Weekly Store Update: 5 December

And just like that, the holiday season is upon us! I can tell you we are full of holiday cheer! The decorations are up, and the gifts are going out. Such a wonderful time! This week we'll talk about our monthly game giveaway, show you new items to check out, and more! Why not stop in and warm up for a bit?

INTRO

Season's Greetings! I really enjoy singing Christmas carols spontaneously this time of year. I'm not saying I can sing all that well, or even that I remember all the words, but that doesn't stop me! I'm Eric, and Wendy and I own and operate Stone Valley Games. Welcome to our weekly newsletter! If this is your first newsletter here's a quick rundown on how we have it set up. The top half contains gaming news. Our news topics range from our local shop to industry news at large. The bottom portion contains the restocks, new items, and preorders we laid in last week. So, our newsletter does double duty by keeping folks informed on what's going on with us and also showing you the latest goodies. It's also how we let you know about our giveaways, and wouldn't you know that we have a giveaway going on now, so let's talk about that first!

BOARD GAME GIVEAWAY

You know what's better than a magnificent, over the top, substantial miniatures game? A free one! CLICK HERE to be whisked away to the sign-up page and check it out. For the month of December we're giving away a copy of Journey: Wrath of Demons which is a cooperative miniatures board game, solo friendly, with a 1 - 4 player count.

In the game, four Pilgrims band together to search ancient China for the Sutras, sacred scriptures that will bring salvation to a world overrun with Demons. After fighting different Bull Demon minions, the climax of the game is the battle against the Bull Demon King. Game cards and custom dice combine for fast, tense action and critical choices enhance the Pilgrims’ skills during the game.

It has an MSRP of $99.99, weighs just under seven pounds, and has a good rating on Board Game Geek! I'd say that's an appropriate game to represent the month of giving! 

BLACK FRIDAY SALES EVENT - RESULTS

I can easily say that was the best Black Friday Sales Event we have ever run! Leading up to the event I really wanted to provide something special, and customers definitely responded. It's a good thing I had a few extra hands helping out too, as juggling between web sales, packaging, and local customer support kept us hopping. Literally at times 😀 

After a big event like that we take a few minutes to see if we need to adjust anything for future events. I only have two notes.

First, I am going to keep our appointment system intact for our next event - at least until we've moved to our larger facility. I had it turned off for this event and it was close to a bit too much at times.

Second, I need to advertise the Cyber Monday special more prominently. While we did have a lot of last-minute folks pop in for Cyber Monday, I'm sure we would have done even better if we would have gotten the word out earlier and more clearly. 

However, those are very minor points in the overall scheme of things, and really are only helping refine a really wonderful event. We couldn't be happier, and we hope everyone else enjoyed it too!

TONS OF FREE MAPS

I've talked about Cartographers in this newsletter before. As time has become my most sacred resource, it's one of my go-to's for a nice, relatively quick, but still rewarding puzzle.

Well, Thunderworks Games is making it even more amazing. They've developed a Map Generator! Plug in the number of Mountains, number of Ruins, number of Wasteland, and click "Apply" and a map is generated! We've found that clearing out the Seed number before you hit "Apply" helps it run smoother.

Just print it out and have something new to play against! As every map you create sets its own Seed number, you can share the link with your friends to play against them with the map you created. Here's a map we created, and it is also the link to the Map Generator:

Cartographers • Map Generator

We're always impressed with publishers breathing new life into their established games, and the map generator is a fun way to add almost endless variety to the polyomino!

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS?

I had another sales event planned for this year, but things have just been moving so fast I could not get it set up in time. I know, I know...excuses. However, now that I'm talking about it, I won't have any excuses for next year. 

I'm sure you're familiar with the 12 Days of Christmas. Well, I was thinking - not of a mockingbird or anything, but a theme sale for each day. I might not be able to creatively develop 12 different themes, but that's the goal. Then, starting on 1 December I would start the event with each day bringing up a dozen or so products with special prices in that particular theme. Different themes like strategic card game, strategy game, wargame, etc. 

Then, the special would rotate from day to day, ultimately ending on the 12th. In that way packages can still get places by Christmas, or whatever winter holiday folks celebrate.

I haven't developed much outside of concept yet, but it just might be something we start running annually. If I can find enough games in enough themes to make it worthwhile, you'll see it pop up on 1 December 2022. 

THE WRAP UP

Okay, enough news for this week! Below are the Restocks, New Items, and Preorders added to the shop last week. You can click on the item to learn more, and many of the products have review and gameplay videos so you can see the game in action. If you're visiting our page and you'd like to keep up with our giveaways, sales, new products, and articles like this one just create an account here. Once created you will be subscribed to our newsletter and become enrolled in our loyalty system, instantly earning 50 Stones that you can use on your very first order. A Stone? One Stone is equivalent to One Cent. That doesn't sound like much, but you earn 2 Stones for every dollar spent and 5 for each product review, so though it may seem small, those savings add up fast! Redeem your Stones upon checkout, and they can save you up to 10% off your cart total. Loyalty Matters!