hen Mardi Gras 3000 launched in 2005, we did everything we were told to do. We worked with a big distributor. We bought into marketing packages. We produced a massive print run. We made all the changes that the experts at the distributor told us to make. What we found, however, was that no high-paid sales team could come close to selling the quantities our own dedicated players, writers and staff pulled off every month. We also got very tired of warehouses regularly overstocking and then shipping back damaged returns, the steep 60% discount that the distributor took (that forced us to hike our retail price), and worst of all, their chronic under-stocking and not holding onto products long enough for our event hosts to place and receive their orders.

We faced these challenges with the Alpha Edition and though it sold out, we sold the vast majority of the decks ourselves. The distributor and their sales team cost us in fees more than they made in sales. This was unacceptable and so, with the Beta Edition, we decided to make some changes.

The Beta Edition was produced in smaller quantities (500 decks at a time) so we could store them ourselves. We added back into the game all the features the distributor had told us had "no market." We offered vendors personalized discounts that best worked for them, gave them sixty days to pay, full returnability, even decks on commission, free decks to pad their profit margins, and free displays. We marketed directly through the stores with original music CDs, posters, promotional give-aways, and mini tournaments with cash prizes we supplied. We did not work with a distributor at all.

The Beta Edition sold out in half the time of the Alpha Edition with 45% more total sales.

We're launching our National Edition according to this model for success. Naysayers will critique our choice and some stores will not carry our products because they can't get consolidate their buying through a distributor. We will respond by standing by our Beta Edition track record and continuing to offer stores incredible terms. Though we may be willing to work with a visionary distributor at some point in the future, the partnership would have to benefit everyone… most especially our end-user, the reason we're here, our dedicated players.