Hoodrats: Need Opinions

Folks, I need some advice.

I've got Hoodrats down to the wire at this point and it's nearly a finished project. The problem I face is that for me to produce 10 games, it's $45.00 per game (plus 5$ if I have the stickers, money, and book printed outside my office) or $43.00 per game for 25.

I refuse to Kickstart it, primarily because I'm 100% sure it wouldn't fund. I could have Wingo Games print it for much less, but I'd need 1,000 copies. I don't have ambitions of selling this for any profit, and I don't have any ambitions for selling more than 100 copies (let's call it the Cave Evil philosophy).

So, what to do? I can't cut any of the components out at this point. The game includes:

4 page (8.5x11 cut in half) rules
4 Meeples
32 "Roly" pawns
18x18 (or 17x22) board
Box (face wrapped - sides and top printed, bare back)
6x D8
3x D6 (indented blanks that stickers go onto)
100 "play money" bills


...and here's the hard part...

I can use...

77 1.25" chits (good quality)
144 5/8" chits (shit quality)
100 wooden discs with stickers on each side (great quality)
100 wooden 20mm squares with stickers on each side (best quality)
100 plastic "Winks", 3/4" with stickers on each side (decent quality)


The 77 chits are $9.49 cost, the 144 chits are $5.99 cost, the discs are $8.00 cost, and the squares are $9.00 cost. If I go with winks, the cost is right around $6.50, but they are really thin and hard to grab.

...and the cards...

36 3.5"x3.5" Square cards (best quality)
36 Poker cards (good quality)

The difference in price is literally 2$, and the square cards are WAY better for this game.


What do I do? Is 55$ shipped a good, do-able price when the components are great? Is 48$ shipped more viable, despite having far worse components?

This seems like the kind of problem that Kickstarter is made to solve though; I realize putting a campaign together is a project in itself, but if your funding level was the bare minimum to produce 10 copies with the lowest quality components, then as more people pledge, better component quality unlocks.

Hotseat is right, Pete. It's probably a pain in the ass, but it's doable. What's Wingo's cost? Figure that out and make that the goal. Get copies out for review and make magic.

Copies for review LMAO! I'm sure that Tom Vasel would provide me an unbiased opinion. Shit, I'm banned from BGG posts, so literally there is no way I could go out and market it.

Not looking to sell a lot of copies, I just want it to be viable for someone who wants it. If I ever did a KS, I'd be moving every dollar of profit to the Boys and Girls Club of Cincinnati to try to stop Hoodrats from becoming reality...again.

Perhaps you should court some of the Juggalo websites to market it.

Yeah, Carmen can help.