A few weeks ago, we exhibited at Emerald City Comicon. Typically when we attend conventions, we try to create some spectacle that captures peopleβs attention and sells games. Like the time we brought a marching band to PAX Australia.
At ECCC, we set up a βPay What You Wantβ booth and encouraged people to give us any amount of money in exchange for our games. We put games on a table, set up some signs, stood off to the side, and waited to see what would happen.
We brought 2000 games. Before the convention began, we took bets on what would happen:
Tom thought weβd sell out in a few hours.
Alex thought weβd run out on the of the second day of the con.
Trin thought that we would not run out of games because we are no longer cool or relevant.
Jenn got a fever and didnβt know what was happening.
We were all wrong.Β
The doors opened, and attendees swarmed the booth. Within five minutes attendees realized they could just take games and walk away. A small group grabbed armfuls of free games and left, but most people paid something. Within an hour, the booth looked like this:
We ran out of games in 51 minutes.and made $8042.48, or 18.7% of the gamesβ retail value. In other words, we lost $685.44 per minute.
Attendees put lots of other stuff in the payment box too.
Some things you put in our box:
Five Canadian Dollars ($3.72 USD)
Ten Euros ($10.66 USD)
Eighty Philippine Pesos ($1.59 USD)
One Chinese Yuan ($0.14 USD)
One Cubone Pokemon Card, XY Breakthrough (Avg price - $0.68 USD)
One Magic: The Gathering Eternal Masters booster pack wrapperΒ (No Value)
One handwritten βAny Pizza Freeβ and βTwisted Flicks + KPCβ Coupon from a Papa Murphyβs in Kirkland, WA (Estimated Value $25.00 USD)
One $1 Bill folded into a bowtie ($1.00 USD)
One βFeelTheBurn.orgβ $1 bill. ($1.00 USD)
Two halves of a $1 bill ($1.00 USD )
Once we sold out, we had to figure out what to do with our booth space.Β
On Saturday, we gave our space to artists who werenβt able to get a table at the con. People showed up to exhibitΒ cosplay horns, board games, recycled journals, and comic art.
On the last day of the con, we set up a station for mailing letters to representatives.
We provided pens, paper, postage, envelopes, writing tips, and the address of every US Senator.Β
Over 200 letters were written by con attendees, including the most bad ass Imperator Furiosa cosplayer weβve ever seen.
Weβre still waiting on Immortan Trumpβs response.
cards against humanity is run by the pure force of chaos I stg. I like what they did with their booth after tho
The definition of chaotic good
