Van Ryder Games announces 2nd Annual VRG Vendor Awards
Van Ryder Games Van Ryder Games has announced its list of Vendor Awards for 2019 that includes top performing industry partners. The list includes vendors or partners across the spectrum of business related services that are important to game publishers, and to VRG specifically.
VRG President, A.J. Porfirio, on this year’s awards. “Once again we are pleased to recognize our top partners in various parts of the industry. There are so many great people and businesses in the board game industry and we are pleased to highlight some of the best with these awards! The VRG Vendor Awards are a way for us to shine a spotlight on these partners and ‘say thanks,’ but also to highlight for our customers, peers, and other interested parties, some vendors that we at Van Ryder Games are very proud to work with and highly recommend to others.”
Van Ryder Games gives out awards for vendors and partners achieving excellence in the following categories: Convention, Distribution, Fulfillment, Licensing, Logistics, Manufacturing, and Media & Content.
Vendors are graded in the following four areas:
- Relationship – judged on the frequency of interactions and the level of rapport with the vendor
- Communication – judged on efficiency of interactions and how timely are they
- Service Quality – judged on the degree of quality of the product or service provided
- Price – judged on value to our business relative to the price of the product or service
Each of these areas is evaluated on a qualitative and quantitative basis (where applicable) by the company and ratings are agreed upon by its members at the annual Van Ryder Games company retreat. It is possible for multiple awards to be given in a category if multiple vendors achieve a sufficient grade. It is also possible for no award to be given in a category if there is not a vendor that achieved a sufficient grade
The 2019 VRG Vendor Award recipients are as follows:
- Vendor of the Year – Liesbeth Bos, International Licensing Coordinator
- Top Convention – Origins Game Fair
- Top Distributor – Universal Distribution, Canada
- Excellence in Fulfillment – Gamesquest (EU Fulfillment)
- Top Licensing Partner – Frosted Games
- Excellence in Logistics – OTX Logistics, Inc.
- Excellence in Media and Content – Brawling Brothers Podcast
- Excellence in Media and Content – Man vs Meeple
- Excellence in Media and Content – The Gameboy Geek, Dan King
- Excellence in Media and Content – Beyond Solitaire, Liz Davidson
- Excellence in Media and Content – Things Get Dicey
Porfirio goes on to explain what makes each of the awarded entities a great partner.
Vendor of the Year, Marketing, Liesbeth Bos – “Liesbeth began working to find localization partners for VRG in mid-2018 and the fruits of her labor really paid off in 2019. Using her extensive network and great relationships with peers in all parts of the industry, she was able to help us secure multiple contracts with partners for several of our products. We are extremely excited about what she has done for the business and looking forward to more in 2020!”
Top Convention – “We once again expanded our convention presence in 2019 including exhibiting at the Spiele, in Essen Germany for the first time, but no experience was better than Origins which saw significant increased revenue performance over 2018 and was as smooth as a convention could be for a publisher. Not to mention the fans at Origins are an absolute pleasure to interact with, the atmosphere is positive, and the convention staff was very helpful. ”
Top Distributor – ““Van Ryder Games ended its relationship with consolidator, Impressions, after several years of partnership, so we are only just now forming more tight knit relationships with distributors by working with them directly. Universal Distribution was one of the first distributors to reach out to us and we are thrilled to be working with them to bring our great games to the gamers in Canada. We are excited to work with them to continue grow our retail presence in Canada.”
Excellence in Fulfillment – ”No vendor, in any category, experienced a bigger turnaround than GamesQuest. We had actually ended our relationship with them due to poor service in previous years, but fate opened a door and we decided to give them another chance. The change was shocking and impressive. Great packing, low damage rates, and timely shipping are why GamesQuest is getting our Fulfillment award for 2019! ”
Top Licensing Partner – “Frosted Games has successfully produced Hostage Negotiator: Crime Wave and additional expansions in the German Language. The first repeat award winner from a year ago, Matthias Nagy and team are great to work with and very efficient at producing German versions of our games.”
Excellence in Logistics – “Another repeat winner is Justin Bergeron and OTX Logistics, Inc. OTX remains our preferred logistics provider for overseas freight and we have also used them for some domestic freight services. With OTX, we get top notch communication, excellent service, and the utmost confidence that our games will arrive to our warehouses on time and in mint condition.”
Excellence in Media and Content – “Our relationship with the Brawling Brothers, Josh and Brandon is very strong. 2019 saw the first time the VRG crew and the Brawling Bros crew actually got to play some games together. It was a great time we won’t soon forget. Beyond friendship however, the Brawling Bros podcast continues to be among the best board game podcasts you can find.”
Excellence in Media and Content – “Our relationship with Man vs. Meeple grew into something special in 2019. Jeremy S., David, Kira, Ryan and everyone else have some of the best, most professionally produced content in the industry. They are measured and fair with both their praise and criticism. They are well deserving of a VRG vendor award for 2019!”
Excellence in Media and Content – “Dan King aka the Gameboy Geek came to our booth at Origins 2018 to see Detective: City of Angels and The Big Score, and ever since then we have had a great working relationship. Dan has produced a ton of great VRG content including reviews, “rules school” content, and more. Where else can you find a game industry vet playing that saxophone? For that, and the reasons listed above, Dan has earned a 2019 VRG Vendor Award.”
Excellence in Media and Content – Liz Davidson has been a shining light in the solo community for a few years now and she is getting a lot of much deserved attention as part of The Dice Tower Network. Her Beyond Solitaire reviews and You Tube content is among the best solo game media content you can fine. Her ability to comprehensively cover a game in an understandable way is why we think she is amazing!.”
