A few weeks ago, we exhibited at Emerald City Comicon. Typically when we attend conventions, we try to create some spectacle that captures peopleโs attention and sells games. Like the time we brought a marching band to PAX Australia.
At ECCC, we set up a โPay What You Wantโ 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 weโd sell out in a few hours.
Alex thought weโd 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 didnโt know what was happening.
We were all wrong.ย
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 gamesโ 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 wrapperย (No Value)
One handwritten โAny Pizza Freeโ and โTwisted Flicks + KPCโ Coupon from a Papa Murphyโs in Kirkland, WA (Estimated Value $25.00 USD)
One $1 Bill folded into a bowtie ($1.00 USD)
One โFeelTheBurn.orgโ $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.ย
On Saturday, we gave our space to artists who werenโt able to get a table at the con. People showed up to exhibitย 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.ย
Over 200 letters were written by con attendees, including the most bad ass Imperator Furiosa cosplayer weโve ever seen.
Weโre still waiting on Immortan Trumpโs 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
