I wrote last week about how it can be dangerous when Late Pledging is an option. But today I wanted to look at the time element of Kickstarter. Today though, I’m going to look at different things, because some of them do overlap, and I might still overlap, but I want to know if Kickstarters are really worth that wait.

How Long Is the Wait?

This is the age old Kickstarter and crowdfunding question, how long will you have to wait. They all try to give an estimate, but is it accurate? Generally, that answer is no. Most crowdfunded board games and projects in general deliver late. Why, because it’s hard to estimate.

When you look at a Kickstarter, you see a game that you want to get. And that’s great, and you want to get it sooner rather than later., also great. But what we don’t always see is where the game is at. Kickstarter and crowdfunding in general are to help get a game made. That means that no production is done. Fairly often it means that art assets are partially done. The game itself could still be going through development.

Each of these steps the companies are guessing at how long it’ll take. If it’s someone like CMON or Thunderwork, they have a decent idea. But even for them, a delay at the factory could shift the timeline by weeks or longer. And newer publishers, they generally underestimate.

What Should The Expectation Be?

Generally, I expect a Kickstarter to be 6 months late. That’s not a short amount of time, I understand. But for me, that way I don’t sweat it when it is well behind. Now, some games I’ve backed on crowdfunding have been much later than that. Some, also, surprise me when they show up on time.

For me, the expectation that they are late also comes with the expectation of updates. Some companies do a lot of updates. Others don’t post nearly enough of them. Right now I haven’t heard anything from Grimlord Games on Village Attacks in months. Last update was in April, actually. Is it annoying, yes. I fully expect delays. Plus, I know Grimlord Games isn’t the best at giving updates, but it is too long.

I also am not highly concerned. Why, because they have a proven track record. They delivered Village Attacks before. They just dropped an update for their other game as well. I knew going in they were bad at giving updates. Is this really acceptable from them, no, but shocking, no.

So Are Kickstarters Worth the Wait?

Simply put, sometimes. I like the shiny games that are up on there and for a few reasons it can be. A lot of them tie into the late pledging article. The game is exclusive to Kickstarter, well if you want it you might want to back it. The game comes with lots of Kickstarter extras.

But even then, is it worth the wait. I can go out right now and buy 100 games from my FLGS (friendly local game stores) and play them tomorrow. Do I need to get a game on Kickstarter with so many out there?

Like I said, it depends on the game. For some games me backing it means that the game can be made. So yes, I want to help in that process. Even in the case of Grimlord Games and Village Attacks, without backers the game wouldn’t get made. They are not a big company. So they need people to back it so they can make the game. For that reason I am fine being patient with them.

Other games, like Marvel United: X-Men, it might not come to retail. Plus, I get 50-70 extra minis because I backed the game. So my amount of content is much higher than someone who didn’t back the game. This could be FOMO (fear of missing out) but also means I have a lot of variety. My knock on the base game of Marvel United was that it didn’t feel that different. Marvel United: X-Men provides a lot more heroes and villains.

Is It Always Worth It Thought?

Most definitely not, because there are so many great games out there. Like I said, I could go to my FLGS and get 100 games today to play if I wanted. In fact, I will be swinging past one today in order to get my store credit and then use that store credit to pick up HEXplore It. So I can even find games that won’t come to retail but are used.

The question to ask is, do I want this Kickstarter game when it becomes available? If the answer is yes, back it. Let’s go with Marvel United X-Men. All in for that was $300, the base game for it was $40+ shipping, I think. Right now the regular, all in, Marvel United pledge on on eBay is about $300+ shipping. That’s about what the X-Men version will cost, but on Kickstarter the original games all in was only $220. So the secondary market sells at 1.5x higher.

So, you can always get a Kickstarter later, but it might cost more. This isn’t even the most extreme example. I went to look for Spire’s End on eBay when Spire’s End: Hildegard was up on Kickstarter. That was a $50 game that was selling for $150+. If you want a game enough, you can get it later. Just know that depending on the game, it might cost a whole lot more.

Do You Wait on Kickstarters?

Let me know if you back games on Kickstarter? Clearly I do a lot of written coverage on Kickstarters with my Back or Brick articles. I back Kickstarters somewhat often. Are they always worth the wait for me? Most of the time they are, but sometimes, such as Divineus, I drop my pledge because I don’t need the game slightly sooner than I can get it at retail.

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cmon/zombicide-undead-or-alive?ref=profile_saved_projects_live

(embedded link to be added)

Pros

• Proven company
• Proven game system
• Wild West Theme
• Fun Parody Characters
• Campaign and Scenario based

Cons

• FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)
• Shipping

The Page

I know people have issues with CMON for reasons. They drive a very hard FOMO Kickstarter campaign. And that is a knock on it for me. When I look at the page, it is plastered with Kickstarter exclusives, which are cool. But if someone finds out about it later, generally those minis or things are sold on the secondary market for a massive premium. So Zombicide: Undead or Alive really wants you to back it now and get in on it.

The page itself, like most CMON pages is laid out well. They are going to show off their minis, which is fine. That is what they are known for, and the minis look great.

The Game

The game itself is a known system. They’ve done Zombicide 1st and 2nd Edition. Zombicide: Black Plague, Zombicide: Dawn of the Dead, and Zombicide Invaders. This is a dice chucking monster fighting game. You run around trying to kill zombies, complete objectives and get the hell out of Dodge. And with the iterations they have improved upon the game to some extent most of the times, so the game play now should be better than before.

I also like that in the Steam Punk expansion is adding in a campaign to the game. I’m not sure how much there is campaign in other Zombicide games, but I like that there are just scenarios you can play but also campaigns as well.

Back or Brick

I’m torn right now on if I back this one or not. I feel like I’ll end up backing it because of the old west zombie thing. This game is a Back for me. I know that a lot of people this might be a hard one to swing. The cost isn’t cheap and the shipping can be even more expensive if you are in certain parts of the world. But I think this game is going to be good dice chucking fun, and I feel like it’d be a nice addition to my collection, kind of go into it with the Village Attacks pledge that I have coming eventually.

How about for you, is Zombicide: Undead or Alive a back or a brick for you?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

First off, though, let’s define what a stretch goal is. A stretch goal is a funding goal to get additional content or improvements added to a game. For example, in Marvel United, there are stretch goals to unlock additional characters for the game. Or there are some where it’s less game play focused or additional game play focused and it’ll be something like linen finish for the cards or a Game Trayz insert for the game. So something that is going to make the game feel more special or complete. Another example would be Tainted Grail, they did two expansions that were for added into the Kickstarter pledge but if it goes to retail, you’d have to buy them separately. Basically, they are to add extras into the game, sometimes for the Kickstarter backers only and sometimes for everyone. What is cool about stretch goals is what it can bring the community of board gamers into help something be fully realized. The downside is of course FOMO, that you might be missing out on a bit for the game because it wasn’t unlocked, or because something is exclusive to Kickstarter.

That is one of the toughest things about Kickstarter, the FOMO, not just from stretch goals. If you’re not familiar with the term, FOMO stands for “Fear of Missing Out”. Basically, it’s the idea that you need to do and get everything in order that you don’t miss out on something great. When it’s doing things, it can be a bit paralyzing, because you don’t know which thing is going to be the best or how you’re going to do everything. With buying a Kickstarter, it’s less paralyzing, because it’s money not your time, which isn’t a great thing. There are two ways that Kickstarters can create FOMO for users.

The first is what I mentioned above, Kickstarter exclusive things. Now, going back to Marvel United, a lot of the Marvel characters are going to be Kickstarter exclusive, it isn’t the main characters, but if you wanted Beta-Ray Bill or Spider-Ham, you need to get them through the Kickstarter. So while the game will likely be hitting retail, and I expect it to be pushed big in retail, you’re going to have a more limited number of things that you can get, and to track down those characters later could be spendy. So do you risk missing out on those exclusives? That’s how they get your FOMO going with Kickstarter exclusives.

The other way is technically not a Kickstarter exclusive, but it is pretty similar because it could just be that the game itself is exclusive or not hitting retail for sure. For example, Tainted Grail might not hit retail, and probably the expansions won’t even if the base game does. So do you risk it not hitting retail and having to find it on the secondary market, possibly costing a lot? And some games will only ever be on Kickstarter because they are too large and expensive to stock in stores, or because it is such a small indie project that the person doesn’t have connections to get it into stores. Those I think are easier, but the ones where it might go to retail, how do you handle that? Do you wait and hope that everything makes it to retail or that it isn’t a lesser retail version or do you still go in on the Kickstarter. Add in the fact that deservedly so Kickstarter backers who are making the project happen most of the time get their games first, do you want to wait the extra two months to a year to get the game in retail?

So, is there a good way to avoid FOMO with Kickstarter? I don’t really think that there is. At least nothing that you can do without treating FOMO as a whole. Kickstarter and sales in a brick and mortar store are all built around making you feel like you have to decide now and fast and that you’re going to miss out if you don’t decide fast. I can go into, maybe, in a future article about FOMO and how you can cope with FOMO, but Kickstarter is built to cause FOMO and without just avoiding Kickstarter, I think that FOMO is going to just be a part of it for a lot of people. So, if I were to have a few tips and tricks for helping deal with it with Kickstarter, I can think of a couple.

A lot of Kickstarters allow you to back for $1. You aren’t going to get a game just backing for $1, but it can give you access to the pledge manager quite often. In the pledge manager you basically can always get the same deals as you did on the Kickstarter. What that does is it allows you to consider it for a small amount of money. Get a regular coffee instead of a fancy coffee and you can do 2-3 $1 pledges. This allows you to feel not as rushed about making the decision. The Kickstarter will run for a month, fairly often, then it might be a month setting up the pledge manager and the pledge manager will stay open for another month. In that month between the Kickstarter campaign and the pledge manager, did you think about the game, if you don’t, you’ve just spent $1.

Similar to this, Kickstarter has a final 48 hour notification. That means that they send out an e-mail and notify you when a campaign is ending. I use this all the time. If I think something looks interesting, I save it, I get notified, and generally, if I haven’t backed it before then, I ignore it, because the FOMO wasn’t that strong. But it could be a good reminder or maybe I got some money for spending on games so I might consider it again at that point.

In both of the cases, it’s about seeing how much you actually think about it. In the games that I’ve been interested in and been all in on, I generally look at it, consider it and sleep on it, but if I’m still thinking about it the next day, I know if I’m going to back it, so I do right away. Otherwise, it’s probably isn’t one that I’d back. These can techniques buy you the time to decide that you might not feel like you have otherwise with a Kickstarter, and hopefully can help your budget and your FOMO.

Do you have FOMO with any games? Has it come back to bite you ever?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

(All games are Kickstarter games in images)

Now, pretty often there are games that I’ll save to decide if I want to back them later. It could be because with how we budget I don’t have the funds to back it right now without borrowing against future budget, or it could be because I’m not sure how interesting the game actually looks but it has an interesting theme or cool miniatures. I’ll come back to them when there are 48 hours left, Kickstarter sends out a notification, and the vast majority of the time I won’t back them. I think only once have a backed a game in the last 48 hours.

However, there are a ton of games that come out on Kickstarter every day. There’s a reason I check multiple times per day, it’s because there will most likely be three new games once we hit noon that weren’t there in the morning, another three in the evening, and five or so over night. So the real question is, how does one not go broke with all the really fun looking games coming out?

There are a few things I consider when looking at kickstarter games:

1. How unique is the game?
2. Does it fit my interests for theme?
3. Does it fit my style of game I like to play?
4. Will it hit the mass market?

How Unique Is the Game?

This one is first because it’s the most subjective and others can outweigh and override the decision about a not that unique game down the line. But if the game looks like it’s just stealing from another game or seems like someone jammed two games together that I already have, do I need the game? I know, I don’t need any game, but you know what I mean. There have been a lot of dungeon crawl type of games, for example, that have come out, do I need more than a couple of dungeon crawl games in my collection, and do I play the ones I have already? Or if a game says it innovates upon a game I already like, do I need that new game if I’m enjoying the old game?

Does it Fit My Interests for Theme?

This one is also subjective, but going to be more cut and dry for you as a person. If the game is a Lovecraft Horror game and you don’t like Lovecraft or horror, it’s fine to skip over that game even though it looks cool. Or maybe you love Lovecraft and horror, in that case, look at the project and see if it is going to match your style of game you like to play. But more on that in a second, just remember that because something looks cool or looks like it would be fun, but the theme is boring to you, you don’t have to buy it. Save your money for a game that you know you’re going to like the theme of it. There are a number of highly rated games that I don’t think I’ll ever own, and some that I’ve gotten rid of because the them of the game is boring to me.

Does it Fit My Style of Game I Like to Play?

I mentioned it above, but if the game is a dungeon crawler with a lot of dice and you don’t like the randomness of dice, but you like dungeon crawlers, that game might not be for you. If you want a game with a lot of confrontation and it doesn’t have it in the game, it might not be for you. I know I sound like a broken record, but before you put your hard earned money into a game, make sure that you will like it. Like above, there are a number of highly rated games on Board Game Geek that don’t interest me at all because of the mechanics of the game.

Will It Hit the Mass Market?

Now, this one is the biggest of them all. If the game is not just going to be on kickstarter, you have more time to decide. For example, Gloomhaven might have been slightly cheaper on Kickstarter and there might have been some added content for it, but you can buy Gloomhaven in your local game stores. This is one of the toughest areas though, beause of the Kickstarter exclusive content, it might seem like you’re getting less of a game if you don’t back it on Kickstarter. Let me say that if a company thinks it’s cool for them give you half a game with the other half meaning you have to get an add-on or kickstarter exclusive, I wouldn’t work with that creator. The game should be complete and ready to play without anything extra and still a ton of fun. So with that in mind, if it hits the mass market and you can get it at your local game store or better yet you can play a demo copy at your local game store and then buy it, that’s better for you because you can truly see if you like the theme and game play.

Now, I mention FOMO, and fear of missing out is huge when it comes to kickstarters. Sometimes the company won’t say explicitly that it is coming to game shops, but most of the time it’s fairly obvious if they aren’t because they will say that. If you don’t see that, you can assume it’ll come to a game shop. The bigger reason for FOMO on Kickstarters is that there is something that is Kickstarter exclusive. Sometimes you’ll see custom dice or minis that you can add on instead of just cardboard cutouts or meeples. I’m not going to pretend like those aren’t tough to pass on sometimes. And I got a Ghostbusters game, which is fun, because it has a million figures in it and I like Ghostbusters, I didn’t know a ton about the mechanics.

I don’t have a great suggestion for FOMO and about how to avoid it with Kickstarter board games. The best I can suggest is that you set a budget and stick to it. That’s what I do with board games in general. I know what money I have to spend and I can choose what I spend it up, but once I’ve hit that amount, I stop. It can be tough, because there’s always a new shiny game coming out. Another thing that might help is remembering that you aren’t going to get the game for a long time, most likely. Board games generally take about 8 months to a year to fulfill on Kickstarter. Now, some do go faster than that, but that tends to be larger companies that are just funding a first wave of printing, versus still wrapping up prototyping and rules. So by the time the game comes, you might not care anymore.

So this begs a few questions:
What games have you backed on Kickstarter?
How do you cope with FOMO when it comes to Kickstarter or other new board games?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.