Tag: crowdsourcing

Be sure to visit us at our GoFundMe page too! Click here to go there now!
Hello everyone!

What a busy week and a half it has been! We’ve raised a little over 10% so far which is awesome! I promised the Pixel update soon, and I will get that out tomorrow. However, I wanted to share what has been going on for the past 10 days or so.

We started off with our 3rd annual 24 hour (over 48 hours) game jam that we have done during the Fargo Street Fair. It was a lot of fun, and I was amazed at the 5 projects that presented at the end. If you’d like to see the results of the game jam, be sure to follow the Fargo Game Makers here: Fargo Game Makers on Facebook

This past week has been very busy for the future of Replay Games as well. I am working on proposal that I want to bring to the bank sometime in the next 30 days or so. But, here’s where we really need everyone to help us out. This proposal will be its absolute strongest with as much $$$ behind it as possible. I am literally investing every last penny I can find (under the couch included) to make this business happen. But I NEED YOU to help push it along too!

We’ve received a lot of praise for this idea. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the potential store and what it can do for the community. But, its time to put our money where our mouth is. If you truly want to see this store happen, we need financial support. Good will and faith can only get us so far, which believe me, has been so very much appreciated. But I’m concerned we’ve reached as far as that support can take us. We need to push through this next obstacle and secure the loan now, and that really can only happen with a strong $$$ amount behind us. Help us create the dream store for this community!

This week, I will be attending a conference that is about financing new businesses in North Dakota. I’m really hoping I can glean some new information from this conference, and use it in the proposal. I’ll be sharing more game anniversary stuff tomorrow as well as the Pixel Den information (finally)!

Thank you all who’ve supported us so far! And thank you to all of you future supporters as well!
Be sure to visit us at our GoFundMe page too! Click here to go there now!

Be sure to visit us at our GoFundMe page too! Click here to go there now!

This week got a little behind with the holiday being in the middle of the week. So, we have two massive updates that we will release today and tomorrow. Today we will go over “Buying Games and Trading Games from Customers,” as well as “Renting Games and Leveling Up.” Tomorrow we’ll share more content from the week, and our first week’s progress report!

Buying and Trading Games
One of the most common aspects of a retail game store is purchasing and trading games with its customers. Replay Games looks to do the exact same, however, with it’s purchasing scheme and pricing model we’ve discovered that we can offer more cash or trade in value on most games when compared to our competitors.

Renting and Leveling Up
Replay Games has two different pricing schemes for renting video games, renting per title and a monthly subscription.

Per Title Rentals
Games can be rented for $8 for 7 days, or $4 for 3 days, with a $1 late fee per day. Late fee balance must be paid before renting another title. Customers who rent a game at $8/7 days can also choose to purchase the rented game at a discount of $5, this allows for a trial period that our competitors do not offer.

Monthly Subscription
The monthly subscription is a more cost effective option, especially considering many games may take more than a week to fully experience. For $25 per month, players can rent one game at a time, and exchange them once a day. This is similar to our online competitors, like GameFly or Gamerang, yet without waiting for the shipping time. If the account goes inactive, the daily late fee of $1 will also be applied. Monthly subscribers will also receive coupons and special offers not available to other customers including extra quests in the “Quest Log,” and discounts in the “Pixel Den.”

Rental Loyalty Program “Leveling Up”
As a form of anti-theft, as well as a way for customers to engage with the store further, customers need to “level up” before renting more expensive games. This is to prevent the easy loss of a $200 game to an $8 rental. The customer starts off at Level 1 and can only rent games that are up to $30 in value. As soon as they have spent $60, they “Level Up” to Level 2, which provides access to games of up to $90. The leveling scheme continues like this for every $30 the customer spends. At Level 7 a customer should be able to rent the majority of exceptionally rare games. Customers will also receive bonuses such as a free month trial subscriptions or in store credit when leveling.

There you have it people! Next week we’ll be sharing the anticipated Pixel Den arcade, tournaments, and the quest log! Be sure to check in to stay updated!
Help spread the word!

Be sure to visit us at our GoFundMe page too! Click here to go there now!

Be sure to visit us at our GoFundMe page too! Click here to go there now!

Today is Day #3 of our GoFundMe campaign! And with today’s update we are sharing our selling and rewards strategy!

Again, this is copied right out of our business plan. We are a community supported store, and because of that we believe in transparency. You know what we know.

Selling Games
Replay Games focuses on fair market value for its product. Pricecharting.com is a great tool when it comes to determining the market value for different video game products, and serves as the basis for Replay Games pricing model. Pricecharting.com does the hard work for you by looking at different major online sites like Ebay.com and collects data for every game released. When looking at a price over time, and comparing to different online websites, Pricecharting.com is able to come up three different market values for a game: incomplete (without a case or manual), complete (includes original case and manual), as well as the unopened or “collector’s” price. While Pricecharting provides us with a basis, we do compare our local competitor’s prices when considering out final price. This often means we have a lot more flexibility in what we offer for buying from customers as well as comfortably undercutting our competitors based on the “true” value of the game.

The majority of pricing Replay Games uses will be based on the incomplete price. For used video games, Replay Games uses a simple formula of $2 + 40% profit margin. The $2 is reserved for restoring and processing each used video game. Newly released video games are strictly controlled by the industry, which lock retailers at a 20% profit margin on their product.

Sales Reward Program “Rupee Rewards”
For every $100 the customer spends on video game products, the customer will earn a $5 credit that can be used for anything in the store. There is no expiration on this discount program, and only applies to video game purchases. We know that most of our competitors offer similar discount programs, but often attach expiration dates to those discounts to try and force their customers back into the store in a timely manner. Replay Games doesn’t believe it needs to enact such practices.

In addition to this update, we have more content from the Entries of the Den to share!

15th Anniversary: Jet Set Radio Future by Smilebit

VG OST: Mega Man X

15th Anniversary: Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure by Vicarious Visions

15th Anniversary Games: Jan-March 2002 Honorable Mentions

Help spread the word!

Be sure to visit us at our GoFundMe page too! Click here to go there now!

Be sure to visit us at our GoFundMe page too! Click here to go there now!

We’re live! Today is the first day of our 40+ GoFundMe campaign! To kick things off we want to share with you a major concern we’ve received from people.

“What if we want to write you a check in support of your campaign instead of donating online?”

Great Question! You can email me at cj@replaygames.us and I will send you my address to which you can send a check. Or as there are many of you I see often, we could meet somewhere and discuss this project in more detail.

The really great thing about GoFundMe is that I can add “offline” donations to the goal, so even if you don’t donate through their platform, you can still help us achieve our goal!

Today’s business plan update is “What will the money be used for?”

When I met with the bank, I was greeted with excitement for the project. They love the idea of Replay Games, and think that it is extremely viable. However, the reality is that the bank looks at it from only their perspective of safety. They will only look at the project as a “worst case scenario.”

What does that mean? Well, if I need $150,000 to make this project happen, then I would need to raise as close to $75,000 to get a loan for $75,000.

So, what does that $150,000 get us? The intention is to secure the store, the space, and monthly operating expenses, minus the cost of premium for the loan for the first year. This will allow Replay Games to solely focus on the community. This is a major piece of our plan for a successful first year. Virtually all profits from the first year will be pooled for the 2nd year operating expenses and so on. It is easy to see why this philosophy is so vital to our launch.

So without further ado, here is our budgeted plan for the startup of Replay Games copied directly out of our business plan.

Strategic Budget for Funding Request

Replay Games will use this starting capital for the following purchases, expenditures, and expected expenses:

Schnase’s annual salary………………………$42,000
Building Lease first year………………………$32,556
Starting inventory acquisition…………….$25,000
Video games…………………………………………….$23,500
Console Lock Boxes…………………………………$1,500
Hiring 2x PT employees……………………….$20,000
Furniture & Equipment for Pixel Den….$15,169
TV’s for each station………………………………..$9,466
12x 48” 1080p TV’s…………………………………….$6,000
6x Framemeister for Retro Upscaler………….$2,400
Entertainment frames…………………………………$600
Surge protectors…………………………………………$250
Entertainment shelves for each station……..$120
Coffee Tables for each station……………………$96
Chairs – 48x Poang Ikea Chairs……………..$3,903
Speaker System……………………………………….$1,000
Metal Folding chairs for dining area………$350
3x 8 foot tables………………………………………..$300
Cabling…………………………………………………….$150
Equipment: Other…………………………………$8,175
Extreme POS software and hardware……$3,000
DVD Resurfacer………………………………………$2,000
Store Signage…………………………………………..$1,000
Display tables for merchandise………………$800
Display Fixtures……………………………………….$400
Tables for Fixtures……………………………………$400
Color printer for display merchandise……$475
Locking Drop Box – Rental Returns………..$350
Janitorial & supplies…………………………………$150
“Open” with store hours LED Sign…………..$150
Office supplies………………………………………….$140
Binders for non-display laminates…………..$50
Bins/Tubs for cheap/impulse buys………….$50
3 hole punch……………………………………………..$10
Advertising…………………………………………….$3,000
Insurance……………………………………………….$1,100
Security system……………………………………..$2,000
Cameras……………………………………………………$1,200
Motion Alarm……………………………………………$400
Fire Alarm…………………………………………………$400
Utilities…………………………………………………..$1,000
Internet…………………………………………………….$720
Phone……………………………………………………….$280

Total……………………………………………………….$150,000

As the campaign progresses we’ll share more details for each item purchased. Stay tuned! Let us know of questions or concerns you may have!

Be sure to visit us at our GoFundMe page too! Click here to go there now!