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 reflects on the recently completed GAMA Trade Show.

I'm driving back from the Gama Trade Show 2012 and had some thoughts about the show but wanted to digress back to Route 66 and the businesses along it for a bit, specifically Whiting Bros.

Most of you reading this have never heard of Whiting Bros.  I know I never did until I got interested in the history of Route 66 and started wondering about the faded yellow and red signs and dilapidated buildings featuring the company's name that still stand at a number of off ramps and side roads, so I did a bit of digging into the company's history.

Whiting Bros. started back in 1917 and grew into a chain of discount gas stations and motels.  Yes, even back in 1917, companies looked at discounting as a viable business model. For Whiting Bros. it worked.  The company opened up dozens of stations up and down Route 66 and throughout the southwest, eventually extending from Shamrock, Texas to Barstow California.  However, as other chains moved into the field, offering prices competitive with Whiting Bros., better service and more convenient locations, the company lost ground, closing station after station, selling off many and leaving others abandoned by the roadside.  Now, out of all those stations, only one remains, open part time in Moriarty, Arizona and that one more as a museum piece more than an actual operating station.

The point is, if you are going to compete on price, you better be very good at it (as Walmart is), because price is, as Whiting Bros. found, the easiest thing to compete on.  If someone can come into your market, match your prices and do a better job of servicing your customers, you are in trouble.

Now back to GTS 2012.  One interesting (and welcome) trend I noticed in the manufacturer presentations was a movement of production and printing back to the United States.  Although the big thing Catalyst promoted at their session was the upcoming (finally) release of their Leviathan airship combat game, the big takeaway I got from the presentation was the mention that all of Catalyst's color printing has moved back to the United States.

Wizards of the Coast announced Kaijudo, which is a relauch of their Duelmasters CCG from years ago.  This time, they believe they have the marketing for the product right.  Of course, they still do have to answer for the C-23 trading card game.  It will compete for attention with Topps' new Monsuno CCG, also based on an animated series (as they all seem to be anymore).

It's amazing how much Games Workshop can't answer about upcoming releases.  Either it is company policy to answer "I'm not sure" about any upcoming releases and events or the company really doesn't give its American sales reps any information about upcoming releases until the month before they come out.  I couldn't even find out about this year's 'ard Boyz schedule.

Once again, board and family games dominated the exhibit hall, indicating the shift towards this type of game in the industry, though there were a few new miniatures companies there, along with industry stalwart Rafm.  One that I think will do really well, given the increased interest in roller derby in the country, was a roller derby game from Impact Minatures.  Projected MSRP is $40 or $80 for the limited edition set with two sculpted teams included.

Another new game attracting lots of attention was Tentacle Bento from Soda Pop Miniatures.  It's a trick taking card game built around the theme of monsters capturing Japanese school girls.  The price point is good, around $20, the art is PG or so I was told (the copy company had was using mock-ups) and people really enjoyed playing it but much of the flavor text on the card was too suggestive for me to feel comfortable committing to stock it right now.

Paraphrasing Dave Wallace from The Fantasy Shop, while there were no "Wow" items this year, such as  last year's IronDice, the professionalism of both display and quality of products has improved across the board, setting a higher standard for companies at future GTS events.

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.