[Icehouse] Re: off colored pyramids question

[David Artman]

I figured I'd chime in on the rare colored stashes, now that it's sort
 of become a poll.

First, it will clearly be a factor of time to sort versus labor costs.
Thus, there will be an average time to build *either* sort of stash,
 and there will be an average hourly rate paid to those doing the sort.
 Divide one into the other, add in the charge from the manufacturer
 for 15 of these blems, and you've got a "unit cost." Multiply by a
 reasonable profit (say, x133%) and that's the final price, for either
 type of stash.

Now, there's a chance it could be worth more than that, due to
 scarcity. I would let that prove itself in the market, by setting up
 an auction in which the starting price is the unit cost + the auction
 price above. Let the market decide the final price point, not some
 arbitrary value picked based on two data points in the past.

ALL that said... I doubt you'll see more than about $18 from me for
 either type of sort. Reason? I can get two TH or mono stashes for
 that price at my FLGS. For $50, I can get *five full* stashes and
 introduce yet another player to *all* the Icehouse games (well,
 once they get Volcano Caps).
Thus, rather than pad my 12-stash collection (soon to be 13: Rainbow
 TH and then 14: extra mono, for Martian Chess and other "colorless"
 game and then 15: extra clear, to paint internally for a "personal"
 mono stash) with a color that might be confusing or require a lot
 of rule translation (for color-specific games like Martian Coasters
 and Homeworlds), I'd prefer to be able to enable a-whole-nother
 player to play the gamut of games with standard sets of pieces.

Finally, the observations made about using them as either (a) rewards
 for heavy Rabbiting or (b) prizes at tournaments are spot-on, IMO.
 The former can lead to rewarding someone who doesn't value them;
 the latter can lead to the same fault AND to secondary market
 shenanigans. Just auction them, with unit cost as your starting
 price (to avoid incurring any loss) and enjoy whatever profits may
 come.

Of course... you realize that you can *never* release these colors as
 standard, if you do anything to capitalize on their current scarcity.
 That would be a VERY fast way to cause bad blood amongst the buyers,
 who--rightfully--are thinking that they are getting something rare
 and unique and paying commensurately.

My 2¢ (worth about 2.127¢ in today's Nikkei trading!)
David Artman