ToyDirectory.com invited me to participate in their Retail Buying Tour, a web meeting between vendors and retailers to go over product lines. I was last in the presentations (9th out of 9), and I stumbled a bit — not having prepared what I would say more than a couple of minutes before. I spoke into a microphone, and retailers would type questions during and after my 4-minute pitch. I uploaded the new video review of The Climbers and several still images of the other games, so they could get a better sense of how our products executed the company vision.
As I started the presentation, I felt it was important to give an identity to Strategic Space. What we do is not terribly original, but the timing and the combination of attributes may be.
We publish family strategy games. That means everybody age 8 and above (and in some cases younger) can find our games fun and challenging. Our games require more thinking and planning than most American-style games where you roll a die and move along a single route and follow the directions on the board or a card. They are not as complex to learn and play as many European-style games, some of which take an hour and/or one or more plays to comprehend. I wanted to create games that a mother could play with her 8-year-old son or daughter, and the mom wouldn’t get bored, and the child wouldn’t get frustrated.
We know people have different amounts of time to play games. Most of our games can be played in 30 to 45 minutes, and they can be shortened to play with younger children or for tighter schedules, lengthened for greater challenges and to fill more time. Every rule book comes with alternate rules for customizing the game to the level you want.
Reviewers and customers have been amazed at the variety and originality of our games. I never thought of those qualities as goals for the company; they just seemed like good business.
Mark Salzwedel
Tags: sales, strategic space, The Climbers