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Things I've learned about board games while working at FLGS
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NOTE: This list will be updated as I think of more and more stuff. Boards games. The first image to pop into most people's minds with those words is Monopoly. I was one of those people years ago before I was exposed to Settlers of Catan during my brief semester in college. I liked it and was interested in learning more, however most of these "high class" board games weren't around in my area... Until two years ago when a board game store opened in my local mall and needed people for the Christmas season. I applied, got hired on the spot, and started visiting BGG to gain a bit more product knowledge. The store is still alive and doing pretty well for it's current tiny size. I'm now an assistant manager at the store but along the way, I've seen a few things that make me raise an eyebrow...
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Posted Sat May 31, 2008 4:11 pm
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This game is expensive.
Okay, fine, it has a lot of cards with decent although low detail artwork. There are only two colors here: Brown, and Browner. Fine, I can live with that..
But 40 bucks? Seriously? It doesn't even come with anything to track your level.
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People LOOOOVE novelty games.
Demo this to a group of teenagers or adults with a sense of humor and chances are, you can sell this game with ease. Yes, the artwork is crap and the gameplay is nearly non-existent, but it does allows you to screw over your neighbor and I don't think there is any eurogames out there that allows you to unleash Potzilla.
If you think I'm joking, I've sold 200 dollars worth of Weed! to someone who is on Holmes on Homes show. I think I helped killed their productivity.
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Word games are instant sellers.
Scrabble, Bananagrams, Quiddler. Anything that involves the english language has a wide audience and easy rules. Whether it's a mother trying to nab something educational for their kid to a group of people with a 5-digit IQ, these games sell.
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Settlers of Catan is the best game ever. At least according to customers.
I'm not sure if it's the best game, but it's definitely the best seller.
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PEW PEW PEW PEW
You say a game fires lasers and people MUST know how to play the game.
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Despite working at a game store, we are not always up to date with our games. Whether it's because things are on backorder or our location isn't high priority, our inventory doesn't change too much.
I tried to convince them to get NHL Ice Breaker, even bought it myself to showed them the game. They liked it and bought a few just recently.
Recently...anyone who follows NHL knows why this is a problem.
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7.
Board Game: Abalone
[Average Rating:6.35 Overall Rank:906]
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Suppliers are needed.
Captain Obvious jokes aside, suppliers are the life blood of any retail store. However, there comes a time where I really wish I can deal with the companies who makes these games directly. Why? Let's just say we ordered abalone WEEKS ago and it's still not here.
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8.
Board Game: Blokus
[Average Rating:7.26 Overall Rank:117]
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Customers loathe the employees.
I'm not working on commission. My boss isn't working on commission. No one here is.
Don't give me that look like I'm trying to sell you a bag of heroin when I ask if you have any questions about Blokus while you put the pieces together thinking it's some abstract puzzle.
I'm here to help.
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People who enjoy Rummy love this game. I can't demo though, only explain it using clever words like "you collect sets, similar to Rummy" and so forth. Although I do miss the wrapping that showed the awards ToR has won; it was a great selling point.
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If your game has a Mensa seal, it sells.
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Dice games sell, period. Hell, I love dice games. Looking at the rankings at BGG, anything that has a random element automatically gets it a sub-par rating. Why the hell is that?
Take a look at Pass the Pigs. Easy to explain, great game to take to a pub, and a great concept. Do you throw pigs in Puerto Rico? Hell no. You can in Carcassonne, but they don't bounce as well.
I love eurogames as much as the next guy, but sometimes I like to play a game in less then ten minutes and doesn't require me to rent a NASA launchpad to pull out the board.
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Licensed games sell.
We had Liar's Dice but it didn't sell. Pirates of the Carribbean version? Off the shelves, even though it had a higher price tag. Then there is the World of Warcraft board game. Big enough to be used as an interrogation tool, people are willing to spend a hundred dollars so they can pretend to be an orc not only on the computer, but on the kitchen table as well.
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Hasbro is God.
Buy a Hasbro game and people will come to you like a fat kid going to a house made out of Big Macs dipped in chocolate.
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Nostalgic wins.
If there is a reprint of an old game, you'll see old guys walk into your store and buy the game without question. I think during the Christmas season we sold over 30 Talisman, including folks from our local Games Workshop.
I even sold it to a few people who didn't know much about the game, mainly by explaining that it's a game very similar to monpoly and very easy to get into. I even warned them that there isn't a whole lot of strategy but lots of dice rolling. Didn't phase them.
Yes Eurogamers, they are people who simply want to roll the dice and see what happens, especially those with kids.
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Party games are such great sellers and so easy to explain. I'm sure the game I've chosen speaks for itself.
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Fantasy Flight Games grabs people's attention.
Whether it's the sheer size of the box, the box art, the price tag, or the components, gamers and non-gamers will take a look at it.
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Wizkids sucks and blows.
Here we have a group of marketers, not game designers, whose sole purpose in life is nab as many licenses as possible.
No demo kits, advertisements, or organized play. We still have Pirates Mysterious Islands, Star Wars Pocketmodel TCG (the first and second set), and Halo Clix heavy in stock. We have even have specials for them and yet they still don't budge.
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18.
Board Game: Chaotic
[Average Rating:5.89 Unranked]
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Kids are the real money makers.
Make a show, program an online game, and print thousands of cards. That's all you need to get kids to bug their parents to buy Chaotic.
I have the game as well and for a CCG, it's not bad. Like many other CCGs, the rarer cards win, but it's still surprising fun and different.
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As much as I love Hey! That's my Fish!, it's harder to sell to adults. It's a great strategy game in it's own right and definitely unique, but once you open your mouth about penguins trying to nab fish, adults will likely turn away.
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Card games are easy sellers.
Wizard, Dutch Blitz, The Pit, UNO. Most of them are easy to explain, portable, and most importunately, not expensive.
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A lot of people don't do their research.
If you buy a car, would you research on it? How about a house? Or a video game?
I've had a customer who bought Tigris and Euphrates off the shelf without question. She just gave it a quick glance and headed for the counter.
A week later, she returned with an opened box and angry look. She wanted to return it. She complained it was too hard and it had nothing to do with Tigris and Euphrates. 
Fortunately, to help people understand these games a bit more, I do mention BGG to a lot of people. Sometimes I even write the URL on our business card if they wanted to know more information about a certain or wanted to see other people's opinions besides the guy who works at a store.
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Reiner Kniza is to board games as Shigeru Miyamoto is to video games.
Why did I pick head to head poker? My staff members and my boss love the crap out of this game.
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Sometimes your game doesn't have to be good in order to sell. All it needs is one hundred plastic zombies.
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There are some people out there who find Fluxx hard to play, despite the rules written on the cards.
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Many families love the idea of kids working together to "beat" the game. Come to think of it, there aren't many co-op games out there.
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Posted Sat May 31, 2008 3:15 pm
