CMON Adopting a Minimum Advertised Price Policy

Mr. White wrote: Regarding Kickstarter, has there ever been one where the more that was pledged over the funding cost...the cheaper the product for each consumer became? I would far prefer a sliding economic scale like that over a bunch of doodads and whistles tacked on.

it's a great idea, but I'm not sure how it would work with getting people to reduce their pledge amounts accordingly, the total pledge amount dropping back down, etc.

I need to unplug from BGG completely and get off the goddamned rollercoaster. Barnes has the right of it.

While picking up Escape from One Million BC, I saw a boardgame called Madness at Midnight or somesuch. Reading the back of the box, it was basically players running the badguys in Arkham Horror, completely with a very simplified map of the town of Arkham. So now we have a game about a game. This hobby needs an enema.

EDIT: actually, given that the popular version of Arkham Horror is revised version of a previous boardgame which is based on a classic rpg, we now have a game about a revised version of a game based on another game. A game about a game about a game about a game. All the way down the rabbit hole.

Designed by Richard Launius and F:ATtie Mads B.

Hmm. then it might be a good game after all. Still more meta than I like.

Msample wrote: This isn't about making people think its worth more necessarily ( although that's part of it ) . I think its about making CMON more attractive to big chains like Barnes and Noble. Places like that want a MAP policy.

Speaking of chains and games, I saw The Resistance and Forbidden Island at Walgreens last night.

They have Catan Dice too. Shit is crazy. Remember back when everyone was like "they just need to sell Settlers at Toys R Us"...

Michael Barnes wrote: As for the pricing, it IS good for the consumer. It encourages you to save your money and spend it on something of value instead of another mediocre board game.

Some of the rest of your post made sense, but this statement is ridiculous. Paying more money for the exact same product doesn't help the consumer. Why can't I just get the new CMON game and a dinner?

The only potential upside I see for consumers is that it'll probably take longer for these games to sell out. But games sitting on store shelves don't help retailers or consumers.

He means it encourages you to skip the CMON game altogether.

It's about retail. It's always about retail.

Retailers can't compete with OLGS and for some reason many game companies with no competitive scene really seem to give a shit about FLGS. So, they make the OLGSs stop ADVERTISING fat discounts. Note: ADVERTISING ONLY.

They can sell it for whatever margin they want still, but they simply cannot advertise that price. Like GW OLGS " call for pricing " stuff.

C'est la vie. I've bought two games in 2017. Couldn't care less.

7 years ago I thought boardgames were hitting saturation and it hasn't stopped. The upside to this is that, at least in my area, more casual gamers are willing to sit down and play games. I've seen a growing interest among the general public to play boardgames that aren't Risk or Monopoly etc... For me I plug away with a couple of purchases over the year and try to flush a couple at the same time. The Kickstarter phenomenon appeals to that collector must own mentality that runs through this crowd that's why it is so successful. I only regret not backing Cthulhu Wars.

So is there a revised list of games we're supposed to throw under the bus because the "industry is growing", i.e., normal people are buying them at Target? We should post it somewhere.

From CMON's perspective this makes sense, I just wish they'd be a little more frank about it. "We want to get our games into more outlets so that we can grow our business, this is a necessary step" would be a refreshing statement, instead of "it's in your best interest to pay more" which sets off the BS alarm in my head.

It's the maturing of a cottage industry into a business line. This is what happens. The challenge is that this business has an exceptionally low entry barrier. The next CMON can do exactly what CMON did and compete with it toe-to-toe, at least in the hobby-games part of the market.

To be clear, I reiterate: This doesn't affect price, or at least it doesn't HAVE to...it only affects what price OLGS can advertise.

An example is GW - at FRP Games you call them and you get 20% off. Same with WarStore. They just can't ADVERTISE the price as lower than the suggested (read: voluntold) price.

Come on Pete, don't let reality interfere with people's god given right to nerd rage .

Shellhead wrote: While picking up Escape from One Million BC, I saw a boardgame called Madness at Midnight or somesuch. Reading the back of the box, it was basically players running the badguys in Arkham Horror, completely with a very simplified map of the town of Arkham. So now we have a game about a game. This hobby needs an enema.

EDIT: actually, given that the popular version of Arkham Horror is revised version of a previous boardgame which is based on a classic rpg, we now have a game about a revised version of a game based on another game. A game about a game about a game about a game. All the way down the rabbit hole.

Madness At Midnight rocks! And though the Dice Tower reviewer said it was a euro, it really isn't. You chuck dice, summon monsters, and fight for dominance against the other cults.

And though I can see your point about it being a game about a game, you are - of course - very wrong. Obviously I love Arkham Horror and the two games do share some DNA (especially after Mr. Launius joined as co-designer), but it's not a game about Askham Horror. It's a game that tells a very different story in the same setting ando based upon the same Mythos. And apart from Cults Across America (which I sadly haven't played), this seemed to me to be a rather fresh take on the Cthulhu thing when I began designing.