tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815365161259800939.post7136491874748434805..comments2022-06-16T03:19:59.809-04:00Comments on Plankton Games Journal: Kickstarter a no-go for stores?Dave Dobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12013987221733927394noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815365161259800939.post-78001310722592635352013-01-18T12:11:16.136-05:002013-01-18T12:11:16.136-05:00I've amended my rule a bit with a baseline fun...I've amended my rule a bit with a baseline funding amount for Kickstarter projects. Anything under around $50K in funding is far too indie and needs to be avoided as a store owner, as the market is saturated or the market is too small. Anything over that line is still worth considering. <br /><br />I've also questioned whether Kickstarter projects are of low quality or not. Role playing games, especially on KS, tend to cut corners on artwork, cover and often content quality, but board games don't seem to fare as bad.<br /><br />I went to Boardgamegeek and crunched the numbers on all games in their Kickstarter category, charting them out based on BGG rank. There was nothing particularly surprising or out of the ordinary in those numbers. The height of the curve was at around 7, with some higher, some lower and a third with no ranking at all. So I don't believe it's a quality issue, at least not with board games.<br /><br />Finally, most stores (there are 2,000-3,000) are not likely to carry Kickstarter games at all. They're at the fringe of the board game world, so you have to already have a vibrant customer base beyond Mayfair, Rio Grande, Z-Man and Fantasy Flight. Kickstarter board games are quite easy to pass on in most cases. It's the stores like mine, that WANT to carry the fringe product, that are having these issues. Those stores are probably 10% of the total, or maybe a couple hundred.Gary Rayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11897166491600280320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815365161259800939.post-29839411756433748212013-01-14T19:49:23.879-05:002013-01-14T19:49:23.879-05:00Sounds like a good policy, Jason, but somebody has...Sounds like a good policy, Jason, but somebody has to be willing to take that first plunge, right? :-) It's interesting your store does stock these - I wonder if their experience is the same as Ray's or different?Dave Dobsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12013987221733927394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815365161259800939.post-45316994090544808042013-01-14T17:41:35.115-05:002013-01-14T17:41:35.115-05:00Interesting. I'm in a Friday night boardgame ...Interesting. I'm in a Friday night boardgame club that meets in a comic shop/game store which funds and stocks a number of kickstarter games. I'll have to run this concept past them before passing judgment. <br /><br />Truth be told, I won't buy a game I haven't already played (there are a couple of boardgame addicts in the club so trying a game is never an issue). That means the source of the funding isn't an issue and neither is whether or not the shop stocks it. If I liked it and the store doesn't have it, I ask them to order it for me so I can support the shop that supports our club.Jason @ Game Convention Centralhttp://gameconventioncentral.comnoreply@blogger.com