u/ZachSka87

It's my dream to open a board game shop in my community. I'm not there yet, but I have a real plan: start as a mobile/booth/pop-up operation, build inventory and a customer base, then grow into a brick-and-mortar.

Where I'm at right now:

- Business license as a gaming retailer, sales tax license, LLC active

- ~$1.5-2k/month revenue from a related side gig that I'd plow into stock

- Storage space for inventory

- Access to an event venue I can use for play sessions (have to work around their schedule, so I can't post steady hours or list it as a storefront)

The wall I keep hitting: every board game distributor I've contacted requires a full dedicated brick-and-mortar storefront BEFORE they'll open an account. Not "show us a credible plan to get there," not "let's see some traction first." A leased, dedicated, open-for-business storefront.

I am not asking about CCG product. Every distributor seems to think I'm gunning for Pokemon or something but I've been clear I'm not interested in it and I don't want it. I just want to buy a case of Hive, host a board game meetup, teach people to play, and sell them a copy if they want one. That's the entry-level dream.

The math doesn't work. To get a distributor account, I need a storefront. To make a storefront viable, I need distributor pricing. How does anyone break in?

Those of you who've opened a shop: what was your actual path? Did you eat the rent on an empty store while waiting for accounts to open? Are there distributors that work with pre-B&M operations I haven't found yet? Is there a back door I'm missing?

If your goal is to complete the first set through the Kickstarter alone, you can't.

You'll need to buy more at retail later. Worth knowing before you decide which tier to pledge since they're not being up front about this.

The Kickstarter Founders' Edition does not contain the full first set. The complete "Crawling from the Wreckage" set going to retail is reportedly 240 mechanically unique cards, but the KS boxes cover only ~155 of them. Similarly, the Founders' Edition includes 12 bosses, while the full first set has 25. The remaining 13 arrive with a later retail Edition.

This is intentional. Per collaborator responses in the comments, the first set is finished but they're releasing it as a staged sequence of Editions for "narrative reasons," and partly "to drive players to local game stores at retail launch." The only real incentive to Kickstart is exclusive alternate art and card treatments. Do not kickstart expecting to complete the set.