Publishing Advice - [Pro-Wrasslin' Battle Royale] Card game Marketing
Posted by: Joe Prince On: May 1st 2010 edited
My impending PWBR is my first foray into publishing an non-RPG. I've got the cards printd through The Game Crafter, a little bit pricey but very user friendly. I'd originally wanted to go with Guild of Blades but they stopped replying to my emails offering them money, ah well.
I'm curious about how to best market PWBR. I understand Board Game Geek is a good place to post but don't know much about the workings of the site (and it's blocked at work - curses).
So I'm after any hints tips or helpful advice folk can offer. Especially from Iain "Revenge of The B-Movie" McAllister - who I'm pretty sure has nothing much on over the next couple of months. :)
Posted by: Matt On: May 1st 2010
Hmm. It occurs to me that with two card game lines (plus other stuff), a trip to Spiel might be a very valid option if Euro rates allow. It really is the place to sell a new board or card game, people sell crates of card boxes over the four days. That said, booking for this year closes on May 15th, so maybe not 2010. Info
Posted by: Neil Gow On: May 2nd 2010
There used to be a sizeable following for the WWE Raw Deal CCG in the UK and indeed around the world. After our game at Conpulsion, I commented that the game had a lot of the positive flavour of that game. I used to work for the company that produced Raw Deal and still have a lot of links on both sides of the Atlantic with players of the game. I'd certainly be more than willing to push the game amongst them - which might generate some WoM amongst the CCG crews. Indeed, I am popping into the RD World Championships (yes, I knows its a dead game, but they're zealots!) at GenCon so if its available by then, I could pimp it to them direct.
Another thing that strikes me is that our experience was that wrestling was a very internationally popular hobby - we had exceptionally strong and active communities in Singapore, the Phillipines, Australia and especially Chile (!) and of course, the USA and Canada.
The WWE gets itself into Glasgow relatively often (twice a year now, right?) - you could hook up with Static Games or some other shop in your fair city to do some demos on those weekends? I wouldn't bother with trying anything with the WWE - we were an official licenced product and we still ended up with the shitty end of the stick most times.
But yeah, consider my contact list, your contact list.
Neil
Posted by: Joe Prince On: May 2nd 2010
Thanks Neil you reek of awesomeness!
Posted by: Iain McAllister On: May 3rd 2010
Boardgamegeek I have found pretty good, if a little fiddly to get to grips with. Once you have a profile setup there you have to submit stuff for approval, which I found pretty simple. You can have a page dedicated to you, one to the company and another to the game itself. You can even sell the game through boardgamegeek on their marketplace, but I personally haven't had much success with that.
Here is the page for 'Revenge of the B-Movie'. You have a basic overview of the game, links to ebay, links to the marketplace and people can post reviews and links to chat about the game within and without the BGG community.
Certainly I would launch the game at one of the more sell focused cons, gamesexpo or Dragonmeet coming instantly to mind, though I think Conception would be a pretty good one as well as there are plenty of board and card game players around.
I think the main thing with a card game is trying to get it into as many shops as possible, as there is not a huge amount you can offer in the way of after sales support, apart from releasing expansions. I have had quite a bit of success with contacting shops directly, some are better than others at getting money to you, but overall the experience has been a positive one. With the runs we do things in you cannot go through Esdevium as they will take a massive cut.
I also got some positive reviews from a couple of podcasts. Let me dig the names out and I will get back to you with them.
Can I ask a few questions about the game Joe?
- How many cards?
- What's the playtime?
- Do you see it as marketed at the strategic or beer and pretzel end of the market?
- How much are you planning to charge?
I did ask Ryan, head guy at Guild of Blades, to get in touch with you, but I know they are really busy at the moment and are in the process of changing their equipment about to allow them to print more. I'll poke him again for you if you like.
All the best
Iain
Posted by: Joe Prince On: May 5th 2010
Thanks Iain, useful stuff.
To answer your questions:
1. 63 cards
2. about 20 mins (longer the more players)
3. I like to think it straddles the two in spandex tights - but more beer and pretzels really
4. That's a tough one its going to have to be at least £10 - but then I can't sell to any retailers if I wan't to make any profit. So maybe I'll have to go for £12, that may be a bit steep though.
If you could give Ryan a poke that'd be great - no rush though.
Matt - Spiel would be great, not really feasible this year though.
Posted by: Gregor Hutton On: May 14th 2010
Just to say that Spiel is a possibility this year for me as Eero is going to have a stand. If I'm there then I can take it along.
It'll also be the one year anniversary for my friends Dario & Yvonne so I'm leaning hard to going.
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