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How are you cashing in on board game mania?

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20 Sep 2017 15:06 #254533 by Cranberries
I was just wondering if anyone is making money, serious or otherwise, in a market that seems ready to collapse.

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?

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20 Sep 2017 15:46 #254534 by stormseeker75
There's a big part of me that wants to publish games. I also see the saturation. This seems like a bad time to go in. Three years ago was the right time.

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.
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20 Sep 2017 15:46 #254535 by hotseatgames
Pete and myself have a game coming out next year from a major publisher. I fully expect that we will retire to a non-extradition country by November 2018.
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20 Sep 2017 16:13 #254537 by stormseeker75
Who's Pete? You mean the guy that left?
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20 Sep 2017 16:15 - 20 Sep 2017 17:53 #254538 by boothwah
I was visiting with one of the guys at our FLGS recently - The only decent shop in a university town - They are a game store first, and begrudgingly give up space for MtG -

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.
Last edit: 20 Sep 2017 17:53 by boothwah.

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20 Sep 2017 16:20 #254539 by charlest
I'm making a small amount of secondary income through this industry from the following:

-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.
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20 Sep 2017 16:37 #254541 by southernman
Interestingly with my gaming group last night I asked one of them who I knew bought a lot of stuff a decade or so ago if he bought any Heroscape back then, he said they bought tons of it, possibly most waves and he still had stuff unboxed. I felt obliged to tell him he may be sitting on a small goldmine.
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20 Sep 2017 19:30 - 20 Sep 2017 19:36 #254548 by Frohike
Game Toppers seems to be on an all-out blitz, so... they're cashing in, I guess. I'm still stunned that so many people are throwing $300-500 at those things. I've seen one skeptical comment that should give backers pause: those 30 lb slabs hanging OVER the edge of your Costco table are likely to begin warping under their own weight over time. Anyway, the main point: people are still apparently willing to burn lots of money on not only games but also their accoutrements.
Last edit: 20 Sep 2017 19:36 by Frohike.
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20 Sep 2017 20:40 #254550 by SuperflyPete
Those crack me up. You can make 80% as durable toppers with EPS foam and laminated Gatorboard for like 60$. Including tools.
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20 Sep 2017 21:03 #254551 by Michael Barnes
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.
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20 Sep 2017 21:50 #254552 by hotseatgames
Perhaps I'll launch a Kickstarter for a series of game component upgrades that take popular classics and "Terrinoth" them.
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20 Sep 2017 21:51 #254553 by ufe20
I've been using game toppers forever. I've got three 2'x4' green felt covered pieces of plywood I use to play warhammer on. Easily converts from 4'x4' to 6'x4'. I think I've changed the felt once in the almost 20 years I've had them. Who knew I could have tacked cup holders on them and raked in all that sweet Kickstarter cash.
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20 Sep 2017 21:57 #254554 by Michael Barnes
How about a set of wooden bowls to improve the hand feel of picking up bits...what if they were built in to the table!
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20 Sep 2017 22:02 - 20 Sep 2017 22:11 #254555 by Sagrilarus

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.
Last edit: 20 Sep 2017 22:11 by Sagrilarus.
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21 Sep 2017 02:43 #254557 by mads b.
For the time being my primary income comes from game design work. I do learning games about stuff such as team management, which education to choose, hotel management, sexual health, and a ton of other stuff. Part of the job is actual game design though the games tend to be more simple - especially because the have to be playable out of the box - but I also write a lot of copy. These kinds of games are definitely a growing market, but I think it's one that has nothing to do with the hobby board game market. And it's awesome work where I get to not just work with games, but I also learn about extremely different subjects, meet smart people, and show people something they often didn't know would work.

I also design hobby board games, but with only one published game so far I haven't really cashed in on that part yet.
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