UPDATE: Morrison passes $40,000 goal, Hockey Hardware to become a reality

On Friday morning Billy Morrison woke up in his Ottawa-area home to the discovery that his Kickstarter campaign to fund his tabletop game Hockey Hardware had hit its $40,000 target with the project's 244th backer. 

Morrison says he is extremely grateful to all the backers who pledged to his second crowdfunding effort. 

"Without their generosity and steadfast support throughout this campaign, it would not be where it is today," he tells The Local. "They're turning a dream into a reality and helping bring a new game product into this world!"

With the funding goal reached, Morrison will now put the ball, or puck, in motion to get the copies of Hockey Hardware produced by his Quebec-area manufacturer. He is aiming for an April, 2025 release date. 

Of course, the backers will also be among the first to get a copy of the game once it publishes (if that was their pledge), and they’ll always be able to share their role in this crowdfunding journey with their family and friends.

"The best part about this entrepreneurial journey is watching players react to Hockey Hardware as they learn the rules, play the game, have fun, and laugh together," he adds. "That is the most rewarding part for me after years of hard work, time, sacrifices, and personal investment in making this game."

Though he has reached its goal, Morrison says anyone interested in pledging for Hockey Hardware can still do so as the campaign continues until 7:00 p.m. this  Sunday, July 14.  You can make your pledge and secure your copy of Hockey Hardware at this link. 

ORIGINAL ARTICLE - JULY 8, 2024

The excitement in Niagara-on-the-Lake native Billy Morrison’s voice rings clearly through the phone line from Ottawa where he works as Niagara Falls MP Tony Baldinelli’s legislative assistant.

With six days remaining in his $40,000 Kickstarter campaign to support the creation of his tebletop strategy game Hockey Hardware, Morrison has gathered 89 percent of the pledge money needed to reach his goal. 

Hockey Hardware combines 108 cards and seven dice that up to four players use to collect hockey statistics under different categories. Players participate in 15 total rounds, five per period for three periods, based on a hockey game, and compete to win various trophy cards. The player with the most trophies at the end of the game wins and “takes home” the Champion’s Cup trophy card.

It’s easy to learn and a lot of fun to play, hockey fan or not.

This is the second online crowdfunding campaign for the former student council president at Niagara District Secondary School. A previous 32-day attempt that began in January using the same website fell far short of its goal to raise $125,000. 

An undaunted Morrison took that as a lesson. He and his supporters, including his wife Katherine, discussed where the previous effort was lacking and made changes accordingly before launching the new campaign on May 15.

“The funding goal was the biggest obstacle,” Morrison says of that first campaign. “If we had reached that goal it would have been clear sailing, but we only got 28 percent there. One of the biggest changes we made this time was to remove the shipping costs from this campaign and defer those charges until later by using a pledge manager service instead after the campaign ends.”

It is common in many Kickstarter campaigns for creators to require their backer to include shipping in the pledge.  Looking back, Morrison feels that apporach was too rigid the first time. 

“It wasn’t flexible, particularly for backers in Ottawa and Niagara,” he says. “In the first campaign I had to set the shipping costs for each item for every backer before that campaign even began. That inflated the funding goal immensely, and removing it brought the total down significantly.”

The pledge manager service now enables him to offer improved shipping cost accuracy for backers who need their items shipped. And he can now offer local pickup options for Hockey Hardware backers living in the Ottawa and Niagara areas.

“We also reduced material costs by printing one of the components on a thinner card stock,” he adds. “That saved quite a bit of money and helped us renegotiate our quote with our Canadian manufacturer. And when all those costs come down, the costs of the Kickstarter fees come down, too.”

The dollar amount raised as of press time was nearly identical between the two campaigns. 211 people have already pledged their support to Hockey Hardware, up from 182 who pledged the first time. Analyzing those numbers, Morrison says most of the early supporters have re-pledged and there are many new ones backing the project this time around as well.

Like he did with the first campaign, Morrison has been getting the word out on social media and holding Hockey Hardware game nights at a board game cafe in Ottawa. And last week, he and his friend Chris Crawford were down in Las Vegas for the NHL awards and entry draft event.

“It’s really important to get the brand in front of hockey fans, players, media personalities, the whole industry,” says Morrison. “We met the new owner of the Ottawa Senators Michael Andlauer, New York Islanders captain and King Clancy Memorial Trophy winner Anders Lee, Logan Thompson, a newly acquired goalie with the Washington Capitals and Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnepeg Jets .”

And, for the second time, he brushed shoulders with Phil Pritchard, the keeper of the Stanley Cup who was leaving the next day for the Florida Panthers' championship parade. 

His efforts seem to be paying off, and with less than a week left to go and his target within reach, he knows there is still a lot of work needed to do.

“Once we hit the target, Kickstarter then processes the charges to our supporters’ credit cards,” he explains. “Kickstarter then takes their fees before transferring the money. I’ve been laying down the early groundwork with our domestic manufacturer to get the ball rolling with them for production.”

He’s aiming for an April 2025 delivery (or pick-up) of the brand new Hockey Hardware games to the Kickstarter supporters.

“I’m very confident we can get everybody their games by that time,” concludes the son of Bill and Karin Morrison. “We’re really focused on reaching our funding goal this week. I’m working on a very long list of family and friends to ask for pledges. We’re working hard to get there by this Sunday, July 14 at 7:00 p.m. It’s very exciting.”

He adds, “Like my power skating coach used to say, you don’t quit until you’re over the finish line.”