I attended the 1999 Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) Convention in Las Vegas last week. Doing so offered an eye-opening view of this strange, little and highly dispersed gaming industry. I'm sure you'll be equally intrigued by the dynamics of this meeting and the industry itself.

BACKGROUND GAMA is an trade group organized about 15 years ago to further the interests of the hobby gaming industry -- the manufacturers, distributors and retailers of non-mass market games. It owns the Origins convention, though it leases Origins out to another organization that actually runs it. GAMA currently has roughly 400 members, a fraction of those eligible. Its membership, judging from attendance at this convention, is overwhelmingly male, mid-life, and an older version of the gamer stereotype seen at conventions. Although this convention was held at a casino in Las Vegas, it is evidently not the partying crowd.

WHO ATTENDED The 4-ton gorilla of the industry, Wizards of the Coast, was present in the form of two key managers and a sizable support staff. About 80 other manufacturers of varying sizes, varying from FASA's 3 product managers, to a one-person company trying to sell his one board game (called "Infection"; sound inviting?). Six distributors displayed booths including the Big 4.

Wargame company's -- or "historicals" as they are called here -- were there in respectable numbers. Decision Games, Avalanche Press, QED, Columbia Games, Clash of Arms. Mayfair also attended. All totaled, 741 people attended. Of these, 88 manufacturers, 39 distributors, and 158 retailers (including yours truly) were represented.

CONVENTION DYNAMICS The driving force behind this annual convention is, above all else, the need for manufacturers to gain the focused attention of a critical mass of retailers. Because the industry is so decentralized, and otherwise getting a retailer's attention so problematic, the manufacturers as a group seemed to place a great deal of importance on this gathering. In fact, the larger manufacturers footed the bill for much of the food (and all of the beer) throughout the convention.

This year's convention was regarded as well-attended. And the retailers were judged to be in a positive mood by manufacturers also in a rather positive mood. This was in stark contrast to the 1998 convention held in Miami where only a few dozen retailers showed, and the mood was dour.

Retailers, for their part, get a chance to hear about the larger companies' plans for the next year. In the case of Wizards of the Coast (i.e. Magic & Pokeman), this was clearly very important to this crowd. Too, retailers got a chance to meet with distributors they haven't used before and to find out about such unknown gems as the "Infection" game mentioned above.

For example, I spent considerable time at the Decision Games booth talking with Callie Cummins. She had proofs of the counter sheets for most of the next year's S&T issue games PLUS those for the upcoming War in Europe 2nd edition (ready for the price? $250 list) and Totaler Krieg (Krieg 2nd) (ready again? $80 list).

I also had my first opportunity to meet Ed Wimble of Clash of Arms, allowing us to begin negotiations that may lead to Fine Games being able to again offer the full range of CofA products. I also got an earful concerning his version of the Clash of Arms libel suit against Jim Sandufer of Boulder Games. (This case was ultimately dismissed a short time ago; you'll have to find the bloody details elsewhere.)

POLITICS Since this was my fist visit, I came with naive but open eyes. And when the retailers gathered for their divisional meeting, the politics of the situation became pretty plain. And having devoted years to this peculiar little industry, its also pretty fascinating.

In a nutshell, here's the scoop. Remember the three categories of members: manufacturers, wholesalers and retails.

Manufacturers are all to keen on ignoring anything that diverts retailers'attention from simply seeing the manufacturers' goods. Word to the retail division's officers was that the main showroom was the reason for the show. Thus there was no dedicated demo room, and demos took place *only* after hours.

The distributors as a group, including the many who did not attend, aresaid to be between a rock and a hard place. They are terrified of each other and so don't cooperate. They are even more terrified of the prospect that Wizards of the Coast will someday bypass them by selling directly to retailers (or opening their own retail stores as they've done in Seattle).

This was the nightmare of distributors, as many are in weakened financial condition. But it also terrifies most of the manufacturers, and all of the smaller ones, as without access to a nationwide distribution system, those companies will themselves lose access to the retail market. Thus, Wizards of the Coast, in the worst case, could bring about the total collapse of the hobby industry in a very short time were it to withdraw from distributors.

ISSUES AT THE CONVENTION One recurring theme at this GAMA convention was customer service at the distributor level. Retails complained about poor "fill" rates from distributors. Manufacturers complained that (1) distributors have all but abandoned "back stock" in favor of very recent or new product, and (2) that distributors propagate misinformation about product status.

This came to head during a moderated panel discussion at breakfast on the last day of the convention. A bigwig at Alliance had to respond to these complaints rather eloquently voiced by Steve Jackson (in person) and the senior representative from Wizards of the coast. Since Alliance is perhaps the worst in all respects in this area, this was *fun* to watch. And they seem to have gotten the hint judging from a talk I had with their western warehouse manager later that day.

Another interesting discussion occurred on the first night of the convention. The senior man from Wizards described how they set production targets this way (in answer to ongoing shortages of Pokeman):

We get marketing, brand management, finance, operations, and production in a room and forecast demand [based on our market research] for two years out. We then set production so that the secondary market's prices match list until the product goes out of production....

Immediately afterward, Steve Jackson jumped to his feet with his odd laugh. He posed this contrasting methodology most manufacturers use in this industry:

I ask my finance & operations guys to come into my office and ask them, "Is there any reason not to print 5,000 copies of this sucker [new game]? Most often, we just print 5,000 copies.

And that, in its simplest form, is this industry at its two extremes.

PROBLEM SOLVING What was clearly lacking in GAMA (at least within the retail division I was privy to) were procedural and problem solving skills. Since this is an entirely volunteer organization which meets twice a year, its members don't have the opportunity to interact on an ongoing basis or to work cooperatively towards a goal requiring group effort.

Thus, we saw an odd roll call that took a precious 40 minutes but served no real purpose. And we saw more than a little whining that could have been transformed into problem identification and goal setting for a problem solving group. But it just remained as whining.

All agreed, for instance, that getting accurate information from manufacturers (thru distributors) was important but too often did not happen. Since all 3 tiers ultimately have the similar goals, there is plenty of opportunity for real, positive change. Instead, retailers whined about misinformation for a few days then went back to business as usual. So the same complaints will be heard next year.