Parks and Rec's "Cones of Dunshire" Game Going Retail

[Fanghawk]

Parks and Rec's "Cones of Dunshire" Game Going Retail

The insanely convoluted Cones of Dunshire game from NBC's Parks and Recreation will land on store shelves, courtesy of Mayfair Games.

It's not so unusual to see fictional board games from TV shows become real; <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/135700-Enthusiast-Recreates-Cyvasse-Board-Game-from-Game-of-Thrones>the fan-made Cyvasse board from Game of Thrones is a great example. Now the same thing is happening to Parks and Recreation's Cones of Dunshire, an explicit parody of modern tabletop games. After <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/135759-Play-The-Cones-of-Dunshire-at-Gen-Con-Charity-Event>a giant version of Dunshire was played on the GenCon floor (that's meant literally, it wouldn't fit on a table), Mayfair Games is looking to bring the game to stores with regular and deluxe editions.

On Parks and Recreation, Cones of Dunshire is the creation of Adam Scott's character, Ben Wyatt. The fictional game is <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/135759-Play-The-Cones-of-Dunshire-at-Gen-Con-Charity-Event>obsessively detailed, burying the simple goal of gathering four cones under confusing sub-objectives, varied character classes, and other quirky gameplay mechanics. In real-life however, the game was actually developed with Mayfair; NBC approached the tabletop publisher about creating this insanely complicated game for an episode, and now it's taken on a life of its own.

According to Mayfair vice president of sales and marketing Bob Carty, the company is considering crowdfunding a "super-deluxe" version of the game before releasing a regular edition. "We're doing everything backwards," he said, which I have to admit, is very much in spirit with the game. When it's ready, the deluxe version of Cones of Dunshire should cost $100 while the regular version will be $60 or $70. The crowdfunding campaign is also expected to have a charitable component.

There's no word on a release date just yet, but given how quickly Cones of Dunshire is moving along, we'll likely see that Kickstarter campaign fairly soon. Parks and Recreation, meanwhile, begins its final season this fall, and Cones is expected to be a part of it.

Source: <a href=http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237332>Entrepreneur

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[Thunderous Cacophony]

This seems like something that RPG nerds will read the rules of and laugh at, but not actually buy. Unless it turns out to actually be a REALLY good game (and by it's nature it's not) there's going to be piles of cones filling up a warehouse somewhere.

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

Ugh. You're a professional game company with the blessings of a television network. Why the fuck does this need to be crowdfunded?

I'd totally buy a Cones of Dunshire game, my wife and I love board games and Parks and Rec, but I gotta cringe at the crowdfunding bit. It's not like these guys are working out of a garage. They don't need to kickstart this.

I'm with Thunder on this one. My best guess is that they are using crowdfunding to determine if there's even a large audience for the game. The game would likely only be bought by Parks viewers as a gag gift for other viewers. Not a big profit margin there.

This seems like something that RPG nerds will read the rules of and laugh at, but not actually buy.

 

[JonB]

Ugh. You're a professional game company with the blessings of a television network. Why the fuck does this need to be crowdfunded?

I'd totally buy a Cones of Dunshire game, my wife and I love board games and Parks and Rec, but I gotta cringe at the crowdfunding bit. It's not like these guys are working out of a garage. They don't need to kickstart this.

I'm with Thunder on this one. My best guess is that they are using crowdfunding to determine if there's even a large audience for the game. The game would likely only be bought by Parks viewers as a gag gift for other viewers. Not a big profit margin there.

This seems like something that RPG nerds will read the rules of and laugh at, but not actually buy.

I guess it just depends on how much fun the game is to play. Still it feels like they just want to make a profit from something without the financial risk of actually making it. I guess if people are willing to donate that's their prerogative, but it just seems not right to me.

I actually completely agree. Mayfair is one of the US's largest tabletop games companies with the world's most profitable board game brand (Catan) in their roster. They don't need Kickstarter.

 

[Fanghawk]

Ugh. You're a professional game company with the blessings of a television network. Why the fuck does this need to be crowdfunded?

I actually completely agree. Mayfair is one of the US's largest tabletop games companies with the world's most profitable board game brand (Catan) in their roster. They don't need Kickstarter.

Playing Devil's Advocate, the crowdfunding approach could simply be because Mayfair is proposing a convoluted-at-best, broken-at-worst product. Outside of the Parks and Rec fanbase this could backfire horribly, so checking with Kickstarter for demand might be a safer move.

Another detail (neglected in my own story) is that any crowdfunding project would be tied to a charity. So there's that.

 

[CarlsonAndPeeters]

DIBS ON LEDGERMAN!

OT, I probably wouldn't actually play this, despite being a both a board game and a Parks and Rec fan. But its funny that they're making it, so I'll give them a thumbs up and hope people enjoy it.

 

[Strain42]

Parks and Recreation: One of my all time favorite TV Shows

Table Top Gaming: One of my all time favorite hobbies.

You don't need to be a Ledgerman to figure out how much of a score this is for me.

Though I will say, I will be VERY disappointed if the version we buy doesn't come with that sweet hat.