This’ll be a quick one. It’s a little dry, but if you’re in any way connected to publishing games, it’ll hopefully answer a pretty important question about whether making Disco Candybar is actually feasible.

The creative process that goes into making a game can be fascinating, especially for the people designing the game. It’s easy to build up a pie-in-the-sky idea of what you want to deliver, and how it’ll all look when it’s done and (hopefully) on store shelves. I’ve been in the industry long enough to have gotten tastes of many of the other things that go into getting a game made, so I don’t want to overlook those in the midst of chasing creative trains of thought.

One really big piece of the picture is MSRP goals and pricing. To start, you need to have a target goal for what the game will cost consumers. From there, you need to work backwards to make sure that all the stuff that goes in the box can be put there at the right production/manufacturing costs. There’s also shipping, marketing, warehousing/logistics, and a bunch of other things that factor in, but to get to the heart of figuring out the real viability of a game’s goal price tag, Costing is the first step.

I’m lucky to have friends who do a whole bunch of different things in the board game industry. One of those things my friends are experienced with is estimating the price of a project. This week I got to sit down with one of them and figure out, line by line, part by part, what making Disco Candybar would take financially.

We started with the MSRP goal I had in mind. I’ve talked here before about what more elaborate and expansive adventure games can cost, and I want my game to come in at a fraction of those prices. If a super-massive game like Frosthaven commands a $200-ish price tag, or the less loaded Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth weighs in around $100, I wanted my game to be a far less intimidating $50-60 dollars. Now, that may sound a little steep to some of you for a family-weight “intro to adventure games” product, but most people deep into the hobby will probably tell you, once they hear the scope of it all, that $50-60 is the kind of price they’d expect.

And frankly, if the game can give you and your kids/friends group even a serious weekend’s enjoyment, you’ve paid a lot less than you would have for a couple of trips to the movies. That’s board game value justification right there.

From that $50-60 goal (let’s just call it $55 for simplicity), we moved on to the parts.

“What’s in this box?”

I’m sure you’re wondering that at this point too.

“Well, there’s a lot of cards.”

“How many?”

“I don’t know exactly yet. A bunch. Clank Legacy has like 500, I think this needs less than that. Maybe 200+?”

“Okay. Next. Bags. Four of those?”

“Five. Can’t forget the one for the enemies.”

“Got it. Ways to track health in combat?”

“I’m open to suggestions. I’ve used 20-sided dice in the rough physical prototype, but I don’t like them for various reasons.”

“Agreed. Let’s look at another option. How about dials?”

“Are they affordable?”

“Fairly.”

“Sold. Next up, <component redacted>.”

“How many? Custom?”

“Like (quick math)… 50-ish? Nothing custom.”

“Probably want an actual box for it all too.”

“Yup.”

We ran through all of this for a few more minutes, diving into other parts, practical considerations, and options as we went. We looked at other comparable existing components for reference. We considered the cost of illustrations and writing. In the end, we had a pretty rough estimate.

“I mean, it’s all fast math, but it looks like it might cost seven to eight bucks to make.”

Generally speaking, the MSRP of a board game has to be at least five times the cost of goods and manufacturing to turn a profit. Again, rough, but for the purposes of this exercise, close enough.

“So, if this number is close enough, it could still sell for <$55>?”

“Yeah, that sounds attainable.”

Now, these numbers can flex from publisher to publisher, depending on their relationships with various manufacturers, but for what I’m trying to figure out — is Disco Candybar a financial pipe dream — the numbers give me a LOT of hope.

Hey, publishers. If you’re reading this and you’re curious about the game, you should probably drop me a line. Let’s figure some stuff out.

---