About this project
The Game
Child Beauty Pageant Tycoon is a game (for 3-6 players) that includes 180 individual cards. You and your friends take the role of a mother whose greatest goal in life is to have her children win Beauty Pageants. The first player to win five Beauty Pageant crowns wins the game. There are 4 very different ways to make your Child ready to compete in a Pageant. 1) Spending a night with a Stud to give your child an edge from the very start. 2) Gaining experience by simply competing in Pageants. 3) Training your Child in a special Skill. 4) Buying a special 1-use Item to be used in any Pageant. Read on to learn more!
Each Pageant will have different entry fees and winnings, and they will focus on different stats. When a pageant focuses on a stat, it counts for double towards winning the pageant. For example, let's say Mary Beth has a 'Smarts' score of 3. In the Pageant shown above, she will get to double her smarts score and it will instead give her 6 points toward winning the Pageant! Glitz or Talent stats still count toward winning, but they aren't doubled in this Pageant.
You want to give your child every chance to win. You can train her in a Skill to give her a permanent edge.
Or you can buy a single-use Item that she can use in a Pageant.
You could put all your money toward raising the best Child to win all of the Pageants, but there's a catch: Once a Child has won two Pageants, that Child is retired. You need to make more children! There are two ways to make a Child. 1) There's the old-fashioned way, to make a plain child that will probably do just fine, or 2) you can bid against the other players for a chance to dip into the gene pool and give your child an edge!
When you win a night with a Stud, you'll get to draw as many Gene Pool cards as are shown. You then get to pick one Gene Pool card out of the ones that you drew, and then you'll permanently give your child that edge.
Of course, life is never predictable. Sometimes life events can throw a wrench in your plans. Or you could get an unexpected windfall! And as is typical of life, these events happen at the worst possible time: right before the Pageant. Always have a Plan B!
Remember to use your money wisely. You still have to feed and clothe your children! You can use your winnings or the income from your part-time job. Whatever it takes. If you can't pay for your kids, Child Protective Services will pay you a visit and will take away one of your children! (since the other players will play the part of Child Protective Services, you can be sure they'll take away your best child!)
The Rewards
$5 - Give it a try: I made a prototype version of the game. It works exactly the same as the finished version of the game. You can print it out and see exactly why I hired Len Peralta to do the artwork. Every other level above this will get this reward, too.
$15 - Glitzy Print-n-Play: This is full of Len's brilliant artwork. Like the $5 level, every other reward level above this will get this reward too. You save money by printing it yourself, and you still support this game being made. Thanks!
$40 - Get in on the Ground Floor: This is the full, physical game. 180 cards beautifully illustrated by Len Peralta. I want to reward the people who support this game early by offering a special, lower price. You also get your name in the rulebook as a special thanks!
$50 - The Game: 180 glitzy, beautiful cards individually illustrated by Len Peralta. You also get your name in the rulebook as a special thanks!
$50 - The Game. Plus Stickers! A limited number of backers will get stickers as well as getting the full game. The stickers will have the Child Beauty Pageant Tycoon logo, a picture of a Child, and a picture of a Stud, so you can show everyone your Beauty Pageant dominance.
$75 - The Game. Plus a Hand Sculpted Figurine! A limited number of backers will get a hand-sculpted and hand-painted figurine of a character of their choice from the game. A Child, a Stud, or anything else you can think of.
$90 - Two copies of Child Beauty Pageant Tycoon: You will get two copies of the game, your name in the rulebook as thanks, and stickers!
$150 - Be in the Game: Only a limited number of backers will be able to get this option, so pledge early! Len will insert your cartoon likeness (or anyone else you'd like) into the game. Once the game is funded, we will get a hold of you to retrieve a photo of your choice for Len to draw. Of course, you also get everything else you'd get in the $50 level plus stickers!
$250 - Creative input in the Game: A limited number of backers will get to supply input into the game itself. Work with Matt, the creator, and name an Item, Skill, Child, Stud, Pageant or Event. Once funded, Matt will get a hold of you to decide what you want to see in the game. Of course, you also get everything else you'd get in the $50 level plus stickers!
How I'm Doing It
First thing - I'm not doing this myself. My wife and friends have given me such great support. I'm a huge fan of board games, and I've seen what wonderful things could be made through Kickstarter. After making this game during my free time and seeing how much fun I had playing it with my friends, I decided to take it to the next level.
To mass produce a game like this, I need a company able to pull it off. I've chosen Ad Magic to produce this game. They've been very up-front with their cost estimates and quick with their communications, and their card samples really impressed me.
The Art, as you've likely already read, will be done by the super-talented Len Peralta. You can see tons of the other work that he's done on his personal website, Geek-a-Week, FlipFace, Monster by Mail, and you can follow his twitter stream.
Kicking it Forward
I support the concept of Kicking it Forward. I pledge to put 5% of the finished product's profits into future Kickstarter projects.
Check it out here! http://kickingitforward.org
Risks and challenges
There are always challenges and risks when making something new. In this project, there are three risks: Artwork, Production, and Shipping.
Artwork: The art production has been laid on the lap of illustrator Len Peralta. There are a number of unforeseeable reasons why he might not be able to finish the artwork, or there could be problems that could delay finishing the art assets. Even so, he has consistently created and followed through with numerous projects, on and off of Kickstarter, and each one has been stellar.
Production: The company that I intend to produce the game - Ad Magic - can also have unpredictable production issues. The cost of producing the game could be greater than estimated. The finished games could have a delay in shipping or mistakes in printing. Their samples look beautiful, and they have produced other successful games (like Cards Against Humanity).
Shipping: The produced and finished game will be shipped through Amazon Fulfillment. Like any storage and shipping company, there could be unforeseen shipping cost increases. There could be damage, or shipments could go missing.
If anything unforeseen happens, I will make sure the product gets made and that the rewards get sent to the people. If I need to dig deeper into my own pockets, I will. I want this game to succeed, and I will do anything to make it happen.
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Funding period
- (30 days)