9:41
startplaying.games
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startplaying.games

19 technologies
VerifiedVisit643.4K/mo$28M8919 Tech4 Leads
Deep Dive

StartPlaying: The Airbnb for Dungeon Masters

How a marketplace for TTRPGs scaled to $27M by professionalizing the world's oldest hobby

The tabletop gaming industry has been stuck in the analog era for 50 years. StartPlaying just turned it into a $27M digital marketplace where professional Game Masters earn real money running D&D sessions. They're not disrupting a game—they're disrupting the entire social fabric of how we play.

$27.6M
annual revenue
643K
monthly visits
89
employees
4.5/5
trustpilot rating

"StartPlaying didn't invent tabletop gaming—they monetized the one thing that was always free: the Dungeon Master's time."

The Marketplace Flywheel

With 60% direct traffic and 174K backlinks, StartPlaying has achieved something rare: a marketplace where supply (GMs) and demand (players) find each other without heavy paid acquisition. The 4,390 monthly searches for 'startplaying' prove they own the category. This isn't SEO luck—it's network effects kicking in.

The Professionalization Thesis

Traditional gaming relies on finding friends who commit to weekly sessions. StartPlaying's insight was simple but radical: what if GMs were paid professionals? This unlocks a supply of expert storytellers who treat prep as a job, not a hobby. The result: consistent quality, reliable scheduling, and a scalable business model that hobbyist groups could never match.

The company's tech stack reveals a sophisticated growth operation: PWA for retention, multiple pixels for attribution, Segment for data orchestration. They're running a modern SaaS playbook on top of a medieval fantasy game. The 33% organic traffic share shows they're building brand, not just bidding on keywords.

  • Platform captures 15-20% of every session, creating a high-margin marketplace
  • 60% direct traffic indicates strong brand recall and repeat usage
  • 89 employees suggests they're past the MVP stage and into scaling operations
  • Top keywords include 'dnd online' (17K volume)—they're capturing existing demand
Don't sell game content or virtual tabletop software
Focus exclusively on the transaction layer
No freemium tier for casual players
Professional GMs as a moat
Limited to English-speaking markets (undefined top countries)
Built for serious hobbyists who pay premium prices

The $100M Opportunity

StartPlaying proves that even the most analog hobbies can be digitized and scaled. The real question isn't whether TTRPGs move online—it's how many other 'unmonetizable' social activities are waiting for the same treatment.

What tech stack does Startplaying use?

41 detected
Security1
Cloud & Hosting1
Email Marketing1
E-commerce & Payments1
Performance1
Web Standards2
Frontend Frameworks1
Tracking & Analytics22
G
Google Analytics
F
Facebook Pixel
S
Segment
F
FullStory
P
Pinterest Tag
T
Twitter Pixel
R
Reddit Pixel
M
Microsoft Ads (Bing)
G
Google APIs
S
Segment
G
Google Tag Manager
R
Reddit
G
Google Analytics
G
Google DoubleClick
T
Twitter Ads
F
FullStory
F
Facebook Pixel
B
Bing
T
Twitter/X
P
Pinterest
F
Facebook
T
Tracking Service

How much traffic does Startplaying get?

Traffic & Engagement

604.9K
Monthly Visits
-5.8%
3.7
Pages/Visit
10:20
Avg. Duration
57%
Bounce Rate
Monthly Traffic Trend-6%
645.4K
Oct 2025
Oct
642.1K
Nov 2025
Nov
604.9K
Dec 2025
Dec

Rankings

#74,417
Global Rank
#19,497
United States Rank
Entertainment
Category

Backlinks & Authority

174.0K
Backlinks
4.1K
Ref. Domains
42
Authority Score
Low
Penalty Risk
Backlinks Trend-4%
182.0K
Jul 2025
Jul
176.9K
Aug 2025
Aug
175.1K
Sep 2025
Sep
174.7K
Oct 2025
Oct
178.0K
Nov 2025
Nov
174.0K
Dec 2025
Dec

Search Traffic

Organic
53.1K

Top Organic Keywords

#1startplaying
6,600 vol14.9%
#10dnd
165,000 vol8.8%
#1start playing
3,600 vol8.1%
#11d20
110,000 vol4.0%
#5dungeons & dragons roleplaying game
49,500 vol3.3%

Where is Startplaying's audience located?

🇺🇸United States85.9%
🇨🇦Canada2.4%
🇸🇦Saudi Arabia2.4%
🇬🇧United Kingdom2.2%
🇦🇺Australia1.2%

Who competes with Startplaying?

Device Distribution

Desktop36.0%
Mobile64.0%

What keywords does Startplaying rank for?

5 keywords
1startplaying4.4K vol$24.92
2start playing2.7K vol$31.68
3what is dungeon and dragons810 vol
4startplaying games720 vol$27.68
5dnd online17.1K vol$0.87

How is Startplaying's SEO?

Open Graph Image

OG Image preview
og:image

https://startplaying.games/assets/background/social-share.jpg

Meta Tags

title56 chars

Play Tabletop Games and Find Game Masters | StartPlaying

description166 chars

The number one site for finding games and professional GMs for any game system and any virtual tabletop. Play D&D or any other tabletop roleplaying game online today!

H1 Tags

h1StartPlaying

Schema Types

Organization

What is Startplaying's revenue?

$28M
Annual Revenue
89
41%
Employees
$310K
Revenue/Employee
San Francisco, United States
Headquarters

Who works at Startplaying?

Loading leads...

What do customers think of Startplaying?

startplaying.games

startplaying.games

4.5
38 reviews
✓ Claimed

Categories

Gaming service Provider#undefinedGame Store#undefinedVideo Game Store#undefinedBoard Game Club#undefined

Activity & Engagement

Reply Rate
0%
Avg. Reply Time
0.0 days
Claimed Date
12/12/2024

Contact Information

Address:
US

Reviews (20)

Filter by rating:
Sam
8/18/2025
🇺🇸 United States1 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 7/31/2025
Made friends, made memories

I've had an absolutely wonderful experience both with our DM and with the other players from outside my immediate group that we've met along the way. We've truly had some memorable adventures. The sky's the limit if you're an enigmatic, independently wealthy orphan. I'm looking forward to more.

joeyfish
8/17/2025
🇺🇸 United States1 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 6/5/2025
Ive only played 5e on here which is…

Ive only played 5e on here which is great expressly when you got a certain time zone you need and can only play at a certain time. However i think it would shine with less popular systems since people can search based on that. Either way ive played campaigns and ones shots with the system and ive meet so many awesome people. Ive only had maybe two bad or meh experiences out of like 20 or more great ones.

👍 1
Ross
8/15/2025
🇺🇸 United States5 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 8/14/2025
Employee and Customer Who Loves My Bosses

As an independent contractor working for Startplaying.games as well as a regular customer, their service brings people together in communities where they can feel safe, which is worth every dollar.

Paladin
8/15/2025
🇺🇸 United States1 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 8/15/2025
I genuinely love not just the business…

I genuinely love not just the business and system, but the people and the community more so than anything. I greatly enjoy and love teaching other professional GMs skills, and the community first approaches that Devon, Sarah and the rest of staff dedicate to listening to us and helping make the world a better more connected place. Thank you!

Jesus Ramirez
8/14/2025
🇺🇸 United States1 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 1/18/2025
The best way to RPG

I used the site for over three years and it was easy to use and introduced me to a wonderful community and experience. I would definitely use it again when I'm able to commit to another long running campaign.

Frequently Asked Questions about Startplaying

What is Startplaying's Revenue?
Startplaying generates approximately $28M in annual revenue. With 89 employees, that's $309,551 per employee.
What does Startplaying do?
The number one site for finding games and professional GMs for any game system and any virtual tabletop. Play D&D or any other tabletop roleplaying game online today!
How fast is Startplaying growing?
Startplaying has declined by 5.8% in the last 6 months according to traffic data. employee count has changed by 41% year over year.
How do people interact with Startplaying?
When visiting Startplaying, visitors view an average of 3.7 pages per visit, and spend around 10:20 on the site, and the bounce rate is 56.9%.
How do people find Startplaying?
551.7K people (91%) visit Startplaying directly. 53.1K (9%) find them through organic search.
Who uses Startplaying?
Startplaying's top market is United States with 519.5K visitors (85.9%). Canada is 2nd with 14.8K (2.4%). Saudi Arabia is 3rd with 14.5K (2.4%).
What technologies does Startplaying use?
Startplaying uses 19 technologies across their website including Fonts, Security, Cloud & Hosting. Key technologies include Google Fonts, HSTS, Vercel.
Who are Startplaying's competitors?
Startplaying's main competitors include Scry AI, Daily, Myst AI, Hushly, Pat. These companies operate in similar markets and compete for the same customer base.
What do customers think of Startplaying?
Startplaying has a Trustpilot score of 4.5 out of 5 (4 stars) based on 38 customer reviews.

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About startplaying.games

The number one site for finding games and professional GMs for any game system and any virtual tabletop. Play D&D or any other tabletop roleplaying game online today!

Company Overview

startplaying.games
Website
games
Industry
#73,377
Global Rank
643.4K
Monthly Visitors
19
Technologies
4+
Employees

startplaying.games Key Pages

Contact startplaying.games

Technology Stack

startplaying.games uses 19 technologies across their website including Google Fonts, HSTS, Vercel, and more.

Fonts

Google Fonts

Security

HSTS

Cloud & Hosting

Vercel

Email Marketing

Customer.io

Advertising

Microsoft Ads, Pinterest Tag, Twitter Pixel, Facebook Pixel

E-commerce & Payments

Stripe

Traffic & Audience

643.4K
Monthly Visits
41%
Bounce Rate
4.3
Pages/Visit
3:10
Avg. Duration

startplaying.games receives approximately 643.4K monthly visitors and ranks #73,377 globally. The website has a bounce rate of 41% with visitors viewing an average of 4.3 pages per visit. Users spend an average of 3:10 on the site.

The majority of startplaying.games's traffic comes from undefined, undefined, .

Frequently Asked Questions

What is startplaying.games?
The number one site for finding games and professional GMs for any game system and any virtual tabletop. Play D&D or any other tabletop roleplaying game online today!
What technologies does startplaying.games use?
startplaying.games uses 19 technologies including Google Fonts, HSTS, and 13 more. View the full tech stack analysis above.
How do I contact startplaying.games?
You can contact startplaying.games through their contact page.
What are startplaying.games's social media accounts?
startplaying.games is active on tiktok, facebook, linkedin, instagram. You can find links to all their social media profiles in the social section above.
Is startplaying.games hiring?
Check startplaying.games's careers page for current job openings and opportunities. The company has 4+ known employees.
How popular is startplaying.games?
startplaying.games receives approximately 643.4K monthly visitors and ranks #73,377 globally.

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This page provides publicly available information about startplaying.games. Data is collected from various public sources and may not always be up to date. For the most accurate information, please visit startplaying.games directly at https://startplaying.games.