Trading card game, redux

[valarltd]

The card game went very well.

I had fifty cards. People acquired them by attending my panels or dropping by the dealer booth. There were a variety of ways to win.

Cards 1 and 2 got a chapbook (15 chances at this)
Cards 1 & 2, one of them a rare design, got a chapbook and spoiler chapbook (5 chances at this)
Cards 1&2, both rare, got both chapbooks and a rubber duck (3 chances at this)
Cards 2,3,4 got a giftbag and the chapbooks (spoiler with a rare 2) (3 chances at this)
Cards 1-5 got a free paperback, the giftbag and the chapbooks (1 chance)
Cards 1-5, with both rares got all the above,plus a flash drive with my backlist (1 chance)


I handed out all the cards by Saturday evening, with instructions to redeem them Sunday. There was much "Yummm!" over the cards.

I had some power players, some casual players and some who just kept the cards as souvenirs. I did not see any thrown away or littering the floors.

I miscalculated on the spoiler chapbooks and came up one short.
My fault.

The game got people talking and talking to each other. They attended panels they might have skipped, talked to people they might not have visited with and generally played. They collected the hands, traded extras around and enjoyed it.

I got 60% of the cards back, which is excellent.

I'm going to call it a raging success.

What to change if I do this for RomantiCon:
100 cards instead of 50.
double check the rules and make sure I have enough prizes.
Use Ellora's covers instead of Nikolai stuff

For GayRomLit:
Include cards in give-away bags for the attendees at my events.

Comments

[saraphina-marie.livejournal.com]

What about Archon? Provided we're going to be allowed to have a table there. (Grrr I am really irritated about that.)

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

After my sales there last year, I'm not going. I'll be in Akron for RomantiCon, catering to an audience who DOESN'T require post-its to shield their delicate eyes from my covers.