How the Locally Crafted Games Fair Was Created

Saturday, July 13, 2019 is the Locally Crafted Games Fair at the Miniature Market Superstore in St. Louis, MO. But how did it all start? How can you start your own LCG Fair? What's the timeline like to make something like this happen? Let's talk about that.

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The Spark of the LCG Fair

About 5 years ago, we did a Kickstarter for Angels - Michael's War. It was successful, but we noticed something. We probably could have sold more copies of the game after demoing it one day during our campaign than we did in our entire campaign. Add in the hassles of shipping costs and whatnot to backers, and you have a feeling that we did not want to do another Kickstarter for a physical product again for quite some time. In fact, we wanted to demo games and sell them right then and there. 

Options To Sell Games

So, over the years, we have played with a few ideas for how to sell games after showing people our wares. Options included: 

• Go to a local store and seeing if they would carry our game, and then demo it on a weekend.
• Go to a convention, see if a vendor would carry our game, run demos and direct people to that booth at the convention.
• Go to a convention, open a booth for ourselves, demo our games and sell them.
• Go to a local craft fair, show the games, hope to sell them.

Each option had pros and cons. Some (running a booth at a convention) had the issue of taking up an entire weekend (plus) of time. Some (asking vendors to carry our games) had logistical issues and required a trusted partner. Each one had things we did not or could not do with the time/cost we were willing to spend. Then... the idea came (rather naturally).

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Hanging Out At A Game Store Is Good

In the last 2 years, we have developed some habits as a family and game company. Every Saturday, we meet a bunch of family and freinds at a local restaurant, and play games for 2 hours. The first Saturday of the month, we all go to the Miniature Market Superstore in St. Louis (well, Des Peres, really, but close enough) for Family Board Game Day. Henry (Drop Racers designer) and Aaron (the A in AnSR) go to Miniature Market about once a month or so for Warhammer Underworlds tournaments. Aaron works right by Miniature Market, and goes there way too often during lunch... and before each board game group meeting at work... and before each board game designer meetup once a month. Basically, we're there a lot. 

Since we are familiar faces, we simply asked if they would be willing to let us take over some of the store on a Saturday and sell stuff. After a little deliberation and internal talks about logistics, Miniature Market said "yes", gave us a price per table to rent, and agreed to set up an area in the playing portion of the store. 

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The LCG Fair (Potential) Wins

There are a number of potential wins for both us and Miniature Market in this deal. Let's face it, it might be more for us, but there are no major losses here.

• Store Traffic Increases - If people want games that they cannot get anywhere else, for this one day, they can come to the store and get them... from the actual designer. That's a cool thing. If you are reading this, come to the store and support Miniature Market... and us.
• Activity in the Gaming Area - We tried to pick a date that would have small or no activities going on in the gaming area. Since we have been going there and pay attention to their store/convention schedule, we found one. Now, the store has a set activity happening in their store in a space where nothing was scheduled to go on. That looks great for people coming in for some great gaming.
• Built-in Audience - We are setting up a mini-shop to sell games inside a superstore that sells games. If a person is in the store, that is our kind of customer. The LCG Fair vendors get to help enhance the experience of existing customers by selling them games they would not get otherwise. That's a great win with an audience already looking for our product.
• Low Cost Event - With this concept, we can take games that don't get a huge margin, print a limited set of copies, and do what we love: demo, then sell. This is a way lower cost than ordering thousands of copies of all our games and trying to sell them over the next X years.
• Low Time Commitment - The LCG Fair happens from 11 am - 6 pm CT on a Saturday. Even if we get there by 10 AM to set-up, that is 8 hours running a booth (essentially), instead of a full weekend at a convention. We can still go to church Sunday, hang out with our friends at the local restaurant Saturday, and not have to take off of work on Thursday and Friday. 

LCG Fair - How Did We Prep?

So, the LCG Fair is set for July 13, 2019. What did we do to prep? That will be our next article. We hope to see you at the LCG Fair, and keep a lookout for what games we'll be selling... and debuting... there.