Greetings!
I went to my local game store and I started paying particular attention to all the games and how they're packaged, pricing, etc. I was shocked to discover how expensive many of these game are! I've seen many, many posts regarding the pricing of games. How much should I charge? How can I keep production costs low, but maintain quality, etc. These questions are all over the place.
So...I walked over to a game called "Pitch Car". Basically it looks like a shuffle board type game. You've got a round, wooden puck, with a car painted on it and it looks like you flick it with your finger around a track that you build. The box is fairly large, and it's quite heavy. Care to take a guess at the price?
$180.00! <--Geez!
I don't know about you guys, but that's just way too steep for me. I know nothing about this game, but flicking a little wooden puck around a race track just doesn't seem worth $180 to me. Perhaps I'm way off base here and it's the most awesome game of flicking pucks I'll ever see/play.
Fine.
I STILL can't justify paying $180.00 for it. Not only that, they've got expansions! There's Pitch Car 2 for $55.00 (it adds some new pieces) and Stunt Race 4, for $60.00.
GAH! Okay...well I just checked it on boardgamegeek.com http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150/pitchcar
It actually got a pretty high rating AND it looks like my game shop is WAY overcharging for it.
Here are some other really expensive games (once again...perhaps these are overcharged)
Planet Steam (German...English rules included in box, but I don't understand German, so I can't figure out what's going on. Looks very cool, though.) $125.00
Decent $90.00
Expansion: Sea of Blood $60.00
Expansion: Tomb of Ice $50.00
At the Gates of Loyarg ( I think I spelled that incorrectly) $80.00 This game weighs almost nothing, which makes me think the pieces are made of paper, or thin chip board. Eighty bucks? Really?
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "What's the point of this post? All you're doing is ranting and raving about games you haven't played and you're squawking about the price. If you don't like the price, find the game for less somewhere else!"
Good points! My question is: Am I missing something? Aside from the game store apparently overcharging for these games, I don't know if I've EVER paid more than $40.00 for a game. Should I just chalk it up to the old saying, "An item is only worth what people are willing to pay for it."? Is there a "perceived quality" based soley on price? If I get a game published, should I charge $60.00 for it in the hopes that someone will say, "Wow! Sixty bucks! This game must be awesome!"?
-CB-
I don't see how this relates to game design, since all you're doing is whining about something that wasn't researched very well, since it's fairly easy to find realistic prices online.
Thanks for the heads up on the website! Very cool!
This doesn't really relate to game design, which is why I put the topic in the Publication section. Although you're right about not researching it very well, I still think $60.00 to $80.00 for a board game is a lot of money, which was the main point of my post. I've played lots of board games, but my friend is a collector and player and most of the games I've played have been through him. I haven't actually been exposed to game prices in quite a while and I was shocked to see how much they're going for.
-CB-