Re: Chipco's Fantasy Rules! 3rd Edition Release

> Well, the current estimates for color laser printing (all those PDF rules
> seem to lavishly use color, though I haven't seen Chipco's product) run
> around 10 cents per page. Black and white laser printing runs about 3
cents
> per page. This is for "average" pages, which are 5% ink coverage -- 
typical
> for a page of text. Lavish use of screened and colored boxes will
> dramatically increase this cost.
> http://www.hp.com/cposupport/printers/support_doc/bpl02416.html
>
> Inkjet costs per page are higher but I can't seem to tie down how much
> higher.
>
> Decent paper is about 1.5 cents a sheet. Binding -- whether in a binder a
> spiral comb binding is about $2 or so. So, assuming the above costs, a 128
> page rulebook (my assumption -- I don't know how many pages there are)
will
> cost about $16.72 if in color and $7.76 if in black and white. If the
> document uses screened boxes lavishly and contains a lot of graphics, the
> toner/ink cost could easily triple. If so, the price would be $42.32 and
> $25.44 respectively. There's also a hassle factor -- that might be offset
by
> the ability to reprint replacement pages, copy text onto reference sheets,
> etc.
>
> But best case, it seems to me that you'll pay $46.72 for a color file and
> $37.76 for a B&W file.
>
> $37.76 for a 128 page B&W spiral bound book seems a bit steep to me, but
> it's not totally out of line.
>
> --Ty
>
>
Very good analysis.  I have an inkjet printer, and after figuring everything
out, it would cost me a little over $14 to print it out and buy the binder.
To me, $44 is out of line, especially given that the print job my printer is
capable of is not exactly offset print quality.

Of course, everyone's print capabilities are going to vary, in the cost to
produce such a product.  The issue that needs to be looked at, however, is
that for the same $30, or less, you can purchase a high-quality, printed
book.  You don't have to go through hassle of printing it out yourself, and
the end product is of a much higher quality for the money.

You can also compare the Chipco PDF cost to those of other PDF products.
The majority of PDF products I am familiar with cost about half of what
Chipco is charging.

Perhaps they think their game is worth it.  While I think it is a decent
game, I personally don't think it is any better than many of the other
similar games out there as far as playability, fun, etc are concerned.

So, I won't be purchasing it, partly on principle because of what I think is
overpricing, and partly because I don't think the game is all that great
compared to others.  I will say, however, that I would have seriously
considered buying it if it were only $10 or $15 for the PDF.

Chris