Hi there,
I'm new here, just registrated a few moments ago. I've invented a few board games. One of them is realy easy to explain and it consists only of a 7x8 grid and 2 series of 4 pawns. Any one can copy this game. In fact, I played it many times using nothing more than a self-drawn grid on a piece of paper, 4 coins of 1 eurocent and 4 of 10 eurocent. Is there a future for simple games like this? Why would anyone buy a box with nothing more than a set of rules, a grid and 8 pawns if he can make it himself. I've not yet undertaken steps to try to publish this game because I expect this kind of comments. What would be your advise? Thanks from Pelpo, Belgium.
could there be something like board game piracy?
Wed, 05/11/2005 - 11:23
Wed, 05/11/2005 - 11:53
#1
could there be something like board game piracy?
Your concern is reasonable, yet I think the fact that you can easily play the game with pen, paper and coins doesn't mean nobody would buy the game in a box.
There are many games like checkers, tic-tac-toe, battleships, etc. that can and even are usually played in homemade versions, yet can also be bought in a box. Actually, I think boxed versions of this games take advantadge of the popularity gained by this games thanks to this.
If your game is fun and easy to grasp, and the box version you plan to produce looks good and has a fair price, I don't see "homemadeability" as too big a threat. Many people will be glad to spend a few euros in a nice game, even if they could play it out of paper and coins.
You can find $3 chess sets, and you can also find $1.500 chess sets. Both have a market share. The same principle should apply to your game. I wouldn't start with a $1.500 version, though. ;-)
Seo
Wed, 05/11/2005 - 22:15
#3
could there be something like board game piracy?
Some other examples where people pay money for something they could do themselves include:
Kings in the Corner from Jax Games - www.jaxgames.com. This game can be played with a standard deck of cards, yet Jax is selling it as a boxed game.
Farkel - basically played with a handful of dice and a scoresheet. There are several companies selling different versions of this game.
Charades - there are several charades games on the market, including our very own Stumblebum. You don't really need anything to play a basic version of charades yet people still buy charades-based games.
(The charades games on the market are perhaps a bit different than what you're talking about. Many of the commercially available versions of charades have components or features that the average person wouldn't bother trying to replicate on their own.)
Chip
Wed, 05/11/2005 - 22:54
#4
could there be something like board game piracy?
As a matter of fact, I bought Pocket Farkel for my sister who loves farkel. Just because it was cute (comes in basically a film canister, with very very small dice), and good for a gift. A printout of rules doesn't make much of a gift.
But your game sounds along the lines of checkers - I could make an 8x8 grid on paper real easily, and give me 8 pennies and my opponent 8 nickels, and play. But who hasn't bought a checkers set once in their life? Or at least, a general game set that includes checkers. Everybody knows the rules and knows how simple it is to make your own, but they don't do it.
I definitely think people WILL make homemade versions of your game if it's reasonably easy, but I also think people will buy it, and the buyers will vastly outnumber those who want to put in the effort and get the shoody self-made quality. And there's that magical appeal to professionally made components... you might play a homemade one a couple times, but it just doesn't feel right, you know?
Thu, 05/12/2005 - 06:13
#5
could there be something like board game piracy?
Many thanks for your answers, I found them very helpfull. I'll let you know how the story continues.
Pelpo
Thu, 06/16/2005 - 16:19
#6
could there be something like board game piracy?
For the same reason that you go to a restaurant instead of cooking the same food at home. Some combination of: cost, quality, convenience, or loyalty to the brand. The only other reason would be if you added a patent, which would make it illegal to copy the game at home (although it wouldn't stop 99.9 percent of the people from doing so.)
Yehuda
Hello and welcome!
I agree with Seo that simplicity does not preclude a market for your game. There are many very simple games that could be "pirated" by anyone with access to the internet (download the rules and make your own board, etc.).
That being said, there are a great many people that would rather buy a game than make it themselves. That goes for the simple ones as well.
Being simple could actually work well for you. You could very likely be able to produce the game incredibly cheaply and sell it at a very low price point (less than 10 dollars/euro). That would also encourage people to buy your version rather than make their own.
Fow an example of a company that has has a good degree of success with games that consist of simple components, check out our own slam's Pair-of-Dice web site.
Best of luck!