Good reasons to preorder 18IA now

Why preorder now?

1. You get my best discount, guaranteed. I will never sell copies directly for less than the preorder price of $37.75.
2. You'll be the first to get 18IA. I will ship all individual preorders that pay for shipping prior to any distributor commitments being honored, guaranteed.
3. You want a special bonus that will ship with your copy of 18IA, available only to the first 100 paid preorders. Those of you that have already pre-ordered, don't worry, you're automatically registered for your bonus!
4. You want your copy's cover signed and numbered with a particular number (this is a Houston Gamers tradition).
5. You'll be in good company with the others who have already pre-ordered.
6. You'll get exclusive pre-release access and information.

Not ready to preorder yet?

Register for pre-order reminders and updates by contacting me at derscheid@gmail.com.

Don't want to give the full amount now? Donate or sign up for a reminder email!

Donate random amounts to move the printing date forward with this button:

If you would like to add your name to the "I'll definitely preorder, but only when you have enough people to print 18IA" list, just send your name and shipping information to derscheid@gmail.com - I'll send you a reminder ONLY when significant signup milestones are reached. Once I have enough people for the final push, I'll send out a "Last Call For Preorders" so you can send your money in! This list will only be used for train-game-related emails, no spam.

Preorder 18IA today- Pick your copies up in Houston, have your games shipped to a US or Canadian address

Preorder now to reserve your copy or copies of 18IA after it goes to press (currently I expect the game to go to press in Q4 of 2009, and retail for $75, though neither item is set in stone). Note that game is still in testing, so if you love or hate what you read in the designer entries, speak up!

This button is for picking your copy of 18IA up in Houston whenever it's done (include all your contact information, please). Preorder now to lock in a price of $37.75 + tax:

This button is for having 18IA shipped to you to a US address via USPS Priority Mail. Preorder now to lock in a price of 37.75+ shipping (scales a little with multiple copies) + tax (yes, you still have to pay Texas use tax even if you're not in Texas. I am not a lawyer.):

The following button would not exist if Dan Corban wasn't such a great guy to trade boardgames with: It's for preordering 18IA for shipping to Canada. One copy at a time, sorry. Yes, you pay for shipping and Texas use tax. I will fill out customs forms with the preorder price, following Andy Looney's lead on the subject. All Canadian preorders will ship in a separate (and later) trip to the post office, since it will require customs forms.

So that's it. Preorder away! Email me if you have questions at derscheid@gmail.com.

Again, this is a PRE-order. Can't ship it because it's not printed yet, and won't be sent off to print until October 2009 at the earliest.

Not ready to take the plunge? Email me at derscheid@gmail.com and I'll add your name to the 18IA preorder list.

Punchy

I'm researching punch dies. You know, for punching stuff out of paper/cardstock with a mallet.

Also, Paypal merchant fees.

Also, Texas sales and use taxes.

Decisions, decisions...

I have been pricing out printing, and it should come as no surprise that there are a wide range of vendors who sell the same thing at a wide variety of prices. On the bright side, there's nothing like calling a place and having them tell you, "Oh, yeah, we have a hundred thousand 1/2" flat head furniture plugs in stock, how soon do you need them?"

Sorting through the mess, I think when I pull the trigger, I am going to be able to create enough copies of 18IA, without having too many. We're still probably 12 to 20 months away from printing at this point. I'd like to get in at least two or three normal playtest sessions prior to opening it up to blind playtesting, as well as figuring out what the final dimensions of the project will be, reworking all my art, rewriting and proofreading the rules, etc.

At this point, I know how big my print run is going to be, and about how much it'll cost for me to make. Now the fun question: How many people can I get to pre-order 18IA, how many should I get before I print, and how much do they need to pay for this entire project to make sense?

I also have at least two other options for publishing: Z-Man Games and JKLM Games. Both of them were jointly responsible for 1861, which sold out 600 copies quite handily in spite of the high price tag.

Right now, there is no decent introductory 18xx game that is fully-finished and available to order today and get by the end of the week. Mark Derrick's single-state games 18AL and 18GA are out of print (though still available as print & play), and Deep Thought Games, which publishes the reportedly-excellent 1889 and 18TN, and the reportedly-decent 18FL, has a several-month backlog. As in, you order it now and you get it in, oh, a few months. This is unacceptable - a huge gap in the market. Although Deep Thought Games' products have earned respect in the gaming community as excellent examples of a quality production effort, they're also fairly expensive, depending on what options are used to buy them.

18IA fits into the single-state 18xx category nicely, and although I am still working on some of the chrome, it's clear that the introductory/newbie-friendly 18xx category has room for one more, especially if I can get the price point right.

Quotes submitted

I submitted two quote requests to see what my current design would cost - one as a mostly assemble-it-myself affair after I get the boards printed, another as a full they-do-it deal.

The full they-do-it deal had some numbers that made me grin. Here's my guesses as to my market size:

• Gamer friends I can count on to buy anything: 5
• People who immediately buy everything train-, 18xx- or Iowa-related, God bless 'em: 45
• 18xx people looking for interesting games and will jump on 18IA as a new game: 50-250
• Newbies to 18xx looking for immediately-available introductory games since the Deep Thought backlog is always several months long: 10-200
• 18xx people who research carefully and will eventually decide to buy it: 200-600.

This supports my tiered-release concept quite well (solicit pre-orders for first tier, then have first tier sales fund second tier's printing). I'm getting quotes for several sizes of print runs. If 18IA is my flagship game, I don't want it to go out of print, but I also don't want one billion copies in my house, either.