WizKids is having a Dice Masters game event, if stores opt in. Is there even a demand for this? Dice Masters is so cheap, having events for it is rarely worth it for a store. We have been selected by WizKids as being able to participate in a new promotion for Dice Masters, "Rainbow Draft." Basically there is a purchase requirement to participate of four gravity feed boxes for the store.
RAINBOW DRAFT WEEKEND
To receive one each of the Prize Kits Customers will need to purchase 4 Gravity feeds from the list below to get 1 each of the Marvel and DC Prize kits.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Dice Masters: Series One 90 Ct. Gravity Feed
- DC Dice Masters - Justice League 90ct. Gravity Feed
- Marvel Dice Masters: The Uncanny X-Men Dice-Building Game 90
- Dungeons and Dragons Dice Masters: 90 Count Gravity Feed Display
* These can be mixed and matched
I will not lie; I am having flashbacks to last year's WizKids HeroClix Con In Your Store Program (is the prize support for this actually in the USA as of this announcement this time at least?). The cost doesn't make it worth it. Let me make up some numbers and say the counter tops only cost a store roughly $35 dollars a box. Take that times four and I have just spent $140 on the counter tops. Say prize support is $20. A store has to spend $160 just to hold this event on product alone. And if that is all a store orders that means no free shipping. Dice Masters packs only cost 99 cents retail. So 12 packs per person for this "Rainbow Draft" is $11.88 per person. A store would have to have 14 players show to make any profit. And even at 14 players that would be $6.32 in "profit." WizKids is saying 16 players max oddly enough. That would be 190.08 in sales. $30.08 profit. Not counting utilities, employees, or anything else. That is a complete waste of a store's time.
Getting 16 Dice Masters players for two events? That is a long shot. Good luck getting 10 for one event. Dice Masters popularity has dropped this year.
Another option would be charging an entry fee to play. The players are not going to like that. The reason Dice Masters was a hit is because people like spending just 99 cents on something that could be based on a character they like and/or a card that is worth twenty times or more than what they paid for the pack it came in.
What happens if just six people show up? Charge them $30 each to play Dice Masters? That's not going to fly.
Having an inventory reduction program on the backs of small businesses again to see if they will be foolish enough to go along with it doesn't make me want to support WizKids. After WizKids' hear-no-evil, see-no-evil over the issues that their "Con In Your Store Program" had last year, what business wants to see if they can go through that again for little to no gain or even a loss?
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
