Here's a little idea for directed promotion, so I'm not sure which category it belongs in.

I'm looking for a show of hands of who might be interested in participating in a little marketing experiment. Following the examples of the painters, ceramicists, weavers, and sensitive dudes with lush, long hair and acoustic guitars before us, I'd like to explore the potential of coffee shops and cafes as venues for reaching new audiences. Here is my plan.

If I can find enough game designers willing to part with one to six copies of their games, I will distribute these games to participating coffee shops and other public reading places throughout New York City. The games will each have a sticker on them indicating: this game is part of the Cafe Game Exchange program; it is to be read and enjoyed, but left at its current location; and if you wish to own your very own copy of this game, please visit www.something-like-cafegameexchange-or-perhaps-cafegamexchange.com for details on how to purchase the game. The games will also be accompanied by little mini-flyers with much the same information on it, that the customer may take home with them.

In return, the website will show visitors where to purchase any participating game (no orders will be taken at the website); what other games are available through the program; and where they may find a coffee shop with a copy of whichever other games they wish to peruse. Plus a few other bells and whistles, I suspect.

And, to the best of its ability, the website will provide all the statistics it can to the general public, so that others interested in contributing games can see as clearly as possible what they are getting into.

If it all works out, and we see some effect, I'll endeavor to rotate the games between the shops on a bimonthly basis, updating their locations on the website as I go. If the shops are amicable, perhaps I'll even scheduling some short demos and such. And of course, keep an eye on the games to make sure they are still out there.

So, would you be willing to gamble 1d6 copies of your game on this experiment? Would you be willing to participate in some other way, such as designing the stickers, flyers, website, whatnot? Anyone else in the New York area interested in handling some of the legwork?

How soon do you think you can start this? Is there other support you need?

yrs--
--Ben

Posted By: Ben LehmanHow soon do you think you can start this? Is there other support you need?

I can get them to the shops as soon as I can figure out the website side of things, which, as it turns out, is where I'll need the most help. I'm not sure how all the tracking will work. Plus, I really want to emphasize the part of the site that points gamers to the cafes (to make this a two-way street), which I think will require some Google map work. Could be as easy as links and stuff, but I'm out of my element there.

The idea is still a little fresh (born out of conversation I had in a coffee shop with Rob Bohl yesterday), so I haven't had time to tap all my local resources yet. Once I do that, I'll have a better idea about what I need. At the moment, I'm just getting a feel for how many games I'll have to divvy up.

Well, I'm in for as many copies as you need.

I'm strongly tempted to put one of my PDF games into print just to take part in this.

This? This is a really fantastic idea from my viewpoint.

I'm going to try to target places that already have board and card games laying around, so that might take care of some of the need. But I don't know how successful that will be. So if we can get some peripheral materials together, I'll be happy to deliver them.

That said, I just want to point out that we don't have to focus on pick-up games. There will be plenty of folks there just to enjoy a cup of coffee and some of the free reading material by themselves. We can capture their imagination, too. So please don't think this isn't for you if your game can't be played on the fly or requires something wacky like Jenga.

Posted By: Levi KornelsenI'm strongly tempted to put one of my PDF games into print just to take part in this.

I think places like Kinko's lets you print to any location in the U.S., including right here in Brooklyn. So if you or any other PDF publisher want to go that route, we can arrange something.

Hey Aaron: I'm willing to kick in at least two copies to anyone who wants to arrange this anywhere in the world. Just, you know, to get you started.

yrs--
--Ben

I'm in NYC, and I'd be happy to be involved.

I can even provide a game, although it'd be an unpublished one--I would have to figure out some way to print it, unless someone is willing to help me out.

Paul

Posted By: Ben LehmanHey Aaron: I'm willing to kick in at least two copies to anyone who wants to arrange this anywhere in the world. Just, you know, to get you started.

yrs--
--Ben

Ehm, gah, suddenly this jumped from "Thing it's save to muse about because I couldn't do it anyway." to "Well, it could be done, so maybe you should REALLY think about it".

Scary.

But yeah, this might be a good reason to talk with a couple of other people about this idea. Maybe check out a couple of locations. Yay, another reason to visit Kaffeehäuser! ^_^

Hi Epidiah,
This is just a shout from the rafters: "yay!"

This is just a whine from the sewers: "wah! nothing to contribute." Yet. Not yet. All in good time.

I'm entirely in.

Great idea, Eppy.

Eppy, I can offer books (after my next print run — almost out), web space, and blog architecture in the form of WordPress. This is a very curious idea.

Awesome. Thank you all for you enthusiasm. It looks like we definitely have enough people interested to make this work, at least as a trial run.

Next Step: Let's collect the games. If you are contributing games, and you are attending Dreamation, it will probably be easiest to drop your games off with Emily Care Boss. She can get them to me immediately following the convention. If you won't be attending or won't have the games at that time, I'll have an address you can ship them to in a few days. Once I do, I'll make an announcement here and you can whisper me for the address.

Near Future: I want to take most of February getting the website, stickers, and flyers set up. That way we can get some input on all this to make sure we are putting a best step forward when we do. At the moment, I'm thinking late February will see the games in the cafes.

For Now: I'll keep updating this thread as progress is made. If you have any ideas, questions or comments, please continue to make them here.

Well, I think Squirrel Attack! would fit such an effort nicely. I don;t think I would have much spare time for distributing but we will see. I am still finding local coffee shops.

I will keep an eye on this thread for more info.

Thanks for the effort!

Bill

Posted By: Lord MinxI like this, especially because I've been thinking about something similar here in Vienna.

Oh, man, indie games at Sacher Café... It would be just too good.

Posted By: Epidiah Ravachol

Posted By: jenskotI have no games but I will give you $100 to make this happen.

Oh, I intend to use you for something much more valuable than your Benjamin.

how could you judge success?

Ha! I just came back from a friend's coffee shop. A mocha latte accompanied by some indie game reading sounds very nice.

Great idea!

Posted By: Natehow could you judge success?

If it gets stolen? ;) Maybe a "If you like this book, you can buy it..." message sticker on the cover or front page along with an online store discount code. You might get a measure that way.

Even further, if the author gets enough sales that way, that can be used to convince the coffee shop owner to stock a few and sell them himself.

Another Quick Update: We now have enough games to start the experiment. If I've already told you where to send your games, then I'm counting your games among the games we already have. If you were thinking of send some, but haven't received an address yet, hold off for a bit. I want to get what we have up and running and find nice, cozy, aromatic homes for these games before we go any further.

Posted By: Joshua A.C. Newman

I like this, especially because I've been thinking about something similar here in Vienna.

Vienna, Austria? Cuz I've got another good contact for you, if you're interested in making this happen there. His name is Harald Schindler and is very interested in inducing some indie game goodness in the community there.

Oooooh, interesting. I can't say if I get around to actually do the cafe exchange thing (in the near future), but I plan to buy a couple of demo-friendly Indie games and get my ass to the local convention.

That said, I'm always looking to meet other Indie-interested people in Austria, so I'd be very interested.

Mail sent. :)

Wow -

very cool idea - I wish I had something to contribute - but alas poor and not a good writer....

G

Eppy, what about the thing we talked about where you have some code that identifies which copy they're looking at?

Posted By: Robert BohlEppy, what about the thing we talked about where you have some code that identifies which copy they're looking at?

I don't think that's been mention in this thread yet, so for the edification of our viewers: I first discussed this idea over a cup of coffee with Rob. At the time we were brainstorming some ideas for tracking the responses. One of the ideas was to put codes on the books that people can enter into the website so that we know which games were being perused and where.

So here are my current thoughts on it, Rob. The games themselves will occasionally be migrating between cafes, and I think that the more useful data will be on which cafes have people looking at the games. The goal is to also provide the coffee shops with flyers.* Those can be coded. It'll also be easy for folks to remember the code, because they will be able to take the flyer home. We might be able to offer some incentive to use the code, and we can better control that incentive through expiration dates and replacing old flyers.

Or we could give each cafe its own spot on the website (www.cafegamexchange.com/RobsTeaShop/), but that address on the flyers for that shop, and just track things that way. But the stickers should be fairly generic, because the books should move around a bit.



* Which will be the next design challenge.

Posted By: Epidiah RavacholThe goal is to also provide the coffee shops with flyers.* Those can be coded. It'll also be easy for folks to remember the code, because they will be able to take the flyer home. We might be able to offer some incentive to use the code, and we can better control that incentive through expiration dates and replacing old flyers.

I'm not sure if this adds to much complexity, but as an alternative (or in addition to) to flyers you could create bookmarks with the same information. These could be available at the counter and / or inside the books and say something like "Take Me". The fact that it is immediately connected to the books might be a selling point. They might be marginally more difficult to manufacture, but I would find them more compelling than a simple piece of paper.

Good luck with the project in whatever form. I'm following your efforts with interest.

Bookmarks are great idea!

Eppy,
Did you get my books? Hopefully so.

Here is a first stab at a sticker.


If you need people to pitch in some money for book marks let me know.

Thanks again for putting this together.

Bill

Any word on the progress?

Thanks,
Bill

That's a sexy sticker. The logo in no way denotes that the books are about play, games, group activities or social events though. Should it?

Posted By: JarrodSo, I frequent/live at/schmooze with the owner of a high culture artsy coffee house in town (Wichita, Kansas, an art mecca for the midwest, more galleries than gas stations). It's a great place for gaming and light dinner, too; and their boofshelf just screams "Put games on me!" I'll happily do the legwork and keep track of the books, if anyone's interested.

Neat!

What I'd really like to do is get this going as a pilot program in NYC, see how things work out there, and then expand from there. I'm particularly psyched about Wichita.

yrs--
--Ben

Sorry for the necro.

Any news? Did it work?

Thanks.

Heya, never be ashamed of real life taking time away. It's better to build up slowly than to burn out and give up. Keep rocking!

-Andy

Posted By: ValamirWill you be picking up some more contributed games at GenCon?

Yeah, I'm thinking that Dirty Secrets could also do well in such an environment.

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

What's the news on this?

I'm still offering to help (in terms of hours/labour).

:)

Ha, indeed it was.

This weekend and into next week I'll be putting games in cafes, taking pictures, and launching the beast. And I was recruiting Paul T. to help with all that because he's in the area and expressed interest in helping.

Cool! I'd love to contribute some games too, but I'm horribly low on stock, maybe you'll have a second round and I'll print some more?

Was that supposed to be a whisper?

Do do, that voodoo, that you do, so well. :)

**cross posted at Knife Fight**
Not long ago I had been talking to Brennan and Fred trying to figure out how to do a IPR demo team. I have a lot of experience with this sort of promotion but my schedule and the scope (oh, and my gaming ADD) just hasn't allowed me to focus on this project after a year.

So here is my first step.

I have decided to join in the cafe exchange fun in Philly.
Eppy, I posted to the cafe exchange blog.

I have 18 cafe's I will be going to. As soon as I get stickers and books I will hit the street. My goal is to get to all of the locations in a week. in each I am going to offer to drop off books (I am aiming for 6 of the 18 locations as really solid supporters) and to try and run a game in each.

I am going to try and work with Archaia also to leave some comics and Mouse Guard. I am excited about this.

What I need from my Philly crowd:
I need gamers. I need one or two folks to play the games we want to put in. Here's my plan: *I have put an asterisk near where volunteers come in

1- place games (I will keep a list of cafes I am successful with)
2- organize a gaming event there (one of the games left)
3*- play in said event
4*- play a pick-up game within two weeks of the event

This will happen before Dreamation assuming I get games.