I have seen a few questions as to the life of this game. I know that it has to be doing well because they just released an expansion, however I was wondering how many people on these forums are playing the game as a friendly/family game?

Playing a board game is okay with family and friends because most board games don't rely on expansions to balance them out. With card games you need to be taking the game to the local game store or even a book store and play the game. A local game store feels encourage to buy more of the product when different faces show up to buy it.

The game company makes the money when the store buys from the distributer. The store then tries to make up that spending by selling the game. No local interest means no more supplements being ordered unless on a personal basis. The store I used to work at is suffering from this. The owner knows one person is buying a certain product, so he only orders maybe 3 copies of the product. This person buys them out and now there are no copies left for any other potential customers.

You don't have to convince your friends to buy everything. One asylum pack is enough. Then you can pay them back if you want. But now the store owner sees that he is selling to multiple people and not just one person. So the next time he or she orders the product they will order enough copies for multiple players. Your friends may not plan on buying these, but now the owner has the product on the shelf just encase a curious onlooker sees the game being played and finds themselves interested enough to purchase it.

I urge everyone to meet at a local store whenever they can to play card games. The reason Magic has not died is because of the multiple Friday Night Magic's taking place around the US each week. People come into the store and see the games huge following and this keeps it alive. Heroclix is nearly dead in Orlando but where I live we have a constant showing of at least 16 players each Sunday. And we have grown over the years thanks to comic fans taking note of the game when they come in to buy comics on the weekends they have off.

I run the games club on sundays at my FLGS and we have 4-5 players for CoC including myself. For some reason though we can't seem to get new players for it, nor do we see anyone come down from out of town for our events.

My friend and I take our cards up to our FLGS in OKC and play every Saturday afternoon. We have taught the came to 3-4 people and continue to enjoy it ourselves. We have multiple copies of all the LCG cards and are quite enthusiastic about the game. We look forward to the new 60 card packs and the continueing expansion of the game. If you're in town, by Game HQ and we'll have a game.

I too am trying to build the game locally. It's been a rough go. I'm doing demos at my local gaming store and having some success, but no repeats as of yet. I'm planning on doing at least one more demo game this weekend and there is a gaming convention in town this weekend that I will try to round up some players at as well.

I want to get a league going here locally. It's been hard to get a CoC RPG going as well. I think I may have accomplished that however. Through that I will also introduce these individuals to the LCG, that will bring it up to three regulars and 2 or 3 out of town. All of this and you can't find a Lovecraft book at a Used book store to save your life. So they are out there....

I can't even get the local store here to carry the cards.

I play just with my family and buy on the Internet.

Curator said:

First off the game isnt dying. It my not be as prosperous as M:tG but it isnt dying. The LCG format has proven far more profitable than the CCG and it shows.

Secondly, what you propose is potentially dangerous to LFGS's who are not the most financially stable. They buy low quantities based on customer interest for a reason. So that they can buy other products that do sell well so they can make a profit and keep the doors open. as you have illustrated above, some areas have stronger interests in certain games than others.

Personally, I would suggest people not follow the advice to have many people buy expansion packs for you as by proxy, because that gives th store owner an artificial sense of interest and could potentially harm that business.

If its so important that the store owner carry a product, then they should reorder after the initial order has sold out. This is what shops typically do. Then the worry about potential customers not being able to make a purchase is no longer a concern.

Running those businesses are not very profitable and are a balancing act that would make tightrope walkers sometimes their jaws in awe.

Based on my experience, a lot of people playing these types of card games started with Magic the Gathering and know what a money pit it is and any "collectible" game is. Ive long since abandoned that game, and from what I hear now only the latest (eight?) sets are allowed in tourneys <cringe>. It blows my mind how much $ a player has to spend to be competitive in Magic. Also many of the magic players Ive met get their cards online and don't support the local store where they play. Thats why the stores have a habit of closing, leaving the Magic crowd looking for a new place for Fri night magic.

One of my biggest sells on the game is the LCG format. When I show people the game I tell them that if they invest in the core set for like $45 they only have to shell out $15 every other month to keep current. Where I play, on a specific night, the people there play AGOT, COC and Warhammer:Invasion because they can!

The_Big_Show said:

Where is you FLGS store located?