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This has been a great week. In my last
couple of reports, I've been explaining
perhaps a little too much about our current financial situation,
and our need for investment funding. Needless to say, we've been
getting even more email than usual since then (blanket apology
to anyone who's email we haven't answered: we've very sorry,
we just can't keep up!) but more importantly, we've also gotten
quite a few sales. (Of course, it helps that we also released
a long-awaited new
product last week...) And I'm pleased to say that although
our money problem is far from solved, the recent spike in sales
has pushed our cashflow crisis point back a bit. So, thanks to
everyone who visited our Shopping
Center this week!
 The
other thing that made this a good sales week was Balticon. Over
the weekend we ran our second Pop
Tart Cafe installation at what is to me the original science
fiction convention, since it was the first one I ever attended,
way back in 1980. Then as now it was held over the Easter holiday,
but next year it moves to Disclave's old weekend, Memorial Day.
At first I was kind of saddened by this planned change of tradition,
but now I'm happy about it... it hadn't occurred to us that Pop-Tarts
aren't Kosher for Passover, so our Jewish visitors couldn't eat
the refreshments we were serving. Even so, the event was a smashing
success - everyone had a fantastic time playing our games in
our cool gaming parlor, and we even turned a profit. Anyway,
check out the scrapbook
for photos and stories from the event, and thanks to everyone
who helped make it a success!
The event was billed as a release party for 2 new products,
Black Ice and
Button Broccoli.
Black Ice sold very well, being outsold only by Fluxx, but we
were actually rather disappointed by the sales of our new Button
Men expansion... I guess there weren't very many Cheapass fans
there. But reactions to it were great nonetheless... the most
memorable came from some Darkon players who knew Tirade
from the nation of Moot
but knew nothing of his other adventures. They were blown away!
[Secret Message to customers who bought
Black Ice at
Balticon: The little card that came inside the bag ("This
is a Beta Release...") is actually a valuable coupon. Since
then, we've added a message on the back that says "Eventually
(after we've had more time to develop two-color games) we will
publish a Black Ice book which we will then include with these
pieces. This coupon may be exchanged for a free copy of that
book when it is released." So don't throw it away!]
We celebrated the Easter holiday with Kristin's
family, where we feasted, debated the issues in the Elian Gonzales
case, received an amazing gift, discussed our plans for the future,
and showed off the prototype of Chrononauts.
(I was happy to see that Marv, who's something of a history buff,
found the game both agreeable and exciting.)
But no week is perfect, and this week we were sad because
the bank turned down our business loan application. This wasn't
really surprising... banks don't look for potential, they look
for collateral, and we've already got all our property cards
turned face down. But while this wasn't exactly unexpected, it
was still a bummer and it means that our search for a Business
Angel is more important than ever. The next step is to bring
our Business
Plan up to date, and then start finding people to send it
to. [Does anyone out there know either
Ben or Jerry? Do they like games?]
 Have
a great week!
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