Hmm, to add more to what was already said... 1.) 9 dollars is also a magical number in that you can buy it, even with tax in most cases, with a $10 bill. It places it in the "Under $10 dollar" gift category without question, and, as was stated, under $10 is an easy to justify impulse buy for most people. 2.) Packaging with sprues may be less expensive to produce, but it will take up more warehouse space and display space in the store. The stores, most likely, won't want to devote a large amount of space to a product in this price range. Also, with the blister packs, they do not sit evenly in a box, which may allow shifting, which may, in turn, damage product. As well, they may settle more. Finally, the blister packs will not lend themselves to re-packing, nor will they fit easily into a pocket as the current tubes do. I think the priorities, in no particular order, are: 1.) Produce in the USA, baring that, in another environmentally friendly country. 2.) Make a quality product. 3.) Present it professionally. 4.) Produce product at a reasonable price. 5.) Increase public awareness of Icehouse game system. There may be more, but I believe that these are the top priorities at the moment for the Icehouse portion of Looney Labs. One other factor that I think we do want considered is the cost in financial and emotional stress that trying to make it work at $10 a tube would have on Looney Labs, on Andy and Kirstin and everyone else there. In any case, I think that most, if not all, of the people here will support you in the business decision, as we wish to see Looney Labs grow and prosper. Once you guys become a mega-billion dollar company, you can start your own, environmentally friendly, production facilities in the US yourselves. Another alternative location may be Taiwan, ROC. At least with electronic equipment that produced in Taiwan is consistently of higher quality than that produced in mainland China, at least all of my geek friends say so...umm, I think that's all of my friends actually. I am, however, biased as my wife is from Taiwan. I am not sure of their environmental controls on production facilities though. Ooohh, one thing just occurred to me...you will probably need to, or at least want to, visit the production facilities at some point or another. So, you might want to pick someplace you wouldn't mind vacationing at either. ;) As far as I can tell, you have stuck by your principles. You have done everything in your power to provide this work to a US facility and they either don't want it or won't do it to the specifications that you require. Now you are left with finding an alternative production facility which you feel comfortable with using. Ok, I'll leave it at that for now, Thanks for sticking by your principles and for making such great games. Scott Sulzer -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.14.23/243 - Release Date: 1/27/2006