July 4th

 Tomorrow we will host our third annual reading of the Declaration of Independence at 11 am central time. You are welcome to join us at the store or watch live as we stream it on our Facebook page.

Crier from the Castle for 3/25

Brando with this week's Crier from the Castle 

Scouting for Food

 Remember, we are a drop off point for the Scouting for Food program. Until Dec. 13, drop off half a dozen food items (no ramen or tomato sauce) and we will give you a set of dice. Note that abusing the program, such as bringing the minimum amount of food several days in arow to get a set of dice, will cause us to end the offer.

Downtown Cookie Walk

Apparently Carbondale Main Street will host a downtown cookie walk tomorrow. Cannot find any information about it on their website or Facebook page but we will participate. The plan is to have a map posted somewhere and tables with cookies set up in front of participating businesses. No idea what time though. However, while they last, we will have cookies inside the store.

Game on Every Table Update

 Since we had a customer ask, yes, you can just send us money and we will select games for you to donate to the Toys for Tots program. We will take 40% off the list price of the game or toy so we had one $50 donation purchase about $90 worth of games for the program. However, if you opt for this method, you leave it up to us to select the game. If you want to make the choice you need to purchase them under the original buy one at full price, buy one at 40% off program.

A Game on Every Table

For the Game on Every Table promotion, when you buy one game, you may buy a second game at 40% off and we will donate it to Toys for Tots. This promotion will continue through December 13 and is good on every game or toy in the store.

Tables

We have opened up three tables in the back room for gaming. They are all six feet apart and we will wipe them down with food service grade sanitizer after you finish using them. Currently they are booked for Monday,  Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday Friday and Saturday evenings and Saturday afternoon. If you would like to use them at any other time, please contact us via phone, email, FB messenger or Twitter to make sure they are available. We REALLY want to minimize the chance of anyone contracting COVID-19 here but also want to give you the opportunity to play with a small group of people you know.

Free Comic Fourth

Just a reminder we will open at 10 a.m. tomorrow and close at 6 p.m. We have two tables of slightly damaged comics in the front room. You may come in and take two books for free, 1 more if you have a Preferred Customer card, 1 for each stamp you earn on your castle card and 1 for each can of Purina 1 dog or cat pate canned food you bring in.

Magic Promo Packs

WOTC has decided to replace their promo cards for Magic events with promo packs. We get a certain number of promo packs based on attendance and have to make those last until the next "season" which will start with "Archery" at the end of September. So how to allocate them.

What we have decided to do in order to make sure as many people get a card as possible is to open packs, based on the number of players, and allow players to choose a card based on their standing at the end of the tournament. If we have 8 players, we would open 3 packs. let the players select the cards and then add the remaining cards to the selection pool for the next tournament. Of course, this would mean, in order to get a promo card, players would have to remain until the end of the tournament.

The other option we could choose, and this is the one used by Desert Sky Games, is to not put in a pack in events that do not have at least 8 players. With an 8 player event, the player that goes 3 & 0 gets the promo pack in lieu of 3 booster packs. With every 6 additional players, we add one more promo pack to the pool but those are given out randomly, rather than based on standing.

We would be interested in hearing your thoughts on either method. Please comment or let us know when you stop off at the store.

St Patrick's Day

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day so we will be celebrating be playing Munchkin Warhammer 40K, of course. Unless Steve Jackson Games comes out with Munchkin Leprechaun really quickly, like tonight. We will have green cookies or cake or something like that though.

National French Fry Day

National French Fry Day is coming July 13 and we are deciding how to celebrate. We are thinking having a pile of free french fries in the game room but am open to ideas. How would you like to celebrate National French Fry Day here?

Rogue One Ticket Winner

Congratulations to Seth Thomas, winner of our drawing for 2 tickets for a showing of Star Wars:  Rogue One.  If you would like to be among the first to know about future drawings and events, follow the store on Facebook or sign up for our weekly email newsletter.

Black Friday Specials

These specials are good from 4 p.m. Thanksgiving day until 9 p.m. November 27. Quantities may be limited:

AEG Black Box (5 copies) and Boss Monster 2 Limited Edition (4 copies)

Magic Booster Bundles (8 bundles) $10 to $25

Games Workshop Age of Sigmar (7 copies) $65

Discontinued GW paints:  Buy one, get one free.

Yu Gi Oh, Magic and Pokemon $1 rares, 50 cent uncommons and 10 commons:  Buy 1 get one free (Boxes only, no cards in binders)

DVDs  Buy one, get one of lesser value at half off

Graphic novels and manga, buy one get one of lesser value at half off (New releases not included)

Pathfinder RPG materials Buy one get one of lesser value at half off (New Releases not included)

Used RPGs and boardgames:  Buy One get one of lesser value at half off

DiceMaster Boosters Buy 1 get 1 free

HeroClix  Gravity Feed Packs  Buy 1 Get one Free

Mayfair Games Boardgames Buy 1 get 1 at half off (excepting Catan and Supplements)

Antoher Pre-release Success from WOTC

Sitting here in the quiet after our second pre-release of the weekend and musing on the things that go into a successful one. Rather than discussing what we did to make ours successful as I have covered that in other columns, though I will get into why price competition on pre-releases is a bad thing for stores in next week’s column, I want to look at what WOTC did to make this pre-release go over well and some of the practices other companies could adopt to improve their product launches or pre-releases:

Know your market—WOTC has had amazing growth in the magic market over the past decade with revenues up over 180% just since 2008 with a lot of this due to reaching out to the online and video market with the various Planeswalker online games which brings new players into the tabletop version of the game.  However, pre-releases are not targeted at new players, WOTC has other events for them. WOTC knows that brand new players will not come, of their own accord, to a pre-release. Attendees at pre-releases are avid, already existing players of the game and WOTC targets them with advertising materials that only an experiences player would recognize, such as the posters provided with images of 5 iconic Planeswalkers and an expectation that players will know what a “sealed deck” tournament is and what “seeded” packs are.  WOTC also knows that it is the devoted players that are most willing to spend a weekend opening packs and playing.

Logistics—This is a shorter form of saying “getting the stuff where it needs to be on time”. Online promotional material in the form of press releases and images started appearing months ago, giving stores plenty of time to start planning their events.  Physical promotional material came into stores about the end of June or early July and the actual pre-release tournament materials arrived in stores this week, with plenty of time for stores to look through them and decide how to best use the new table tents, demo decks and posters. Enterplay, at least, has started to see the benefit of getting tournament materials in stores earlier. While the last two pre-release kits from the company either missed or barely made tournament deadlines, the prize support for our My Little Pony store tournament arrived over a week ago. Hopefully more companies will realize the importance of getting information to stores early. Games Workshop, I’m looking at you.

Promotion—There was a top of promotion in the forms of social media advertising, in store POP and press releases for weeks before the actually events.  Some much information out there makes the store’s job much easier in terms of getting customers excited about the new product coming out. Again, cue Games Workshop’s launch of Age of Sigmar which also hit shelves today. We had some online promotional material for AoS about 2 weeks ago but did not receive any physical POP material from GW until we received the games Thursday and even then, you had to order so many copies of Age of Sigmar to get a window cling or banner. Ask anyone in the promotion industry and they will tell you that to properly promote an event or launch, promotional material needs to start reaching its target 6 to 8 weeks prior to the event. We still see a lot of companies get out press releases for product launches in advance of the release, then nothing for months until the product creeps onto shelves. WOTC does an exemplary job launching new releases through the use of PR and social media.

WOTC is probably the best in the industry in terms of launching events and what they do in terms of social media, publicity and logistics is something other company’s should look at in order to improve their own launches. Now if WOTC would just do SOMETHING about promoting their boardgame catalog.  Great Dalmuti and Guillotine, anyone?

National Pi Day: A Sweet Promotion

Normally, this time of year, I would have hit the road along Route 66 to the GAMA Trade Show and draw some sort of metaphor from thriving or dying businesses along the old road and incorporated it into a column. However, due to National Pi Day (yes this exists 3/14/15 and if you open at the right time it is possible to stretch the figure out to 3/14/15-9:26) the Saturday before GTS and the pre-release for Dragons of Tarkir the weekend after, I did not feel like leaving the store during two big events, which the trip to GTS would have required. So, not wishing to miss the opportunity to confab with my fellow retailers, I forewent the pleasures of Two Guns and “standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona” (yes, you can do this and there is even a “flatbed Ford” parked there for picture taking) and caught a flight from St. Louis to Las Vegas.

What is so special about National Pi Day that I did not want to leave the store during it? Nothing really. It’s rather like National Star Wars Day:  May 4^th. You have heard of it, right?  “May the Fourth be with you!” However, like some other stores in the country, we decided to take National Pi Day and see what we could do to make a promotional event out of it.  This started with advanced planning on our part. A month ahead of time, we set three quantifiable (measurable) goals:

1.        Secure three mentions in the local mass media (newspapers, radio, television, email blasts from other organizations, etc).

2.       Have at least 20 people demo one of the three Mensa Select games we featured.  Later, when Looney Labs sent us a promo copy, we added Just Desserts to the list.

3.       Sell 20% more than the target number for a typical Saturday.

Over the next two weeks we spent time refreshing staff member’s memories on how to play the selected game and determining which local media would most likely respond to press releases and give us coverage. Starting the first of March, we began sending out press releases, not many, to the selected local media. We passed on local radio since most of it does not cover local events, save sports, well.  We are on good terms with reporters at two of the local newspapers and have a nodding acquaintance with a reporter for the local tv station. As a member of the local Chamber of Commerce, we figured we could get at least one email blast from them. We also used social media but did not set  responses from it as one of our goals.

As Pi Day approached, we sent out a few more PR reminders then arranged to bring in pies to give away to customers on the day (Unlike some other stores of which I know, none of our customers brought us in a pie to celebrate). So far, total cost was about 6 hours spent on planning and PR and $40 on pies.

Results:

1.       6 mentions in local media including 2 television interviews, 3 write ups in local papers and 1 email from the Chamber of Commerce.

2.       Demos to a total of 26 people

3.       Sales up 10% over the target for a typical Saturday

Bonus:  5 brand new customers in directly as a result of the television appearances. What we found is that people respond better to television appearances than to print and that PR even the day of the event will pull in customers. Unfortunately, we only exceeded 2 of our three goals so I consider the event a qualified success. Yes, we will take this into consideration in our planning for International TableTop Day, Free Comic Book Day, Free RPG Day, and back to school, for which we already have plans in the works.

Snow Day

The store is open today with new comics on the shelf and some new games on the New Release shelf including the Yu Gi Oh HeroClix set 2 and the Pretty Pretty expansion for Smash Up. Check tomorrow to see if the days events go on as scheduled.

Promoting TableTop Day

Guess what just showed up in my email inbox this week?  If you guessed solicitations for the promo packs for International Table Top Day over a month ahead of the event date, you would be right. In case you missed the blurb in ICV2 last week, this year’s International Table Top Day is scheduled for April 11 and we already know the contents of the kits way in advance.

As has happened with the previous two kits, there are problems with this one but not of Geek & Sundry, TableTop or PSI’s (the company coordinating the assembly of the kits) making. Instead, we apparently get to blame the manufacturers of the games getting promoted. Manufacturers we are looking at two major problems here:

11)       Your game was not on TableTop in season 1, 2 or 3 but I am getting promo items or a copy of you game in the kit, which by the way I do not receive for free. I get to shell out perfectly  good  Jacksons and Washingtons to pay for this kit and I get promo items for such things as Reverse Charades,  Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot, Roll for It,  Cash n Guns, Dead Man’s Draw, and Where Art Thou Romeo. If I purchase the smaller of the two promotional packs offered, with an MSRP of $250, depending on which distributor I place an order with, I will pay approximately $1.60 to $1.75 per promo item. If I order the more expensive kit, at $600 MSRP, the cost per promo item breaks down to $3.15 to $4 per item.  Granted, stores do get full copies of some games, such as Dead of Winter, Council of Verona and Geek Out (in the more expensive kit) which did appear on TableTop and which do help justify the cost, but I am also getting copies of Clubs, Dark Seas and Dead Man’s Draw, which have not appeared on the series. Still, I am not particularly enthused about paying to get promotional items that I do not want and cannot use but  that pales in comparison to 

22)      I don’t get enough of a promo item to give one away to everyone who plays in a demo of the game. I can understand getting one of the Munchkin hoodies and one of the Krosmaster promo figures (no, not on that one I can’t. They have enough promo figures floating around that I could get two or more), but the rest of the promo items are cards. There is no reason that I should get 1 Roll for It Promo Owlbear promo card or 1 Three Cheers for Master promo card. Granted I don’t publish cards but from everything I hear from publishers, they are cheap. Cheap enough that I should get more than one in the box.  Everyone who plays a demo of your game that day should walk away with a promo item, not just one person.  Steve Jackson Games, Looney Labs and Fantasy Flight Games did it right, including enough items so that everyone who plays should get something. A number of the promo items are listed as “1 pack”. Is that one pack to give to one person or a pack to break up and distribute to players? I don’t know and the solicitation doesn’t tell me.

I have already heard from a number of retailers who plan to register as a location for International TableTop Day but who plan to skip the kits altogether, contacting distributors and publishers directly to get promo items to give away. Hopefully, next  year publishers will take a cue from events like Free Comic Book Day or Free RPG Day. If you want me to spend money promoting your product, give me enough support in the kit to justify the effort to promote your product. Otherwise, I will pick the product I want to promote and contact those manufacturers for help.

Pi Day

In case you did not know, March 14 is PI Day, 3/14/15. To celebrate, we will give away free Pie during the day, while it lasts as well as playing MENSA Select games such as Magic, Pokemon, Gravwell, Tapple and Great Dalmuti. Come by and join us.

KrosMaster Arena and King of New York

The weekend of December 13, we will have a couple of really cool events. On December 13 from noon to 4, we will have a representative from Japanime Games in demonstrating Krosmaster Arena. Come learn the game and take home a cool promo item.

Then on December 14, we will have a qualifying tournament for the King of New York Nationals. Come destroy New York, get spiffy promo cards and the winner gets a seat at this summer's King of New York National Championships.

HeroClix "Con In Your Store" Post Mortem

I have to agree with Rod Lambertifo’s Talk Back letter about the WizKids’ Con In Your Store promotion. It was a great idea, help move some of their older product and give stores an event to draw their HeroClix customers in with cool promotional items. Unfortunately, as with many WizKids’ releases, timing proved an issue. We set up our event for early August, as did many other stores, only to receive a notification that, due to overwhelming response, the Con In Your Store materials would not arrive until mid-August meaning we would have to run the event in the shadow of GenCon. In addition, the other promo items, such as the Trinity of Sin figure, for which we had to pay, did not come into stock until late August, way too late to serve any use in promoting the event. I like WizKids, I make money from WizKids, WizKids Storyline Campaigns draw more people into the store than Yu Gi Oh tournaments do, currently, and I will keep promoting and running  WizKids events. However, I will likely shy away from any events like this one that give only short-term notice and don’t indicate that the promo items are already in hand.