Rolling for Initiative is a weekly column by Scott Thorne, PhD, owner of Castle Perilous Games & Books in Carbondale, Illinois and instructor in marketing at Southeast Missouri State University.  This week, Thorne looks at what’s selling in game stores for the holidays.
 
It is a quiet night here at the store after closing down for the day.  Sales have been OK but running a bit lighter than last year.  It has been interesting to see what has sold in the run up so far this Christmas season, both here and talking with other stores.
 
So far, it's boardgames, boardgames, and more boardgames; oh and a few card games thrown in for good measure.  Roleplaying games and TCGs have fallen by the wayside, as have miniature games.  Looks like the runaway best seller so far has been the Ogre Designer Edition from Steve Jackson, which hit the shelves about a week or so ago for $100 MSRP, now selling for anywhere from $150 to $200, with most stores that received it reporting an immediate sellout, while surprisingly a few have said they sold only one or none.
 
Happily Boss Monster from Brotherwise Games came back into stock at most distributors, and stores in general have reported doing well with it too.  Along with Cards Against Humanity for those willing to deal with the hassle of dealing with the company.  Jet Pack Unicorn from Wyrd Miniatures is another game that a number of stores say has done well for them, though an equal number of stores indicate no movement of it.
 
Unlike last year, there is no mention of high demand for either Pandemic or Ticket to Ride, possibly because both have had better in-stocks this year.  Interestingly, possibly as the result of its appearance on TableTop, the game most stores wish they had that they don't have is Betrayal at House on the Hill, which according to the last email I received from Wizards of the Coast is out of print with no plans for a reprinting of the game in the immediate future, at least certainly not in time to get it on the shelves for Christmas.  Online sellers offering the game new want anywhere from $130 to over $400.  It's a good game but that good?
 
Other games doing well:  Evil Baby Orphanage (another Wyrd game), Munchkin (a perennial) and Elder Sign (again, maybe a tribute to the power of TableTop).  Noticeably absent, as noted earlier, any role playing or trading card games.  We still sell RPGs and TCGs, but nowhere near the same level as boardgames at this time of year.
 
Why is that?  My guess is, despite all the exposure on shows like The Big Bang Theory and Community, most consumers still view TCGs and RPGS as outlier products.  Boardgames are much more relatable to them than are people sitting around a table (or tablet) rolling dice (either real or digital) or playing a game from a deck of cards that they build themselves.
 
Customers looking to buy Christmas presents for their gaming friends and relatives can relate to boardgames. They have likely played Monopoly or Yahtzee, so Doctor Who Yahtzee or Family Guy Yahtzee makes sense, as do Starcraft Risk or The Walking Dead Monopoly.
 
Customers are always more comfortable when they can operate within a frame of reference with which they are already familiar.  Boardgames offer that frame of reference to the average consumer looking for gifts, hence the sales bump.  After Christmas comes the sales lift in RPGs and TCGs as lucky recipients spend their gift cards and certificates.
 
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.