Category Archives: Kickstarter News

Final Kickstarter Update, and A Thank You to all backers!

Thank you all for your support!

Well, we didn’t quite make it. Still, this has been a very positive experience for all of us at Move Rate 20. We’ve learned so much about the process. and gotten some great feedback. And to have acquired over 100 backers for our first project tells us that we’re not far off. So, THANK YOU so much to all our supporters, everyone who backed the project, and took the time to like & share our posts, we really appreciate it! Now we’re going to take a little time, apply everything we’ve learned, retool things a bit, then come back with a new & improved campaign later this year. We hope we can count on you all again when that happens, but regardless, thank you all again for everything. We’ll be posting updates on our progress via the Move Rate 20 website, Facebook pages & Twitter (@MoveRate20). In the meantime, enjoy the weather, and we’ll see you all again later in the year!

Happy Gaming!
Best, The gang at Move Rate 20 Games

Kickstarter crowdfunding

Kickstarter Chronicles; 2nd Weekend Live

So here we are in the thick of a Kickstarter campaign!

So we’re past the initial rush of launch, the wellspring of support from our family and friends and now we’re into the part of the Kickstarter Kickstarter Indie Tabletop card gamescampaign where the real work begins, getting the world to notice “Master of Spies”. We’re looking at some strategically placed ads, reaching out to gaming websites and even doing some “street-team” canvasing of the local gaming and comic stores around the area. And we, of course, appreciate all the work you guys have done by sharing the project and your helping us to get the word out there!

Our deepest thanks,

Steve R, Steve P, Rob & James
The Move Rate 20 Games Team

Ramping up for Kickstarter and February Conventions

I know we’re been quiet here on the Move Rate 20 blog, but between the holidays, gearing up for the next batch of gaming conventions and getting our Kickstarter for Master of Spies set up, there just hasn’t much time to blog, Sorry about that!

Kickstarter!

Anyway, we are planning for our Kickstarter to launch Feb. 29th with a modest goal of $6,000 dollars, you can see the preview here, please comment if you see anything that looks like it could be improved and please be constructive with any comments you make.

Kickstarter project game
Working on the Kickstarter project page.

Setting up the campaign is about what I expected, work-wise; but it can be time consuming to gather up all the info the need as well as set up Backer Levels and Stretch Goal ideas that won’t completely throw off the budget. Another issue is how do you get a frickin’ package to Canada without it costing a fortune? I hope we can come up with some sort of a solution because I don’t want to leave my brothers and sisters to the North out of this.

We’re also in the process of getting review sample together, admittedly we let this slip through the cracks, but I’m busily working on it!

Indie tabletop gaming
Putting the demo deck, rules, chits and contact card together after the big(?) snow storm of 2016.

February Cons & Networking Events!

So here’s a list of where we will be over the month of February to spread the word of our little game and demo it to the public.

Feb. 5th & 6th Captain Con at the Crown Plaza in Warwick, RI
We will be there demoing Master of Spies Friday night 6p to 10p and Saturday from 2p to 6p.

Feb. 9th Board Game Night at 745 Atlantic Ave, Boston, MA
A monthly networking/Boardgame night for professional looking for fun and to connect, Meetup.com info here.

Feb. 19th, 20th & 21st Total Con at the Holiday Inn in Mansfield MA
We will have an expo table set up to demo the game and we’ll be there with our friends from Wyrmwood and Rivendell Books & Games.

We are also hoping to get to a few demos at local gaming stores in over the next several weeks as well.

The FTC Kicks In Kickstarter’s Door To Stop Fraud

And it’s about time.

You want more big government?

Don’t get me wrong, I really don’t want to see the government start to regulate and clamp down on crowdfunding. I’ve personally backed a dozen or so campaigns myself, but there was always that worry, “Am I every really going to see this product?” Fortunately the Kickstarter campaigns I dealt with were on the level and never disappointed me. They did make me wait, but that’s to be expected in the crowdfunding experience. Then you start to hear about these Kickstarter nightmare campaigns. Last year Jyrobike, the auto-balancing bike, launched it’s campaign looking for $100,000 and was quickly funded and exceed its goal, then a month ago I read  a story about the inventor. His company’s board of directors, excited about the new influx of cash , started arguing over where the money should go. The inventor said, “To build the Jyro-Bikes every ordered.” The Board didn’t agree, voted the inventor out and never produced the bikes the backers had ordered. Now there’s two tragedies here, one is that the backers, who gave their money in good faith, never received their promised reward, of course. The other is that the inventor, the guy whose name was on the Kickstarter campaign, has had his reputation destroyed . He’ll never be able to run another crowdfunding campaign again.

Kickstarter and The Doom That Came To Atlantic City

kickstarter-thumbnail

I was told the cautionary tale of “The Doom That Came To Atlantic City” by a friend, and now partner in Move Rate 20 Games, who is familiar with the gaming industry. It’s a tale of how the creators of the game, Lee Moyer and Keith Baker, worked in good faith with a “friend?” who would manage their Kickstarter campaign to get it funded.  The campaign was a success, hitting $100,000 before even the first month, everyone was thrilled. Then slowly the updates from Erik Chevalier grew more and more infrequent. The backers wanted to know what had happened to the $122+K that had been raised and when would they be getting their game? On June 31st, 2013, a little over a year after the initial Kickstarter, Chevalier posted that the game studio had been shuttered and refunds would be forth coming. (You can read most of the posts here on the original Kickstarter page) Obviously the refunds never came and nothing was heard from Chevalier.

Tabletop gamesLuckily, Moyer and Baker were rescued by Cryptozoic Entertainment, who agreed to publish the game and provide the backers with the copy of the game they were promised, all out of their own pocket. These guys are the real heroes of this story.

Finally, Justice?

Judging Cat is Judging YouSo the FTC charged Chevalier with the failure to produce any of the rewards for the backers and never issuing any refunds. They fined him $111,793, however,  it has been suspended due to his current financial situation, ahem…he’s broke. He is also permanently barred from raising money through crowdfunding. So…”yea”…I guess.

What do you think about the FTC getting involved and the punishment they levied against Chevalier? Too soft, too harsh, just right? Leave a comment below and let me know.

-Steve P.