Anatomy of a $631,230 Kickstarter Video

http://www.danshapiro.com/blog/2013/12/anatomy-of-a-631230-kickstarter-video/

by danshapiro • 13 years ago

52 19 13 years ago

danshapiro4• 13 years ago

Interesting. A few minutes after this hit the front page, one person ordered every single one of the 700-odd copies in the amazon warehouse. (There are still copies in the Fulfillrite warehouse though, purchasable through Amazon).

sutterbomb• 13 years ago

How does reselling work in this context? Are there any restrictions about selling this for $50-$60 in a retail shop?

Also, what are the return policies for Amazon in this case? I've heard about resellers buying out individual channels, selling the inventory at a markup, then returning unsold inventory to the original seller.

drharris2• 13 years ago

You can even resell it on Amazon. When I was just out of college, I'd make a point of buying up stuff where it said "only 2 left in stock". Buy them, mark up 20-30% on Amazon/Ebay (or IRL), good to go. Risk is on me, but it almost always worked out.

guynamedloren• 13 years ago

Very interesting indeed. Obviously they'll be reselling them, but via which outlet is anybody's guess. Don't seem them on eBay yet. Anyway, that's quite a big investment. I hope they've done their homework.

Keep us updated on this?

danshapiro4• 13 years ago

I will blog about it if/when I solve the mystery.

RobotCaleb• 13 years ago

Thanks for the game, Dan. I have it wrapped and under the tree. I'm sure we'll try it out on Christmas day.

conorh• 13 years ago

I was one of the people that did not watch the video. It came as a recommendation from a good friend and I loved the idea. I didn't need to watch the video to convince me that a board game to gently introduce programming and logic concepts to young kids was a good idea!

The game arrived recently and I've played it a few nights with my 3.5 year old daughter. She's starting to get the hang of it and is enjoying it. I can definitely recommend the game and I'm looking forward to her 'leveling up' and doing the slightly harder versions. Congrats Dan on all your hard work paying off!

drharris2• 13 years ago

Also a backer that didn't watch the video. I've always been more swayed by ideas and text than videos anyway. We got our copy, and it's in christmas wrap right now, burning a hole in my floor underneath our tree. I can't wait to try it out on my 3.5 year old!

onedognight• 13 years ago

I bought the game without watching the video and now having watched it I can say it didn't add anything, not already in the copy, for me.

bjorg• 13 years ago

Seems like most followed the same reasoning to back Robot Turtles: Dan + Programming + Kids = I'm in!!! ;)

blahedo• 13 years ago

"The game’s out of print, but ..."

I've seen this for a few of the successful kickstarters, and it always makes me kind of sad; when Kickstarter is working at its best, it, y'know, kick-starts something so that the initial backers are just the first run, and then the product will continue to be available (and possibly the line will expand).

Obviously it's totally within the creator's rights to just use the kickstarter funds to fund a single round of product. But, it makes me sad.

egypturnash• 13 years ago

Yeah, I was coming here to say that.

I've done two kickstarters for comic books, and my print run has been about 4x what I actually got from the Kickstarter. I've sold the extra copies of book 1 over the past year; I'll do the same with book 2 over the next. Basically I walk away from a Kickstarter with about $0 cash profit, and a nice pile of inventory to sell.

Of course, the margins on graphic novels are a LOT better than on board games. And they're easier to stick in a closet, easier to ship to a convention, etc.

jessaustin• 13 years ago

I just bought one on Amazon for $45 (including shipping). It appears that price is still available, so they probably have some stock remaining.

danshapiro4• 13 years ago

I'm working on bringing the game back in some form, but right now my priorities are my awesome Kickstarter backers first, and getting the rest of this production run in lots of kids' hands second. And then going on vacation with my family third.

Stay tuned. :)

pilom2• 13 years ago

I love the idea of the game, but I'm curious what Wizards of the Coast thinks of this game?

Roborally (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009HLSP0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...) is the exact same game just targeted for an older audience.

Can you patent or copywrite gameplay mechanics?

Pxtl• 13 years ago

RoboRally is a fantastic concept, but imho the game is terribly bogged down - they hyper-dense maps, the long areas, the card-locking damage mechanic, the confusing conveyor-belt-turn rules... it makes the game take forever, and usually one player had a breakaway lead anyways.

I'd still recommend any programmer give it a try, it's a brilliant game that makes your brain grind hard. It just has its flaws.

If this "Robot Turtles" game is a stripped-down form of it, I'd love to give that a try.

And no, you can't copyright gameplay mechanics. As long as no actual art or verbiage of the rule-book is copied, a game can be copied freely.

pilom2• 13 years ago

And no, you can't copyright gameplay mechanics. As long as no actual art or verbiage of the rule-book is copied, a game can be copied freely.

So I really could satisfy all of the pent up demand for this game by making a clone with different artwork and a different rule book? Sounds too good to be true.

Anyone know some good one off game manufacturers?

debacle• 13 years ago

Can you patent or copywrite gameplay mechanics?

No, but Wizards has in the past, so it really depends, like everything else, on how much money you have.

danshapiro4• 13 years ago

Robo rally was invented by the legendary Richard Garfield. (His next game was Magic the Gathering). I had the good fortune to talk to him about robot turtles before it launched. He had an awesome suggestion to add sokoban style crates to the game, which turned into a stretch goal, which wound up in production. Richard is awesome.

Anatomy of a $631,230 Kickstarter Video

Related Stories