I see the publisher is selling Hammer Of The Scots for 0.99 cents. You keep it for I think a month or so and either return it or they auto-charge you the full retail to keep it. Do people think this is a good idea? Do you think it will catch on?

Mad Dog wrote:


Wow, if that's true, Columbia really is trying to milk this game to death. They've published 3 versions so far with mostly cosmetic changes and are now trying to induce/sucker people into buying direct [with its significantly higher margins than dealing with distributors] with this "Columbia Record Club" approach. This is about as bad as record companies re-releasing "remastered" versions of an album every 3 years to try to get you to keep buying the same shit over and over again.

I guess it's better than the "blind booster" approach they've gone to with Wizard Kings expansions, but it kind of smacks of a company that has run out of ideas for new games to publish...

But to your original question, not really. I don't see what the value is beyond doubling the workload of your sales processing staff. And what happens to the stickered and played copies that get returned? Someone going to get a "new in shrink" version from CG only to find it's already stickered [possibly a plus] and has a big, greasy pizza stain on the map [not exactly a bonus]?

I presume all of this is banking on people being too lazy to return the game within the trial period. (Again, see RCA/Columbia Record Club)

They could potentially lose a lot this way too. Get a prepaid visa or mastercard, do the $.99 and blam, you got a game for 99 cents.

QPCloudy wrote:


Yea, that crossed my mind too. This just seems like a bad idea all 'round...

Dogmatix wrote:


And in one fell swoop, F:AT has identified two shifty bastards!

SuperflyTNT wrote:


Hell, I still have access to a business mail drop that my name isn't attached to where it could be mailed. I really could steal the game rather easily (1) if I wasn't an adult and (2) I didn't absolutely despise the Columbia A-B-C block games ;)

Oh come now, I would never do such a thing. Scots are hardly worth playing a game about them. ;) lol

Also, no link was provided to the sale page :p

terrible idea. I still have nightmares about columbia records.

Why not go the way of Netflix instead and charge per month and the first month is free or something?

Where is the link to the offer? I checked the Columbia site.

To me, this business model for a game with a lot of blocks just won't work. Shipping the game back and forth, and taking into account lost (or pilfered) pieces, as well as boxes damaged or lost in transit...just too much work in my humble (and professional) opinion.

Dogmatix wrote:


I agree it sounds like a bad idea, but given that Columbia continues to put out the best block games around, including recent critical successes like Julius Ceasar, I think it's unlikely they've really run out of ideas.

I suspect this has more sprung from a desire to make up lost profits during tough economic times.