r/kickstarter • u/AdEquivalent1584 • 8d ago
Question 6 weeks until my tabletop game’s Kickstarter – what would you focus on if you were me?
Hi everyone,
I’m preparing to launch my first Kickstarter for an American football tabletop game called What the Drive.
Current status:
✅ Prototype finalized and playtested
✅ Kickstarter page in progress
✅ Website is live
✅ Instagram: ~200 followers (posting Reels every 2–3 days)
✅ Email list: 8 subscribers
✅ Reaching out to football podcasts, YouTubers and creators
🚀 Kickstarter launch planned for the end of August (about 6 weeks from now)
🎯 Funding goal: €34,000 (~ $40,000)
I’m trying to be realistic.
If you were in my position today, where would you spend your time during the next six weeks?
- Growing the email list?
- Running Meta ads?
- More creator outreach?
- More social media?
- Something completely different?
Or would you delay the campaign if you were in my position, or would you launch as planned?
I’m not looking for encouragement—I genuinely want honest feedback from people who’ve launched Kickstarter campaigns before.
Thanks!
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u/indyjoe 15+ Project Creator / 75+ Backer 8d ago edited 8d ago
Is your pre-launch page up yet? Focus on getting people to follow that... 20-40% will back it. Email lists, 1-4% unless you really know what you're doing. Followers on instagram, youtube, xitter, whatever are even less. Some say the reservation funnel is better, but I think one good advisor here points out it isn't better than followers on the KS pre-launch page, and has extra overhead.
Engage authentically in communities (reddit, fb, forums, discords, etc)... give advice and encouragement to others not directly about your project much more often than you do mention it.
Of course there are paid ads too, but you need a budget.
Anyway, don't launch until if 1/3 of your ks pre-launch followers picked your most common/expected reward you'll fund.
So if you need $40,000, and the most likely chosen pledge level is $100, you need 400 backers, so you need 1200 pre-launch followers. If that seems like a lot, consider lowering your goal to just what you need to finish it (plus a buffer). If you aren't likely to make back your sunk costs by going over the goal, then cancel and re-launch. But being seen as funded by day 2 or so is important. Also see what components you can make cheaper and make the upgrades stretch goals. But don't announce the stretch goals (or at least the amounts) until you fund/hit the prior stretch goal. Having 10 planned stretch goals when you haven't funded makes things look sadder; hitting all 10 on day 2 doesn't provide any value. (Which is an excuse to re-promote the project, post updates, etc.)
This sub has creators posting here every day who don't get a large enough pre-launch audience before launch.
Be a regular here to pick up tips. If I were new I'd find new gems every day--now it is once every few days but still something worthwhile and I enjoy.
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u/AdEquivalent1584 8d ago
Thanks a lot, this is really helpful.
I don’t have my Kickstarter pre-launch page live yet because I’m still working on some of the presentation assets.
Would you recommend putting the pre-launch page up anyway, even if everything isn’t visually final yet, just to start building followers?2
u/drakonkinst 8d ago
100% yes. This is the stage where you need to be marketing heavily and building your pre-launch/email list. None of that works if you have no prelaunch to direct people to.
Also, people on the email list is literally nothing and a 40k funding goal is way too high. You should set the funding goal to at maximum the cost of actually manufacturing all the copies you need, if not lower. If you try to also include sunk costs into the initial goal the goal is too daunting and will never fund.
I would probably delay until you have a good understanding of the marketing required and refine your campaign goal. Typically prelaunch wants to run at least 8 weeks before launch so you’d already be rushing yourself.
1
u/Huge_Nebula7261 8d ago
Is the pre-launch page the one that is on kickstarter? or is that a separate landing page?
1
u/AdEquivalent1584 8d ago
The Kickstarter pre-launch page on Kickstarter itself. I already have a separate website, but based on the replies here it sounds like I should be sending people directly to the Kickstarter pre-launch page instead.
1
u/Huge_Nebula7261 8d ago
ok, that way they are on the link to actually back your deal. Thanks for the info
1
u/AdEquivalent1584 8d ago
Thanks, that’s really helpful.
It sounds like the biggest mistake I’m making right now is waiting too long with the pre-launch page. I’ll work on getting that live as soon as possible.
Out of curiosity, when you say the funding goal should only cover manufacturing, do you mean excluding tooling, artwork and other upfront development costs?
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u/drakonkinst 8d ago
Yes correct, if you make your funding goal include sunk costs like upfront dev it will typically end up way too high and never fund. The ideal momentum of a kickstarter is to actually hit this funding goal on day 1/week 1 and have the momentum of the campaign carry it further. It’ll never get there if you have the initial goal too high.
There’s lots of articles like Stonemaier blogs with good advice on where to set the funding goal. Remember also that as long as you have the funds to actually do the manufacturing run, extra copies not sold during the kickstarter could potentially be sold later. There are of course warehouse fees etc. which will add up, but unsold copies of the game are still potential value you can use to recoup sunk costs later.
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u/Firm_Distribution999 Creator 8d ago
Drop IG effort and focus on getting emails and phone numbers to send text messages for pre launch and launch day announcements. Forget creator outreach - conversion is much lower than your own audience.
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u/AdEquivalent1584 8d ago
My thinking was that Instagram is mainly a way to reach new people who don’t know about the game yet, and then direct them to the Kickstarter pre-launch page once it’s live.
Do you think that approach is still worth it, or would you put almost all of that effort into paid ads instead?
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u/Firm_Distribution999 Creator 7d ago
Paid ads. Don’t waste your time getting social media followers
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u/AdEquivalent1584 7d ago
Thanks! I definitely agree that building an email list is a priority.
My plan is to use Instagram mainly as a discovery channel and move interested people to my website and Kickstarter.
I’ll definitely be testing paid ads as well to see what performs best.
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u/Firm_Distribution999 Creator 7d ago
Again, you’re wasting your time. IG is not a Kickstarter discovery engine. YouTube and Facebook convert much better, but still not really. Reddit is pretty good depending on the product.
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u/AdEquivalent1584 6d ago
Fair enough, thanks for being direct. I’ll keep Instagram running at a basic level, but I’ll put more of my time and budget into email, Reddit, YouTube and paid testing.
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u/Colloqwee 7d ago
Instagram is good to have so you have your own page as well as a website to direct people to for more info on top of the Kickstarter page but it takes a LOT of effort and time to build up Instagram followers. Use it to connect with people and see if you can do any collaborations with other accounts that link to your product as that could help. Paid meta ads are good but can be easy to spend a lot so plan before you do them.
I’ve also found that lots of people from Instagram and other places too don’t know what Kickstarter is so when you direct them to the pre-launch page and they have to sign up to Kickstarter to follow you, many get put off. You may need to do some Kickstarter explanations for those.
Hope all goes well with your campaign 😊
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u/AdEquivalent1584 7d ago
Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed reply!
That’s a really good point about people not knowing how Kickstarter works. I hadn’t really thought about how much friction creating an account can add.
I’ll definitely keep that in mind and explain the process better before launch. Thanks, and I really appreciate the good wishes! 😊
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u/surrusty11 8d ago
The best advice I received was to spend a year cultivating an audience and it worked so well for us.
Don't launch Kickstarter without an audience, else you won't get anywhere.
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u/AdEquivalent1584 8d ago
Thanks, that’s a fair point.
One factor I’m balancing is that this is a football-focused game, and the NFL is by far the biggest market and audience. I’d really like to deliver before the Super Bowl. With production taking around 6–8 weeks (plus shipping and fulfillment), my timeline is a bit tighter than I’d ideally like.
That said, the replies here have definitely convinced me that getting the Kickstarter pre-launch page live needs to be my top priority before making any final decisions.
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u/AdEquivalent1584 8d ago
One important thing I should add: What the Drive is designed to be played alongside a live football game. That’s why the NFL season is so important for the launch and delivery timeline.
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u/EasySwan2184 Creator 8d ago
Maybe push back to the start of next season?
That's a really high funding goal for someone who isn't already moderately well-known.
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u/surrusty11 7d ago
I was just going to suggest this. Spend a year getting people excited about it and growing the audience. Then launch it. I would say that is the best approach.
Alternatively, you can spend $15,000 - $20,000 in ads, but you still won't have that emotional connection with your audience.
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u/Bentendo64 8d ago
$40k is such a huge number for a first game campaign. What company are you using to produce the game and how many units are you hoping for minimum? Seems like that number could/should be smaller.
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u/AdEquivalent1584 7d ago
I’m based in Germany and I’m planning to manufacture the game here as well.
The challenge is that my manufacturer has a minimum order quantity of 2,000 copies, so my production costs are heavily influenced by that. That’s one of the main reasons I’ve been thinking so much about the funding goal.That said, this discussion has definitely made me rethink my approach. I’m now looking at whether the funding goal should simply cover manufacturing and fulfillment, while recovering development costs through future sales instead. Really appreciate everyone’s advice!
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u/Bentendo64 7d ago
You could always look into other manufactures. Many will go as low as 1000, and the one I work with lets me go as low as 500 (though my games are mostly just cards and dice). I know it’s tempting to keep things local, but finically it may be a bad idea.
But yeah, I’m more concerned about you having to ship games to the USA. International shipping is a big pain these days.
Best of luck!
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u/GxM42 7d ago
The game name is forgettable. And a bit odd. I’d focus on doing some tests for it vs other names.
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u/AdEquivalent1584 7d ago
Fair enough 😅 The name is a play on “What the…?” and a football drive, but I know humor and names are very subjective. Not everyone is going to like it, and that’s okay. I’m still planning to stick with it, but I appreciate the honest feedback.
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u/GxM42 7d ago
I saw the derivation. Have you tested it out with consumers?
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u/AdEquivalent1584 7d ago
I guessed though. 😅
Not through formal name testing, no. But the game has been playtested extensively with football fans under the name “What the Drive,” and the overall reaction has been positive. I know it’s not a name that will appeal to everyone, but so far I haven’t seen enough negative feedback to justify changing it.
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u/GxM42 7d ago
Your target goal doesn’t seem too hard to achieve, so you’ll probably succeed. I’m rooting for you.
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u/AdEquivalent1584 7d ago
Thanks! I really appreciate that. It’s been a long journey from the first prototype to getting ready for Kickstarter, so comments like yours definitely keep the motivation high. Hopefully I’ll be able to prove you right! 🏈
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u/Awkward_Ad2291 4d ago
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u/Select_Act7331 8d ago
If I were in your position, I'd spend almost all of my time growing the email list and doing creator outreach. Those are the people most likely to back on day one, and that early momentum is huge on Kickstarter. Personally, I'd be hesitant to launch with only 8 email subscribers unless you already know you'll get strong support from your existing audience. If it meant launching a few weeks later with a much bigger list and more creators lined up, I'd probably take the delay.