SFR, Inc.

[nerdvanastore]

I run a small up and coming game store in Jackson, TN. In my neck of the woods, the hobby game of choice is Magic the Gathering. Unfortunately for me my biggest hobby game competitor is a walking talking encyclopedia of MTG, and to be honest, it's hard to compete.

Luckily I have one of the biggest collectors of Dragon Dice in the South just a few blocks from my store. He came in and showed myself and a few of my customers how to play, and it was a hit.

Dragon Dice is now selling better than Magic in my store. People prefer DD over other games for a few reasons. With games like Magic, the more money and time you have to spend, the better cards you can get and the better deck you can build. Basically people in my store know who's going to win in a magic game before it even starts. Dragon Dice on the other hand is a dice game, and is completely random. People like that they can win with an army straight out a starter. And just because you have some great dice, doesn't mean you'll get the roll you want.

But some people have had a few issues from the game, some of which we try to solve in store.

The rules in the starter sets are overwhelming to a new player. I tried to read the rules to the game before I was actually taught how to play. It took me a few days just to get the basics down.

The collector that taught myself and others how to play developed his own teaching method to the game. He introduces rules bit by bit by playing demo games.

The first game all players start out on one terrain, the only terrain on the board. The first game only uses one and two health units. They are taught how Marches work. First Maneuver, then Missile or Melee. And that the goal is to get to the eighth face.

The second game he introduces the three terrains, Missiles between terrains, and reserves.

In the third game racial abilities and three point special icons are explained.

In the fourth game Magic is partially introduced. He explains how magic works, doubling etc., but only uses magic to summon dragons. And naturally dragons are explained.

In the last game, full magic is introduced and the players are generally ready to go.

Magestorm! around here is generally taught on an individual basis.

Our customer base generally prefers the step by step method of teaching rather than getting all the rules at once.

The only other issue that has come up in our store is that our customers want to buy the races that come in starters, but don't want to pay for terrains, dragons, and another race that they don't want and won't play with.

The only way we found to solve this issue is to bust up starters and make our own kickers from the races inside. This has actually been a huge hit in our store and is selling pretty well.

These are just a few of the issues we've had out of the game, and how we solved them, just in case any other retailers come across similar problems.

All in all Dragon Dice has been very successful in our store and we're actually looking forward to our first tournament this Saturday. So thank you SFR for keeping this great product going.

James Dozier
dba
Nerdvana

[cliffwiggs]

Thanks for the post. I hope other retailers will try as hard as you.

I'm about 6 hours away, but I plan on driving through Jackson around early July. If I can convince the wife to make a pit stop I'll stop by and say Hi (if you can PM me the store address)
_________________
Multiplayer Champion Gencon11/Battlefest Champion(tied) GenCon10/World Champion GenCon07/National Champion Origins05/Intermediate Champion GenCon02/Novice Champion Origins99

[cliffwiggs]