Weekly Store Update: 11 July

The only thing hotter than the Alabama summer broil outside...is our prices! (no...I couldn't help myself...) Another wonderful week in the books here with a ton of new stuff on the shelves, including restocks. Click to check it all out, and you can catch up on our news too!

INTRO

We hope this newsletter finds you well! Wendy and I are doing the do, and we're loving it. I'm Eric, and if you're new to our little publication let me show you around. Trust me, it won't take long. This top portion contains a bit of news we picked up during the week, and we often have our own store updates too. However, if you want to skip all of that you can jump down to the bottom of the post and see the restocks, new items, and preorders we laid in last week. 

BOARD GAME GIVEAWAY RESULTS

We just finished our most recent giveaway. This time we had Hoplomachus Origins and a copy of the Under Falling Skies Jigsaw Puzzle. The Puzzle is really neat, and not available in stores, so a collectable and something to show off! Well, we shut down the giveaway on the 9th, and soon after drew the winner's name. It turned out to be Brandon B. from Louisville KY! Congratulations Brandon! The US is back on the board, as the last two giveaways both went to overseas players. Hey, it's a small world, am I right?

I haven't coordinated with Solosaurus to see if we'll be partnering up for an August giveaway, but if not I already have a fantastic idea for our next giveaway... it'll be the biggest one yet! 

THE OTHER SHOE DROPS ON THE KICKSTARTERS

There has been a lot of gnashing of teeth, consternation, and lamentation of...so many publishers for about two solid months now about the shipping situation in China. We back crowdfunded games, generally for the smaller publishers. You know, those publishers really need the Kickstarter to make it. They aren't a well established publisher just using Kickstarter as another income source. I'll save that rant for another day. In any case, most of the small publishers now have two options; wait until shipping normalizes, or reach back to the backers for more funding.

You would think that most folks would just chose to wait - but it's very problematic. First, those publishers have bills that cannot be paid until more income arrives...which won't happen until they push out another campaign...which they can't do until the current games ship. Yeah, it gets crazy quickly. Also, the timeline for that normalized shipping is swinging wildly from six months to over 18 months! So, we're seeing a lot of publishers choosing to reach back out - almost entirely out of necessity. I can tell you that we support them, and we've paid our dues every time. There's two reasons. First, the entire situation is well beyond any kind of rough order of magnitude anyone would have imagined on how a situation can go sideways and most have payed so much more than they ever anticipated. Second, I happily support other gaming folks trying to make it in this industry, especially if they are coming at it with the right attitude and open communications. While there are significant distinctions between publisher, distributor, and retailer, we are all in this for the same reason - and it's not just to make money!! We love it! Heck, that's a common thread with all of us. For the love of the game! So, we encourage you to stick with your publishers if you can. 

IT'S OLD SCHOOL AROUND HERE

We have preorders and crowdfunding games go out almost every week, and it has become part of our normal routine. However, some things really put us to the test. It was a flurry of cardboard, packing paper, plastic bags and shipping tape as we pushed out the Old-School Essentials Kickstarter. It wasn't the largest we've ever pushed, that award goes to the expansion for Twilight Imperium - Prophecy of Kings. It wasn't a Kickstarter, but a preorder, but it was massive! Heck, I even took a photo that I haven't shared yet: