Business of Games (BoG) is our regular series looking at the business of games from the perspective of the gamer.

Six months ago, we brought you word of GW’s announcement that they were raising prices and questioned how GW was doing in the current economy. Well, they’ve just released their second half numbers and the results are very interesting!

The number everyone has been most interested in is the supply cost figure (the formal name is the “input cost”, particularly given the rapid increase in the cost of metals that has been driving up costs across the board in the miniature gaming hobby (no pun intended – I swear!). While these costs aren’t reported directly on earnings statements, you can see their result by looking at margin and the result is impressive. GW somehow managed to increase their gross margin to 71.4% from 70.1% – for those who aren’t mathematically inclined, that means that GW managed to make a bigger profit on each sale than they did last year. A cynic might point out that the company-wide price hike might have had something to do with this increase, but I doubt that’s the whole picture – GW’s supply managers are working some serious magic. All of this is on top of raw sales being up £7.3MM over the previous year.

What else was interesting the last half numbers? Well, we made a rather big deal out of the fact that GW has been operating at a loss lately. Well, they’ve certainly turned a corner on that front as well – going from taking a pre-tax loss to actually turning a profit of 3.1MM. I think its safe to say that if GW can show improvements like this, they may have have finally shrugged off some of their earlier issues. Heck, they even opened more stores than they closed this year – I’m pretty sure that most retailers can’t say the same.

So how is GW using their new found profit? Essentially, they’re using it to pay down debt. There seems to be a little bit of use around expanding hobby centers and some basic reinvestment, but the majority has gone into paying off the debts they’ve accumulated over the past few year (reducing their debt by 4.2MM to 11MM).

So what does this mean for your average gamer? For the most part, things seem good. While you’re not likely to see a drop in prices (things just don’t work that way generally), you’re very likely to see a greatly increased GW presence in your area (though if you’re in the US, that’ll probably be through a hobby shop) with greater levels of support and product. I’d also expect to see the continuation of the recent trend of rapid, high quality releases as this has likely contributed a fair bit to that increase in sales. Bottom line, GW seems to have recovered from their recent illness which is going to make it more likely that you can find product, find gamers and otherwise have a positive hobby experience.

• 1 Comment

Game having shredder for operation by children – I’m in favor of any children’s game that comes with sharp steel blades.

The theme is The Dog That Ate Your Homework. You place a picture into the dog’s mouth, the picture gets shredded, and you remove the pieces from the mouth. The patent helpfully adds, “Of course, other routings may be substituted as desired and using appropriate guides and the like to help move the card through the paper shredder and out.” The mind boggles.

Then you try to guess what the picture was, or reassemble it, as fast you can.

I’m seeing this game as having limited replayability.

Big box office “The Movie Business Game” – A roll-and-move board game with lots of rolling.

Playing card wagering game and method therefor – A simple gambling card game with two wagers, one of which can be withdrawn after seeing one of the dealer’s cards.

Card game tabletop with advertising – Yes, it is for this that the patent system was created: To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

Vocabulary board game – A design patent:

I’m pretty sure the final game won’t be called “Indicia”.

Apparatus and method for a race game wherein competitors apply defensive strategies and math skills to win – A roll and move game, with chips, cards, traps, and math questions.

Wagering settlement method for casino games – This patent gives a nice summary of the Player/Dealer method of betting, which is what happens when each player takes a turn being dealer (in places where straight dealer vs player gambling is forbidden), and its problems. The patent then gives some sort of alternate suggested for how to handle Player/Dealer betting, but I couldn’t see how it solves the problems.

Device for holding and viewing playing cards – Many other devices have been created to assist physically disabled people to play cards, which the patent acknowledges. However, “None of the prior art particularly describes an apparatus and method for displaying and viewing playing cards in a novel, box-like mirrored assembly that can be placed on a horizontal surface and provides a secure means for viewing said playing cards.” Ah.

Poker style card game and method of play – You know a patent is going to be good when it starts off with a history lesson:

The exact origins of poker-style games is a matter of opinion with cards games from Germany (Pochen), France (Poque), Persia (As Nas), India (Ganjifa), and China (card variation of dominoes) all contending for possible parenthood of poker. Modern poker in America most probably started in New Orleans and traveled up the Mississippi, being played on steamboats. The game quickly spread to the interior of the country on the wagon trains. The Civil War brought about variations in the game such as “stud” poker. In the early 20th century, “draw” poker rose to prominence.

And, after describing dozens of regularly played poker games, the patent justifies its expensive monopoly as follows:

None of these games teaches a poker style game in which the player concurrently constructs a five card hand and a three card hand from four initially dealt cards.

Thank god for patents. Each player is dealt four cards, and, if he doesn’t already have a good hand, the player splits the cards into two Texas Hold’em hands.

Playing cards with dual number feature – There have been many, many other decks of cards where each card features two different values, to which the patent dutifully admit. The difference in this case is that all the number combinations add up to 11.

Financial trading game – Not a board or card game, but I couldn’t resist. It’s a gambling device that simulates a stock market. So, after you’ve lost most of your money in the stock market, you can relax by losing the rest of it gambling at a machine that simulates a stock market.

• 0 Comments