Dear everyone,

It’s been a while since my last update, so here’s what’s been going on this past month.

Production and fulfillment

As always, I’ve kept been in close contact with NSF to check up on the production for the game. As I mentioned in the last update, they are currently facing a wave of Covid cases in their factory. This, coupled with a shortage of raw materials, means that the new production date for the game was pushed to the 17th of December. So far, NSF has informed me that things are going according to plan, so that’s good news. However, the situation can quickly change so I’m being cautiously optimistic about this. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that they might need extra time to produce the game… Hopefully, that won’t be the case, and I’ll keep you all updated as soon as I have the final confirmation.

Both events I had planned in Brussels and Bucharest are unfortunately canceled… I will most likely set something up for January / February, depending on when the games actually arrive.

Shipping to the EU and USA will probably happen end of January / beginning of February as well. As shipping prices have gone up I’ll try to save some costs by delivering the games to the distribution centers myself. I need to get organized for this, depending on the Covid situation in Germany (the EU distribution center).

A lesson in cost management

I thought long and hard whether I should share this with you all, but since my desire has always been to be fully transparent, I’d like to say a few words about some important unforeseen costs I had over the past months.

• VAT : After the campaign, I contacted my accountant to have an in-depth discussion about the campaign, and she informed me that I needed to pay VAT on the games I “sold” through the campaign. I was quite shocked, as I had assumed that, since most of my backers are international, and since this can be considered as part-donation, VAT did not apply. Unfortunately, this is the reality, which means that I had to pay back 1200€ of VAT to the state. Ouch.

• Non double-cut vs. double-cut print cards : This was a term I was unfamiliar with when I asked for the price offer, so it’s something I glossed over without realizing how important it was. Basically, this signifies that the cards either have a 3mm margin all around (non double-cut) or the illustrations and graphics can “flow out” over the margins (double-cut). The cards I designed for the game belonged to the latter category, so I had to decide whether to stay in the budget and add the white margins… or keep them as is and pay an extra 1100€! After giving this a lot of thought, I decided that the white margin did not work with my aesthetic vision for the game. Therefore, I went for the supplement, but this again added an unforeseen cost to my initial estimate.

Both these costs were considerable blows for me, as I had invested a lot in the game from my own pocket already. I will have to carefully plan the next few months to be able to keep up with all the invoices that will be coming in, but I want to underline that this will have absolutely no impact on all you backers! These are missteps on my end, and I take full responsibility for them.

I only wanted to share this experience to let you know that, while on the surface it might seem like not a lot is happening, there’s actually a lot of work and careful planning backstage to make sure the show is running smoothly. Also that I might have to make some decisions at some point (such as shipping the games in February instead of January), to be able to financially follow up on the fulfillment part. I’m learning most of this stuff as I go, as managing a campaign in all its aspects is sometimes not as obvious as it might seem.

I always stand by my general philosophy – to be honest and open about the whole process – so if you have any questions or concerns please let me know and I’ll be happy to address them to the best of my ability!

Let’s play!

Now that the serious stuff is out of the way, let’s have some fun. While we are all patiently waiting for the final game, Betty has been busy creating her own version of the game from the print-and-play files. She really went all the way with the production, with laminated cards and tokens, beautiful linen bags and special wooden pawns to give the game an extra pinch of razzle-dazzle! She has a few play-dates set up to try it out, but I wanted to already share her creation with you all. Here is her print-and-play, in all its glory:

Some of you already know that my full-time job is actually as an architect in an office called Altiplan. I am very lucky to be working with some amazing people, and to have received the trust and flexibility from the management so I can pursue my creative passions on the side. Not only that, but many people in the office backed the campaign, so here’s an official thank you to you all for your support! 🙂

Here are a couple of photos of a “lunch play-date” I organized with a few of my colleagues. Bapam and Arnaud teamed up against Margaux and Gaëlle in a thrilling race to Mount Olympus:

Enjoy your weekend everyone and stay tuned.

All the best,

Tudor