GAMA Trade Show 2008
Part 2: Mike Bennighof and Lys Fulda
By Avalance Press
May 2008

The GAMA Trade Show is an annual convention where game manufacturers can show off their goods to game stores and distributors. Today, Mike Bennighof and Lys Fulda tell their tales.

Trade Show Blues
by Lys Fulda, Vice President

The GAMA Trade Show rolled around again, and it was off to Vegas. Trade show exhibit hall hours were 9 to 6 and, to put it politely, brutal. There is nothing like having to be “ON” for nine hours straight.

The attitude of the show mirrored the country’s at large right now; battered yet resolute and hopeful. Retailers across the board aren’t doing great, but they are still here and not going anywhere, God willing. Whether it’s the housing crisis, layoffs, etc., people are having to be much more responsible with their money and that means being better educated about the decisions they make regarding their finances. Retailers are no different. New stores are better capitalized than ever before and stores that have been around for a while are being cautious in their buying habits. That bodes well for AP, because we are a tried and true product line and they were definitely buying.

We got to see friends from all over: John from Flames of War, Tom the new buyer at Esdevium, and even John from Osprey Publishing. Sadly with the hall hours being so long all you wanted to do afterwards was sit somewhere quietly, alone, staring into a drink that’s a color not found in nature. Yet all the AP staffers — Doug, Mike, Shane and myself — survived. Sometimes that’s all you can ask for. Anything more was a bonus!

Another Adventure in Gaming
by Mike Bennighof, President

Any show that can strike Lys Fulda speechless must be pretty good.

While 2007 was a hard year for Avalanche Press, most of that is what you'd call circumstantial — it either happened only to us, or we brought it on ourselves. Meanwhile, the rest of the American economy began to slip late in 2007 and accelerated into a full-on nosedive in the first quarter of 2008. It's at the annual GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas that we get to see how everyone else is doing.

At the turn of the century I almost died of food poisoning at the GAMA Trade Show, and the years that have followed have sort of been a benchmark of personal recovery and growth. And this was a very good year. Normally Lys insists that she has to arrive before I do, and leave after I'm safely away, and she thinks I've never noticed her protective stance.

I had a great time. The game industry has been through some fearsome months and there have been many changes since April 2007. The major players are obviously hurting and no longer spending as freely on show promotions as they once did. Without those $30,000 sponsor checks, GAMA (our trade organization) felt itself unable to run the show for the normal length and cut back to two days of floor time from three.

We backed the current GAMA leadership because Lys and I felt that after their predecessors' disastrous reign the organization needed to go through a conservative phase. So it's hard to complain when they act in exactly the manner that you wanted, even when it chafes. And nine-hour floor days are very chafing. But when you're the boss you do more meeting than greeting anyway, so it wasn't much of a burden to me, just to my suffering staff. And the meetings went very, very well.

But losing that day did severely cut back on the social opportunities that create or strengthen those vital "old school" connections that have served us so well for so many years. With the staff dinner taking one night, that only left us one dinner opportunity apiece. I dined with Peter Adkison, a long-time friend and the former CEO of Wizards of the Coast. He's moved on to found Bella Sara, my daughter's favorite website, and is once again a force in our industry. I'd never been to a Brazilian steakhouse before; I'll be going again. Unfortunately though, I only got to see many of my friends in the industry in passing.

And most of them are doing quite well. These are hard times for bigger manufacturers, and impossible times for start-ups. For those in the "middle tier" of the game industry (usually defined as low seven figures), established firms are holding their own. Nicole and Chris at Green Ronin are rolling out their licensed role-playing game for George R.R. Martin's wildly popular fantasy series. Jamie and Renae at Margaret Weis Productions have the Battlestar Galactica RPG license, and our good friends at Fantasy Flight have the boardgame portion. Their video display drove my staff crazy, it's true, but they've always been stout allies of our company. When your friends prosper, you prosper.

Games are still sold on what's called the "three-tier system" (not to be confused with lower/middle/upper tier manufacturers; in this industry, we apparently save our creativity for the games). Manufacturers sell games to distributors, who sell them to retailers, who sell them to consumers. The firestorm of the past year or two appears to have consumed the unhealthy retailers. We had very good sales, as those who remain are in better financial shape and much more careful in their purchasing. Our established lines appeal to the conservative retailer and as the final speaker at Monday's opening dinner, Lys set the tone for the entire show. Working with her every day, it sometimes takes seeing something like that to realize how very, very lucky we are to have Lys here.

On the distribution tier, major changes are on the way. At least two major new players are in the game, and thanks to Lys we'll be right there on opening day. Among some of the old guard, the fear is palpable: There is new capital and energy in our staid old industry and the current crop can change or die.

That left me feeling better than I ever have, just as Lys fell victim to a rash of allergies. After loading her on a plane Thursday morning, I spent the rest of the day wandering the Strip on my own, exhausted but exhilarated. Venetian living statutes, baby dolphins, blonde cover band singers with great lungs — it was wonderful. This is going to be a great year.

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