Mice & Dice? Looks Nice

So a new Kickstarter project has been brought to my attention that looks like it will be a great game to play with young families.

Kickstarter link

What looks interesting?

• Simple rules
• Constant involvement
• Gorgeous artwork
• Colourful design

Click the link above to find more details, but essentially at the beginning of the game each player gets a number. Whenever that number is rolled they move 1 space on the track (or 2 if they roll their own number).

Simple?

Well, yes but then there are the cards - if a players number is rolled more than once, then they get to draw either a rat or a mouse card. Rat cards are negative cards that can be played on other players, whilst mouse cards are beneficial and can be played by the player drawing the card.

Candyland meets Mouse Trap? There are even some Early Bird space left, so back it today!

Kash-Talar - Arena of Ripoffs

Sorry people, get ready for the rant.

But seriously, what is going on with the prices of board games in the UK? 

Take Tash-Kalar. Post-Essen it was £30. Now? The MSRP is £49.99 - a 66% increase.

Ok, well maybe it;s something to do with economies of scale? Let's check.

The German edition of Tash-Kalar is on Amazon.de for €27, or roughly £22. Whilst Germany is the home of the modern board game, I'm fairly sure that the English language version would have a larger print run and therefore should be cheaper.

So, maybe it's something to do with Germany - maybe board games are cheaper out there, or tax-free or something? Well, let's head back to Amazon.de and check the International version. €55 (or £45), so the same price I can get it in the UK.

Heading across the pond, we can see that US online stores have it for around $45 - so it appears this is mainly a UK issue.

Really - what's going on here?  Can anyone explain?