‘How did the trade shows go?’
This is a question we have been asked on several occasions after returning from our tour of four events in 45 days.
In my previous article, I tried to answer the question by listing the 10 most important lessons we learned from these experiences. Today I focus on the quantifiable aspects of the four participations.
Before I get into the figures, it is helpful to put them in context with respect to what we presented and what our goals were.
Prototypes
The two projects we brought to the fair events were digital hybrid and based on computer vision.
The first one is Kosmykes, an original game design of ours. Players place space mushroom tiles on the board and, at the end of the game, take a picture of the table to calculate and visualize the expansion of cosmic spores and determine which planets have been colonized. We have not yet started working on the game’s art: we presented a fully playable prototype although with minimal graphics.
The second prototype is Light Speed, a card game from 2003 by James Ernest. In the original implementation, counting points requires rulers, counters, and, most importantly, a lot of time. We developed a bot on the free messaging app Telegram, allowing players to visualize the shooting sequence by sharing a photo of the table within the chat.
To give an idea of the parameters at play, a demo of Light Speed lasts about ten minutes, while a demo of Kosmykes, for which we presented only the solo/cooperative mode, about half an hour. In both cases the outcome of the game was displayed on a screen to make the gaming experience more engaging and to involve also the curious people who stopped by to take a look.
Objectives
We had two primary goals.
On the one hand, it was the first time we took the prototypes to places where they would be played by a diverse audience and compared to the surrounding offerings. Given the hybrid digital nature of the two games, it was essential to look players in the eyes when we told them that they had to take a picture of the table to determine the game’s outcome.
On the other hand, both in view of the release of the upcoming Telegram-powered free print&play of Light Speed and Kosmykes’ planned Kickstarter campaign in 2022, it was important to gather email contacts among the people interested in the project.
Costs
As for expenses, I focused on the cost of the exhibition spaces and those directly related to setting up the booths. I was not sure whether to include travel and accommodation costs. In the end, I decided to share them to give at least an idea about the order of magnitude of the total expense, though specific to our case, which is of a company based in Graz, Austria.
Costs for the development of art and graphics have not been included, as well as I did not list the expenses for food. Besides, computer and electrical equipment, which are not relevant items for most board game projects, have also been left off the list.
As for personnel, in addition to me and Emanuele, we were always lucky enough to find at least one other volunteer, who joined the expedition on the sole condition of receiving a bed and a hot meal. If you have to hire workforce outside of your team, you need to take into account such a cost as well.
Fairs
Here is a brief description of each event and the statistics of the participation.
Play, Modena
Play in Modena is the most important Italian event exclusively dedicated to board games.
It does not come close to the size of Spiel in Essen, but many new releases from the national landscape pass through here. Moreover, Play was the first big festival after the long covid break. Because of the restrictions, the number of visitors was lower than in previous years even though the festival was sold-out. Despite this and the mandatory masks, there was a cheerful atmosphere of friends getting together after a long time.
Shared Area ‘Independence Play’, 2 tables
302 €
Power
145 €
Travel and transportation
184 €
Accommodation
323 €
We had already planned to participate in several trade shows and exhibit in different spaces. Therefore, starting with Modena, we geared up with a set of roll-up banners provided with a base, as well as t-shirts, mugs, and business cards. If you have walls on which to post up prints or hang banners, the cost of printing can be significantly reduced.
Printing
344 €
Additional material
40 €
Tables and chairs
40 €
In the following paragraphs, I listed in brackets the cumulative cost for each item as we reused prints, materials, and pieces of furniture purchased for the previous events.
Total
1378 €
Team
3 people
Duration
3 days
Email addresses collected
85
Maker Faire, Trieste
Maker Faires are the festivals par excellence for DIY enthusiasts. In recent years these events have also become popular among the less technical audience and welcome droves of curious people, who join electronics enthusiasts.
Trieste Maker Faire takes place in Piazza Unità, in the heart of the city’s beautiful old town and with the sea a few steps away. Participation is free, accommodation provided by the organization, along with meal and coffee vouchers. In short, a dream.
Being creative when it comes to finding opportunities to present your prototypes can open up interesting routes. In this case, we leveraged the technological aspect of our project. On the other hand, the event was free to enter for visitors and located in one of the city’s pedestrian hubs, so describing the audience as diverse is putting it mildly.
Of the four fairs we attended, the high density of grandmothers and children made the Maker Faire probably the most exhausting and, at the same time, surprising experience.
Shared area makers, 2 tables
0 €
Power
0 €
Travel and transportation
80 €
Accommodation
0 €
Printing
0 € (cumulative 344 €)
Additional material
0 € (cumulative 40 €)
Total
80 €
Team
2 people
Duration
2 afternoons
Email addresses collected
42
Romics, Rome
Romics is the main event dedicated to comics and games in Rome. The games section, which involves video games and board games, has grown in recent years, but it still remains a festival mainly focused on comics and cosplay.
The truth is that we did not plan to go to Romics. Nevertheless, when we were in Modena, we stopped by to say hello to a friend whom we had collaborated with years ago as demonstrators. In the meantime, his distribution, localization, and publishing project had expanded. And well, he asked us if we wanted to present our games in a booth within his area at Romics. For free and without even looking at the prototypes.
Luck played an important role here, but probably our previous collaboration’s professionalism helped a lot.
And by the way, my family lives right near Rome, so even accommodation and home cooking were guaranteed.
Booth 3mx3m, corner
Guests Dal Tenda
Power
Guests Dal Tenda
Travel and transportation
350 €
Accommodation
Guests at mum’s
Printing
70 € (cumulative 414 €)
Additional material
0 € (cumulative 40 €)
Total
420 €
Team
3 people
Duration
4 days
Email addresses collected
100
Spiel, Essen
Spiel in Essen, the world’s largest event dedicated exclusively to board games, is the ultimate destination for publishers and gamers alike.
Again, we were unsure whether we should attend, as our prototypes were still in development, and we did not know if they would hold up to the competition. Then we decided to go all-in. And it was worth it in so many ways, especially for the lots of people we met and the fantastic projects we discovered.
Of course, the costs are not small.
Among other things, renting furniture from the organization is so expensive that it saves money to buy it from scratch. Be aware that there is an IKEA nearby.
We had also requested internet access. Again, the fees were extremely high. In the end, we preferred to rewrite some of the software and have all the games work locally.
For those who would like to look at the documentation, I have put in this Drive the forms for requesting exhibition space and additional services at Spiel. They are files from the past edition, which I am sharing for reference only.
Booth 2mx5m, corner
1367 €
Power
194 €
Travel and transportation
214 €
Accommodation
350 €
Printing
375 € (cumulative 789 €)
Additional material
176 € (cumulative 216 €)
Tables and chairs
212 € (cumulative 252 €)
Total
2888 €
Team
3 people
Duration
4 days
Email addresses collected
64
Wrap-up and comments
The following table summarizes the figures from the previous paragraphs.
| Play | Maker Faire | Romics | Spiel | |
| Booth | 302 € | 0 € | Guests Dal Tenda | 1367 € |
| Power | 145 € | 0 € | Guests Dal Tenda | 194 € |
| Travel | 184 € | 80 € | 350 € | 214 € |
| Accommodation | 323 € | 0 € | Guests at mum’s | 350 € |
| Printing | 344 € | 0 € | 70 € | 375 € |
| Additional material | 40 € | 0 € | 0 € | 176 € |
| Tables and chairs | 40 € | 0 € | 0 € | 212 € |
| Total | 1378 € | 80 € | 420 € | 2888 € |
| Cumulative total* | 1378 € | 504 € | 804 € | 3382 € |
| Team (people) | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Duration (days) | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Email addresses | 85 | 42 | 100 | 64 |
As previously mentioned, we will be releasing the print&play of Light Speed playable with our bot on the free messaging app Telegram in the coming weeks. For some players, this was the incentive they needed to subscribe to our mailing list. For others, Kosmykes sparked their interest with his new approach to the game board as a geometrical space, although the prototype lacked art and graphic design.
Overall, demoing two (very) different prototypes was a significant advantage.
We have refined our presentation pitch over the four events but we did not change anything radical. Rather, we tried to adapt it to the different needs of the audience, which, by necessity, responds in a heterogeneous way to requests and solicitations.
To some readers the number of emails collected may seem high, to others low. For our part, we had set certain goals, which also involved the collection of qualitative feedback, and on the whole we achieved them.
As a comparison, my previous blog post ‘Lessons Learned from Exhibiting at 4 Fair Events in 45 Days’ was read in the week of its publication by 1500 different users, of which only 5 decided to answer the call-to-action at the end of the post and subscribe to the mailing list. Clearly, ours is not a blog whose goal is conversion, but the data suggests that communication in person, at least in the field of self-published board games, is key.
Not all of the results are quantifiable
And here I am not just talking about the long-term return, such as brand recognition, the benefits of professional networking, and so on.
I am referring to the ideal behind a project, which, while involving a business component, is not just business.
For instance, when you talk to someone, spend a few minutes asking what the best game they tried was, what they bought, how the festival is going for them. After all, if you like board games and are stuck at your booth, curiosity should naturally arise.
When you encounter strong opposition from a player, explain your reasons but do not try to convince anyone. Be polite to those who take your project apart and respect their opinion. No game appeals to everyone, and things are right like that.
Finally, when a child stops to look at your game, they do not have an email address to give you or money to spend. Does that justify treating them differently?
Related contents
As mentioned in the introduction, this article combines with ‘10 Lessons Learned from Exhibiting at 4 Fair Events in 45 Days‘.
Then, if you are interested in learning more about the Tablescope project, you can watch the short video below.
On the other hand, if you want to create a landing page before attending a trade show, take a look at my tutorial, ‘How to Create a Board Game Landing Page with WordPress: Free Resources and Essential Plugins‘.
At this point, you may also have wondered, ‘How large of a mailing list do I need before launching my Kickstarter?‘. In that case, click on the link and read the enlightening post by Joseph Z Chen.
