Road to 10,000

A journal documenting the journey to grow Meta Baseball League from zero to 10,000 monthly active players. Every win, every setback, every lesson.

— 250 players

First card show in the books. Stouffville, 5 hours at a table trying to get baseball fans to download a mobile game.

34 downloads. I was hoping for 50.

Here's the thing I didn't anticipate: this show was probably 80% Pokemon, 20% sports cards. The crowd skewed young- lots of kids with their parents. Our game is built for adults. Most of the people who downloaded did it for a chance to spin the prize wheel and win free cards, not because they were genuinely interested in a baseball management game.

A few people really got it though. You can tell the difference- they ask questions, they're curious, they linger. Those conversations made the day worth it even if the number is underwhelming.

Was it worth it? Honestly, I don't know yet. The real test is next week in St. Thomas at a show that's 100% sports cards. Should be a much better audience. If that one doesn't move the needle, we'll have our answer about card shows.

— 223 players

Last night I tried an experiment. WhatNot is a live streaming platform where people buy and sell sports cards. I wanted to see if I could flip that on its head- instead of selling, just give cards away for free. The only catch: download Meta Baseball League.

30 minutes and about $50 in shipping later, we got 10 downloads.

$5 a player. For an indie game with no real ad budget, that's tough to scale. But something unexpected happened — another game developer was watching, and we ended up having a great conversation. He downloaded it, said he'd share it with friends. One real connection might end up being worth more than the other nine downloads combined.

I'm not writing the idea off completely. There might be a better version of it. But right now the math doesn't work well enough to do it again as-is.

This weekend: the card show in Stouffville. Different approach, same goal.

— 214 players

Building games is scary.

You start by pouring your heart into something that almost certainly very few people will ever play. Late nights, countless hours, uncertainty at every step. Will anyone care? Most games die without a community of players to love them.

This is the best game we've ever made. It isn't close. It's a game I wanted to play, but didn't exist. Today, only 214 people are playing. I know there are countless baseball fans that will love this game, but they don't know it yet. Building the community of players that make the game great may be harder than building the game itself. AI can't tell me how to get 10,000 players. Trust me, I've tried asking.

I'm determined to get this game the players it deserves, and I want to invite you along for the journey with me. I'm going to share everything- what works, what fails miserably, every step along the way.

This weekend I'm setting up a table at a small baseball card show in Stouffville to convince collectors to try a mobile game. I have no idea if it's going to work.