Scaling

For the last two years the vast majority of our sales have been through our three FlickFleet Kickstarters. And the subsequent pledge managers.

Like over 95%.

Kickstarter FTW!

Our Kickstarters have been huge. And getting huger. For us.

But they are still small fry in the Kickstarter tabletop games space (£18,000 versus $10,000,000).

We have only one retail stockist as our small hand-made runs have too little margin to sell to retailers, let alone distributors.

We sell some through the website, but only a little.

If we want to continue growing, and I'm convinced FlickFleet has great potential, we need to do better in all of these channels.

How can we get more website sales? Get the cost down enough to sell into retail? Have Kickstarters that are 10 times more successful?

I'm thinking about these questions a lot.

One

Can you describe a game in one word? 

Tactical?

Could be a game you’re designing or a favourite. 

Hard isn’t it? 

Theme probably isn’t a good choice. Egypt. 

Yeah that’s not exciting me in the slightest. 

Mechanics probably aren’t the way to go either. Auction. 

Could be one of hundreds. 

Perhaps emotion is the way to go. How does the game make you feel? Tense. Brutal. Unforgiving. Chaotic. Hilarious. Spiteful. Anticipation. 

How would you describe your game in one word? Or your favourite game?

If you’re designing a game, can you make a one-word design brief? Something to hold in your head while you playtest and hone it?

Growth

I started Reiver Games in 2006 with £1,000 of our family savings. That's a lot of money. I was lucky that we were able to gamble it - but it’s not enough. I turned it into £4,800 in two years. That wasn't enough.

I 'invested' £12,000 of my life insurance in Reiver Games. That wasn't enough.

I got a bank loan to cover Carpe Astra, another £13,000 I think. That wasn't enough,

The bank loan repayments killed Reiver Games. That and a lack of sales. I lost most of my 'investment'.

£30,000 in total. Not enough.

So I did it again.

I started Eurydice Games three years ago with £1,000 of our family savings again. But it's not enough.

Kickstarter is a game changer. We've been able to slowly change that initial £1,000 into tens of thousands of pounds of assets. Without the major commitment. Without the bank loan.

In our first year we sold £1,217 of Zombology. In our second we sold £12,857 of (mostly) FlickFleet and Zombology. This year our orders have more than tripled. 

Doing alright!

Though due to supplier woes we've not been able to 'sell' half of that.

3,167% growth in three years. Happy with that.

Small Fortune

Want to make a small fortune in board games? Start with a large one.

Linnaea Mallette

That's the joke. 

But I've done that. I got MS. My life insurance paid out. I wanted to go pro. I paid off most of our mortgage (on a tiny 1-bed flat), put some aside to live on and 'invested' £12,000 in Reiver Games. And I threw away two years' salary and pension contributions. To end up with £4,000.

We don't do it for the money. It's not going to make us rich.

I don't want to be rich anyway. There are way too many people in poverty to make coveting personal wealth something I'd be ok with.

I want to make things. Things that make other people happy.

I want people to share moments of joy using the things I've made.

Parents and their kids. Friends. Families. Sharing a moment of joy. Our creation the catalyst.

That sounds pretentious doesn't it?

We get messages from our backers and customers. About how much they love the game. Them and their kids. Them and their mates at Games Night.

That’s worth a fortune.