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JazzFlight posted:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nostalgixtcg/nostalgix-trading-card-game Up to $510k and 643 backers in the 1.5 hours since you posted. What's the big deal!? That's not even an average of $1000 per backer! 
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Nov 14, 2021 22:37
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It wouldn’t surprise me at all if some of these are thinly veiled money laundering schemes. Doubly so if crypto turds are involved.
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Nov 14, 2021 23:03
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Bottom Liner posted:It wouldn’t surprise me at all if some of these are thinly veiled money laundering schemes. Doubly so if crypto turds are involved. Since no cash is involved I'm not sure how money laundering comes into this. Far simpler explanation is that this is probably just MTG nerds who feel like they could be millionaires right now if only they had held on to their collections trying to relive that possibility. I kind of get it though since I would also be a MTG millionaire right now if I hadn't sold my collection to pay for my student loans.
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Nov 15, 2021 00:00
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Bottom Liner posted:It wouldn’t surprise me at all if some of these are thinly veiled money laundering schemes. Doubly so if crypto turds are involved. Frequent scams and people with ideas with no capability to deliver, sure, but probably not money laundering
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Nov 15, 2021 03:22
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There's gotta be a forum somewhere where the people that buy into these are congregating and talking about them. Otherwise they're too small and too quiet to just be zeitgeist moments. Someone is whale hunting somewhere.
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Nov 15, 2021 03:38
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InternetJunky posted:Since no cash is involved I'm not sure how money laundering comes into this. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the idea goes something like "use money you need to launder to pay into kickstarter, then when the project funds kickstarter sends you a new set of presumably clean funds minus their cut." That's on the project creator end, as for the people buying into it yeah, a lot of it is probably just big bubble speculation and wishful thinking. I guess where the "money laundering" idea falls apart is that these projects do seem to deliver actual "games" of some sort, but given how lovely they all look I'm not sure how much it's costing them.
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Nov 15, 2021 07:36
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Just a Totally Normal Kickstater by people doing Legitimate Business
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Nov 15, 2021 12:55
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Kai Tave posted:Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the idea goes something like "use money you need to launder to pay into kickstarter, then when the project funds kickstarter sends you a new set of presumably clean funds minus their cut." That's on the project creator end, as for the people buying into it yeah, a lot of it is probably just big bubble speculation and wishful thinking. I thought Kickstarter did do some due diligence on funds coming in, though. It's not like you can pledge to a Kickstarter with cash or iTunes credits, right?
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Nov 15, 2021 13:06
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theironjef posted:There's gotta be a forum somewhere where the people that buy into these are congregating and talking about them. Otherwise they're too small and too quiet to just be zeitgeist moments. Someone is whale hunting somewhere. r/MTGFinance is the subreddit for people reselling magic cards and hoarding sealed boxes, but I don't frequent it enough to know if they talk about other card games & kickstarters. It definitely wouldn't surprise me if there's something shady going on, but at the same time, there totally are people out there willing to drop thousands on the gamble that these cards will be worth something in a few years. But, just searching KS for TCG shows several other games with next to no funding, so it's not like "TCG" is just a wild goldmine right now... I did stumble across some guy making a Yu-Gi-Oh knockoff that's surprisingly well funded: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chaosensuming/chaos-ensuming-tcg/description I know this is personal preference, but I would never want to play card games with art that looks like it was drawn with colored pencils. It just reminds me too much of custom Pokemon cards. Edit: looking at that dude's pledges, there's no way he should have $10K with only 42 backers. The highest tier is a 1 slot pledge for $400... There is something fishy going on. Edit2: there are 2 backers that have left comments on both campaigns, "Ghost This" and "Seth H." They're advertising a Discord group that seems to be half personal chat room, and half filled with bots cross-promoting other discords and services. Desfore fucked around with this message at 14:16 on Nov 15, 2021 |
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Nov 15, 2021 13:44
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If it is a laundering scheme theres also an upside of cashing in on any suckers that buy in that aren't part of the scam Might offset a lot of the loss from fees Actually that could even be the scam - generate interest for a worthless product with fake buyers and sell it to the unknowing for a quick buck (this only makes sense if the fees are less than the money made from real buyers though)
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Nov 15, 2021 14:27
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Real product for the suckers, pallets of mostly-empty boxes for the scammier megaholders, then do a quick print run if they can pump the value up enough to make selling the "sealed product" worthwhile?
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Nov 15, 2021 14:30
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brb launching the Give Infinitum Money And He Will Mail You An Envelope KS. Does exactly what it says on the box
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Nov 15, 2021 14:32
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Speaking of poo poo Rock Paper Scissors Deluxe failed to fund https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thedragonstomb/rock-paper-scissors-deluxe-edition/description Oh no What a shame
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Nov 15, 2021 14:33
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Infinitum posted:Speaking of poo poo drat. I'm sad they didn't make it. Dragon's tomb is a top tier shitposter Jarvisi fucked around with this message at 14:40 on Nov 15, 2021 |
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Nov 15, 2021 14:37
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Infinitum posted:Speaking of poo poo
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Nov 15, 2021 14:52
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I could see picking that up as a gag gift for someone, but I would never pledge for that on KS for myself.
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Nov 15, 2021 15:24
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Infinitum posted:brb launching the Give Infinitum Money And He Will Mail You An Envelope KS. Nemesis of Moles already did that!!!
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Nov 15, 2021 15:53
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theironjef posted:There's gotta be a forum somewhere where the people that buy into these are congregating and talking about them. Otherwise they're too small and too quiet to just be zeitgeist moments. Someone is whale hunting somewhere. There's a Nostalgix Patreon where the chief reward is "prototype" cards and merch. (If you're selling thousands of them this way and making $50K a month--and they are--I'd debate the "prototype" bit.) They've been building an audience of speculators for months, clearly. Complete with stuffing misprints into packs so maybe you will be one of the seven to get Golden Lucky Frog holo with an upside-down back! TCGs are investment scams and gambling, and shouldn't be viewed any other way. If you're very lucky, there's a good game involved as a side element, but the whole marketing gimmick is ethically dubious at best and exploits the vulnerable. That's not to say the creators are wholly cynical scammers; they might really believe in what they're doing. But the outcome is identical.
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Nov 15, 2021 16:17
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Alien Rope Burn posted:There's a Nostalgix Patreon where the chief reward is "prototype" cards and merch. (If you're selling thousands of them this way and making $50K a month--and they are--I'd debate the "prototype" bit.) They've been building an audience of speculators for months, clearly. so exactly like crypto
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Nov 15, 2021 16:29
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InternetJunky posted:Since no cash is involved I'm not sure how money laundering comes into this. I'm no expert on money laundering, but I imagine you could use it for this. Give 100 people $100 each, in cash. Have them deposit the $90 to a bank, into their own account. $90 is a fair bit of money, but it probably won't raise alarm at the bank. Then each of those 100 people back your Kickstarter for $90 each. When the campaign finishes, Kickstarter takes their 10% and you're left with $81,000. Spend maybe $1,000 on development of something crappy to have a record of work done for the money you got from the Kickstarter. You're left with $80,000 as legit income.
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Nov 15, 2021 16:33
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LatwPIAT posted:I'm no expert on money laundering, but I imagine you could use it for this. Give 100 people $100 each, in cash. Have them deposit the $90 to a bank, into their own account. $90 is a fair bit of money, but it probably won't raise alarm at the bank. Then each of those 100 people back your Kickstarter for $90 each. When the campaign finishes, Kickstarter takes their 10% and you're left with $81,000. Spend maybe $1,000 on development of something crappy to have a record of work done for the money you got from the Kickstarter. You're left with $80,000 as legit income. 100 x 100 = 10,000
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Nov 15, 2021 16:36
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They said they weren't an expert!
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Nov 15, 2021 16:38
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People aren't free. Large organised networks of people with legit-enough bank accounts are less so.
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Nov 15, 2021 16:38
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theironjef posted:They said they weren't an expert! They convinced a lot of other people it's a good product!
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Nov 15, 2021 16:42
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Infinitum posted:brb launching the Give Infinitum Money And He Will Mail You An Envelope KS. FirstAidKite posted:Nemesis of Moles already did that!!! So did somebody else! potatocubed posted:This sounds absolutely fascinating and has three days left.
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Nov 15, 2021 16:44
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Infinitum posted:Just a Totally Normal Kickstater by people doing Legitimate Business I mean, this product sucks and is probably another lovely TCG grift, but this is pretty much what kickstarters look like now. You put out a bunch of ads about how you're "coming soon to kickstarter" and start a mailing list and whatnot, and then on launch day, a whole bunch of people have already mentally committed to backing you and sign up on day one. Especially if you have any "Early Bird" pledges where you get the same thing as everyone else, but for like a $10 discount if you do it on the first day or two. Then, you can change your entire kickstarter campaign strategy to "funded on day 1" or "funded in 6 hours!" and obviously if you raised that much money, it must be good, right?
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Nov 15, 2021 16:57
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armorer posted:100 x 100 = 10,000 That is very embarrassing. 
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Nov 15, 2021 17:34
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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/corvusbelli/infinity-deathmatch-tag-raid Infinity universe-based boardgame TAGRAID is in its final 48 hours. Probably not super interesting unless you're already an Infinity player but maybe you've been waiting for a game where bipedal mining robots beat the poo poo out of each other and giant monsters.
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Nov 15, 2021 18:11
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 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rollthedicegames/the-dungeon-master-deckMy KS is live, feedback has been great and hitting almost 100 followers before launch felt pretty good.
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Nov 16, 2021 18:07
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Ughhhhh, the Blacklist Games Kickstarters all had a copy-paste style update citing vague delays and everyone feels like it's because the company is out of money... That would be Blacklist Miniatures Series 1&2, Hour of Need, Dire Alliance, plus Contra, Buddy Cop, and the Street Masters reprint. Here's just the update for Blacklist Miniatures Series 1: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blacklistgames/blacklist-miniatures-fantasy-series-1/posts/3362241 Fuuuuuuck, I have a lot tied up in their unfulfilled games so this would be a big blow. JazzFlight fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Nov 17, 2021 |
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Nov 17, 2021 03:03
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JazzFlight posted:Ughhhhh, the Blacklist Games Kickstarters all had a copy-paste style update citing vague delays and everyone feels like it's because the company is out of money... what's going on there? They have had a lot of very successful campaigns but seemingly bad fulfillment? Compounding issues from that?
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Nov 17, 2021 03:08
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Bottom Liner posted:what's going on there? They have had a lot of very successful campaigns but seemingly bad fulfillment? Compounding issues from that? Add in COVID and the shipping cost spike this year and they might have lost enough funds to finish fulfillment. Another problem is that their recent bloodbowl-style campaign Myth & Goal didn't fund, so that cut off a revenue stream and the 3 head guys aren't in the comments answering questions right now while the backers go crazy.
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Nov 17, 2021 03:13
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Bottom Liner posted:
I see Goon project, I back Goon project.
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Nov 17, 2021 03:20
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rydiafan posted:I see Goon project, I back Goon project. thanks (and to the other goon's names I recognize)! Didn't expect to be nearing 50% funded in 9 hours but let's goooo 
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Nov 17, 2021 03:32
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JazzFlight posted:This could be nothing, but it feels like they got backed up in number of unfulfilled campaigns over time and started down the road of using the money from the next one to fund the previous one. Woof. Brady just answered tersely in one of the comments and, yeah, I think it looks pretty bad. Given that Adam, Brady, and Scottie, despite being the only listed officers for Blacklist on its webpage, no longer have Blacklist mentioned on their Twitter bios and... yeah, I think the writing is on the wall and they just can't say it one way or the other for legal reasons. Sucks that I've basically thrown money away on the IndieGoGo for the Street Masters expansion, but I imagine it'll drive some of their most loyal fans absolutely nuts if they backed 3 or 4 projects in good faith and now won't get any of them...
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Nov 17, 2021 03:32
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Another quick creator update on Blacklist from their Blacklist Games account. Man, I'm pulling for them - this situation sucks all around. "@Bob, Adam, Brady, and Scottie are employees of Blacklist Games. Though we all are passionate in the company, attacking them, their personal lives or as already a few people have done and harassed their family is inappropriate. The company is dealing with issues, some monetary and some not, but we are not scamming people as we have produced everything and we painstakingly got them to the warehouses amidst the global shipping crises/covid/brexit and whatever real world challenge we were presented. We're at the final stretch and have already fulfilled to all regions except US and CA and we don't intend to just stop and not deliver them. That makes no sense. Still, this is a very unsatisfactory position we've put you in based on your expectations, and the only real solution is to get the products from the warehouse to backers. We completely understand how this looks for the company's rep but at this point the ONLY thing that matters is getting backers their items. That's it. So whatever we need to do until then, the company as a whole is working on it because that is the priority while we continue to run the company. Once again, Adam, Brady, and Scottie as designers and marketing respectively are at the end of the day, employees with their own lives outside of Blacklist Games. While at work, they dedicate their work/efforts, heart, and souls into the company with us. Any personal attack on them and their family is not ok in any way, no matter how angry you are at not getting your items now or our message, and I ask people who have already gone that route to stop. Once again, our goal is to get you your products in any way, at the shortest amount of time."
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Nov 17, 2021 03:41
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Memnaelar posted:Another quick creator update on Blacklist from their Blacklist Games account. Man, I'm pulling for them - this situation sucks all around. This is like a freakin' Wizard of Oz situation. Even if it's true that they're only designers, they should be on the phone with their company right now because their names are getting dragged through the mud.
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Nov 17, 2021 03:49
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JazzFlight posted:I still don't think anyone other than those 3 guys work at Blacklist Games. Right? No one's listed on the website and I haven't really seen anyone else mentioned or on camera. Nah, there's a guy called Alex Lin if you google-fu deep enough who, I think, is their project manager and probably the unnamed lead of the company. I would bet dollars to donuts he's the one posting for Blacklist right now.
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Nov 17, 2021 03:50
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BTW, another insane TCG just dropped: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/weebs/grand-archive-tcg $527,000 461 backers 45 day (long) campaign I really don't get it. Maybe all these TCGs grab the exact same backers dropping the exact same amounts of money.
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Nov 17, 2021 03:55
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JazzFlight posted:BTW, another insane TCG just dropped: How dare you suggest a company named “Weebs of the Shore” is up to something less than proper EDIT: super bonkers how much you can raise without a rulebook and just one tutorial video. Fate Accomplice fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Nov 17, 2021 |
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Nov 17, 2021 04:00
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