- Posts: 3075
- Thank you received: 2362
Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)
Recent Topics paging, uploading images and preview bugs require a patch which has not yet been released.
How are you cashing in on board game mania?
- Cranberries
- Topic Author
- Offline
- D10
- Don't give up.
Are you writing reviews?
Getting review copies for your blog?
Flipping older games that have gone out of print?
Selling old games at a deep discount to F:ATties?
Creating high quality gaming accessories?
Waiting for the price of Geek Gold to skyrocket?
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Posts: 2478
- Thank you received: 735
I see SO MANY releases that my mind boggles at all of them. Who buys all of this? How do you play anything? How many times do you play it?
I remember when I first got into this hobby. There were maybe 10 games a month coming out. They were all fully realized ideas done by professional publishing houses. Rules and components were minimal. Then Kickstarter happened.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- hotseatgames
- Away
- D12
- Posts: 7162
- Thank you received: 6270
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Posts: 2478
- Thank you received: 735
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
In a nutshell - He's concerned at the sheer volume of new stuff being offered and all the 3rd and 4th editions of everything and his ability to sell any of it. Their core base are 40 somethings that are coming in because someone showed them Puerto Rico or Caylus years ago and they graduated from the Hasbro/Milton Bradley world of department store gaming, and pick up 4 or 5 games a year - They definitely are not "hobbyists" They are just looking for fun games to play with their kids and friends. So he begrudgingly orders a few copies of every new $80-$120 box of FFG overkill so his customers can look at the impressive packaging and all the multi colored miniatures before picking up a copy of Agricola or Codenames or a new board for Ticket to Ride or Power Grid. His analysis of the market - Good games with decent components and themes that can appeal to the average families sensibilities and can stay at or under the $45.00 price point do very well. He still sells a ton of what we might consider "gateway" games - Cataan and the expacs, Carcassone, Dominion, etc.
The neckbeards come in and buy maybe 1 game a year - Or if he's lucky someone decides to run a RPG and they sell 3 books and some minis - They do pay full retail for Friday Night Magic, but buy all of their singles/boxes online.
To answer the original post :
I'm one of those 40 something guys - Games are fun, not collectibles. Give me decent fun to dollar ratio. I give away games I don't want to play anymore. I'm giving away every wave of Heroscape and like 10 core sets and 3 of all the terrain expacs worth of stuff to some guy that I met up with at my best friends birthday party, because he has 12 year old twin boys and they play it all the time with a starter and a couple of blisters and dice that he's had to write on with sharpies. My plan to capitalize on this gaming frenzy is to continue to responsibly support my local FLGS by buying games that are worth multiple replays and don't break the bank, and wait for the dust to settle from the eventual implosion caused by the sheer excess of material being produced. I will also occasionally point out to the store owner any shelf toads that have suddenly worth more money because of a reprint or discontinuation, so that he hopefully can make back the shelf rent for that box eating up space for the last 4 years.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
-Writing professionally for Ars Technica, The Review Corner, and Geek & Sundry
-Podcast sponsored by Miniature Market
-Selling games that have gone out of print or that I've gotten for a cheap price and flipped
-Hopefully a little bit from my upcoming design Grey Fox Games is publishing
I'm a software developer so this won't be replacing much of my main income any time soon, but it does help for sure.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- southernman
- Offline
- D10
- TOTALLY WiReD
- Posts: 4215
- Thank you received: 1516
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- SuperflyPete
- Offline
- Salty AF
- SMH
- Posts: 10733
- Thank you received: 5119
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Michael Barnes
- Offline
- Mountebank
- HYPOCRITE
- Posts: 16929
- Thank you received: 10375
It is also LAME AS FUCK.
By proxy, it could be said that it is LAME AS FUCK as well.
I mean seriously...all of these cupholders, dice drawers, recessed surfaces...for fuck's sake, I've been playing games since I was about 6 years old pretty deeply at that. And NEVER ONCE did I think "I really need to get a $1500 piece of furniture to play a $50 board game" on. CUP HOLDERS for fuck's sake! What the fuck is wrong with people? It is another way for people to somehow validate and enshrine their juvenile hobby...in a big, expensive piece of furniture.
It doesn't help that the designs are absolute trash- gaudy, tasteless shit almost universally about what you'd expect middle aged dudes with fanny packs to think looks "good".
We player Warhammer at home on the god damned FLOOR and it's 100 percent fine. If I went to my wife and said "I am buying this $2000 4x6 table that will take up an entire room of our Midcentury house so that we can play Warhammer on it and stick drinks in FUCKING BUILT IN CUPHOLDERS", she would immediately execute me on the spot.
These could be the ultimate symbol of the sad, middle-aged white man living in suburbia.
LAME AS FUCK.
I keep looking for some kind of bullshit opportunity to exploit...but I have too much dignity and integrity to come up with NONSENSE like Realm Coins or those Game Toppers. If I could figure out a way to may dice sleeves or full board sleeves saleable...or perhaps a special enclosure so that you can play a game without ever coming into actual contact with the components. Whatever it is, put FUCKING CUPHOLDERS on it and you trick middle aged suburban white men into thinking it is a luxury item.
Right now, I am making more money from games than I ever have before, although that is also comprising my entire fun budget right now so a lot of that is going back into it.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- hotseatgames
- Away
- D12
- Posts: 7162
- Thank you received: 6270
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Michael Barnes
- Offline
- Mountebank
- HYPOCRITE
- Posts: 16929
- Thank you received: 10375
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Sagrilarus
- Offline
- D20
- Pull the Goalie
- Posts: 8735
- Thank you received: 7349
Michael Barnes wrote: I don't mean to offend anyone who has thrown their money away on something completely stupid and foolish, but this whole trend toward gaming furniture is LAME AS FUCK.
It is also LAME AS FUCK.
By proxy, it could be said that it is LAME AS FUCK as well.
I mean seriously...all of these cupholders, dice drawers, recessed surfaces...for fuck's sake, I've been playing games since I was about 6 years old pretty deeply at that. And NEVER ONCE did I think "I really need to get a $1500 piece of furniture to play a $50 board game" on. CUP HOLDERS for fuck's sake! What the fuck is wrong with people? It is another way for people to somehow validate and enshrine their juvenile hobby...in a big, expensive piece of furniture.
It doesn't help that the designs are absolute trash- gaudy, tasteless shit almost universally about what you'd expect middle aged dudes with fanny packs to think looks "good".
We player Warhammer at home on the god damned FLOOR and it's 100 percent fine. If I went to my wife and said "I am buying this $2000 4x6 table that will take up an entire room of our Midcentury house so that we can play Warhammer on it and stick drinks in FUCKING BUILT IN CUPHOLDERS", she would immediately execute me on the spot.
These could be the ultimate symbol of the sad, middle-aged white man living in suburbia.
LAME AS FUCK.
I keep looking for some kind of bullshit opportunity to exploit...but I have too much dignity and integrity to come up with NONSENSE like Realm Coins or those Game Toppers. If I could figure out a way to may dice sleeves or full board sleeves saleable...or perhaps a special enclosure so that you can play a game without ever coming into actual contact with the components. Whatever it is, put FUCKING CUPHOLDERS on it and you trick middle aged suburban white men into thinking it is a luxury item.
Right now, I am making more money from games than I ever have before, although that is also comprising my entire fun budget right now so a lot of that is going back into it.
What he said.
These tables are an IQ test. Stupid gamers buying themselves an altar to worship at.
Can you imagine being out of work for a year and having one of these gothic pigs mocking you as you can't pay your bills?
H.L. Mencken was too optimistic.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
I also design hobby board games, but with only one published game so far I haven't really cashed in on that part yet.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.