Demo Playmats?

By groden1h, in Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Is there any reason FF doesn't sell playmats similar to those they use to demo their card games? Not only is it helpful to new players learning the rules, but helps keep everything uniform and organized. I looked at the official playmats they sell and they have decent artwork but are not helpful player aids.

It would be nice to have official mats that show a threat area and slots for assets. Also a place for your draw and discards. Maybe this is too anal for some people but that's why they could make it an optional purchase.

There are some artists on etsy that do exactly that. It's not "official" but they look pretty nice.

It's a topic that comes up every once in a while. Actually every time I see it come up, it gets shot down. Like in Ashes, over at PlaidHatGames, they asked everyone if they wanted a demo-type playmat with a layout on it, and the answer was a resounding no, because most everyone didn't want the artwork intruded upon. What I'm saying is I think a lot of companies probably think the market is too small for it to be worth printing.

3 hours ago, Doma0997 said:

It's a topic that comes up every once in a while. Actually every time I see it come up, it gets shot down. Like in Ashes, over at PlaidHatGames, they asked everyone if they wanted a demo-type playmat with a layout on it, and the answer was a resounding no, because most everyone didn't want the artwork intruded upon. What I'm saying is I think a lot of companies probably think the market is too small for it to be worth printing.

I was at Origins this year and picked up Century Spice Road because they were offering a demo/organizer playmat which they sold out of. I think it was an extra $10 but so worth it. I may not have bothered getting the game otherwise.

So I do think there is at least enough of an interest that FFG wouldn't lose money on it. Maybe it wouldn't be a huge moneymaker but I don't think they would lose. We were teaching Arkham Horror LCG to a friend last night and it's like "imagine this area here is your threatened area, and you can only have up to two hands worth of items so keep track of that, and no you can't play that ally unless you want to discard the ally you already have which - oops - we didn't catch that you already have two in play because cards are lying about everywhere."

It's just kind of weird that they make these mats to demo and sell their games. So clearly they know it's a helpful tool to explain the game. But I can't give that same kind of experience to a friend who might be in the market to buy the game, but walks away from it feeling like it was too sloppy and disorganized.

The 'Cosmic Terrors' playmat helps with setup, but I wish it included setup for the player cards/decks. It is a nice big mat though and I absolutely love mine.

32 minutes ago, AsahinaMaebure said:

The 'Cosmic Terrors' playmat helps with setup, but I wish it included setup for the player cards/decks. It is a nice big mat though and I absolutely love mine.

That does look like the best of the FFG of the bunch

2 hours ago, sp3kt0r said:

I used one of these files to print a player dashboard at inkedgaming.com. It worked perfectly, and the mat is awesome!

https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/140207/player-dashboard

That is great! Thank you. I submitted an order.