when the client does not have to bounce between DMs, a payment app, and a file link. Baymard Institute's aggregation of 50 published cart-abandonment studies puts the average documented online cart-abandonment rate at 70.22%. With Brillay, clients open your link, choose the priced offer, pay by card as guests, and send the details from the same page. They do not need an account to buy.

US-based coaches should also price with tax in mind: the IRS states that a person must file a tax return with net earnings from self-employment of $400 or more from gig work, even if the work is a side job, part-time, or temporary (IRS, Manage taxes for your gig work). Coaches outside the United States report paid feedback income under their own country's self-employment rules instead, and thresholds vary by country.

What other offers fit a strategy-game coach's page?

A strategy-game coach's page can carry several one-time offers at once. Brillay supports Personalized Videos, Tips, Goals, and Brand Collaboration Inquiries alongside Paid Questions and Custom Work, so the paid review can stay narrow instead of becoming the place for every message.

• Personalized Videos: Personalized Videos let a follower pay for a custom video, such as a tournament good-luck message or congratulations.
• Tips: Tips let followers send a one-time thank-you, with nothing for you to deliver and no membership for them to join.
• Goals: Goals can help with a defined project, such as a coaching-notes library or a tournament-travel goal.
• Brand Collaboration Inquiries: Brand Collaboration Inquiries is a “Work with Me” form on your Brillay page that collects a brand’s budget, timeline, and deliverables into a separate brand inbox.

Keeping the core feedback offer scoped to game or match analysis prevents unrelated requests — merch questions, sponsorship pitches, general encouragement — from landing inside a review listing that was priced for analysis.

Does async paid feedback work the same for chess as for other strategy games?

Selling async feedback works the same way for chess as for every other strategy game: Paid Questions handle the situations a client can describe in text, and Custom Work handles submitted replays, decklists, screenshots, VODs, or game files. Only the examples change from title to title, and chess already has dedicated coverage of its own.

Charging for game strategy questions covers the quick-question format in more depth, and how chess coaches make money covers the wider chess-coaching income picture, including lessons, club programs, and tournaments alongside direct client payments. For a walkthrough built specifically around a submitted PGN or game link, see selling a chess game analysis online. This page is the version for coaches whose audience plays Magic: The Gathering, Go, Catan, StarCraft II, Age of Empires, or another strategy title where a chess-specific breakdown would not fit the examples.

How do you get an async feedback offer live?

Getting an async feedback offer live takes four decisions and no application. Decide whether the usual request is a describable question or a file-based review, set the price, set a delivery time inside Brillay's 5-day limit, and write the input format and exclusions into the listing before you share it.

You do not need a large following or a top ladder rank to start: Brillay has no follower minimum or application, so begin with the strategy question clients already ask you in DMs. Tournament organizers, publishers, Discord servers, community forums, and leagues can still set their own rules on paid coaching promotion, so check the community rules before posting an offer there.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a high rank or rating to open paid reviews?

Paid Questions and Custom Work are open to coaches of any rank or rating, regardless of certification. Clients may still care about your experience in their game and skill level, so describe your background and results accurately instead of implying a credential you do not hold.

Should this be a paid question or a custom order?

Use Paid Questions when the client can describe the situation fully in text, such as a single decision point or rules question. Use Custom Work when the client needs to send a replay file, match VOD, decklist, or screenshot set, or when the review runs longer than a quick written answer. Brillay lets you set Custom Work delivery time up to 5 days.

Can a client attach a replay file or screenshot to a Paid Question?

No. Any request that depends on an attached file belongs in Custom Work instead.

What does Brillay charge?

Brillay's platform fee is stated in full near the top of this page and on the pricing page. Payment-processing fees are deducted separately from creator earnings; Stripe's public US domestic online-card pricing is 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge (Stripe Pricing), with different rates for international cards and currency conversion. There is no follower minimum or application gate, clients do not need an account to pay, and creator payouts are available in 41 supported countries through Stripe.

Create your free Brillay page