I would like to introduce the game to my local shop, but I’m not sure how to present it so that it creates interest in the owner. What is there exactly in this game for the comic shop owner? Should they host games and even tournaments just because many players will use his handle to buy cards?
Any ideas are welcome.

The main role of a card shop at this point would be to host tourneys, sign up as a connector and make % off players (it might help to have internet at the store to immediately sign players up), they can sell different game related merchandise, and possibly singles. It will also allow them to try and sell other stuff to players while they are in the store maybe snacks or other games. Fight Klub will be a hard sell to stores that won’t think outta the box because they will just be looking at the fact they can’t sell packs, but you gotta sell them on the less obvious benefits…

The trick for them is that by advertising and possibly providing tourney space, they gain 10% of all purchases EVERYONE they refer EVER makes, without the store directly having to touch the cards, ever.

Here’s a thought. Tell them there’s no downside. They register and advertise. If the game flops, they don’t suffer for having already purchased the product!

And, as Wampa said, having the internet in-store where people can register right then and there help ensure that THEY get credit for the turn-in, and not someone that guy meets later. I probably would have never thought of it had I not seen the guy in our comic shop surfing the WoW forums the other day when I walked in. (I like, recognized the forum layout, and almost stopped to chat with him about it, decided to become a better “semi-regular” there, so it’d be easier to talk to him, you know?)

Yeah this is really an outside the box thing. There is a bunch of ways to make a profit if they take some time and think about it and no risk of loss like when several other card games crashed and you had to sell of useless stock for 99 cents a pack. And I really do love the idea of having an internet reay computer in store for immediate sign up. It really eliminates the risk of players losing interest when they go home and haveto sign up, order, wait, etc. Plus you can walk them through all the set up too.

It also allows you to show them more about the game (I guess this is eliminating the risk of them losing interest) without having to memorize it yourself.

Imagine that they post a question on the forums, to have it answered in real time by one of us? (well, not really, as D can’t keep people on it all the time, and we won’t be here 24/7 as long as the real world interferes, but you get the idea)

It will also prevent the store from losing them to another mentor. If they sign up then, you’ve got them, and there are no worries of losing them.

Yes it would also eliminate the issue of them misspelling your handle. As far as the boards inthe heyday of the SWCCg there was Always someone on to answer your questions. I hope it forms a lot like that…

I just sent an email explaining the payment mechanics and that I would want to arrange to do some product demos when they became available.

@Alpha He brings up a good point in that there is nothing lost if there is no interest in the game in their area. That’s something you definitely should emphasize. It’s essentially extra revenue (no matter how small, every little bit counts). Most stores don’t have public internet, and I don’t see them allowing random people to use their computer but it could definitely happen.

@Wampa I mentioned this in another forum that hopefully Decipher saw. I wanted to see something related to tournament support (t-shirts, promo cards, etc.) which would greatly enhance tournament attendance. Hopefully we get something in this manner for the game.

Thanks for the answers. I feel now more prepared to present the game to local shops. Especially to those with internet connection. I’ll have to check if they do and approach them accordingly. Though I guess I should wait till the cards are actually out, right?

At least until the new site launches is what I’m thinking.
Once the new site is up and things are ticking away, I’m going to hit the streets and start getting the word out to stores and people alike.

yeah, I’m holding off ‘til some card images are up…

I had a day off yesterday, so I hit the local geekshop to have a wee word with the owner about FK and all it’s awesomeness, and to see if any of the usual ccg stable had heard of it too.
The owner is a victim of the mindset whereby if it aint MtG, Vs or WoW then he simply doesnt want to know, and will use his vast knowledge of All Things Geeky to tell you why you’re an arsehole for even thinking about ccgs that arent part of his Holy Trinity. It’s happened before with other new ccgs I had been trying to promote, and what can i say? This time it was no different…
I tried to convey some enthusiasm about the game mechanics, about the business model, about the new reinvention of ccgs that D are effecting – all a waste of breath with this guy. He sneeringly launched into a semi-rant about how D were effectively ostricising retailers like him, how the game sounded just like Super Smash Bros (wtf is SSB anyway? I’d never heard of it), and how he would probably rather I took a dump on his shop floor rather than him devoting space to any sort of organised play (this was 5 minutes after he mentioned that they had a few evening slots they were keen to fill with some new events!). He concluded with some unrepeatable opinions about D.
What do you do in this case? This fella has found his (boring little) niche and aint budging. In hindsight, the only alternative approach i can think of would be to open with a cheesy, hard-sell “How you YOU like to earn 5% of player purchases by merely taking your head out of your hole??!!”
I dont think anything is gonna work in his case. He’s certainly not gonna let me leave a load of flyers on his counter. The next nearest geekshop is about 20 miles away, so he’s pretty much got the monopoly on the local ccg crowd…

A demonstrable product might help, like you guys have mentioned, but my gut tells me NOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo…

Any thoughts? Failing that, anyone know a good, cheap hitman? ;oD

That’s exactly the same attitude as my local store owner, except for him it’s MtG and YuGiOh (and he’s more polite about it than your guy seems to be but it amounts to the same thing). I haven’t even bothered approaching him about FK, and I’m not intending to because I know how it’ll go.

I know I can get more players through other means that I’ll ever get through him.

Now you make friends with some of his more frequent MtG shoppers. Then, you do one of two things.

The more “revenge” evil: Convert those people to FK, to the point that they stop playing MtG. (could be nigh impossible, I know) Then they convert their buddies, and you slowly steal his customer base, who no longer plays there, because he’s anti-FK.

The more “in your face” evil: Get one of those guys to loan you a deck. You loan him a FK deck. Go to a MtG tourney at this place. Try to squeeze in as many games of FK as possible, drawing lots of attention. When it proves to be popular, do your best to let everyone know what an arsehole he was about it. Now, they hate him for repressing this cool game!

Oh, and Super Smash Bros was Nintendo going “hey, let’s have all of our characters fight each other”. The first was Nintendo 64’s “Super Smash Bros”, followed by the Gamecube’s “Super Smash Bros. Melee” and the recent Wii’s “Super Smash Bros. Brawl”. All in all, it is arguably the best fight/party game EVAH. (with my friends, when we got together to game, those not playing Halo 1/2 were playing Melee, and now those not playing Halo 3 play Brawl; those are our two party games, except for when we tweak the group a little to play Rock Band)

My local shop will probably be cool with it, as they have weekly Magic and Yugi events, as well as a weekly D&D group. They have MOSTLY comics, with some Warhammer, RPG stuffs (books and dice) and cards/minis. I go there for comic books and my slowly expanding Munchkin set. (going back for original Munchkin set 3 sometime in the next week or two, AWESOME game) Even so, I’m going to wait until I get to know them better, AND I actually have some demo cards.

Wow, AC, that was brutal… I hope this game gets more popular than magic. I have just one question, what on earth is D&D? call me a noob, but i’ve never heard of it.

It stands for “Dungeons & Dragons” and is a massively successful table-top Role Playing Game. It’s so huge that many people (even in spoken dialogue) simply refer to it as D&D.

That may have been more info than you needed, but I wanted to cover all the bases. :) I’m not sure how many people play it these days.

And soon shall be parodied in the mighty Futurama movie “Bender’s Game!” Woohoo!

Ok, I have heard of D&D, just never abbreviated like that, thanks. anyone ever wonder why abbreviated is such a long word?

We should make up an abbreviation for it. How about ABR? AVN?
We could even use ABB. I think that kind of fits the whole FK atmosphere.

that would be sweet! thank you for an ABR to ABB :)

Now we can say cool things like:

“What’s that ABB?”
“Check your ABBs!”
“My ABB sounds cooler than your ABB.”

It’ll be even more entertaining since they will have no idea what you are saying :)

I think this “ABB” is something that should be added to Klub Kaos…. >:D

Well so long as it in’t ABBA… :p

ABBAbbreviation.
It does have a certain ring to it, doesn’t it? I think I still prefer plain, old ABB though.