Tasty Minstrel Games - Michael's Blog

On Facebook: "Likes" versus "Shares" - What is the difference?

2012-04-17T13:52:38-04:00

What is the difference anyways? The problem that I have found with doing research about this subject is that while it could be incredibly important (due to differences in results) is that Facebook is always evolving AND the posts that are easy to find via search are old-ish.

Now, this is based on old insights data, but with recent changes, I do not know where to find the data again.

The fundamental difference is 2-fold:

1. When somebody shares on Facebook, it pushes that story onto the news feed of all of their friends. Additionally, when somebody has multiple friends that "share" the same thing, then it becomes a top story in a news feed. With a "like" you are not necessarily pushing that information to your friends news feed.

2. With a "share", you send a large and visible bit of news to your friend's feeds. With a "like" you are more likely to get one small line on your friend's feed saying "so and so like XYZ".

Why Does This Matter?

Simple, if you have friends that decide to share instead of like something you post on Facebook, it will travel much further and more people will see it. It is that simple.

What Should You Do?

I think that it makes sense to educate your biggest fans that are likely to share or like on Facebook as to the importance of the difference. Also, it should be noted that sometimes when you like something across the internet, a box to comment will popup. When you comment in this box, then you are sharing.

I have gone as far to send a quick message to people that I know will share but have liked something as to the importance of sharing over liking something.

Queen Games on Kickstarter...

2012-03-05T11:13:37-05:00

So, Queen Games officially now has a project on Kickstarter. People are asking and speculating as to if this is a good thing or not...

I say yes, and my thinking about this is very simple, and relates to my ideas about cash flow within a game publishing company.

The Kickstarting of this game will allow for the capability to produce more choice and value to gamers. That is a huge advantage for the industry as a whole. With more choice there is the capability for more growth.

This is what I see happening:

More games are published and released.
Hardcore gamers will try and test the most promising of these games.
The best games as determined by these gamers that are released will rise to the top.
As an aggregate, more great games will be produced each year.
There will be more options of games to introduce to non-gamers or on-the-fence-gamers.
The ranks of gamers will grow.
All benefit.

That is the way I see it. It is a good thing.

Oh, and it provides even more legitimacy to the platform of Kickstarter in general.

How To Create A Successful Project On Kickstarter

2012-02-16T16:19:53-05:00

Become a Kickstarter Rockstar

Check out Dice Games from Tasty Minstrel Games

I hope you have enjoyed this presentation. Feel free to embed it into your own website or blog, here is the code you should use in it's entirety:

<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_11620910"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://playtmg.com/blogs/michaels-blog-1/5677382-how-to-create-a-successful-project-on-kickstarter" title="Become a Kickstarter Rockstar" target="_blank">Become a Kickstarter Rockstar</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/11620910" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> Check out <a href="http://playtmg.com/collections/dice-games" target="_blank">Dice Games</a> from <a href="http://playtmg.com" target="_blank">Tasty Minstrel Games</a> </div> </div>

Kickstarter Attitudes: Supporting A Board Game Publisher

2012-02-07T15:37:43-05:00

With the arguments about the benefits (or lack thereof) of Kickstarter flying back and forth, I thought I would weigh in on some additional thoughts of my own. Specifically, I want to discuss the attitude of supporting a particular publisher instead of just a particular game. While, supporters are obviously backing a project to get a certain game based on the information provided, in some situations, I think there is an additional underlying psychology to the situation.

In particular, I am thinking of something that I have encountered. Support of a publisher. I have received numerous communications with the projects for Kings of Air and Steam and For The Win, which have gone something like this:

"I really like Belfort, Eminent Domain, Homesteaders, and/or Martian Dice... I like what you are doing as a publisher, and this game looks good, so I am supporting it and you. Thank you and keep making good games."

I think that the underlying concept process behind these actions goes like this:

Tasty Minstrel Games has made games that I like/love/enjoy before.
Tasty Minstrel Games has a process under which they put games.
This game looks like I might like it, so I will support.
If the game isn't as good as I hope it is, then that is ok, because if Tasty Minstrel Games becomes successful enough to have employees and apply a full-time effort, then they will produce even better games.

If I am right or not, I don't know. What I do know is that the psychology behind this bodes well for me and my company, and I am not going to complain about that!

For this to work out to the long-term benefit of the hobby/industry, then the publishers that get this benefit of the doubt need to honor it. They need to maintain the trust of their fans and customers by continuing to release only quality games.

Right now, it looks like TMG is certainly releasing a large quantity of games, but we have had a large number of finished games just waiting for funding. It is a beauty that Kickstarter has come along!

Cheers,

Michael

Hidden Money Traps In Game Publishing

2012-01-23T14:26:15-05:00

Even after having published games for several years now, there are some expenses associated with game publishing that continue to surprise me. I thought you might like to know of them if you are considering becoming a publisher yourself...

Shipping Costs (Air Freight, Delivery, Replacement Parts, Ocean Freight)
Extortion Costs (Drayage at Conventions)
Money Services Costs (Wire fees, credit card processing)

Shipping Costs In Game Publishing

Every time I turn around it seems like I have to pay more and more money for shipping. It might be that the ocean freight is more money that I was expecting, a delay in production requiring air freight, or a constant stream of replacement parts to ship out.

The bottom line is that when pricing a game, you will need to factor in the transportation costs associated with full and final delivery. At this point in time, I budget in a full dollar of cost for big box games for ocean freight. Depending on the time of year, oil costs, and such I have been surprised at the cost over 1 dollar.

Extortion Costs

I consider this any cost that is charged at exorbitantly high prices because the "service" provider has you by the short hairs. The only example of this that occurred in 2011 for me was drayage associated with moving my product at GenCon. It cost almost as much money to have my product delivered at the show as it cost to ship it via air freight!

Money Service Costs

It is surprising how quickly the charges associated with wire fees and credit card processing add up. There are a part of the oct of business, but still a cost that I would love to pay less for!

Finding and Working with Graphic Designers and Artists

2012-01-12T12:01:14-05:00

To run a successful game publishing endeavor and eventually empire, requires a large number of people. Most of these people will work on a contract basis, but finding the best, working with them repeatedly, and getting their best work out of them are essential to producing a great product.

The Search For Artists and Graphic Designers

If I were starting again from scratch and needed to build up relationships with fantastic artists, I would start with the artwork on games that I find appealing. Now, this can be a little tricky, because depending on who the publisher s of those games, they could employ the artists full time. For example, you will be hard pressed to hire graphic designers that work at Fantasy Flight Games to do your graphic design work.

However, if you stick to the smaller publishers, then you are almost certainly running into artists that are working on a project basis. So, the steps here are simple:

Discover who the artist is.
Utilizing the power of the Internet, find a way to contact them.
Start a conversation about doing artwork.

Get Pricing Up Front

This may seem obvious, but artwork is one area where estimations of time required and actual time spent can vary widely. Make sure you provide the artist with an exhaustive list of what is needed for the project including:

Full final piece numbers.
Any icons or symbols that need to be created.
Layout required.

With an exhaustive list, they should be able to estimate their required time and provide you with a quote. You need to also speak with the artist about what is expected in the process. Do you want to see their work at the concept stage, sketch stage, inking stage, and coloring stage for approval at each step?

Be careful to provide guidance about what you want, as continual changes and ongoing work can become expensive quickly.

Address What Constitutes Reasonable Corrections

The more guidance you provide about what you want, the more you can ask for corrections to what has not been delivered. If you approve cover artwork at every stage and then want it redone, then you should expect to pay for all of the work lost. However, if your artist one day shows you a finished cover without providing work in between, then do not pay for changes that are required.

What Artists Want...

If you are dealing with your accountant, then you probably know what they want. They want quality and accurate numbers on the front end, answers to questions that they might have, and payment. An artist is somebody that spends their time creating a world for you. They labor excessively to get things to look just right.

In my experience, artist want 3 things most:

Praise for a job well done.
Respect for their artistic vision.
Timely payment.

It is surprising when I hear about how long it takes most artists to be paid for projects that they work on... Pay invoices when they are presented and due. Do it without delay, and you will find that artists want to work with you and they will give you better work as a result.

Payment Up Front

For a typical artwork contract, I end up paying 25% or 33% of the total contract up front before that artwork is started. Then the remainder is due when the files are delivered to the manufacturer and accepted.

A Deal Is A Deal

Remember, that a deal is a deal. Artwork costs vary significantly from one artist to another. Typically you get what you pay for, but remember, there is no such thing as a standard deal, unless you dictate a standard to the other party.

The Factor Of Time In Success

2012-01-11T11:32:52-05:00

Does time really play a factor into success? Or is that a lie to keep discouragement away in the face of failure?

Having all but finished up the accounting for Tasty Minstrel Games, we have shown a profit for 2011. Beautiful. Of course, this is better than showing a loss, however, the profit is insufficient to support long-term success. I can hear the words of others in my head...

"It just takes time"... "You need to wait"... "You need to get it out there and wait for it to spread"...

Are these words of wisdom or are they a trap to fall into?

It Does Take Time

In a competitive and creative industry like board game publishing, it will take time for the idea or game to become popular. There are only so many copies that have been sold, and so many people available to talk about the game. And they need to take the time to play the game in the first place!

So, yes it does take time.

The Time Trap

Just be careful. It takes more than time. It will require effort, distinct and continuous effort. It can be attractive to fall into the trap of waiting instead of doing.

The Piggyback Popularity Effect

2012-01-10T16:03:20-05:00

Lets face it. If you are trying to publish and sell games (or any other creative endeavor), then you are looking to create hits. It may be niche hits with decent sales or mega-hits in the main stream. No matter how great your product is, there will be the initial difficulty of getting it noticed.

There is a simple fact that applies here. While a company or publisher can own your intellectual property on a permanent license. They do not own your personal image or name. Think about actors that grew their influence and reach via Twitter while they were on a popular television show, like Greg Grunberg who played Matt Parkman on Heroes.

The Concept

This is where the "Piggyback Popularity" comes into play. That is my own invented terms, and it encompasses the 3 step process below:

1. Get recognized and promoted by an existing popular figure.

2. Become popular based on the quality of your product.

3. Release your own products yourself in the future.

The Story

The best exemplify this, I think we should turn to musical history in rap. I used to enjoy rap music very much, but have fallen away from that due to message that comes through much of it. Regardless, this is a story that starts with Dr. Dre...

Dr. Dre was part of the rap group N.W.A. which allowed him to gain inpidual recognition as part of a group of 6 people. N.W.A. would end up backed and supported by 3 different labels. This certainly allowed Dr. Dre to be recognized by Death Row Records which produced his solo debut "The Chronic" (1993), which garnered him album sales, popularity, celebrity status, and a grammy.

Did Dr. Dre stop there? Nope... He took he new found position in life and started his own record label (1996) under which he released two more of his own albums. Eventually, he would sign Eminem and 50 Cent, both of which have become sensations themselves.

Eminem himself took his extreme popularity and celebrity status and established his own record label (signing 50 Cent among others), radio station, and has begun acting. He himself using the piggyback on the popularity of Dr. Dre.

50 Cent has also developed his own record label, and so forth.

Rapper's Delight - A Creative Industry

Being able to be recognized among the large number of creative projects being released every day is becoming more difficult. People that have gone before and been recognized will be able to get your project in front of more faces, inspire more confidence, and get you started.

While a record label probably has some influence over the sound of a record, Eminem would sound very close to the same without having worked with Dr. Dre. However, when Dre signed him and backed him financially and with his credibility, it allowed Eminem to explode in popularity. Eminem would probably not be where he is today without Dr. Dre, he would probably be successful, but not the dominate force he is now.

Kickstarter And Removing Yourself From The Piggyback

Now, he is a little warning or bit of advice if you are considering utilizing Kickstarter to launch an initial game project of your own design. While it could fund and garner a decent amount of sales, consider the potential benefit of the piggyback.

As somebody that has built up popularity from zero to hero over several years, consider taking the immediate boost. I have done the following actively for quite awhile:

Publish and service well designed board games that fit a need for many gamers.
Communicated actively, directly, and personally with every person that has contacted me.
Written extensively about the experience of publishing and provided advice for those that might follow after me.
Developed relationships with the guardians of the industry (along with inpidual customers). Including website owners, other publishers, manufacturers, fulfillment houses, retailers, reviewers, and so forth.

When you see a Tasty Minstrel Game go up on Kickstarter, it is likely to succeed as a result of all of the previous work done. While we publish great games, and the game is obviously important, much of the result is due to all of that previous work done.

While we can make a big splash, it is shown by the immediate success of Kingdom Builder, that having a popular game previously designed will bring immediate sales. Consider the benefit that could come from leveraging the reach of others.

Publishing games and doing it right is hard work

It is. It is hard and there is a lot out there to potentially distract and tempt you. Depending on who publishes your game, you will learn much about the industry without having to do the work yourself. You can just sit back, learn from somebody with experience, and collect royalty check.

Conclusion

This is something I have thought about some over the past couple of days. It pertains specifically to Kickstarter, because the platform allows people to get right to possibly funding and publishing their games. In the end though, if your game is really good and you can design more good games in the future, then you might benefit most by having your game signed with an existing publisher that can boost your popularity immediately.

Of course, if you go this route, then you will want to make sure that the publisher is going to treat your name and game properly.

How Board Games Are Manufactured

2011-12-15T13:54:38-05:00

This is a guest post by Michael Lee, one of the managing partners of Panda Game Manufacturing. Panda produces most of the games put out by Tasty Minstrel Games, and we continue to be pleased with their skill, honesty, and results. I asked him to provide insight into the manufacturing of board games.

Lets get to it!

How Board Games Are Manufactured

Hello future board game publishers! Enjoy the following read for some tips that might make your first foray into publishing your own board games faster, cheaper, and perhaps a little less stressful :)

There are 6 main steps to getting your board game manufactured:

Consultation
Getting Quotes
Choosing a Manufacturer
Pre-Press & Materials Checkpoint
Production
Shipping

Manufacturing Consultation

As a self-publisher, you will want to contact a manufacturer fairly early to get an idea of the viability of manufacturing your game. This should be done while still developing your board game so that you can be certain the components you have designed for the game can be properly produced. If you envision your game to contain a large number of bits or if you wish to include fancy custom components, you would be wise to check on the production costs early so you can steer game development in the appropriate direction if you need to make significant changes to the components.

The consultation phase is also a good time to get a general estimate of how long it will take to manufacture and ship your game. For a typical euro-style game with wooden and cardboard components, it takes 4-5 months from the point when you upload your files to our FTP site until the games are in your warehouse.

Of course, the complexity of your game's components as well as the "print-readiness" of your graphic files will have a huge impact on the schedule. A simple game with minimal components can be completed in under a month whereas huge monster projects may take many months to manufacture. Do not under estimate your own influence on the schedule as well. Many first time publishers will understandably make numerous late changes and revisions as they fine-tune their game.

As a general rule of thumb, I advise new companies to try to keep their game components fairly simple for their first production. This will keep costs down and result in a faster schedule.

Attending gaming conventions such as Essen Spiele and Gen Con is a great way to meet helpful people in the industry.

Getting Quotes For Game Production

After some preliminary information sharing, you will eventually be ready to get an official quote for your game. This should be done before you raise funds to ensure you raise enough capital to produce and ship your game. At the same time, this is a good step for you to ask yourself which components in the game are going to give you the best bang for your buck.

Many traditional Euro games are produced with very basic components (cardboard and wooden cubes) because their main selling point is their gameplay. In the past two years (and with the recent success of Kickstarter-backed projects), we are getting more and more requests for special and custom components which can really help to make your game stand out.

Of course, with every additional component you add to your game, the cost will rise accordingly so it is up to you to determine what is the ideal mix of components to put in your game.

One factor that will have a very large impact on pricing is the total quantity of games you are looking to produce. The more games you make, the more feasible it will be to add fancier components to the box. This is because every component adds a production step to the manufacturing process. Every production step has a certain setup cost in addition to the material and labor cost. Certain components have especially high setup costs such as custom plastic components. Wooden and printed components are much cheaper than plastic and it is for this reason that most Euro games are made with only wood and printed materials. My advise to a new company is to print 1500 to 3000 games initially. With quantities less than this, it will be very difficult to turn a profit. If you produce too many, the games might take too long to sell.

Another important factor to consider is your target market. Understand your customers and have a marketing plan! Every game needs at least one main selling point - a fascinating theme, mesmerizing artwork, addictive gameplay, or awesome components that can capture the attention of gamers. Understanding where your game lies on the spectrum of these various measuring sticks can help you determine how much to invest in your game's components. Some games work well as simple card games with minimal components and other have had their success multiplied by including gorgeous and thematic bits.

Lastly, create a strong company brand. Some companies are known for over-produced games whereas others may be known to release more traditional and component-light games (cardboard bits and wooden cubes). I have worked with companies that have found success at both ends of the spectrum. It isn’t realistic for every publisher to attempt to become the next Fantasy Flight Games. Having a clear vision of what your strengths are as well as understanding your customers will steer your component decisions in the right direction.

That said, regardless of the number or complexity of components in your game, the most important issue that can derail your dream of becoming a successful publisher is ending up with a game that has quality problems. This is why the next step of choosing an appropriate manufacturer is perhaps the most important decision you can make as a new publisher.

Alien Frontiers was the smash hit that fueled the launch of Clever Mojo Games.

Choosing A Game Manufacturer

There are two main places in the world to produce your game:

Germany
China

Some companies have tried to print games in other countries such as the USA with varying degrees of success but the vast majority of all board games are produced in Germany and China because they offer the best value. When Panda Game Manufacturing first started offering its services in 2007, the landscape for board game printing was extremely polarized:

German printing was high quality but expensive whereas Chinese printing was low quality but cheap.

Interjection of Michael Mindes, founder, Tasty Minstrel Games - Panda Game Manufacturing has changed this. Sure, companies have been getting quality manufacturing out of China for years. The problem was that you needed to have people there to oversee an operation. Panda does the overseeing and takes care of it. Back to Michael Lee...

Our mission statement was to provide high quality game manufacturing services at Chinese prices.

We set out to execute our game plan: to combine our industry expertise and western management with our Chinese manufacturing background to be able to provide professional manufacturing services for game publishers all over the world.

Since then, I believe we have made a lot of progress in improving the perception of Chinese manufacturing in gamers' minds. Some of the most satisfying moments of my job have been during game fairs such as Essen when customers exclaim that they "can't believe this was printed in China!"

Some of the recent or popular games that Panda has produced include: Pandemic, Eclipse, Alien Frontiers, Belfort, and Merchants & Marauders. A quick visit to our website (www.pandagm.com) will lead you to see more details of some of our past productions.

Eclipse: a large production for Lautepelit games that Panda recently completed.

Of course, there are numerous other printers in the world that will say they can print your board game but the reality is that in today's gaming world, low quality products are simply not accepted and news of poor quality WILL spread around the internet and damage your company brand. There are only a handful of specialized game manufacturers in the industry.

My recommendation is to do your own research, ask other publishers for their recommendations, and choose the right fit for you.

Zev Shlasinger of Z-Man games went on a factory tour of Panda's facilities this year. He also ate a scorpion but that is a story for another day.

Pre-Press & Materials Checkpoint

Alright! So you've finally decided on signing a contract with a manufacturer who you think will be a trustworthy partner to produce your games for you. Since I'm writing this article from my perspective, let's assume that you have signed a contract to have Panda produce your first game. You will be sent a down payment invoice (usually 50% up front) as well as instructions on how to upload your graphic files to our server.

We now enter what we call the Pre-Press, Proofs & Materials Checkpoint Stage.

Our pre-press team will now analyze your files to ensure that they are print-ready. A list of our file requirements can be found here: (provide link)

We have found that publishers who work with experienced board game graphic designers have very few file adjustments required before we consider the files print-ready. If you are using a designer with very little experience (or if you are making the files yourself), be prepared for the possibility of a long and tedious pre-press phase that would involve multiple rounds of file revisions.

If time is a concern for you, I strongly advise you to use an experienced graphic designer.

During the pre-press phase we will also initiate the production of sample components. Wood and pre-made components can be ordered quickly whereas plastic components will take longer (4 - 5 weeks to make a mould).

Once the pre-press phase is completed, Panda will send you a Proofs & Materials Package which will contain the following:

Full Color Proofs - used for you to approve the colors. The colors in these proofs will be closest to the appearance of colors in the final retail product. However, certain finishes such as matte finishes and linen embossing can affect the way colors show up (based on the way light reflects off the surface).
Blueline / Digital Proofs - These proofs are printed for you to do one last check of the text, icons, and any other content in your games. These are made in addition to the full colors proofs because we sometimes don't make a full color proof of every single component. Redundant card backs, text pages in rulebooks, and other components that don't require accurate color matching don't require full color proofs so we create blueline/digital proofs instead.
Mock Up of Printed Components - This will be a game that is created either without any printing at all, or with draft-quality printed components. The purpose of this is for you to see and feel the game materials. At this point, hopefully you can confirm that all the components fit nicely in the box and that you also approve of the thickness and feel of all the materials in the game (cards, punchboards, game boards, player mats, and so on).
Sample Components - Any components that you ordered will be included with this package so you should see an exact sample of any wood, dice, plastic, or pre-made bits.

After receiving the package, this is your last chance to make any changes to your game before we start the machines. Once we get your green light, we start the full production process which we will discuss in the next section.

The proofs and materials package for Startup Fever by Louis Perrochon.

Board Game Production

A 4-color Heidelberg printing press at Panda’s main print and assembly facility.

From the perspective of a publisher, the production phase is the most "hands off" phase. Once we are given the green light, it is usually just a matter of waiting 45 - 60 days until the games are completed.

Of course, from the perspective of a manufacturer, this is where most of the work gets done as we begin the exciting process of turning digital files and component specifications into playable games!

Every game is different and the manufacturing process involves many detailed steps but here is an overview of the production of a typical Euro-style game with printed components, wooden bits, and custom dice:

All art files are converted to physical printing plates. Each image is broken down into 4 distinct colors: CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) and a separate plate is actually made for each of these 4 color processes.
Components are printed one type at a time. Usually, components that require the most labor will be printed first and simpler components will be printed later so that work can be done on some components while other components are still in the printing stage.
Die cutting templates are set up for all printed components by a computer-aided machine
Cardboard used for the game board and punch boards are machine-pressed to achieve a very flat result.
Game boards, punchboards, and boxes are constructed using printed materials and cardboard. Afterwards, various types of finishes are applied to the components based on customer specifications.
The moisture content of all printed components is then measured before placed in a climate control room where components are dried to appropriate levels so that they will not warp after purchase.
Wooden components such as meeples are carved out of larger pieces of wood which are specially conditioned to be used in board games (to avoid mould). Then, these meeples are put into a painting machine before a final finish is applied. The wooden components are then dried and slowly tumbled (so the paint does not stick together) before being packaged and sent to our final assembly factory.
Dice moulds are created for custom engraved dice. Acrylic or resin material (essentially hard plastic-like substances) are injected into the moulds to create the dice. The dice faces are then painted in the appropriate colors, finished, then polished.
All incoming components are required to be put through quality control tests at the source factory and a test report is provided to us. Once we receive the components, we do a spot check to verify the test results. If the components pass the check, we continue with the production process. If not, the components are sent back to the original factory for reworking.
On the final assembly line, all of the components are sorted and put into the games in the specific order that has been instructed. Games are then shrink wrapped, placed into master cartons, and loaded onto shipping pallets.

The very first game that we assemble will be express air shipped to you for your approval. We call this an advance copy and some publishers ask for multiple advance copies so they can forward them to reviewers and other industry folks.

This is essentially the moment of truth and it carries some emotional significance as you might imagine. The day a client receives the advance copies is almost always the happiest day of the entire process. After we get approval, we continue to finish the assembly phase and begin to proceed with the final shipping arrangements.

All of the components of Belfort, a game we manufactured for Tasty Minstrel Games. Photo courtesy of EndersGame from BGG.

Shipping Board Games

The standard method of shipping from China to the USA is by ocean shipped containers. The most cost-effective way to ship a game is to book an entire container. For customers who will not order enough games to fill an entire container, we recommend that they produce a quantity of games that will take up exactly half a container. This way, there is a chance that shipments can be combined with other customers who happen to have their orders completed at the same time and are shipping to the same country.

Ocean shipping from port to port takes 3 weeks on average. In addition, you need to factor in another 2 weeks to clear customs and truck the games from port to your warehouse. In the event that your order gets flagged for a random customs inspection, it can add another week of waiting. So we I'd recommend that you factor in 6 full weeks for shipping.

During the quoting phase, we will only provide you with historical shipping data because shipping prices are volatile. Fuel prices, exchange rates, and demand can heavily influence rates so we only provide binding shipping quotes two weeks from the estimated ship date.

After the games arrive in your warehouse (or garage in some cases), our obligation is complete and now it is up to you to sell your games. Hopefully our hard work plays a big part in the success of your game and we will have many more reprints and future projects to discuss!

Containers full of board games, amongst millions of other consumer goods make their way across the Pacific Ocean every month.

Manufacturing Board Games - In Closing

I truly believe that our industry is going through a very exciting transformation. Small startup publishers now have incredible tools and resources to fund (Kickstarter), manufacture and market (Board Game Geek) their own games. Companies such as Tasty Minstrel Games have shown that if you have a good game plan, creativity, and quality products, success is within reach.

With the barriers to self-publishing at an all-time low, a growing number of board game entrepreneurs are taking the plunge into the industry. Collectively, this injection of creativity and talent has the potential to take the tabletop gaming industry to new heights.

There is truly a feeling of togetherness amongst publishers, designers, and even manufacturers in this industry as it seems quite clear that our survival and success is linked in many ways.

If you were ever on the cusp of launching a new game company or releasing your cherished new game design, there has never been a better time than now.

Huge crowds at the Essen Spiel Game Fair make it clear that gamers are showing no signs of slowing down.

Money "At Risk" In Publishing

2011-12-07T12:43:57-05:00

Recently, I have been seeing many arguments back and forth about the value brought by publishers, developers, Kickstarter, and so forth. Instead of replaying to one of the many numerous threads scattered around the Internet, I present it here, please enjoy. Right now, I will discuss this concept of "At Risk Money"

First, it is important to define "At Risk", because I see 2 different types of "At Risk".

Profitability being at risk.
Cash flow being at risk.

Profitability At Risk

Profitability is simple. It is a measure of if a game makes or lost money. Income minus Expenses. Clean and simple. Offsetting the risk of profitability is simple, but not easy. All you need to do is have sufficient distribution expectations (including pre-orders).

For example, if I know that I can expect to have 300 pre-orders, 700 orders in the first month of distribution, and 300 orders in the second month of distribution, then I know exactly how to price a game and what I can spend to make sure I stay profitable. It is a simple income minus expenses calculation. Remembering or estimating all of the expenses might be difficult, but doable.

At this point in time, I have sold a sufficient number (or am close) of Jab and Homesteaders (2nd printing) to know that I will be profitable on the print runs. I am however still out of pocket on the cash flow and have had that cash tied up for awhile.

Cash Flow At Risk

When it is decided to move forward with a game, and the risk of profitability is properly mitigated, then there is still cash flow to worry about. The bottom line is that it requires cash on hand to publish games. Artists typically do not work for free and get paid on royalties. Manufacturers and shippers certainly will not move forward on a project without cash in their bank accounts.

Given that the cash in a business is a finite resource, the amount of time that it takes to get back the initial investment is time that additional games cannot be worked on. There is no avoiding this type of risk or the time it takes to get from artwork and initial project starting to finished product and income. For an idea of how long it takes to get cash back:

Artwork - 1/4 or 1/3 up front - As long as 1 year to recover
Artwork - 3/4 or 2/3 upon completion - As long as 6 months to recover
Manufacturing upfront costs - 1/2 of manufacturing costs - As long as 5 months to recover
Manufacturing completion, overs, and shipping - As long as 2 months to recover

That is assuming that in the month of release there are enough sales to recover 100% of the upfront cash flow spent on a project. This would be a wonderful sign, and makes for a likely hit game which will likely sell out in the 2nd or 3rd month after release. At which point, much of that incoming cash flow needs to be put back into more manufacturing and shipping.

If you wanted to make sure that the game did not go out of stock in the mean time, then new copies would need to be ordered before the 1st printing sold out.

Overhead and Fixed Expenses

To make things more complicated and difficult, a publisher will have overhead and fixed expenses. Tasty Minstrel Games has very low overhead since there are no employees, no offices, fulfillment on performance (no warehouse expenses), and very low tech expenses. If there was significant expenses like salaries, rent, health insurance, and so forth, then it would be even more crucially important to account for the cash flow "at risk".

One such cash flow expense that cannot be forgotten is taxes. Despite being cash flow neutral, because of inventory accounting, TMG will show a taxable profit for 2011. The IRS does not wait to be paid.

When in business, if you fail to pay your expenses, then you will be in a very bad position. The unpaid bills result in liens, which result in civil suits, which result in the liquidation of product. Which leads to losses immediately instead of profits over time.

Cash Flow vs. Profitability and "At Risk Money"

Unless you have finance training or have run a business, you have probably been thinking of "at risk money" in the sense of profitability instead of cash flow. Now, armed with the importance of cash flow, I would like to address the value of Kickstarter and the claims that it is something that should be avoided by established publishers.

Given the size and scope of publishers like Rio Grande, Fantasy Flight Games, Mayfair, Queen, or Kosmos, I would agree. Sure, they might need to hold onto $100,000-250,000 in cash to meet cash flow needs, but should be able to manage that without too much trouble. Also, the size and scope of their distribution is sufficient that they do not need to worry about the profitability side.

Companies like Tasty Minstrel Games and Clever Mojo Games may have figured out and answered the initial problem of gaining sufficient distribution so as to not have to worry about long-term profitability of releasing a game. There is the ever calling need of cash flow.

Kickstarter And Easing Cash Flow Risk

The obvious benefit of Kickstarter is that you can measure the market for a game in advance of producing the game. Of course, you can also get a project funded, which is fantastic. If you have a devoted fan base and audience, then you can even get a game funded with what seems like try little information about it. I often see questions like, "How did this game get any funding given the information that is available about the game?" We do it, because we have fans, and we love our fans for it!

The hidden and amazing benefit of Kickstarter is the advance of cash flow. The cash flow exchange is reversed. The cash is in hand before much of it is due to pay for things. Not to mention that these initial sales will allow a publisher to do things like boost the total number of copies ordered which will lower their per unit price and boost their profitability.

I could go on for a long time about the importance of the cash flow benefit. However, so I avoid boring people, I list some and leave the rest up to your imagination:

Increasing print run size
Keeping cash inside of the company, which allows for more projects to be undertaken
Liquidity for promotional purposes

Kickstarter And Marketing Benefits

Another benefit to utilizing a platform like Kickstarter is the advance notice and promotional results that occur as a result of using the platform. Under a typical release pattern, there is often very little information about a game before the game is even released. Once a game is released, people need to be informed about the game before they can make a purchasing decision.

Now with Kickstarter, there are probably 10x the supporters already aware of the game before the game even starts the production process. This information will lie dormant while the games are produced and finished. Then while they are shipping, the promotion of the game can begin again. Only this time, people already know about the game, and the final push of promotional efforts will be amplified.

Uncovering The Old Business Plan

2011-12-01T16:41:21-05:00

A couple of weeks ago as I was cleaning up the house and purging myself of some additional possessions, I came across my original first draft of my Tasty Minstrel business plan that I wrote in early 2005. I wrote the plan 4 years before Tasty Minstrel was officially started.

Since I have worked as a financial advisor, I have credited many of the skills I learned in that profession to some of the success that I have seen as a board game publisher. I found some surprising things, upon reading through the business plan now 6.5 years old. I wasn't surprised to find some exceptionally great ideas, I was surprised that without referencing the plan I had followed it almost 100%.

The basics of the plan were:

Publish games with amazing gameplay, artwork, and production.
Rely on game reviewers and word of mouth marketing to build sales.
Provide great customer service and work to gain a large core fan base.
Utilize social methods to obtain the initial sales.

Sure, I might not have executed those as well then as I have now. Also, many of the internet based tools that I find incredibly valuable today did not really exist back then.

Still, it is nice to see that the ideas and foundational principles about how to run a game publishing company were unchanging in my mind and obvious to me years before I did it.

Then I started to think about all of the people that have started a business in their mind. Maybe these people have even written down their plans and are on the edge of executing it. I thought, what would happen if all of these people decided to just get started. To move forward...

Where would Tasty Minstrel Games be at today if we started 4 years earlier?

Where could you be 3 years from now if you just got started now?

Interview of Tom Lehmann, Designer of Race for the Galaxy (and more)

2011-10-27T17:40:37-04:00

Tom Lehmann is a board game designer, best know for his hit hobby game, Race for the Galaxy. I am glad that I got a chance to get these insights from Tom.

What accomplishments so far are you the most proud of?

Three things: A) I’ve been able to create some games, such as Fast Food Franchise and Time Agent, that are still played almost 20 years later; B) I’ve been able to create a game, Race for the Galaxy, that has been popular enough to pay my (modest) bills for several years; and C) I’ve been able to collaborate with several designers – Jim Hlavaty, Wei-Hwa Huang, Joe Huber, and Matt Leacock – on various games.

How did you become a published game designer? Please tell us about your first time.

I went the self-publishing route, starting Prism Games with Fast Food Franchise. I think I’m a better designer than businessman, so this didn’t ultimately work out, but it did get some of my designs out there, which was useful when I became a free-lance designer.

What do you think it takes to be creative? Where do you get flashes of brilliance from?

For me, every game starts with three things: a bit of story or theme – sometimes just a title; some graphic image (for example, the tangled web of technologies extending from the past into the present in Time Agent or building tableaus in RFTG); and some game mechanism (walls losing cards when trumpet cards are played in Jericho or the choice of whether to gain more dice or dice-modifying powers in To Court the King).

What is the single toughest problem you’ve had to face, and how did you get through it?

Not speaking German – which prevented me from collaborating fully with Bernd Brunnhofer (Hans im Glueck publisher) on a game that we both wanted to do and which I was unable to let go of, so eventually we had to halt due to creative differences that we couldn’t resolve due to the language problem. We solved this impasse by doing a different project together, Magellan (published as Pizarro & Co. in the US), where I simply turned my prototype over to Bernd and told him to do whatever he wanted with it. I’m not sure the resulting game is “mine”, but I do think that Bernd added lots of interesting ideas and, in one crucial area, really improved the game. I consider Bernd one of the most talented game developers in the business and really wish that I spoke German so we could work together... sigh.

What is the future of the board game industry?

I believe one direction is fairly clear – that the fusion between board and card games and downloadable game aps, on-line social games, etc. will continue to grow over time.

Do you think anything particular about your past helps you as a game designer?

My professional background includes economics, system modeling, decision theory, programming, and technical writing, all of which have helped me in various ways.

What are your greatest strengths?

My willingness to keep polishing and improving a game, while at the same time not being such a perfectionist that the games still do get out the door!

What is the best advice that you apply to your life? Please share some of the positive results of following that advice.

Keep in mind the difference between decisions and outcomes – sometimes a good decision doesn’t work out – you just get unlucky. Don’t beat yourself up when that happens. Sometimes, a bad decision will work out well – you just got lucky. Don’t pat yourself on the back too much when that happens.

One of the biggest problem for creative people is spreading too thin working on too many projects. How do you prioritize projects?

My design backlog is over 30 games at this point. There are some advantages to having so many games on tap, though. If you get stuck on one project, you can always switch to another one. Prioritization is simple – games that a publisher wants and I’ve committed to get top priority. Since advances are not part of game publishing industry, this is usually just a fairly short list. The games that sometimes slip are the ones that a publisher is only tentatively interested in, where I haven’t made a solid commitment to the project. Since no advance or contractual committment is involved, I will sometimes set aside some of these projects to work on other projects.

What have you been up to recently? What projects are you working on?

Recently, I’ve been helping shepherd three games through the publication process -- proof-reading, answering questions, makes rules edits, etc. One of these games, The City, has just been published by Amigo. I’ve also submitted the next expansions for Pandemic and RFTG to their respective publishers (which is just the start of the long publication process). I have two more games on my short list, then I’m excited about actually getting some free time to work on several new games.

What excites you about these new projects?

It’s always exciting seeing a game actually getting published. Sometimes, it takes 5 or more years before a game sees print. With the expansions, it is a challenge to take the game in new directions while maintaining what players enjoy about the game.

What blogs, podcasts, or other sites that you still find yourself consuming religiously?

I support my games on Boardgamegeek, so I check my designer page’s forum for rules questions regularly in order to support my published games. I check the BGG front page about once a week to stay current with what’s coming out. Other than that, I don’t regularly visit any websites.

Do you have a Twitter account, Blog, or Facebook “Like” page?

I have a personal FB page, which – for privacy reasons -- I restrict to only people I have actually met. I tried to take ownership of the Tom Lehmann FB designer page (which looks like it was auto-generated from the Wikipedia), but Facebook wouldn’t grant me its ownership. I maintain a minimal website and but don’t blog or Twitter. I prioritize answering rules questions on BGG above generic social media.

Rejecting fear to embrace the Heroic mission

2011-10-25T14:28:04-04:00

When I started Tasty Minstrel Games, I had my own internal mission and vision for the company. It was very simple, to be able to strengthen families by providing games for them to play and love together. I mostly keep this mission and vision hidden at first. A secret between myself and my wife.

I was scared. What if the vision was not well received? What if people judged the games we publish adversely based on this vision? These were the unanswered questions which I hid behind.

I was scared. Now I realize that I was not scared of the answers to those particular questions. Rather, I was scared of the implication of living up to that standard. I was scared of not living up to the potential of the greatness of that vision. Or maybe, I was scared of living up to it.

I was scared. Since, I am not typically in dangerous situations, much of my fears are irrational. It is time for no more fear. It is time to embrace the heroic vision.

The Heroic Mission of Tasty Minstrel Games

I have refined the mission statement to a simple sentence:

"To heal the world by providing games that strengthen family unity, communication, and love."

This vision comes from 2 foundational beliefs of mine:

Families are the fundamental building block of society.
Games provide a framework for beneficial family interaction.

Embracing The Mission

There is a difference between declaring a mission statement and embracing a mission statement within every fiber of being and every portion of an organization. To embrace this mission, I will:

Continue to provide exceptional monetary value within the marketplace.
Continue to provide games with exceptional game play and replayability.
Continue to work hard on producing clear, concise, and comprehensive rulebooks.
Cherish each and every fan of Tasty Minstrel Games that helps to bring our games in contact with more people and more families.
Remember that every purchase of a TMG product results from a decision made by an individual, and treat them as such.
Publish only games that have themes appropriate for families, as measured by my own family.

Joining The Cause

This mission cannot be accomplished without the help of others. Each person that helps in this is a hero to me, doing their part to heal the world. You advance this mission by introducing more people to the great new games that are coming out now, rather than their current world which is limited to "Monopoly", "Sorry", and so forth.

I am inspired to accomplish this mission, a mission to transform the world. Take the first step in helping by sharing this post with your friends, via Facebook, Twitter, or other social media. Lets keep people away from these supposedly "social" games.

How to design dice games

2011-10-20T13:06:36-04:00

There is something about the visceral and tactile nature of dice games. Dice impact us in a way that few other game components can. Dice are a method of randomization that remains easily within reach of the brain's ability to calculate probabilities. Cards present randomization, but there are often too many for such calculations and the probabilities are constantly changing as the nature of the deck of cards changes.

We see near randomness in every day that we live. Dice are a simplification of that randomness, and when properly utilized in a game allow us to imagine control over that randomness. Who doesn't want to have that kind of granular control over the vagaries of the universe?

To understand this desire for control and place it into a game should lead to a great dice game. I like to consider the following markets when looking at a design for a dice game:

The mass market or family market
The alpha gamer market

Remember, each of these markets are made up of inpidual people, and the goal is to get them to play, like, replay, and recommend the particular game. You do not need to have everybody like your game, just enough to keep it virally spreading in popularity.

Designing a dice game for mass market consumption

I suspect that a large percentage of the mass market game consumer is occasionally looking for a game that they can play with their families. Others might be having a party and are looking for a certain type of entertainment. Whatever the particular motivation for playing the game is, the are some fundamental underlying truths:

People want a game which is exceptionally easy to learn. Remember, they are probably being distracted by their family or party guests at every turn. The faster to learn, the happier everybody will be.
People want a game which allows them to socialize and interact with their friends and family. It can be difficult to communicate sometimes, or you can just run out of things to say. A game that provides a framework within which such communication can occur will be better than one that does not.

Easy to learn rules...

If you were to start publishing games, then you will learn that a large number of games that are purchased are never opened, and some are never played. Since games are an inherently viral product, publishers should want their games played, and they should only publish games that will be well liked once played.

Some games do not even get opened, improving the open rate on your games is a complex subject. However, many games that do not get played are as a result of the rules. For easier rules in a dice game, do the following:

Reduce the number of steps in a given game turn.
Reduce the number of choices in a given game turn. Of course, while keeping the choices interesting.
Reduce the types of choices across the entire game.

Martian Dice is a good example of how this is done, here is the Martian Dice turn flow:

Roll your available dice.
Set aside all tanks.
Choose 1 type of dice (still allowed), and set all of that type aside.
Choose to roll remaining dice or proceed to scoring.

A player always has 2 choices to make. Which type of dice to set aside is a probabilistic optimization for the purpose of scoring points. This optimization is affected by the current scores that each player has, and the best choice is obfuscated by the potential 3 point bonus for getting at least one human, cow, and chicken. Choosing to keep rolling or scoring is a simple choice of pressing your luck, do you want to score a known quantity now or go for more points?

Players have to make the same 2 interesting decisions multiple times on any given turn. A nice bonus is that at any point in time, one decision will be obvious and the other is the decision to think about. Plus, they change over the course of your turn.

If people cannot get through the 2 page Martian Dice Rulebook, then they will have a friend that can.

Socialization through games...

With the general nature of dice, people will always have the opportunity to talk about dice rolls. In the case of Martian Dice, this is unfortunately just about everything that there is to talk about. I personally think of 3 fundamental sources of socialization:

Trading
Bluffing
Teams

If we all roll dice, and need to trade with other players to get the results that we need, then we have just added a layer of socialization. There are a number of downsides to this type of socialization. The biggest being that it favors those that are not shy, can convince others easily, and prolongs game play.

Now, if we roll the dice and have hidden information, this allows us to start bluffing about our results. The bluffing aspect works out well, because it allows players to interact and socialize without the typical downside of trading. This will favor the players that are good at reading others and disfavor those that have a hard time masking their emotions.

Adding teams to a game provides some us versus them camaraderie. The downside that this can be subject to domination by two really good players (to the exclusion of others) or a weak link (where they blame themselves for the team's loss, which is not fun.)

Designing a dice game for the alpha gamers

The early adopting alpha gamers have their own wide variation of ideas about what will make a good dice game. We will discuss two which seem to be universal among alpha gamers.

Reduced impact of randomization.
Good choices to advance a chosen strategy exist regardless of what the dice roll resulted in.

Reducing the impact of randomization in a dice game...

In life, seemingly random events effect the options of what we can do. However, most often, these random events do not dictate to us what we must do. A game which embodies this, will be better received by alpha gamers. One strategy for this is to have a large number of options available, but have these options be reduced by the results of the dice roll.

For example, if a game required rolling 3 standard D6, then it could have 18 actions that are possible to be performed. Then the roll determines what is available to a player on a given turn. Kingsburg does this well.

Good choices regardless of dice rolls

This will be hard to get right and have work across an entire game. I do not know how to do this, but I hear that both Troyes and Alien Frontiers accomplish this.

In Conclusion

Just like any other aspect of game design, there is a lot of thought and effort that needs to go into the design of a dice game. As for getting sales results and potentially creating a hit. The optimal point is to have a cross section of alpha gamer and mass market appeal.

The alpha gamer appeal is necessary for early adoptions by those inpiduals who will play your game with a large variety and number of people. The mass market appeal is necessary so that a larger percentage of those that the alpha gamers share a game with will actually like it and decide to make their own purchase.

Interview of Ryan Laukat - Board Game Designer, Artist, & Publisher

2011-10-18T18:27:00-04:00

Ryan Laukat is a board game designer and illustrator. I’ve been working as a freelance illustrator for three years in the board game industry. Some of the games I’ve worked on include Bridge Troll, Trollhalla, cards for the Dominion games, Chocolatl, and Rails of New England. I’ve been designing games since I was in middle school, and my game illustration grew out of that interest in design.

Right now, Ryan has his game Empires of the Void on Kickstarter and is looking for funding.

What accomplishments so far are you the most proud of?

I have been very happy to work on the Dominion cards. That has really helped me get other illustration jobs. I think some of my best work was on Rails of New England, but I also loved working on Bridge Troll and Trollhalla—there is a really fun sense of humor in each game and it was a blast to illustrate it.

How did you get work as an artist for board games? Please tell us about your first time.

The first two games I worked on were published at the same time: Strozzi and Dominion, both by Rio Grande Games. I met Jay Tummelson at a local convention and showed him one of my game designs. He didn’t want to publish the game, but he liked my artwork. I was jumping off the walls when he hired me to do some art. The first cards I did were the Trash card and the Adventurer card. I think it really helped that I was able to talk to him face to face; he knew who I was and probably felt more confident hiring me.

Are any of your game designs published? Please tell us about how awesome that feels.

I don’t have any designs published yet, but I am excited to soon publish Empires of the Void, my space empire game. I’ve been trying to get a game design published for years and it feels really good to finally see one make it.

What do you think it takes to be creative? Where do you get flashes of brilliance from?

All my best ideas seem to come out of nowhere, usually when I’m doing something mundane, like taking a shower or unpacking boxes at my day job. But I’m also influenced by video games, books, and movies. My best designs are generally more theme-based. I like to tell stories, and that drives my game design mind. But I think a lot of it comes down to consistent, hard work. Designing a game can be difficult, and many times can turn out as a piece of garbage, even with tons of revision. Sometimes it just doesn’t work. I throw away around 95% of my game designs. But the key is to keep going until you find the diamond.

What is the single toughest problem you’ve had to face, and how did you get through it?

The hardest thing by far for me has been my lack of patience. I always want things to happen overnight. I find that it’s easier to deal with if I balance my life though. Making enough time for relaxation, family, etc. is very healthy.

What is the future of the board game industry?

I think it is growing and growing, especially with so many titles moving to smart phones and tablets. The electronic versions of hobby games are only going to help introduce more people to the industry, and that can’t be a bad thing. But I don’t think electronic board games will ever replace cardboard ones, at least not until we have the chessboard on the Millennium Falcon.

Do you think being an artist helps you while designing board games?

When I design a game, I think as much about the art and look of the game as I do the mechanics. The two are very intertwined for me, and I can’t imagine designing a game without also working on the art. I am definitely happy I can do both.

One of the biggest problems for creative people is spreading too thin working on too many projects. How do you prioritize projects?

This is a serious issue for me because I like to write and illustrate stories as well as design games. What I’ve had to start doing is implement a personal review on each idea I have. For example, let’s say I get a game design idea while driving to work. I let it stew around in my head for a while, then write it down, or draw up a rough sketch of the game. I’ll wait a day, and then the review process starts. It’s like two debate teams shouting at each other in my head. If I think it is a REALLY good idea, I’ll start working on it, and if not, I’ll throw it away. I just don’t have time for everything.

Also, I find that if I schedule a small increment of time each day for a specific project, I tend to get more done and don’t neglect everything else.

What have you been up to recently? What projects are you working on (that you can discuss)?

I am working now on Empires of the Void, and am very excited about it. It is a space empire board game that will soon be on Kickstarter.com. I’m writing an Asian-fantasy novel when I can. I also have a Super Nintendo-inspired board game in the works.

What excites you about these new projects?

Empires of the Void is the space game I always wanted to create. It has loads of different aliens, and I had a lot of fun creating all the art for it. I love starting new projects. It’s finishing them that is hard.

What blogs, podcasts, or other sites do you still find yourself consuming religiously?

I’ve listened to The Dice Tower podcast for three years now and never miss an episode. I practically live on boardgamegeek.com.

Do you have a Twitter account, Blog, or Facebook “Like” page?

My blog is http://www.blistworld.com. My art website is http://www.ryanlaukat.com. My facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ryan-Laukat/177673318963896.

Tools For Improving Your Business Systems

2011-10-18T12:26:35-04:00

One factor for having an ever increasing business is to continually be improving upon the systems that you use to perform that business. This is much easier said than done, as evidenced by the numerous coaches, productivity experts, and business consultants. While I am running Tasty Minstrel Games, the number of issues that I have to worry about is tremendous.

You will be introduced to some of the tools that I use to help me manage and improve the online portions of the business.

Google Analytics & Webmaster Tools

Online business is driven by connecting consumers with products or information. To fulfill our mission of healing the world by providing games that strengthen family unity, communication, and love, we have to match our products to consumers that want to buy them. Search engines are a primary source for this function, and thus understanding how they see our site on the Internet is as essential as understanding our traffic.

With Google Webmaster Tools, I get the following information:

Incoming links that Google has found.
Crawl errors that have resulted. Many of these are 404 not-found errors, which I can then permanently (301) redirect to the appropriate page. Now, if somebody finds the link that Google did, then they will go to the proper page.
Internal linking structure that Google has found. With this, I can make sure that the correct pages are being linked to from within the website to show their importance on the site. For example, it is important for our categories, like "Dice Games" to be properly identified.
Search queries, search rankings, and click through. I now also get this in Google Analytics.
Google +1 button stats.
Keyword relevancy that Google has identified with our website. For example, "games" is the number one relevant term.
Googlebot spidering activity over time.

With the webmaster tools, I can slowly improve the website and resolve issues as they surface.

Google Analytics, even the free version, is so incredibly powerful. Among other things, I use it for the following:

Determining what the best traffic sources are for my site. This way, I can concentrate on improving and increasing the traffic from the websites that work.
Measuring conversion rates for sales, email newsletter signups, and more. All of this data can be seen against different traffic sources as well. For example, I know that my best converting traffic that comes from Google is for branded terms, like Martian Dice or Eminent Domain.
Determining cart abandonment rates. How many people get onto the webpage for the shopping cart and yet do not check out?

Google Alerts

Google is constantly crawling the Internet and finding newly created content. Knowing what others are saying about your company or products is very helpful. So, I have setup Google alerts which inform me of every new piece of content that Google finds which talks about any variation of our brand names.

Mailchimp

Without an email newsletter as a method to interact with the fans of Tasty Minstrel Games, I think the company would have failed. It is that essential. I have written a sizable book about how to properly perform email marketing, which has helped to guide my actions here. The most important aspects to know are:

This is a person to person communication method. Treat people like they are your friends, and they will see you as a friend.
Provide your subscribers with the information hat they want to know.
Measure your results. Knowing the open rate on your emails, along with the click through, and final results is critical to knowing what is working. When you know what is working, you can continue to do that and expand on it.

Facebook Insights For Websites

With all of the "like" buttons and "share" buttons floating around the Internet, Facebook is gathering a huge amount of information about how people interact with their buttons and the end websites. Thankfully, they make this data available to you if you can prove that you are the owner of a website, which is ridiculously easy. I get the following data:

Aggregated "likes" across the site, the impressions of the "I like XYZ" story on Facebook, clicks, and so forth.
Aggregated "shares" across the site, the impressions of the "I shared this" story on Facebook, clicks, and so forth.

With just this information alone, I have found that "shares" are at least 20x more powerful than likes for the purpose of driving traffic.

More Tools

There are a ridiculously large number of tools that can be utilized for measuring results (which allow for informed improvement and decision making). These are just a handful of tools that I utilize. All of them are free and are extremely impactive upon the decision making at TMG and our results.

Revolt Against "Social" Games, The "Anti-Social" Rebirth?

2011-10-10T16:55:58-04:00

In the darkness, I can hear the steady breathing. How long has that been there? Over 5 minutes? I cannot remember, the glowing screen of my iPad mesmerized me and I lost track of the time. My youngest daughter is certainly asleep, releasing me of my need to be in her room, but I could do one last thing... One more turn...

My name is Michael Mindes, and I am addicted to games. Sure, I keep it mostly under control now, but like a sober alcoholic, I understand that the addiction is still there.

Being born in 1981, I grew up with Nintendo, Sega, and computers. The games available then were really good. Sure, the graphics were not up to today's standards, there were bad games, and maybe I am nostalgic. Nonetheless, as Playstations and the Internet came along, the gaming options multiplied.

I have been addicted to at least 4 different MMORPGs, and I refuse to try any new ones. I fear becoming an absentee father consumed by a supposedly "social" game. At least these games try to addict you with a with the quality and depth of game play.

Unlike the psycho-mathematically engineered "games", which utilize tricks to release feel-good chemicals in the brain. You click or tap around a screen while your brain chemistry tells you, "FUN! FUN! FUN!", even though you know better. To make matters worse, these games claim to be "social" by tapping into Facebook, Twitter, and allowing you to share your accomplishments. Don't forget who you are playing with... Nobody.

It is bad enough when 3 out of 4 adults sat at a table, staring at their phones instead of talking to each other. I was the one that ignored the text messages and emails. We have opportunities to interact with real physical people, and decide to interact through a phone's texting capabilities.

Now, we can sit there in the dark, playing with ourselves. Err, I mean playing social "games".

Where has the interaction gone?

The "anti-social" games have excelled at interaction and thus actual "social" aspects. The best example that comes to mind is Dungeons and Dragons. Long maligned as "anti-social", but what do players do? They sit there, talk to each other, strategize, roll dice, and laugh. That seems social to me.

What we need is a revolt against these social games, and a rebirth of the "anti-social".

As a parent and a gamer, I want to play games with my children, face to face. Not through a digital interface. I hope that I am not alone in that, this is one reason I started Tasty Minstrel Games.

Start by getting away from the digital "social" games and replace them with physical games that require interaction.

Eminent Domain on Kickstarter - Some Backer Stats

2011-09-24T18:25:04-04:00

I do not know how interesting this will be to you, but I find it very interesting!

Early on 11/1/2010 I checked the Backer stats for Eminent Domain.

There was 110 backers at this time backing with a total of $7,585. The support based on levels laid out like this:

$200+ Backers = $3,222 or 42.5% of all pledges
$150 Backers = $450 or 5.9% of all pledges
$90 Backers = $900 or 11.9% of all pledges
$60 Backers = $720 or 9.5% of all pledges
$35 Backers (and below) = $2,293 or 30.2% of all pledges

This means that Pareto's observation about 80% of results coming from 20% of efforts is close to holding absolutely true...

Pledgers at $60+ were 41 Backers (37.3% of Backers) and pledged 69.8% of $ support thus far
Pledgers at $35 or under were 69 Backers (62.7% of Backers) and pledged 30.2% of $ support thus far

I thought you might be interested at the analysis thus far of the Kickstarter Backers. I sure am glad that we structured the rewards the way we did. I am sure there was room for improvement, but providing a way for Backers to pledge more, and providing incentives for them to sell the game to their friends was a great idea.]]>

Kickstarter - A Brief Mid-Project Analysis

2010-11-09T08:03:19-05:00

If you are reading this blog post, you probably do not need any background information. However, I will briefly go over some for those not familiar...

Background

Eminent Domain is a board game that is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter. The project was started on Monday October 25th, 2010 seeking $20,000 in funding to more forward with the game. Since then, the following has happened:

The project reached the $20,000 mark late on Sunday November 7th, 2010. It currently continues to receive significant new Backers.
The project has quickly become one of the most popular projects EVER to be on Kickstarter. Ranking 25th out of all projects ever done since 2009 for traffic received, and that traffic continues to grow.
The project has been recommended on the front page of Kickstarter.
3 permutations of the potential cover quickly became the hottest images on Board Game Geek. One of which has already received 342 thumbs up.
Eminent Domain has been on "The Hotness" list of Board Game Geek for the last 6 days. Being #9, then #2, then #1 (and staying at #1).
Over the past 5 days, there have been 180 new Backers and $14,075 of new pledges.
At least 75 people have requested print and play files so they can play the game immediately. (This is data that I do not have a recent update from Seth... It could be even more)

Clearly, the popularity of Eminent Domain moved from a very small circle of people working on the game to the front of gamers minds in a very short period of time. Possibly this is the fastest that something like this has EVER happened... I like to think so.

Here Come The Copycats

Of course, many people will see the success... Many will proceed to say, "Me too, it cannot be difficult" and get started on Kickstarter. I do not blame them, and I encourage people to try it out. Some words of caution:

Structure your project properly. Study successful and unsuccessful projects and try to determine "WHY?"
Make a video to introduce your project.
Have artwork of some kind. We had a rough sketch of a cover idea for Eminent Domain by Seth for a long time. Anything is better than nothing.
Have a good product in the first place.
Determine your assets that you can market to beforehand.

It Is Easy

Here is the good news... It is easy to accomplish. Let me give you some qualifications though:

Tasty Minstrel Games had 3,000+ people give permission to email them before the project went live.
Tasty Minstrel Games had 700+ fans on Facebook before the project went live.
Seth and I both have blogs that are read by a cross-segment of Gamerati.
I had spent almost a full year building relationships with people through customer service. I certainly do not recommend having the manufacturing problems in order to shine through. But if you get dealt a bad hand because you took a naive chance, then certainly make the best of it.
You have a great game that you are seeking funding for

If you have done the above, then accomplishing results like with Eminent Domain is easy. As long as you structure and plan a good sequence for obtaining, controlling, and releasing information (artwork, videos, etc).

Conclusion

I have more tricks up my sleeve yet to hopefully overfund by a HUGE amount, and when the project is over... I will have more to report about what worked well and what did not. I still need more data yet.

Definitely make sure that you subscribe to my blog by RSS so you don't miss it!]]>

Cheat To Win; The Tasty Minstrel Way...

2010-10-13T12:31:31-04:00

In Purple Cow, Seth Godin asks the question, “Why aren’t you cheating”. He does this after giving examples of several successful companies that are successful and growing as a result of ignore the “old rules” and moving forward on their own path.

In this way, Starbucks cheated by reinventing the expectation of coffee.
Amazon.com cheated by increasing selection, organizing selection, and lowering cost through efficient storage, shipping, and inventory procedures.
Vanguard cheated by giving people an easy and low-cost way to match various indexes.
Southwest airlines cheats by not having the burden of unionized workers and being ruthlessly efficient getting planes back off of the ground.

When it comes to the world outside of games, I am in favor of “Cheat to Win”. Obviously I do not endorse doing anything illegal or immoral. I am however in favor of ignoring the old rules and creating a new way to do business. The result of cheating is that you play by a different set of rules, which makes the “game” easier for you to win.

How Tasty Minstrel Games Cheats Too

When in the board game industry, it is easy to cheat. This is partially the result of existing institutions that define the “rules” based on 10+ years ago. These rules as I have learned them are as follows:

Print your games, the game play needs to be good but not awesome AND the artwork is not that important.
Take your games to the GAMA Trade Show, Origins, and GenCon.
Take your games to Spiel in Essen.
If you can make it to the NY Toy Fair, and other shows that would be great too.
Advertise in industry magazines, such as the Greater Games Industry Catalog, Alliance’s inventory magazine, etc.
Go to as many conventions as possible to teach people how to play the game.

Of all of those rules, Tasty Minstrel only follows one. We take our games to the GAMA Trade Show, and that is partially a result of the cost being low for us. We setup shop at PSI’s booth (our fulfillment company), we drive from Tucson, and we pay for a hotel.

So we don’t follow the rules set out for us by the standardized advice…

Our Own Methods – Rules For The Digital Age

If we are not following the old school rules, then what are we doing? This is always evolving, but has always included:

Gathering email addresses of interested individuals, so that we can communicate directly with those that want us to. This includes upcoming products, launch deals, and requesting feedback about our products.
Advertising online with sites like Board Game Geek. There are very cost effective ways to directly reach people that are 100% within your ideal market.
Involving our audience/customers in some of the decision making processes.
Ruthless desire for fantastic game play. Whenever you buy a Tasty Minstrel Games product, I want you to know it is a good game. It might not fit your tastes, and you might not like it… But you should know it is a good game.
Great artwork. I am adamant about the fact that great artwork elevates the quality of a game.
Concise and clear rules. For me, nothing ruins an initial game play experience faster than not understanding the rules going into the game. This is why we vet and release the rulebook for a game prior to making it final.

Of course, doing these things is only a mild form of cheating. Really, all game companies should be committed to the awesomeness in game play, artwork, and rules. Now, onto how we can are such vicious cheaters that we can price games so aggressively.

Cheat To Win – Pricing, Pricing, Pricing

Lower prices leads to more sales and more sales lead to more exposure, which in turn will lead to a quicker adoption rate and domination of the gaming market. So how do we manage to price things so aggressively?

The simple answer is that I choose to. I look at the low cost as a marketing tool, as building a brand, and allowing a game to be more easily adopted. All while retaining profitability. This choice however is enabled by the following facts:

TMG has no physical overhead. No warehouse, no rent, no storage costs, nothing.
TMG has no labor overhead. No employees, no salaries, nothing. Anybody that does work for TMG is on a royalty or performance basis.
TMG has less than $500 a month in other overhead. This includes all technology, Free Game Friday gifts, everything.
TMG has a long-term outlook. Everybody involved has employment that most people are envious of. There will need to be a compelling reason to switch over to full-time, such as multiple hits. So that is what we are looking for.
TMG saves tons of time on lots of mundane tasks. The fulfillment company I use, PSI, allows us to worry about making games and living our lives. They handle warehousing, marketing to distributors, shipping, and collecting money. All for a small performance based fee…

When it comes to rules in the real world, they are not always the best to follow. Laws need to be abided by, but generalized rules for an industry… Break them and set new ones.

Getting Better At Cheating

Any active observer can easily tell the methods under which Tasty Minstrel Games is cheating. As it becomes more obvious that these methods work, then they will start to become the new rules of the industry.

That is why it is essential to always be finding better and more effective ways to cheat. For example, right now I am actively looking for non-English language partners for our successful games. I am not looking for partners to reduce my up-front risk or to fund the initial printing of a game.

I feel that will just lead to printing less-than-awesome games, of which we are seeing more and more released annually. What I am looking for is partners that want the following:

A market tested and confirmed game.
Low and reasonable licensing fee which includes artwork.
Low minimum required print runs for each language.
First access to future games in their language.
Multiple year license contracts so they do not have to worry about renegotiating license fees.

Basically, I want to treat them the way I would like to be treated. I had an Italian design group approach me once about licensing their games in English. It was embarrassing what they had and what they wanted. Yet my love for game had me thinking about their proposal, I am embarrassed to say.

They had a game that looked like a direct competitor of a very successful existing game.
Priced at almost the same cost of the other game, yet with significantly less stuff in the box.
They wanted me to pay about 70% of what I would make selling through distribution for several thousand copies.

Looking back I wonder why I even thought any further about their offer. It was probably because I thought the game looked cool, a game designed to my utmost desire. However, looking back I like to think that I thought about it so that I would know how to treat potential partners.

I want potential partners to really be able to share in the profitability of the game, while helping to expand the popularity of it, and get some no risk income to me as a result. But not at the expense of not having a quality relationship.

Conclusion

When it comes to running any business, the old rules are there because they worked for those that survived in the business. The old rules are based on the results of the past.

In the new world, a large number of people have high-speed Internet access, and with some creativity it is significantly easier to reach these people. Utilize this truth, keep your expenses low, and you will be surprised at what can be done.

How are you cheating in your business? I would love to hear about it.]]>

Small Slice Of A Larger Pie, Or Not?

2010-10-08T09:57:04-04:00

The conventional wisdom that I am typically exposed to, is that a smaller piece of a larger pie is preferable, especially when you get more pie.

This is absolutely true when it comes to income, Bill Gates is a great example. At his peak of wealth, he owned a very small slice of the big Microsoft pie. However, when Microsoft was started, he owned a very large slice of a small pie.

I want to take the time to address one time when a large piece of a small pie is preferable

Market Share Within Your Niche Or Ideal Market

Which is the best demographic to have the attention of?

30% of uber gamers (10,000 people) = 3,000 people whose attention you have
5% of casual gamers (100,000 people) = 5,000 people whose attention you have

These are not mutually exclusive, but if I had to make a choice, I would take the 3,000 uber gamers. For the following reasons.

They will spend more money on games
They are more likely to talk about games and spread the word
When they talk about Tasty Minstrel, it will seem to other uber gamers that everybody is talking about Tasty Minstrel.

Relationships With The Media Controllers

If you are still not convinced, let me take you down the slippery slope. Would you rather have the attention of 70% of the board game media people, or 30% of the uber gamers?

How Apple Has Dominated With The iPhone

The iPhone is now officially the standard of awesome in phones, portable communication devices, and even mobile gaming. While this did not happen over night, it did happen very quickly.

iPhones are so pervasive that the non-techno-geeks know it is the phone to have. I see little old ladies with their iPhones. This all started for Apple as a result of the existing relationships they had with gadget media influencers and early tech adopters.

And without the large market penetration for Apple into this area, it would have fizzled like the Apple Newton. If you are an early tech adopter, then it looked like EVERYBODY had an iPhone and without one you would not be cool.

Conclusion

When it comes to money, I will gladly take a s allure piece of a larger pie. When it comes to market penetration and attention share, I will take the larger percentage of a smaller, more targeted, and more influential pie.]]>

How-To Self Publish Your Board Game With Less Risk

2010-09-17T09:41:44-04:00

Disclaimer: I wrote this post 9 months ago, and forgot about it. Everything should still be applicable. I have only observed this method from the outside, so if you have different experiences please voice them in the comments.

This method of publishing is very inefficient and it is designed to get a board game of your own design to the public. The end goal of this method would be to sell your existing design as a turnkey and proven (at least on a small scale) board game for other publishers. In exchange for providing a turnkey and proven solution, you would be able to ask for a higher royalty.

As many people understand, it is difficult to get a game picked up by a board game publisher. Following this method will not only create an increased demand for your game and in turn desire to pick up your game, but it will also show potential publishers that you are willing to work hard to create a successful game.

It is actually an extremely easy method to explain and can be done with different scopes in mind. The basic tenets of each scope are as follows:

Get games into the hands of the alpha gamers
Build a demand base a publisher with a larger scale can sell into
Make a couple of bucks
Show publishers that you mean business

The Large Scope – Closest To Actual Publishing

With the largest scope, you will need to have professional level artwork and a small print run. This will work best for professional artists, since they can do their own artwork. After the artwork is done, you should have 500-1,000 copies of the game published. Sell a portion directly, give away copies to all of the reviewers who will take one and review the game, and try to get some retailers on your side.

The Mid Scope

Get some decent to good artwork for as close to free as possible. Get bulk quantities of bits. Print boards with a print on demand high quality print shop in quantities of 100 or so. Get some semblance of a box to store everything in, and assemble the games of demand. Sell directly to the consumer after having a steady stream of press releases. Tim from Games On The Brain has done an excellent job with this scope for American Rails. He has created enough hype that I regret that I was unable to buy a copy before it sold out! Update: I have still not had a chance to play this game, but I did notice that Seth had a copy. Seth - I am officially putting you on notice that I want to play it because it looks interesting!

The Small Scope

This is more of a print and play size of scope. Print on your own home computer, throw in some bulk bits, and give people an opportunity to buy. Good luck with this one, you will probably need it.

Conclusion

As you increase the scope of the project and the various costs of the project, the likelihood of success goes up. If you have a great game that has not gotten traction with publishers, then it may make sense to go down one of these preparatory routes. If you continue to publish games that people like going down one of these roads, then you will increase your total following and the chances for success increase significantly.

Until later, I hope I have inspired some people to publish their own games along the mid scope. Keep playing games and have FUN!]]>

How We Decide To Publish A Game

2010-09-16T09:25:41-04:00

I have not worked with or for any board game publishing company other than the one that I started, Tasty Minstrel Games. How we decide to publish a game has evolved significantly since we started.

At the beginning it was as simple as me saying, "I like that game, let's publish it." This coupled with my sometimes whimsical nature led to some frustrations. For example, we canceled one game when the designer became non-responsive and after I already accumulated costs for artwork.

Another had significant development work done, to then be canceled due to not being there yet. At least this time I wised up and did not move forward on any artwork. Still there was frustration for many people on that project also.

We now have a greater handle on the whole process...

Step #1 - The Fun And Enjoyable Litmus Test

Before we will even move forward with a possibility, we need to answer the question of if a game is fun to play. If the game is not fun to play, then it is ruled out. As a board game publisher, we are in the business of providing entertainment and that must always be remembered.

Step #2 - Does The Game Matchup With Our Existing Customers Tastes?

If a game does not align itself well to our existing customers, then there must be an OVERWHELMING reason to move forward. For example, with Homesteaders and Terra Prime we established Tasty Minstrel Games with the more established gamer's gamer. The kind of people that are more likely to enjoy what I sometimes refer to as "competitive math".

Train of Thought and Jab: Real-Time Boxing do not have a great affinity with our existing customers. However, they have a couple of overwhelming reasons to move forward with them and publish them... The games are amazingly fun, the vast majority of people love them, and they have greater mass-market appeal.

Strategically speaking, it also positions us well for the future. Since we will attract a larger and more varied customer base, we can publish a wider variety of games. Especially if we concentrate our efforts into games with more mass-market or cross-over appeal. Sure, a heavy euro is still something that we can publish, but our positioning is fantastic for the cross-over or "gateway game" market.

Step #3 - Can The Game Be Sold At The Right Price

After doing a back of the envelope analysis, is it likely that we can price the game competitively and aggressively? I personally like to be very aggressive with the pricing on Tasty Minstrel Games products. I want the name Tasty Minstrel to be identified with great value, great game play, beautiful design, and fun.

I want to be able to price games so that they are significantly less expensive than the industry norm. This means that it is harder to make a profit on the front end, but anytime we publish a game I need to know it has the capability to become a hit.

Step #4 - Can The Game Be A Hit?

I love games and gaming, and that is the core reason why I started publishing board games. I have a very profitable and rewarding career as a financial advisor. I am not going to spend the money, time, and effort to publish a game if I do not believe it has hit potential.

Granted, in the past I have been more gung-ho about what games have hit potential. But at this stage, if a game is not hitting on all cylinders, then I am unlikely to be interested. I believe that a vigilant and unrelenting strive for superior game play and quality will leads to HUGE numbers of repeat customers.

I have committed to not publish any of my personal designs (and as a result I do not design games), because I am afraid that I will have "beer goggles" about the quality thereof. As the ultimate decision maker about what gets published, I will not allow my clouded judgment of my own design put a tarnish on what has been built.

Now some qualifications on hits. I am worried about a "hit" within the target market. A hit within the heavier euros and "gamer's games" might only sell a little over 3,000 copies in English per year. Still that is strong enough tom build a business on when adding in additional titles and non-English language licenses.

Step #5 - Streamlining, Development, Testing, Rules, etc...

Now steps 1-4 can happen very quickly and often happen simultaneously. They are also very qualitative judgments which are supported by some quantitative information and prior experience.

Step #5 takes a LONG time. Without step number 5, we put the built up trust in Tasty Minstrel Games at risk. At this stage, we try removing rules and different variations of mechanics and rules. We play test, play test, and play test some more.

Continuously working to improve upon the game that was submitted. NOTE TO DESIGNERS: It will seem like we are ripping your game to shreds and redesigning it from the ground up. This is all part of the process, and Seth Jaffee is very good at it. We involve the original designers and do everything possible to improve upon the design.

We gather feedback from varied and trustworthy sources, continually striving for a better product. Once it has moved through the refiner's fire, then we move forward to get artwork done. For example, I believe Belfort (which was very good to start with) was in active development for 10 months or more. Seth, Jay or Sen could provide the details on that.

With that said, the development is a laborious process which I do not get heavily involved with. It is a labor of love, much like marketing... And I love marketing much more than game development. I get involved, but each time it is usually as a fresh set of eyes.

Of course, some games come to us in a state where we cannot think of many improvements, like Train of Thought.

Conclusion

The publishing and development decisions are made with a very detailed and heavy hand. For those popular game designer's out there... Yes your name will help sell games in the first place, but without an amazing experience to go with it, then do not be surprised if we reject it.

I believe inspired designs come from the following process:

Designing any and all game ideas that come into your head.
Testing the game with yourself (do not lose valuable play testers to horrible game designs).
Improving upon the games that have some promise.
Test the game with play testers.
Repeat steps 3 & 4 as much as humanly possible.
Pass the game off to a publisher (preferably with a development team) that puts the game through the refiner's fire.

Jay Cormier and Sen-Foong Lim (designers of Belfort and Train of Thought) have actively discussed this process on their blog. Remember...

Do not wait for inspiration to strike, command it to appear.

]]>

5 Essential Questions To Ask Yourself Before Publishing A Board Game

2010-07-21T10:16:18-04:00

I recently answered an email about a board game project, and I realized the questions I asked in response would be valuable to would be board game publishers and designers that want to get their games published...

For the Artist/Game Designer:

Q: Is the artwork that you have created print-ready or have the capability to easily be print ready? Meaning you want it to be at least a 300dpi resolution...

Please make sure that you do not spend hours creating artwork that is only suitable for use over the web, or in a Print and Play game. If you want to make PnP available, start with the high resolution and scale it down for distribution over the Internet. It would be a shame to need to rework the artwork because of low-res files.

Q: How many times has the game been played? How much play testing has there been done by groups that are outside of your direct influence? How often have you played the game in its current incarnation?

Without extensive playtesting, it is unlikely that you have a spectacular game. And without a spectacular game, it is unlikely that you will produce a hit or find a publisher to pick up the game. When I started publishing board games, I was VERY excited about any new game I saw and pretty much wanted to publish anything and everything.

This is still probably somewhat true, but my initial excitement for new designs has decreased with my experience. Now I know I should be considering more issues than "do I like it?", which is of course still fundamentally important. Thankfully, I also have Seth Jaffee to help keep Tasty Minstrel Games from publishing any bad games.

Q: How many people have read the rules? How many of them don't know you and have never played the game?

I am probably over-zealous about having rules be flawless. And even when rules are flawless, there will still be confusion. Rules are difficult to get right and it takes a lot of eyes looking over them to get it right.

For designers looking for a publisher, I will let you in on a secret. If you get the chance to have us play your game, we will play it by the rules as they are written... Which is not necessarily the same as how you intend the rules to read. This can lead to worse game play, which means we become significantly less likely to publish your game or enter into a development/publishing contract with you.

Q: Would you be looking for a publisher to handle the printing, distribution, marketing, and take the financial risk of production in exchange for royalties?

The ultimate question for the Artist / Designer... Do you want to leverage the experience, capital, brand name, and/or customer database of an existing publisher? Many people who undergo the endeavor of designing a board game have the desire and minds to be an entrepreneur. Make sure you ask yourself the question... Is it worth the effort when compared to finding a publisher?]]>

Fact or Fiction... Publishing Board Games Is Good Finance?

2010-02-22T11:30:25-05:00

This is another question that comes from a reader that I really liked.

From a financial perspective, do you believe publishing board games was a good decision (obviously money is far from the only reason you choose to do it, but it's interesting to know)?

I like this question because by day I am a financial advisor. Helping people manage their savings and investments to bring them through a successful retirement. As a result I am very familiar with the risk/reward profiles of numerous investments. For example, the return on "risk-free" money (short-term U.S. Treasuries) right now is approximately zero. Also, the future returns on a diverse portfolio of publicly traded stocks (such as the S&P 500 index) are likely to average 8-10% per year depending on who you ask. Many of us have became painfully aware of how much downside risk there is associated with that 8-10% starting in October of 2007.

Risk/Reward Profile Estimation

Before beginning publishing, I needed to weigh a number of different things. One of the most important for me was attempting to determine without experiential knowledge what the risk and reward potential were. I only did a back of the envelope analysis and it went something like this (these are not my actual numbers or estimations). The risk estimation:

Estimation of a total cost to produce, including artwork, manufacturing, shipping, and marketing = $32,000 for 4,000 copies of 2 games. This would leave me with 2,000 copies of each Terra Prime and Homesteaders.

Assuming a worst case scenario of selling 0 games and liquidating all inventory so it could be sold through retailers at 50% discount... Which means I would only be getting 18% of the MSRP back in revenue. Revenue = $28,764

Add in an additional 20% loss of revenue from various mistakes. Revenue = $28,764 x 80% = $23,011

This would amount to a total loss of 28%

Based on this calculation the risk was acceptable. Of course, if either game were to become hits within the niche of hobby board games, then I would be looking at an impressive return. From a purely financial perspective it looked like an attractive investment. However, that is not the whole story.

Logistical Mistakes = Very Expensive

I had two logistical issues regarding Homesteaders and Terra Prime that were expensive.

Timely delivery to BGG.con, which is where the games were to be officially released.

Mis-directed shipments.

Due to some different delays and starting on manufacturing later than desired, the games would need to be sent via air freight to BGG.con. Air Freight from China to the United States is not cheap, especially when you are in the peak holiday season. To make a long and frustrating story short, air freight cost about $2,500 more than the ocean and truck freight would have cost to the same destination. Additionally, my cargo kept getting bumped by American Airlines for various reasons (one of which was a China to Japan customs/security issue). So despite starting the air freight 2 weeks in advance of BGG.con, the cargo did not arrive until we were already 5 hours into the show, which had a bigger effect than you might imagine.

I also through my own ignorance and misunderstanding had my ocean freight sent to Los Angeles. Given that fulfillment for my games happens in Georgia, I would have saved approximately $2,000 by booking the freight directly from China to Atlanta. I was thinking that I would send pre-orders from my home in Tucson, that I would send games to BGG.con, etc. Whoops. To top things off, we knew there were manufacturing issues with the games that would need to be resolved. It is expensive to ship something across the USA by truck. Since the issues needed to be resolved so distribution could start I needed to use a truck rather than the less expensive rail line.

Ouch, two logistical mistakes were equal to my assumed 20%. Maybe this isn't looking to be as good as I thought, are there too many "what-ifs" and expensive hiccups?

Manufacturing Issues and Caveat Emptor

I used a manufacturer which gave me VERY good pricing on manufacturing Homesteaders and Terra Prime. Without the exceptional pricing, I don't know if Tasty Minstrel Games would have ever been started. So in a sense, I suppose all of my frustrating learning curve has been an expensive necessity. However, along with that exceptional pricing came the issues. Moisture in the games which we were assured would not be a problem. Quality control issues. Miscollation of punchboards. Improper distribution of pieces in each game box. Incorrect pieces in the game box, the best example being the pink plastic cubes in Terra Prime.

Add in timely delivery issues (may had led to needing air freight), and the very good pricing that they provided has been paid back in both real dollars and labor. For the trip to PSI, I needed to buy 2 plane tickets (since Seth decided to come with me), a hotel, rental car, and temp labor assistance. Also, due to the timing the flights needed to be booked last minute and I had to pay approximately $330 per ticket. It was very tempting to let the games go out without dealing with any of the issues, but I am exceedingly glad that I made the hard choice. The goodwill gained and reduced back-end labor for fixing things has been worth the effort and money. One thing I didn't consider at the time was the fact that PSI and my marketing strategy would result in decent international distribution. The postage for fixing problems internationally is considerably MORE expensive.

The bottom line is that this cost at least $2,000 (plus lost inventory) and I am still feeling the effects of it. Additionally it is incredibly frustrating to see on Board Game Geek such a large percentage of posts and photos relating to many of the manufacturing issues. It is however very pleasing to see so many people defending and applauding Tasty Minstrel Games who have are independent of us.

It Is Not Just An Investment Of Money

It is also an investment of time. I estimate that I have spent approximately 2-4 hours per day, 6 days a week, for the past 10 months working on various Tasty Minstrel projects. Promoting, marketing, searching for new games, looking for manufacturers, researching various service providers, blogging, etc. I certainly could have spent less time doing these supplementary things, but then the chance of failure would go up significantly.

Granted some of that time was spent at game conventions, playing, and discussing prototypes so it did not feel like work. The blogging has also not felt like work. That is the advantage of working at something you are passionate about.

The Actual Tasty Minstrel Results

I just aggregated all of the Tasty Minstrel expenses for 2009, which can all be attributed to the startup of the publishing house. Thus far, Tasty Minstrel has received just under $25,000 in revenues (pre-order and 1 month of distribution). All it took to generate that revenue was $50,000 of investment and approximately 500-1000 hours of work. Also, once I sell out of the initial print run, I should have recovered the entirety of my initial investment. That does not seem like a very good investment on the surface. However for me, it absolutely has made sense and continues to make sense.

I think that every successful business crosses a line where things look promising and semi-discouraging at the same time. The eventually successful businesses are led by somebody that decides to concentrate on the promising and ignore the discouragement. Tasty Minstrel is at that point now, and it is time to press forward.

What do YOU think? I look forward to reading your commentary]]>

21 Essential Posts about Board Games, Marketing, Business, and Efficiency

2010-02-11T14:59:38-05:00

It has been a little over a month since I have really gotten into using Google Reader. Since that time, I have shared a number of different posts that I have read that I felt were interesting, important, and/or funny. I thought I would like to share with you the various links and provide some commentary on each.

Board Game Related Links

Lessons For Game Publishers - Practice Parallelism - W. Eric Martin, the editor of Board Game News discusses a topic that is extremely important for rules and rules editing. If you want to publish or be published, make sure you read this and fix up your rule books.

The Optimum Price of a Board Game - This provides some excellent insight into optimum pricing of board games from somebody whose experience matters. This was written by the man behind Starlit Citadel which is an online board game retailer in Canada. As a result, he goes through a lot of games and has a good feel on pricing. Bear in mind the prices listed in this short blog entry are inclusive of their standard discount. Up to 50% discounts in the store and free shipping available is nice from the store too.

The next 4 links are from Jackson Pope of Reiver Games. I am sure you can tell I like what he has to say.

Hobby Publishing: Less Risky - Why hobby publishing is less risky than regular publishing, an excellent read for a design that wants to publish or get their game published.

Sales Over Time - Sales over time discusses the nature of increasing versus decreasing sales. Much of this has to do with a game being a known factor. Often time, if an established publisher puts out a new title, then it will be a known quantity and sales will be relatively large on release. The quality and enjoyability of the game would then determine if sales increase over time or not. With a relatively unknown publisher such as Reiver or Tasty Minstrel Games, then you can expect low sales on release with some additional sales picking up over time.

Contacting Shops - Breaking into Shops - Catalogs the efforts that Jack has been recently been putting into getting his games into more stores. He has enjoyed decent to good success, but I think it shows very well how much work it can take sometimes to get retailers interested in your products.

The next 2 links relate to Tasty Minstrel Games.

Others' Works: Terra Prime - This is an interview conducted by Matt Worden of Seth Jaffee who designed Terra Prime. A good resource for aspiring game designers, especially the concluding paragraph or two.

Interview of Michael Mindes on Board Game News - Hey that is me. Granted, sometimes I have been prone to think what I say is important... Although, I did say that JAB involved simulating the punching of each other with cars. Whoops typo, should have been cards.

Internet Marketing

How To Do Paid Social Media Marketing Right - If you are looking to amplify your message via the Internet for your blog, product, game, whatever, then you have certainly considered the importance and potential of social media. This article compares two different approaches when large companies bought sponsored stories on Digg. The results can probably be applied across other social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

The Blogger's Guide to Becoming Rich (Instead of Just Famous) - This is an excellent article about defining goals related to blogging. Is the goal to be famous and get lots of traffic? Or is the goal to build up an income stream? The two do not necessarily go hand in hand. For example, the goal of my blog when I started was to be able to sell a couple of extra games and help others that might be looking to get into board game publishing. A place they could go to to learn what I have done and what I have found to work. Each goal has different ways to approach, figure out what you want to be doing.

The one question to ask of your email marketing in 2010 - I firmly believe that email is one of the best marketing channels when properly utilized. I certainly know less than I would like about this. With the increasing expansion of ALL businesses into email marketing (due to incredibly low costs, ease of implementation, and returns) what will it take to get the people receiving your emails to pay attention to you? This article seeks out some answers.

Sick Of Getting Press Releases? Convert Them Into Sponsors! - I wonderful problem, we could all hope to have. A blog so popular that people are sending us unsolicited press releases. If you are fortunate to have this problem, you should definitely read this. A simple way turn those press releases into long-term sponsors.

Random rules for ideas worth spreading - Seth Godin discusses what makes an idea worth spreading. Good for insight into social marketing via the Internet.

Leverage What You Have and Take Your Blog to the Next Level - An excellent article applicable to multiple areas of life, not just blogging.

Business Theory

Hunters and Farmers - Business theory by Seth Godin going back to the agricultural revolution. Interesting.

Why Be Fair - Why fairness will be good in the long-term for your business. Fairly in depth for a principle I fully believe in. Unless of course you are playing a game with me, especially Traders of Genoa, but then again... That is not business.

Why Many Successful People Become Jerks - Are they actually jerks? Or do you think that they are jerks because they value their own time and you do not value their time?

Efficiency, Workflow Management, etc...

Why do we procrastinate on the good stuff too? - Is it because we do not have a good handle on what needs to be done? Is it because we are unfamiliar with what next actions are required to get to the good stuff?

Virtual Assistant Needed: How to Hire And Work With a Virtual Assistant - How much incoming work does somebody have? I suppose at some point in time if you time is worth $X, does it make sense to hire somebody to filter through your emails, set appointments, etc? This might go well with the "Why Many Successful People Become Jerks" post above.

The Idea Room – White Markerboard Wall Plan - I had already been considering installing HUGE spans of whiteboard in my office at home. Then I read this article and realized that 8 foot x 4 foot panels of whiteboard are under $13 at Home Depot. 2 days ago I put in two panels, and now they hold my ongoing brainstorm for marketing something huge that may be coming from Tasty Minstrel Games in the future. How is that for a teaser?

XKCD Comic to finish this off

I thought It would be nice to end this with something I found HILARIOUS from XKCD... Tensile vs. Sheer Strength

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Reader Question: How Do I Get My Game Published?

2010-02-08T10:47:11-05:00

Today, I will be answering my first reader question on the blog. It is one that I imagine many readers may be asking themselves, so here goes:

How would an amateur game inventor go about establishing a relationship with a company like Tasty Minstrel Games? How did the Alex Rockwells and Seth Jaffees of the world get to the point of being able to have Tasty Minstrel Games take on their projects? Or perhaps a better question would be, what does the average company like Tasty Minstrel Games look for in a new game idea? How do they go about exposing themselves to new potential games?

An excellent question with a difficult answer. I would like to touch upon several possibilities.

Inspire An Entrepreneurial Friend To Start A Publishing Company

I have know Seth Jaffee since I was 5 years old. He was friends with my older brother. Despite the 6 years difference Seth and I became extremely good friends as a result of the common interest of gaming. Seth had been hard at work improving, testing, and developing games for more than 6 years when I decided to publish Terra Prime and Homesteaders. In particular he had worked on Terra Prime for over 4 years which now means he has played it over 80 times and he had done some development work on Homesteaders amounting in 36 plays.

I knew they were good games, and I had confidence that if I decided to publish them that I would not lose too much money. I made a comparison of a game publishing investment to investment in stocks. The risk/reward profile of publishing games looked very appealing to me. This is partially due to the fact that I had a desire for over 4 years to be publishing games.

Get Out There And Meet People

Sen-Foong Lim and Jay Cormier are the 2 game designers responsible for Belfort and Train of Thought. Tasty Minstrel Games is currently working on both of these games for 2010 release. Jay Cormier went to the GAMA Trade Show in 2009 to make attempts at placing the myriad of games designed by Jay and Sen with various publishers. Jay was very successful at getting their games looked at by many different publishers.

Since the GAMA Trade Show was only a little after I decided to start Tasty Minstrel, we only had prototypes of our games despite the fact that they would be published in short order. We attended the trade show looking to raise awareness of Tasty Minstrel and our products. As for building relationships with retailers there, I would say we failed. We did however meet 3 people/companies which would turn out to be very important to Tasty Minstrel. Those are PSI, Panda Game Manufacturing (who we will be using going forward for manufacturing), and Jay Cormier. Jay took an opportunity to play Homesteaders and followed it up with giving us an opportunity to play Belfort.

He then followed up the playing of Belfort with spending time with us, chatting, helping us, etc. He did all of this without being overbearing. We quickly became friends, my wife, Seth, Jay, and me which of course helped things along.

Present Finished And Polished Prototypes

Unless you have a previous relationship with a publisher or somebody working closely with a publisher, do not show them incomplete prototypes. This is the most important thing covered in this interview with Seth Jaffee. At this point in time, we receive many proposals for games to publish. Make sure you find out and follow the submission guidelines for each individual publisher that you approach. Everybody has a different methodology they like to operate under. In addition, if you do get the opportunity to present a game, follow Seth's advice from the interview:

The main thing I’d like to impress upon designers – the first thing that comes to mind anyway – is to be FINISHED with your game when you take it to a publisher. The last minute development on Terra Prime was interesting and fun, but much of it was stuff I should have had done already. When you submit a game to a publisher, it should be totally ready to go, you should be completely happy with it being released as-is (rules-wise). That said, yes – publishers may well want to change things. everyone has they’re own opinion about that. But if the game isn’t ready to go when the publisher first sees it, then it’s unlikely they’re going to want to commit to doing the work to fix what’s wrong. Do the work ahead of time – put in the time and effort to tune your game and play it – a lot – and finalize the rules. Then once you’ve done that, go over them and make sure you haven’t overcomplicated something. There could be a simpler way to accomplish some aspect of your game, and you are so used to the way you’ve been doing it that you don’t notice. - Seth Jaffee

I would like to emphasize the rules editing and finalization. This is the first place where games get easily rejected. Remember, you will not be available to explain the game (which is the same for a published game). You need to have a pristine rulebook. Also, illustrations in a rulebook help significantly. Don't worry about not being an artist or graphic designer and get some examples in there. A first impression may be the only one you get a chance to make!]]>

Micromange VS. Macromanage - Where Is The Return On Investment?

2010-01-28T12:20:51-05:00

WARNING: This is purely a thought experiment. I do not claim to have a clue, however please read below and figure this out with me. When done please comment with your ideas/arguments and then share with friends so that they can have their say.

I am very much in the camp of "macromange > micromanage". My father definitely acts upon "micromanage > macromanage". Is your return on your time invested going to be higher for micromanagement or maromanagement?

For Macromanagement

It is the macromanagement that determines publishing this game instead of that game. Clearly this will have a large bearing on success. Macromanagement leads us to the determination on how to market a game. Macromanagement is what moves us to create a blog, get involved with Facebook, and start an email subscription list.

Macromanaging allows us to not allow small bad things get in the way of potentially large good things. If I had a fear of manufacturing issues with an initial print run, then Tasty Minstrel Games would not have ever been started. I would have allowed the fear of bad stuff keep me from allowing VERY good things to happen.

For Micromanagement

Without attention to detail and micromanagement, things would not work well. It would not be easy to share blog posts, because there would not be social sharing buttons. Without continuous adjustment to minute details of a game system, Homesteaders and Terra Prime would not be as good as they are.

Micromanagement is what needs to be done so that large things are successful. Without micromanagement, I would have been longer before I realized how to get free container shipping from China. The realization of which will save thousands of dollars on shipping expenses and reduce potential wastes of resources.

Conclusion

I don't really have one. Both micromanagement and macromanagement are important and vital to a successful business, but surely one must be better than the other. What camp are you in and why?]]>

Year End Review - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2009-12-31T16:29:43-05:00

2009 has been a very busy year for me. I typically do not have time to reflect back on a year, but right now all I need to do at work is answer and resolve any incoming phone calls with year end business. Since, most of these calls came in the morning, I expect to have a lot of free time. Nevertheless, I must be here till 4pm when the phones close down. Happy New Year EVERYBODY!

Personal 2009 highlights

My beautiful wife becoming pregnant with our 3rd child. Related Blog Post: Dr. Feelgood or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Publishing Board Games
Founding Tasty Minstrel Games and publishing games. Related Blog Post: How I Started Publishing Board Games – Learn How To Make Your Own Board Game
Resolving manufacturing issues. Related Blog Post: A Week At PSI’s Warehouse

Personal 2009 uglylights

Finding out that my entire first print run had manufacturing issues. Related Blog Post: Manufacturing Issues and Potential Solutions

Interesting Quantitative Blog Stats

First Blog Post - 12 June 2009
Total Visits For 2009 - 19,439
Unique Visitors For 2009 - 13,647
Total Page Views For 2009 - 38,361
Top 3 Traffic Sources - #1 Google Search (24.15% of total), #2 BoardGameGeek.com (22.17% of total), #3 Direct Traffic (15.03% of total)
Top 3 non-index pages - #1 Free Games Friday Offer (11.36% of total), #2 Homesteaders & Terra Prime Video Demo (7.34% of total), #3 Free Games Friday Coming Soon Post (7.01% of the total)
Year End Email Subscribers - 1,799 people

Goals for 2010 in no particular order

Have the birth of my 3rd child be without complications.
Have a successful launch of Tasty Minstrel Games 2010 releases. Success to be defined as at least 300 pre-orders. Right now we are looking at Belfort, Train of Thought, and 2 additional games not yet under contract.
Expand the readership of this blog and increase email subscriptions to at least 4,000.
Provide at least one permanent job through board game related businesses.
Give away lots of games through Free Games Friday, at least 104.
Read at least 6 novels.
Play at least 12 prototypes of games.
Get at least one game translated and distributed in a foreign language and country.
Bring Tasty Minstrel Games into profitability within its first full year of operation.

Conclusion

2009 has been an awesome and exhausting year for me. I look forward to having 2010 be an improvement upon 2009. Thank you for reading this far and supporting me in my efforts. I would especially like to thank the following people, since much of what has been accomplished could not have happened without you:

Erin Mindes - Thank you for endless support and love. I could not do this without you.
Seth Jaffee - Thank you for working tirelessly on development of games. Thank you for being such a good friend and making your best efforts to keep me in check and on task.
PSI Guys - Fred, Dean, Ross, etc... Thank you for taking on fulfillment and sales for Tasty Minstrel Games. Not having to worry about this function of publishing board games has allowed me to do more effective work in the field.
Readers, Supporters, Fans, etc... - Thank you for all that you do. None of this commentary and/or games would exist without people involved and purchasing. I greatly appreciate that you are enabling me to follow my passion.

Thanks.

Michael Mindes

Optimizing For Cash Flow Or Total Profit Per Unit?

2009-12-31T00:41:49-05:00

A long debated question by business owners everywhere. Should I be optimizing for cash flow or for total profit per unit? If you have not looked to specifically answer this question yourself, you may be in the dark as to the big deal. So, please allow me to explain.

Total profit per unit for this argument will be defined as the income per unit sold minus all expenses per unit. In a shippingless vacuum (that is to say we will leave shipping out of the equation), this would be equal to income minus royalties minus manufacturing cost.

Cash flow for this argument will be the speed or how often money flows through the company. For example, publishing 2 new games and printing 2,000 copies of each will have a higher cash flow rate than publishing 1 new game and printing 5,000 copies. The total cost would likely be similar.

For the following arguments I will be using a real quote for the second printing of Terra Prime.

The Argument For Optimizing Total Profit Per Unit

I admit, the argument for optimizing the total profit per unit mostly eludes me. However, I will make an attempt. The cost for printing 2,000 copies of Terra Prime would be $15,925 plus shipping. The cost for printing 5,000 copies of Terra Prime would be $33,949 plus shipping. For approximately 100% additional printing costs, Tasty Minstrel Games could get another 150% copies of Terra Prime.

That means that if/when Terra Prime would have sold 5,000 copies:

Profit with 5,000 game production run = $25,816
Profit with 2,000 game production run followed by 3,000 production run = $22,321

The difference is $3,495, which is of course better than a poke in the eye.

The Argument For Optimizing Cash Flow

Now, let us suppose that we have two different games with identical costs to Terra Prime and decided to print 2,000 copies of each game instead of 5,000 copies of one. Since, there are two games in question the total sales will be very nearly doubled. Plus there will be increased ease with getting into distribution and cross selling opportunities.

That means by the time Terra Prime would have sold 5,000 copies:

Profit on two games with 2,000 copy production run each = $16,505
Profit on two games with 3,000 copy production run each = $29,495
Total profit resulting = $46,000

Clearly, this $46,000 profit is significantly better than the $25,816 that results from the optimizing of total profit per unit. In the reality of the world, a board game publisher incurs double the artwork costs for two games as opposed to one. Also, the two games will not sell at the same rates, and they will also quite possibly not reach 5,000 total sales. FYI, most hobby board games do not even sell 5,000 copies. I would like to now address these non-hypothetical realities.

The Extra Artwork Costs

If the board game publisher is in existence to aspire to be another Days of Wonder or Fantasy Flight Games, then they can expect to be paying for a lot of artwork. Paying for more artwork on the front end in an effort to optimize their cash flows, increase shipping efficiencies, and cross selling seems like a good idea to me.

If on the other hand, the purpose of the board game publisher is to self-publish their own design and possibly publish another game in the future, then the cost of artwork may be too much. If this is the case, I would argue that it would be best for said publisher to optimize for a third option. I like to call this option, the do not lose money option. While I am a big fan of this option for game designers, it will need to wait for another blog post.

Two Games Will Not Sell At The Same Rate!

This is not as big of a deal as it may seem to be. The board game publisher would just need to adjust their print runs as sales come in.

Hobby Board Games Might Not Sell 5,000 Copies

Here is yet another reason why the board game publisher should be optimizing for cash flow as opposed to profit per unit. When you print 2,000 copies and sell 1,000, you do not lose as much money when compared to printing 5,000 and selling 1,000. It is as simple as that.

Pre-Order Shipping Efficiencies When Optimizing For Cash Flow

Also, when you optimize for cash flow, you have more games to add to the pre-order pile. Putting two games instead of one in a box that costs $10 to ship regardless of the contents obviously reduces your shipping costs per game. As a board game publisher, it is then your choice to pass these efficiencies onto the consumer or to put the difference into your pocket. When I announced the $45 pre-order deal for a Terra Prime and Homesteaders combo deal with free shipping inside of the USA, I got a lot of sales. I got a lot of sales on the merit of the total value of the combo deal.

This is without any prior history as a game publisher. I must give much credit to Seth Jaffee and Alex Rockwell for creating some sales on the basis of their historical Board Game Geek involvement.

So not only does the optimization of cash flow allows for greater profits over time, but it also allows for increased efficiencies which allow you to give amazing pre-order deals which will increase sales in the short run.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I will always be optimizing for cash flow as opposed to total profit per unit when it comes to new releases. That way I can bring more games to the market that are up to Tasty Minstrel Games’ standards of game play... In theory...]]>