The Event Planner's Guide to Branded Game Hire: What It Is, How It Works, and Whether It's Worth It

One page is selling logo-printed Monopoly sets as corporate giveaways. Another is offering browser-based marketing games designed for email campaigns. A third is showing you photos of giant arcade machines wrapped in company branding at trade show stands.

These are three completely different things, and the difference matters when you're trying to brief stakeholders, request a quote, or build a business case internally.

This guide is about the third one: hiring physical, interactive games that can be wrapped in your branding for live events. We've been supplying branded games to UK corporate clients since 2009, working with brands including Rolls-Royce, Virgin Media O2, Baylis & Harding, and many more household brands. Over that time we've answered the same set of questions hundreds of times; what it actually is, how the process works, what it costs, and whether it's worth the investment.

Here's everything you need to know before you make the call.

What Is Branded Game Hire?

Branded game hire is the process of renting an interactive physical game for a live event and customising it with your logo, brand colours, messaging and artwork. The game arrives at your venue fully wrapped in your branding, gets used by guests during the event, and is collected afterwards. The branding is removed and the game returns to the supplier's stock, ready to be re-branded for the next client.

It sits at the intersection of event entertainment and experiential marketing. The game gives people a reason to stop, engage and spend time with your brand. The branding makes sure that engagement reinforces who you are rather than disappearing into generic event amusement.

It's worth being clear about what branded game hire isn't, because the surrounding terminology causes a lot of confusion at the briefing stage:

It isn't branded promotional merchandise

The small logo-printed games you'd buy in bulk as giveaways or goodie bag fillers. Those are products you keep; branded game hire is an experience you rent.

It isn't digital branded games or advergames

The browser-based interactive experiences that marketing teams use for email campaigns, social activations or microsites. Those are software builds that live online; branded game hire is a physical kit that lives at your event.

It isn't unbranded game hire

The same equipment is hired without customisation, typically for private parties or weddings where there's no marketing benefit to plastering a logo across it.

Knowing which of these you actually need will save you time when you're scoping suppliers and building your budget.

Common Types of Games Available for Branding

Most physical games hired for live events fall into one of a few broad categories, and each works differently in terms of footprint, audience appeal and how the branding sits.

Reaction games

Games like Batak Pro, Batak Lite, Snatch It and Strike a Light are fast, competitive and visually arresting. Flashing lights and digital scoring make them strong crowd-drawers from a distance, which is why they're a staple of exhibition stands.

Prize games

Games like the Prize Wheel, Cash Grabber, Prize Crane, and Crack the Code Safe Cracker have a built-in prize mechanic, which makes them particularly useful when you want a natural reason to capture data ("leave your details to claim your prize").

Arcade games

Retro arcade cabinets, racing simulators, dance machines and basketball hoops are higher-impact attractions that work best in larger spaces. They draw bigger crowds and create more atmosphere, but they need the floor area and power to support them.

Steady hand and skill games

Games like Buzz Wire and The Vault are accessible to all ages and abilities, encourage repeat plays, and work well in tighter footprints where the bigger arcade kit won't fit.

Traditional and giant games

These include games like Whack a Mole, High Striker, Roll & Bowl and Table Football have broad appeal across mixed audiences, which makes them a sensible choice for fun days, family-facing brand activations and public-facing events.

Photo Booths and Magic Mirrors

Although these aren't strictly games, they get grouped in because they're highly brandable and produce a take-home asset; branded photo prints that guests share on social media after the event, extending your reach beyond the venue.

How Branded Game Hire Works: The End-to-End Process

The process is more involved than simply picking a game from a website and turning up on the day. Knowing the stages in advance helps you plan realistic timelines, brief your design team early and avoid the last-minute rush that adds stress to event delivery.

Step 1 — Brief and Game Selection

Everything starts with a conversation about your event. A good supplier will ask about the venue, the date, the audience, the size of your space, your budget, and most importantly your objective. Are you trying to drive footfall to a stand? Capture leads? Create dwell time for sales conversations? Reinforce brand identity at an internal event? Generate shareable social content?

Your objective shapes the recommendation. A stand prioritising volume lead capture needs a different game from one designed to slow down qualified prospects for longer conversations. We've covered this in detail in our guide to choosing exhibition stand games that actually generate leads, which is worth reading alongside this article if lead generation is your primary goal.

This consultative stage is where the difference between a good and average supplier shows up. Be wary of anyone who jumps straight to "which game would you like to hire" without understanding what you're trying to achieve.

Step 2 — Quote and Booking

Once you've agreed on the right game or combination of games, you'll receive a quote. A complete quote should break down hire fees, branding costs, delivery, setup, collection, and any optional extras like staffing or branded leaderboards. If a quote bundles everything into a single line with no breakdown, ask for itemised costs;  it makes it much easier to flex the spec later if budgets shift.

Lead times matter here. For most branded games, you'll want to book and confirm artwork two to three weeks before the event to allow time for branding production. For peak periods like December, the major NEC and ExCeL exhibitions; book six to eight weeks ahead at minimum. The best suppliers' calendars fill up quickly, particularly for the most popular games.

Step 3 — Artwork Submission and Branding Production

Once you've paid your deposit, the supplier will send you branding templates and guides for your chosen game. These tell your design team exactly what dimensions to work to and which areas of the game can be branded; typically things like full game wraps, side panels, header boards, plinths, magnetic leaderboards and sometimes branded prize tokens.

Most clients supply print-ready vector files and brand guidelines. If you don't have in-house design resources, most reputable suppliers offer a design service as a chargeable add-on. Either way, you'll be sent digital mockups for sign-off before anything goes to print.

It's worth checking that your supplier handles printing and application in-house rather than outsourcing it. In-house production gives you better turnaround, fewer chains of communication when changes are needed, and tighter quality control.

Step 4 — Delivery, Setup and Event Day

On event day, the supplier delivers the game to your venue, sets it up, and gives your team an operational handover so you know how to run it. If your team is going to be busy with sales conversations, you can usually book the supplier's staff to operate the game throughout the event as an additional service.

Venue logistics matter more than people expect. The NEC, ExCeL London, Olympia and Manchester Central all have specific build-up schedules, loading bay access procedures and power arrangements. Suppliers who deliver to these venues regularly already know the details that can otherwise eat hours of your event day.

After the event, the supplier returns to de-rig and collect. The branding is one-time-use vinyl, which means it gets removed after each hire, so the same game you've branded today will be branded for someone else's event next week.

How Much Does Branded Game Hire Cost?

Most suppliers in this space hide their pricing behind "request a quote" forms, which makes early-stage budgeting frustrating. We publish ours, and we'd encourage anyone serious about branded game hire to push suppliers for indicative ranges before investing time in a detailed brief.

Game hire base rates typically span a wide range depending on the type and scale of the game. Compact reaction games and steady hand games like Buzz Wire usually sit at the lower end. Mid-range options like Batak Pro, Prize Wheels and the Vault Game cluster in the middle. Larger arcade kit, racing simulators and bespoke combinations sit at the top end and can run well into four figures per day.

Branding adds a separate cost on top of the hire fee, which depends on how much of the game you're wrapping. A header-only print is less expensive than a full game wrap with side panels, plinth and branded leaderboard. If you supply print-ready artwork the cost stays lower; if you need design support, factor in additional design hours.

Other variables to budget for include delivery distance from the supplier's base, multi-day hire periods, optional staffing, and add-ons like branded scoreboards, social pods or step-and-repeat backdrops.

For a sense of scale: a single mid-range branded game with a full wrap is usually a few hundred pounds in total. A multi-game branded activation for a large exhibition stand or brand activation can run into the low thousands once you factor in everything. The honest answer to "what does it cost" is always "it depends", but a good supplier will give you indicative figures within the first conversation rather than making you wait for a formal quote.

Is Branded Game Hire Worth It? Five Honest Considerations

The honest answer is that it depends on what you're trying to achieve and what kind of event you're running. There are situations where branded game hire delivers genuine return, and situations where the same budget would work harder somewhere else.

When Branded Game Hire Is Worth It

• It works best in high-footfall environments where you're competing for attention. Trade shows, exhibitions, brand activations, festivals, freshers' fairs, shopping centre takeovers; anywhere passing visitors need a reason to stop. A game gives them that reason in a way that a static stand or a polite team handing out leaflets simply can't.
• It works when dwell time is the goal. A visitor playing a three-minute game on your stand is three minutes of undivided brand exposure. That's more attention than most digital ads receive in a year, and it happens in person, with your team standing alongside ready to talk.
• It works for lead generation events where data capture needs a natural mechanic. "Spin the wheel — leave your details to claim your prize" converts far better than a bowl of business cards on a table. The Prize Wheel and Crack the Code Safe Cracker are both popular for exactly this reason.
• It works at internal events where you want to reinforce brand identity beyond another presentation. Company milestones, internal product launches, summer parties and client hospitality all benefit from branded entertainment that creates genuine enjoyment rather than another slide deck.

When You Might Not Need It

Branded game hire isn't always the right answer.

• Small private events and weddings - these rarely benefit from custom branding. Unbranded hire delivers the same fun without any marketing premium.
• Highly transactional B2B buyer events - where senior decision-makers want efficient one-on-one conversations sometimes work better with an environment that signals seriousness rather than play. Read the room: a game can be a brilliant icebreaker for a tech expo audience and a distraction at a closed-door procurement summit.
• Tight budgets where the branding spend would be better used elsewhere — better stand graphics, more staff on the day, or post-event follow-up tooling — sometimes call for unbranded hire instead. The game still does its job; you just save the branding cost.
• Brand fit is the most common worry we hear -  particularly from professional services, finance, technology and legal brands concerned that a game will look unprofessional. The honest answer is that it depends on the game, the branding execution and the wider stand environment. We've covered this objection in more depth in our exhibition stand games guide.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Branded Game Hire

Choosing a great game is only half the work. The brands that get the strongest return from branded game hire treat the game as a strategic tool rather than a decorative add-on, and there are a handful of small decisions that compound into much better results.

Match the game to your audience and objective rather than picking the flashiest option. A racing simulator that draws crowds at a consumer brand activation might be wrong for a senior B2B audience that responds better to a Prize Wheel and a sales conversation.

Position your stand layout around the game. Place the game at the front, facing the main aisle, so passing visitors can see the action without stepping onto your stand — curiosity does the rest. Set your sales conversation area slightly behind the game so visitors are warmed up and in a positive frame of mind by the time your team approaches.

Build a data capture mechanic into the game itself. The "leave your details to claim your prize" approach converts far better than treating data capture as a separate ask. Print the QR code or sign-up prompt onto the game branding so it's part of the experience rather than an afterthought.

Use leaderboards and prize mechanics to create dwell time and repeat plays. People come back to beat their score, which means more brand exposure and more conversation opportunities for your team.

Brief your team to use the game as a conversation opener. "How did you do?" is a far better opening than "Can I tell you about our products?" The game has already broken the ice; your team just needs to step in.

Photograph and film the activation throughout the day. Branded games create natural social content for post-event marketing and case studies, which gives you ongoing return long after the event is over.

Choosing the Right Branded Game Hire Supplier

Most planners only hire branded games once or twice a year, which makes it hard to develop a sense of who's good and who isn't. A few practical due-diligence questions cut through the marketing and tell you whether a supplier is set up to deliver what they promise.

Ask whether they handle branding in-house or outsource it. In-house design, print and application is faster, cheaper and tighter on quality control. Outsourced branding adds extra hands, longer timelines and more potential failure points.

Ask whether they own their equipment or sub-hire from other suppliers. Owned kit means better-maintained equipment, more reliable availability and no chain of dependencies if something needs to be swapped at the last minute.

Confirm public liability insurance and PAT testing on all electrical equipment. These are non-negotiable for corporate venues and shouldn't need to be asked twice.

Check their familiarity with the venue you're attending. Suppliers who deliver to the NEC, ExCeL, Olympia, ICC Birmingham and Manchester Central regularly already know the access requirements, build-up schedules and power arrangements.

Look for transparent published pricing rather than "POA" gatekeeping. Suppliers who hide pricing typically do so to flex it based on perceived budget — published pricing tells you exactly where you stand from the start.

Pay attention to how they answer your first enquiry. A supplier who asks about your objectives, your audience and your space before recommending a game is treating you as a partner. A supplier who jumps straight to a quote is treating you as a transaction.

Branded Game Hire with Fun Pro UK

Fun Pro UK is a family-run corporate entertainment company based in Coventry, the geographic heart of England. We've been delivering branded game hire to UK clients since 2009, working with brands including Rolls-Royce, KPMG, Virgin Media O2, Amazon, Lidl and Baylis & Harding.

We have over 90 games available for hire, all branded in-house by our own design and production team. Our pricing is published transparently across the site, our equipment is owned and maintained by us rather than sub-hired, and our central UK base keeps delivery costs sensible wherever your event is.

If you're starting to plan your event and want to include branded games, take a look at our full branded game hire range or get in touch with the team to talk through your event. We're happy to share indicative pricing, recommend games that suit your objectives and walk you through the process from brief to event day.