Anybody headed to NY in a couple weeks for Toy Fair? If so, come by the Big E Toys booth (#6041) and say hi.
Chip
NY Toy Fair
Thu, 02/03/2005 - 00:56
Thu, 02/03/2005 - 02:36
#1
international toy fair
I will be there sunday and monday, 20th and 21st I will make sure to look for you. KD
Thu, 02/03/2005 - 02:41
#2
just checking my time change
will stop by booth 36041, I see it is on level 1, i"ve been looking at the floor plans.
Thu, 02/03/2005 - 11:28
#4
Don't miss us!
Hey Chip, I think I'm just up the aisle from you. Live Oak Games will be at booth 6050.
KD, and everyone else, stop by if you get the chance. I'll be demonstrating (and hopefully selling!) Calaboose, Ice Lake, SiegeStones, and SiegeStones Charge. Should be a lot of fun!
- Pat
Thu, 02/03/2005 - 12:46
#5
Toy Fair
Stupid question as I've never been to Toy Fair, but do you go with the intent on selling games or just marketing your games and company? If the fair includes alot of buying of product, how many games are ya'll taking to sell? Is this your first Toy Fair trade show? Good luck and happy selling.
HR Puffenstuf
Thu, 02/03/2005 - 13:24
#6
sell, Sell, SELL!
This is my first ToyFair where I'll have my own booth, and yes, my plan is to sell games. As many as I possibly can.
Last year, I was there with Discover Games (which I highly recommend and will gladly push at every opportunity). If you don't want to fork over the thousands of dollars needed for a booth and its accouterments, you can't beat Discover. They'll show your games in a prime ToyFair show location. They're the reason Ice Lake made the Games 100 a couple of years ago. John McCallion picked up a copy of the game at the show, reviewed it, and the rest is history.
Here's my two cents worth on ToyFair: it's all about selling. Yes, it's also good publicity, but remember that the only attendees are retailers, buyers, manufacturers, and press. Publicity with retailers and buyers doesn't get you much unless they're actually buying. PRwise, you want to focus on the people playing your games, and ToyFair doesn't include them. Sure there is a *lot* of press at ToyFair, but as a small player, am I going to get much press? Maybe, and I'll certainly try, but it's a long shot.
If you want to increase your visibility and market yourself, do GAMA. It's cheaper and (from what I understand) you are getting exposure to game players in addition to game buyers. We'll be there for the first time this year.
However, even if you don't get a booth, I highly recommend going to ToyFair at least once. I learned more about the industry at ToyFair last year than I had imagined possible. Walk around and see what people are doing. Network with people, hear their stories. It's quite an experience.
- Pat (Live Oak Games)
Thu, 02/03/2005 - 15:33
#7
NY Toy Fair
Can anybody tell about the cost of just assisting to the Toy Fair.
It's not that far away from where I live, but the cost just to be there seems to be prohibitive. I can barely think about having a stand for me.
Maybe a BGDF stand someday, to promote game and people from this community.
Thu, 02/03/2005 - 17:34
#8
how many?
how many games did you take with Discovery Games and how many are you taking this year for your own booth to sell? Does the Discovery Games booth get good traffic as I'm highly considering them for next year when my game will be available. I'm curious about numbers as I wonder do you take 100 games to hopefully sell? 1000? Do you need to have credit card affiliations set up already to accept payment or is it cash? Inquiring minds would like to know :)
Good luck as it sounds exciting.
HR Puff
Fri, 02/04/2005 - 11:32
#11
Clarifying
Chip is absolutely right about not selling on the floor of the show. When I said "sell", I really meant "take orders from retailers". As Chip pointed out - the customers write the orders in the booth. We ship them from our warehouse to their store.
It wouldn't be possible for retailers to go to ToyFair and buy stock for their store. They'd be backing trucks up.
I'm going to try to avoid selling games for cash right there at the show. All the games I'm bringing are for demonstration and evaluation purposes. Hopefully, I'll swing some trades with other people (like Chip) at the end of the show. I picked up some great games from ChiTag doing that.
In terms of numbers, I'll be taking 60 - 70 copies of Calaboose, and 5 or 6 of each of the other games. Calaboose is the one we're introducing this year, and I want to have them on hand for reviewers and some of the potentially big deals. Mary (with DiscoverGames) typically takes 6 of each game she represents.
I'm more skittish about taxes than Chip is, so I won't be charging for Calaboose. I don't want to get into the NY state & city tax issues. I won't just be handing them out either, though. My plan is to distribute all of them at the show, so I have to be careful about running out.
Chip, did you really have people asking for free copies? I didn't run into that, but that could have been because I was at Mary's booth.
Fri, 02/04/2005 - 17:11
#13
thanks
That really clears up alot of things. I work in the computer industry and am only familiar with the computer trade shows. I do agree that no one wants to carry around a game. Best case scenario, a big shot for Hasbro (or whoever) walks through and thinks you might have the next big thing, would they be more likely to buy a game to show others or just take literature?
Also, when you consider Discovery Games who represents many different games, how do they do justice for your game at the show? I saw their booth picture on their web site from last year and it looked like a retail store rack with many different games. Do they have enough people manning the booths? How much traffic did their booth attract and did you feel that your game was talked about and seen by a good amount of new people?
Thanks
HR Puff
Mon, 02/07/2005 - 11:39
#15
Answering your questions about Discover Games
Actually, I find great value in being a part of Discover Games even though I'm going to be having my own booth this year. They have a large booth with good visibility, and Mary does a great job of presenting the games.
Your point about the booth seeming crowded is true, but Mary takes the time to learn the games. She was kind enough to let me and a few other game designers help her work the booth last year. This is how my typical interraction went...
Customer: "Wow. Sure are a lot of games here."
Me: "Maybe I can point you in the right direction. These are all new games that your customers probably haven't seen before. What kind do you like? Party games, strategy, card..."
Customer: "Party?"
Me: "Okay, then let me show you these..."
As part of the requirement for working the booth, I was expected to learn the games so that I could present them. I was *not* to simply spend time showing my own games, and I didn't. We didn't take orders, but simply took contact information. Retailers, reviewers, and buyers got a chance to actually play the games, and decide for themselves what they were interested in. They'd leave with brochures, and the appropriate DiscoverGames members would later receive their contact info.
It's worth pointing out that I am not a talented sales person. Mary, in contrast, *really* knows how to work the show. She's knowledgeable, relaxed, and personable. All I did when I was at the booth was demo games.
Despite appearances to the contrary, this is not a sales pitch for Discover Games. Joining Discover will not mean instant fame, sales, or success. Don't expect to sit back and have orders roll in because you joined Discover. However, it does give you good visibility at a bargain basement price. If you can leverage that visibility into sales, then it's a great idea. If not, then it's not.
Level 1, in the "Game Zone",
Chip