Sign up for the Gnome Stew blog’s email list for a chance to win DriveThruRPG gift certificates and two RPG ebooks.

Select PDFs from Kenzer & Co. are on sale for 15-30% off.

For the next week everything at Noble Knight Games is at least 10% off. (Well maybe a little less than a week. I think they sent me the email yesterday.)

Scallywags from Gamewright will be debuting at Origins Game Fair in a beginner-level tournament. Prizes will include copies of the game before it’s available in stores.

Avalon Games’ e-book products will be half-off on May 21st.

Everything for sale on Chaosium’s website is 30% off through the 28th.

On Amazon, LEGO Ramses Return is available for only $3.11 and Qwirkle for $17.94.

Father Geek is giving away Dark Horse from Knight Works.

Thanks, Mail Carrier is giving away Classic Battleship Movie Edition and a KRE-O Battleship Combat Chopper set from Hasbro.

My Four Monkeys is giving away Distraction from ThinkFun.

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Crowdfunding has become a major trend in the tabletop games industry. It’s allowed both startup and established game-makers to produce products that otherwise they could not have. And it’s given consumers a forum for voicing their opinions and voting with their dollars before resources are committed to manufacturing.

Discovering what projects are out there, however, has become an increasingly difficult process as the numbers have increased. Many of you, I know, looked forward to our weekly Kickstarter roundup, and some expressed disappointment when it recently lapsed. To be honest, maintaining it takes a lot of work. But we love the games!

So now we’re proud to announce the relaunch of our comprehensive list of all Kickstarter and Indiegogo game projects. We’re going to keep it on its own page (see up top where it says “Kickstarter“), to make it easier to access at any time. Check it out. I think you’ll like all the added features. You can now search the table, as well as sort by project name, dollars raised, percent funded, or closing date. You can even export the data or download a spreadsheet with more information.

If you like it, tell your friends.

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[source: Daniel Solis]

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Calling it the Community Wizard, Fantasy Flight Games has launched a new online tool that allows gamers to record their collection, connect with other gamers, find retailers, and register for events. Officially still in the beta testing phase, the tool is currently accessible by all registered users on FFG’s website. Unfortunately, Community Wizard is limited to FFG games. Nevertheless, I’m impressed with how easy it is to use, how focused it is on getting players in to more games, and how much support it offers to retailers and games clubs.

When searching for opportunities, Community Wizard users can specify the games that they’re interested in playing, as well as choose between finding other players, retailer-hosted events, conventions, or game clubs. Players can also propose events to take place at these locations, while the organizations themselves can use Community Wizard to schedule and publicize events, and even take reservations.

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Hasbro reported its first quarter financial results this week, with game sales continuing to slide. Overall revenues in that category were down 9% versus the same quarter last year. While sales of Beyblade were flat, Magic: The Gathering, Duel Masters, and Battleship had gains. Looking forward, the company expects the newly launched Star Wars Fighter Pods and Transformers Bot Shots product lines to perform well.

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This week there are 57 active projects in the Weekly Roundup. Last week projects funded and 2 failed. The week funded close to $60,000. Not a bad week but definitely a slow down compared to some of the crazy weeks so far this year.

This next week appears to be heading for a steep decline as 7 projects are currently struggling to reach their funding goal and 6 projects already over their goal. Mostly RPG games are reaching their funding goals. This coming week will see Gunship wrap a very successful campaign.

My podcast, Funding the Dream, this coming week will have interviews with Max Temkin, co-creator of Cards Against Humanity which was a top game last year and now has been topping the charts on Amazon.

We also speak with Fred Hicks who discusses the Worst-Case Success Kickstarter project. Brian Fargo, CEO of InXile joins us to talk about us $1 million plus project and his initiative called Kicking it Forward. You can read more at www.kickingitforward.org.

Enjoy this weeks list.

All projects new to the list for this week are in bold.

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This week Kickstarter board game projects will pass the $1 million dollar mark for 2012. This represents half of all of last year. And if we look at the projects that have already passed their funding goal but are still active, there are 25 projects that add an additional $321,733. Giving us a total for the year of $1,245,713.

There is no sign that this is slowing down. If anything, the number of projects and backers will continue to climb as Kickstarter begins to enter into the mainstream. The media is beginning to sense the magnitude of the movement and will drive more awareness and more backers. The board game community will continue to benefit from this influx of interest.

My podcast, Funding the Dream, this past week interviewed Tracy Hickman, co-author of the Dragonlance series. In addition we discussed some of the impact taxes have on a successful Kickstarter project. I also cover my own experience launching a Kickstarter campaign. Be sure to tune in and get a feel for the other side of Kickstarter projects.

All projects new to the list for this week are in bold.

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This week the odds caught up with us, 6 projects failed or were canceled and 6 projects funded. A 50% success rate. But those that succeeded did very well. There was more than $132,000 successfully pledged this week bringing the total for the year to $657,000.

Congratulations to The Presidential Game for setting a new Kickstarter record in the board game category. They currently hold the record for the largest funding goal to successfully fund. They asked for $35,000 and ended up with $38,000+. Unfortunately for them their record will be fleeting. The Deluxe version of Masquerade asked for $50,000 and has already raised more than $75,000 with three days to go. It is within easy reach of the second place funding target for all-time funding as well.

But if Masquerade sets a record for 2nd all-time funding, their record may also be fleeting.  Agents of SMERSH, with 6 days to go, is already at $73,000, within easy striking distance of the $82,000 second place spot as well.

And even Agent of SMERSH needs to be looking over their shoulder as Gunship: First Strike, with 18 days to go is sitting at more than $60,000, within striking distance and capable of catching them all.

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Discovery Bay Games’ Play Together Pledge and Sweepstakes benefits the Make-A-Wish Foundation and also will award prizes of Duo Plinks, Duo Pops, and a trip to Seattle. To enter, like the Duo Games page on Facebook, take the Play Together Pledge, and complete the entry form.

In anticipation of the imminent release of Emperor Edition, L5R is on-sale at AEG.

Member-only, daily-deal site, Deniath, will be offering Atlas Games’ Gloom, Grand Tribunal, Recess, and Seismic at 40-60% off starting Friday. Instructions for receiving a free membership invite are available from Atlas.

Preorder the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG by April 1st to get an ebook copy and exclusive adventure module, Doom of the Savage Kings, for free.

Through tomorrow, pay only a 29¢ flat rate for shipping at Columbia Games.

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Purple Pawn checked over 8,500 companies  who make money from analog, tabletop games from across the globe to see if they were still operating. We conducted our annual survey of over 6,900 operating companies and received 391 responses. You can download the 18 page report for free here [PDF].

Summary

Over the course of a year, around 7.5% of the companies in our db closed. Single-game game companies, brick-and-mortar retailers, and miniature manufacturers closed at a higher frequency than other companies. Sometimes new retailers open in the same locations as ones that closed.

We received 391 responses from 35 countries and 39 US states. 2011 apparently was much like 2010. Of those companies that didn’t close, the overwhelming majority are doing fine or even better than last year – only 13% report doing worse than last year.

Among the responding retailers, the top performing game lines from last year – MtG, Catan, Dominion, and Warhammer – were the top again this year (and in the same order). Pathfinder products outperformed D&D products by 2 to 1 (last year they were about even).

To participate in future surveys, send your name, company name, website address, and email address to admin@purplepawn.com .

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