Mini-Update: The GOOD and the NOT-SO-GOOD
about 1 year ago – Sun, Feb 19, 2023 at 06:15:50 AM

So, now about 3 weeks after the big pickle of an update (🥒), here's a much smaller update. In fact, I may start writing an update every week or two as things continue, as I know many of you are wondering about the current status of fulfillment, especially in North America. 

But, I'm sad to say that there isn't that much to report on, as far as major progress on the Funagain/North America Front.

So maybe we go with the good news first? 

GOOD NEWS: people around the world are starting to receive their pledges, and sharing their Distilled Delivery Day Dram to our social media channels. Essentially, a picture of the game along with perhaps your choice tipple that you'll be enjoying in celebration of finally receiving Distilled. I hope that this continues to catch fire around the globe as you all receive our special thanks to you for being such amazing backers.

 GOOD NEWS: Australia and New Zealand appear to be in full swing (if not nearly complete) with fulfillment, thanks to VFI & Aetherworks! If you need help with an order in this region, please contact [email protected] and fill out this Aetherworks form. Be ready w/ pictures of packaging, products, etc.

GOOD NEWS: Asia is continuing to be fulfilled, as VFI has lots of satellite partners they ship to. I'm hoping they'll be completed by early March. If you need help with an order in this region, please contact [email protected]. Be ready w/ pictures of packaging, products, etc.

GOOD NEWS: The UK and Europe are starting to see fulfillment happening as I write this. We've had a few posts on our Facebook group, where folks are posting their game and delivery day dram (including Gary from Tasmania and David from Scotland, in the pic below)! If you need help with an order in this region, please fill out this Spiral Galaxy Form. Be ready w/ pictures of packaging, products, etc. Also, some of our foreign language partners are also starting to see games, such as  the Dutch version backers receiving theirs (German language games are still on a boat, I think, but I'm not 100% sure as that falls under Happyshops' logistics).

 So, while I am so absolutely thrilled for our friends overseas that are receiving their pledges, I'm sorry to report that we're still struggling to make much headway here in North America.

So here's the NOT SO GOOD NEWS: All of the games are still at the Funagain Warehouse in Indianapolis. Yep, that's right. Not a whole lot has moved forward.  And believe me, I have been sending emails every day to Funagain. 

We are making some progress though - it is likely that the three pallets going to my garage in Wisconsin may actually be picked up from the Funagain warehouse this week (here's hoping).  All we are waiting for is ARC Global to organize a truck pickup, but I don't know if that will happen within a few days or further out (President's Day as a national holiday in the USA tomorrow won't help either!).

Now that the Wisconsin pallets are prepped, Funagain is moving on to the big multi-truck shipment to QML. I do worry a great deal about how long this may take, but I am hoping that since all games are already palletized, that it will move fast, but we will see. Then, immediately following QML's domestic move, they'll finish things up with the Canada shipment as well.  

By the way, if it wasn't for Nick (the CEO of Funagain), who I email and text with almost daily, I'm not sure if we'd have any progress. So I'm very thankful he is still continuing to help us get these games out, as well as the warehouse staff who are still present and working at Funagain (this may be the biggest reason things are moving so slowly, as I don't know how many people are actually still working there...). Previously, we've received support from other staff in the former distribution area of Funagain, who have tried to help us out as well. Again, I wonder if their employee count is dropping by the week, which would then be dealing a major blow to the productivity and efficiency that they may have once had.

I'm sorry that I don't have more good news to provide, but things truly are out of my hands at this point.  But I'm not giving up, not by a longshot. I'll keep emailing and calling Funagain everyday, and trying to figure out how to get all of our North America backers their games as soon as possible.  

And to close on a personal note: for my own mental health and quality of life, I sincerely hope something starts to turn for the positive soon, as I'm not sure how much more of this stress I can handle! I do keep telling myself this though: "This is all just a bunch of cardboard and plastic,  Dave. There are much larger issues people are struggling with in our world today, so don't stress out about this so much!". Then, I also often say this to myself: "Dave, this journey has already lasted for over three years, so what does another month or two matter, especially when you have such an amazing community of backers who have shown nothing but support and understanding?". So a big thanks to YOU for showing your support in the KS comments or on social media up to this point, as every single syllable of what you've written has helped to both fuel my drive towards Distilled's delivery and also hold the anxiety at bay that keeps me up at night. So thank you (and yes, maybe I shouldn't talk to myself so much!)!

Till next time, Distillers,

 Dave 

Making (Hard) Lemonade out of Pickles 🥒🥃
about 1 year ago – Sat, Jan 28, 2023 at 06:19:46 PM

The past couple of weeks have been - quite possibly - some of the most stressful of my life. 

But before I get into that, let's breakdown this earlier-than-normal update (I usually push these out on the first Tuesday of a month), so that you can choose to skip my big USA-based sob story at the beginning, if you so choose:

• The story of Dave's Pickle-laden North American Fulfillment Adventure 🥒
• Updates on other fulfillments and languages around the world 🌐
• Protospiel MN Recap w/ Luthier 🎻
• Reminder to follow & join our socials 👍

Pickles, Pickles, Everywhere 🥒🥒🥒

Remember last update, when the games were floating on boats around the world, we got to track each ship as it crawled the globe, and we talked about all our different partners making it happen?

Well, about two weeks later, everything hit the fan for North American backers. Something happened that I couldn't predict, nor anybody for that matter. Funagain Logistics, who was handling the entire USA fulfillment campaign (5,000+ backers!) announced that they were closing their doors. I was officially in a very large pickle (🥒).

Coincidentally, I had a meeting (that had already been scheduled) with their team roughly 5 minutes after receiving this above shocking email from Funagain. The team on the call were visibly shook up and sad, and while I had planned to talk about final details and prep for fulfillment, it ended up being a very different conversation. 

After reading the letter and meeting with them, my immediate reaction was "okay, this is bad, but it does sound like they can still fulfill our project within the window". We came up with a game plan to carry things across the finish line ("We'll be Funagain's final fulfillment!"), ended the meeting, and I moved forward with doing some triage on our various social sites and Kickstarter's comments section. 

But then I started thinking more about it, and talking with Richard (our developer for Paverson Games) about it. He usually has a much more realistic head on his shoulders than I do, so it is good to get his opinion and temper my idealistic optimism ;) If three containers of Distilled show up at their warehouse, and they're also needing to fulfill multiple other projects (reports of other campaigns not yet fulfilled by Funagain started to get me worried) AND they need to clear out their entire warehouse of product, could they actually fulfill it before shutting their doors? What about when things need to be inevitably replaced due to missing or broken parts, weeks to months down the road? 

Nick, the CEO, assured me that they would finish the job. And I honestly do trust him. They've got a great team of people who care, but also clearly are under quite a lot of stress. Regardless of what one person says, nobody can predict how bad it could continue to get, including morale, skeletons in the closet, or even employees leaving early for other opportunities.

So, I started thinking that it might be a good idea to start looking around at other options. But first, I had to check to see how to stop this (literal) train that is Distilled, as it was currently choo-chooing somewhere across Canada on a train car! I started talking with Justin from ARC Global, the freight forwarding company that we've been using (he helps coordinate the product all the way from the factory loading dock in China to the Funagain warehouse). Unfortunately, he said that the actual train had left the station (sorry, can't help using these!), and there was no way we could re-route those containers. I had hoped we might be able to transfer them to another train when it got to its destination, but since the shipping company OWNS those containers, they need them back ASAP for their next trip. I also can't just put them on trucks, because these suckers are HUGE and not meant to be trucked beyond short distances. So here was 🥒#2 to deal with. 

Also, to make matters even worse, I had these containers "floor loaded" instead of palletized. It is commonly recommended to do it this way to save money on container space. Essentially it means you can fit A LOT more product into a container when it is packed in from floor to ceiling, and some argue it is a bit safer as it is more snug in the space. You pay a bit of labor on the back end (instead of using pallet jacks to unload, you're doing it by hand), but it far outweighs the cost of an entire extra container (which likely would have been the case for me). 

So, I knew that I couldn't re-route. I had to figure out a way to unload the containers in Indianapolis, and either have Funagain or another company finish the fulfillment.  Well, waaay back in 2021, I had been looking at a few different fulfillment companies. At the end of the day, after interviewing four of them, it came down to two: Funagain Logistics and Quartermaster Logistics. I ended up going with Funagain for a number of reasons I'll talk about later, but always was impressed at the professionalism and size of QML. I decided to give Matt Goldrick, the sales rep I interacted with before, a call. As you can imagine, Matt was very busy with dozens of other publishers calling him up due to the announcement. But nobody else was in the same boat (train?) I was, due to me being on the doorstep of fulfillment. Matt jumped into action to help transition things over to them, but at this point I still wasn't sure how the heck that would happen, since the product would be in Indianapolis (where Funagain is) and QML is in Orlando. 

After a few more emails back and forth with Justin from ARC Global and more meetings with both Funagain and QML, we came up with a plan. A costly plan, but it was a plan. Here's how it would go down:

• 3 containers of Distilled arrive in Indianapolis rail yard around January 28th (that's right, they're HERE!)
• Said containers are trucked to the Funagain Warehouse in Indianapolis
• Workers unload the containers manually, take inventory, and then palletize all of them (and, this is where extra cost is starting to creep in, as I wasn't needing to do that previously!)
• Funagain will then do a domestic move of the product to three different locations: a few pallets to my house in Wisconsin for Local Pickup, 600-games-worth to our friends in Canada (sending to Pick and Pack for fulfillment), and then ALL THE REST down to QML in Orlando, Florida. 

I'm happy that through some collaboration, communication, and creative thinking, we were able to work together to pivot and keep this train moving. I want to thank the Funagain team for their flexibility in this, especially given their current circumstances, as well as QML for stepping up and helping to ease the smooth transition. Finally, Justin at ARC has been going above and beyond with his communication with me about the past, present, and future freight forwarding of Distilled. It truly is a team lift that I'm proud to be a part of.

But guess what? ALL THAT STUFF AIN'T CHEAP. I'm guessing that this closing by Funagain and the need to domestic move about 3-4 truckloads of Distilled down to Florida will cost in the ballpark of $15,000-20,000 unexpected, extra costs. Yep, that's right - up to $20,000 that I simply couldn't predict that I'd spend. As a side note, I've often mentioned to some people that I haven't touched a DIME of the Distilled Kickstarter money (and they think I'm crazy, saying that I should reward myself for the 1,000's of hours spent on this project!) but this is exactly why I haven't yet - anything could happen, and you need to be as prepared as possible for whatever situation might present itself.

 Furthermore, this is unfortunately going to take time. I'm writing to ask all of you for your patience as we see Distilled fulfilled. It is going to take a bit longer than we expected. While I was hoping for everyone to have it in their hands in February, it may not be until March at this point.  But the good news? That's likely the case for most everyone now. Canada's will naturally be later. The UK/Europe boat is still out to sea (more on that later). So hopefully everyone will be receiving it around the same time, and we'll flood the internet w/ pics (BGG Hotness campaign, anyone? ;)

In fact, as I was writing this, I got a few photos of the games starting to arrive at the Funagain Warehouse for the domestic move. They've unloaded one of the three containers, and started palletizing the game. We've got nearly 12,000 base games coming through, so this is just 1/3 of the total shipment!

But pickles come in jars, so we're not out of the woods yet. This leads me to 🥒#3. There were three original reasons I chose Funagain over QML:

• I really liked Nick, the CEO. He would respond to me within 24 hours, always had a can-do attitude, and made it clear that he really cared. Other shops did as well, but I could tell that this was a smaller shop that could give that "personal touch" and attention to me as a first-time publisher
• They were in Indianapolis, close to me in Wisconsin, Gen Con (in their backyard!), and Origins in Columbus, OH. It would be easy to store product there, pick it up or have it shipped to cons, and back.
• They had Funagain Distribution (formerly Hitpoint Sales), run by James Takenaka. They are a consolidator who represents indies when they're too small to be noticed by the big distributors (the big distros usually don't care about you if you just have a single game).  Aligning with a consolidator is essentially a middle-middle-person (you sell to them, they sell to distributors, distros sell to retail). Yeah, you don't get as much of a cut when your games are sold, but they can actually get your games noticed by distributors and friendly local game stores (FLGS) all around the country and world. 

It's that last bullet that is 🥒#3. You see, James and Erica (his associate) had already sold 1,300 pre-orders of Distilled to distributors and retailers. Our agreement has always been that once all Kickstarter pledges are sent out to all of you, they can then start sending out the pre-order copies to retail.  But (and you can see where I might be going here), they are closing up shop too, just like the logistics/fulfillment arm.  Which means they can't do that. They need to send these games out before they close up shop! We've agreed that no games should be sent out until AFTER all other KS pallets are sent to me, Canada, and QML, but then shortly after that the 1,300 pre-ordered games are going to be sent to distributors and retailers. But, they/we are putting a hard "street date" of late March on them, which means they are not allowed to be out for sale on shelves or online before that time.

So here's where I am going to ask for your patience (and your recon eyes in the field!). We've seen it before. The Kickstarter campaign is still being fulfilled, yet we see the game for sale in our FLGS or online. Rage ensues. 😡 Online flaming of publisher commences. 😭 Please know that it was my 100% intention to delay those sales, but there may be the case where you see Distilled in the wild when it shouldn't be. Please feel free to send me the name of the retailer (maybe take a pic of it in the wild, even!) and I'll be happy to call them and ask them politely to keep that in the back until April 1st. But also know that some of our retailers were Kickstarter backers (and thus, won't be getting the game until you do anyway), and they do have the right to put it out for sale early! You'll likely be able to recognize this if they have anything else for sale besides the base game (metal coins, playmats, expansions, etc). If they do, they are legit and wonderful, as they were backers just like you. Again, since theirs will be fulfilled at the same time as yours,  I doubt this will be a problem).

And 🥒#4 isn't as pressing, but connected to the above. I now need to find a new consolidator or distributor! I've started meeting with and interviewing some, but it isn't nearly as big of a priority as simply getting the games to all of you, so I know it can wait a bit longer. 

What's a Pickle?! I call them Gherkins! 🌐🥒

 The pickles aren't over yet. This time, we're across the ocean, where they're often called gherkins. Luckily, none of them are as large as mine in the USA or the one in London, but we've got a few baby pickles to deal with as well.  First, some good news. Last I checked, our boat bound for the UK, fulfilling much of UK and Europe via Spiral Galaxy, is likely somewhere in the Mediterranean by the time you read this, and is set to hit Southampton on February 3rd. 

 For our German-language game backers, I've gotten information from Happyshops that their boat (the HMM GDANSK) is approaching the Suez Canal. I'm not sure where their final port is though, so I can't provide more information than that I'm afraid.  

Here's the gherkin 🥒, specifically for German, Dutch, and Ukrainian language backers: you are all going to get your fulfillment in two stages. This is due to the fact that the licensing company who covered the translation is in charge of fulfilling your language-based components of your pledge (the base game and the two expansions), but I am in charge of fulfilling all the other goodies via the help of Spiral Galaxy.  In the end, this really shouldn't do anything beyond breaking it up into two shipments, and getting them to you as quickly as possible (rather than having one wait for the other). So, you'll receive your game from the licensing company, who will be 100% responsible for fulfilling your game (German: Happyshops; Dutch: Liberation Game Design; Urkainian: Geekach), and you'll receive all the extras (metal coins, playmats, coasters, etc) from Spiral Galaxy out of the UK. I've worked hard to make sure each of you are showing up on both fulfillment lists, and have triple-checked it, so I'm confident we'll make this a smooth experience.  And no, you will not be asked to pay extra for shipping - I am going cover the difference for each of you, as this was my mistake in not keeping it all together for you (remember, always save that money and be prepared!). I will be sending all of you an email as well about this, since many of you likely aren't reading this update! 😅

Protospiel MN Recap 🎲🎻

I want to make this brief, but did want to let you know that development on Luthier, the next game from Paverson Games, continues to move along in a positive direction. I had a chance to playtest it four times the other weekend at Protospiel Minnesota, where I got to see old friends and make new ones. Abe Burson, the creator of Luthier and my co-designer, was able to make it out to play the game as well, which was fun! We playtest this about once a week on Tabletop Simulator using our Discord Server, so feel free to hop over to join (or watch) a game soon. If you playtest the game, you can be credited in the final rules as well!

Let's Get Social! 📱👍

Finally, as we are on the eve of the big fulfillment, I thought I'd throw out the following links to encourage you to like/follow them. This will be a way for you to post any unboxings, pictures, videos, plays, questions, or comments amongst others in the community! Here's a short list of our most active channels, all with a few hundred (to a few thousand for the FB group) members ready to welcome you:

•  Paverson Games Facebook Page and also the massive Distilled Facebook Group 
• Paverson Games Discord Server to help playtest or just chat about games
• Distilled on Boardgamegeek.com to leave a review or quickly search rules FAQ's
• We're also on Instagram for both Distilled and Paverson Games if you like to photograph game nights
• For the tweeters, we have both Paverson Games and Distilled as well, if that's your tune!

So that's Last Call for this big jar of pickles 'n' gherkins 🥒! As I hope you can tell, I'm remaining optimistic about us being able to still deliver Distilled to you soon (and safe). It was a hard couple of weeks, but I'm making the best possible (hard!) lemonade out of these pickles as I can, and hoping that we can get through this and start seeing some signs of it being delivered to all of you - whether that be on this side of the world or the other!

Sláinte,

DISTILLED is AFLOAT on BOATS!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Jan 04, 2023 at 01:44:10 AM

Happy New Year! I hope you had a chance to enjoy the holiday season with some games, maybe some spirits, and perhaps some friends and family. But I know why you're here, so let's cut right to the chase...

DISTILLED IS NOW LOADED ON SHIPS AND HEADING YOUR WAY!

But don't start pouring that celebratory glass just yet. We've still got a bit of time for this baby to age in the barrel a bit longer.

In this update:

• Addresses Locked 'n' Loaded
• How much Distilled is going where?
• How is it getting there?
• ETA on when it might arrive at your door (and who's handling that)
• Distilled on Top Game Review Lists of 2022

Addresses Locked 'n' Loaded! 🔫

A few weeks ago, all of you should have received an email from me (or Backerkit) stating that you had 48 hours to make any changes to your address. Now, all addresses are locked, which means they cannot be changed. This allowed us to get accurate final counts for us to put the right amount of games on each boat, and also allowed fulfillment companies like the one we're working with in Asia to start fulfilling some orders locally and in hard-to-reach areas of the globe. 

Some of you have reached out in a panic, as your address may be changing in the next month or so. Not to worry, I can still do it manually behind the scenes for you (send me a PM), but it is a biiiiit of an extra little hoop to jump through, so please be patient if I don't get back to you right away (and of course, once fulfillment begins, that can't even happen!).

How Much Distilled is Being Shipped? ⚖

Last month, I talked about how much Distilled is being printed and shipped around the world. I thought I'd create a visual graphic that better explains the sheer volume of Distilled that is floating on the high seas right now! Hopefully this shows you a bit more about how successful this project has become, largely thanks to all of you! Note: one of the North American containers is actually 45' but I couldn't find the graphic and didn't want to spend too much time in Photoshop editing that ;)

How is Distilled Traveling the Globe? 🚢

Here's likely why you've all kept reading. I'm happy to report that each of you can follow Distilled along on its journey, from the warehouses in China to the final destination in the UK and North America! 

 Tracking a Boat is as easy as following these steps:

• Visit https://www.marinetraffic.com/ (and/or download their app)
• In the "Search Marine Traffic" bar in the top right, enter the IMO # of the boat you'd like to locate, either the COSCO Oceania (9334923) heading to North America or the Al Zubara (9708875) heading to the UK
• From there, you can learn more about the boat, track it live, or even unlock a ton of other features with upgrading your account. 
• Pro-tip: add them to your "Fleet" 🖤 to quickly watch multiple boats at once, and clear out all the other boats from the map.

Current ETAs are as follows for these boats:

•  COSCO Oceania arriving at Prince Rupert, British Columbia (Canada) January 13th, 2023 
•  Al Zubara arriving at Southampton, UK January 30th, 2023* 

Remember, there are a number of things that could delay that boat from arriving on time, so I wouldn't set your watch by that. Furthermore, the above ETAs are only when it will ARRIVE at the shipyard. It still needs to unload, pass customs, process, and then take its final journey by land to the fulfillment warehouse, likely adding multiple weeks to any sort of date worth taking seriously.

*why so long to the UK? Well, it appears that the Al Zubara is making multiple stops in China before heading to its final destination in the UK, and has a much more round-about journey than the Oceania does, straight across the Pacific!

I fully expect folks to be providing updates via our Distilled Facebook Group or perhaps our Discord channel - I'm sure some of you are enterprising enough to discover and unlock some cool features on MarineTraffic.com, so be sure to share it with all of us Distillers!

When Will Distilled Arrive at my Door? 📦

So, after you've properly tracked the boats, the next question is likely "when will this thing be sitting on my table?". Remember, we originally estimated a delivery date of December 2022, so while we will be a bit late, we're happy to report it won't be *that late* as compared to many Kickstarter projects!

This answer is also quite complicated, as it will be different for everyone. A few things to consider:

• We are handling fulfillment of all English copies, as well as French and Spanish. Editions in German, Dutch, and Ukrainian will be fulfilled by those partners (Happyshops, Liberation Games, and Geekach, respectively).
• Each region has a different fulfillment partner we are working through, and will work at different speeds and processes. This includes Funagain in North America (with help from Pick & Pack in Canada), Spiral Galaxy in the UK and Europe, and VFI in Asia, Oceania, and Rest of World (RoW).

So let's start with those closest to the factory, and spread further out, while staying very conservative:

Asia & Oceania - your games are being fulfilled by VFI, who happens to be in the same country as our manufacturer! They are likely be sending packages to those in Asia in the next week or so, and putting games on a freighter to Australia very soon. I am hoping that this region will be fulfilled mainly in January and February.

United States - your games are being fulfilled by Funagain Logistics, in Indianapolis, IN. According to the estimate, the games SHOULD arrive in Indy trainyard by January 24th. Once the games are delivered to Funagain's warehouse, they'll start unpacking and sorting games, as well as palletizing some games to be sent to me in Wisconsin for my Local Pickup folks. Continental USA should get your games sometime in February, if all goes well.

Canada - Once the games arrive at Funagain (for USA, above), they'll palletize the Canadian portion and send to Pick & Pack. Once cleared back through customs (I know, that's ridiculous that they landed in BC and must go down to Indy first!), P&P will receive the games and get them shipped out. Canadian distillers should get games sometime in March, hopefully.

UK & EU - This is one of the hardest to estimate, since I don't have a "final location" estimate, but instead just an estimate based on when it will arrive at Southampton. Assuming it will take a week or two to get up to Spiral, I'd estimate that you'd be getting your games in late February or early March, but this is difficult to say.

Rest of World - these are actually also fulfilled by VFI, usually via air mail (no sense in having a boat take them across the globe only to be flown halfway back around it!). So in all honesty, you may get these in January or February, if all goes well. For those who want to complain that RoW are getting theirs sooner than everyone else, just take a look at their "Rest of World" shipping price they had to cough up for that! Ouch!

Top 10's in 2022 (and it hasn't even released yet!)🏆

 Last but not least, I wanted to call out two awesome content creators, who mentioned Distilled in their "top games" lists. My favorite part about this is that the games haven't even come out yet, so this is an especially awesome honor! Cheryl, from Nights Around a Table, picked Distilled as her #3 OF ALL TIME, which makes me so happy! 

Additionaly, Maggie of ThinkerThemer included it as her #6 game of 2022. I let them keep the game after the Kickstarter campaign (it costs well over $100 to ship a prototype to Australia, where they're located!), and can't wait for them to get the final copy as well!

So that's Last Call for this New Years update in January of 2023! While those babies are aging to perfection while traveling the high seas (much like this bourbon does!), we'll just have to sit back and wait a bit longer. If you're itchin' to sample what Paverson Games has next, don't forget to join the Paverson Games Facebook page or our Discord server, to have the opportunity to playtest our next title, Luthier!

Sláinte,

Manufacturing COMPLETE! So let's LOAD THOSE BOATS!!! 🚢
over 1 year ago – Tue, Dec 06, 2022 at 11:02:48 PM

Tis the season for GIFTS, Distillers, and boy do we have you covered!!! 🕎🎁🎄❄

This is a month of great news! First, let's begin with a cool video that shows the game being assembled at the factory, and getting ready for traveling halfway around the world! 

Updated Timeline 📅

While I've said it already in the past two updates, I'm going to say it again: SPOILER: YOU WILL NEED TO WAIT A LITTLE BIT LONGER TO RECEIVED DISTILLED. 😭 Yes, this might sound like a let-down, and while I'm sorry that we didn't hit our estimated Kickstarter delivery date of December 2022, there's not much we can do. We came this close to delivering Distilled to you on time, but the combination of the continued pandemic lockdowns in China and materials shortages surrounding paper ended up delaying things a bit too long. But I am happy to report that the entire campaign may only be just a month or two late (which is about 6-12 months ahead of 95% of all Kickstarter campaigns, so we feel like we're doing pretty well on that front!)!

Were you thinking that Distilled would be a special holiday present for that gamer or whisky fan in your life? Perhaps consider printing out an image of Distilled's box front and wrapping it up to give them, letting them know it will be here very soon (bonus: throw a bottle of whisky in there too, and I guarantee they'll forgive you!) 🎁🎲🥃

So, on to more good news...

Manufacturing Update 🏭

I'm happy to report that manufacturing is complete for Distilled, and we are now starting to set-up logistics for freight! 🚢 We will be handling freight via three different routes, sending the below quantities to the following regions (these quantities includes the base game as well as all add-ons 'n' goodies like metal coins, expansions, playmats, etc.):

• 50,000+ items to the USA & Canada (including 12,000+ base games), fulfilled by Funagain
• 17,000+ items to the UK (which includes the EU), fulfilled by Spiral Galaxy
• 6,500+ items to Asia and Oceania (which includes Australia & New Zealand), fulfilled by VFI

That's a lot of cargo containers, especially given that the North America shipment alone is two full 40' containers, plus another 20' container! I'm hopeful that by next month (or sooner!), I'll be able to provide you with updates so that all of you can track Distilled's progress on the high-seas, in real-time! 🔎

What this means is that I will be sending an email to all 8,080 of you at some point in the next month or so to warn you that we are LOCKING FINAL ADDRESSES. You will all have a chance to review the shipping address we have on file for you (which you entered), and make any final changes.  In fact, if you feel like you never did this, or want to get ahead of the game, pop over to backerkit.com and check for yourself (if you lost your survey, follow this link w/ your email address ready). After we lock addresses, that will be the place we are sending your Distilled rewards, so you'll want to be sure it is correct, as there are no take-backs!

DISTILLED UNBOXING VIDEO! 📦

I'm thrilled to report that the unboxing of Distilled was fantastic, and I know many of you tuned in to watch and comment! Confession time: I personally am NOT a fan of when Kickstarter campaigns post pictures of the final game in an update (and I avoid watching unboxings), as I love to be surprised when it arrives at my doorstep. But if you're someone who enjoys a good unboxing, check it out below, featuring both me and our artist, Erik Evensen (also, if you're curious about our next title, Luthier, rewind to the beginning to watch my interview with Abe Burson!).

Distilled Online Generator 💻

I'm absolutely thrilled to share with all of you that the just for fun 'n' totally optionalDistilled Online Generator is now ready for final testing by YOU, our backers! We would love it if you tested it and provided feedback.  Be sure to post some of your favorite creations or any bugs you find in the comments below! 

What is this Distilled Online Generator? This was unlocked in our Kickstarter campaign, and created by our team member, Dr. Seth Berrier. It allows users to create custom tasting flights and custom spirits! With this, you can tailor Distilled to personal preferences by creating and printing extra tasting flights and invented spirits for your own game!

Help Us Playtest Luthier 🎻 (our next game)

We announced it briefly before, but I'm going to do it again, as we're now starting to playtest our next game, Luthier, in public! This past weekend, we were at Protospiel Madison, where we even had a few of our Distilled backers playtest the game (Tim is wearing a Distilled shirt in the below photo, and helped us run games at Gen Con as well!). We'll be doing it again in January at Protospiel Minnesota and also at Con of the North in February (Luthier is nearly all sold out for the latter - just two seats left for the whole weekend - so grab 'em while they're open). Consider registering for either of those cons to help us develop Luthier into just as awesome a game as Distilled has become! 

So that's Last Call for this December update! As you can see (especially in the updated progress chart below) things are really starting to pickup steam. I'm excited to be able to send you freight updates soon, and keep an eye on your email for locking final addresses in the coming weeks as well. It is all coming together, and we can't wait for this delicious dram to be on your table very soon!

Sláinte,

Mystery Box 📦 & Lots of Factory Videos! 📹
over 1 year ago – Fri, Nov 04, 2022 at 06:55:24 AM

Happy November, Distillers!

I don't know about you, but the anticipation is starting to build for me, as I am getting updates from the factory almost daily, via videos, photos, or even fedex tracking numbers. This update is all about that - me passing on some of that exciting stuff to all of you!

I got particularly excited when a MYSTERY BOX arrived at my door the other day! Although it looked a bit worse for the wear on the outside, it had a good excuse - it had spent the last week traveling from China (via Alaska) to Wisconsin! Yes folks, inside this beat-up old box is the official factory sample of Distilled.

 And I want all of YOU to join me in taking a look at it! While I had to rip it open right away to report back to the factory about any mistakes or changes, I'm going to re-create that unboxing with all of you next week, during my Whisk(e)y Wednesday on Facebook (and now YouTube!). 

I've actually got a double-header booked for that night, in which we'll begin by talking with Abe Burson, the creator and my co-designer for Luthier (Paverson Games' next title). If you're a fan of musical instruments or you play music yourself, you'll want to join in to hear about how his passion for music and games helped to create Luthier over 10 years ago!

Then, after speaking with Abe, I'll spend the second half of the show on the world premiere unboxing of Distilled, and I'll be joined by Erik Evensen, the game's artist!

 So, be sure to either head over to Facebook and RSVP to the event (so you'll be notified) or follow Paverson Games on YouTube, so that you can watch - and comment on - this awesome night of celebration!

VIDEOS VIDEOS VIDEOS

As I mentioned, I have gotten some great videos from our manufacturer, Whatz, over in China. Most of what you'll see below is not from their factory, but instead from other factories they partner with for non-paper products that are part of the game. 

Take a bit of time to enjoy watching some of these, and I'll be curious to see if you are as amazed as I am at how much of a personal touch many of the components get! For more videos, head on over to my YouTube Channel!

 Did you back the signature blend? If so, you'll be getting some of those cast metal coins for your very own! Check out this video to see them polishing those coins!

 I added some edits to this video, as I couldn't believe that EVERY. SINGLE. PLAYER TOKEN.  is screen-printed by hand!

 This is before they are died a golden bronze color, but still cool to see the hundreds of coins waiting to be polished!

 If you got a neoprene playmat, this is how they are initially printed before being affixed to the neoprene, and you can watch this video to see the stitching and this video to watch the sorting!!

So that's Last Call for this November update! Things are really starting to pick-up steam this month, as they are targeting to be finished by the end of November. Be sure to tune in next week on Facebook or YouTube for Whisk(e)y Wednesday, where I'll unbox the entire game, live - that is unless you don't want to spoil your own surprise!

Sláinte,

 P.S. Just like last month, it's time to give some props...

 I'd like to highlight a fellow indie designer friend of mine who currently has his dream up on Kickstarter. If you're into polyomino tile laying and 1v1 two player games, I'd highly recommend checking out Super Snipers on Kickstarter right now. Galen is a fantastic fellow whom I met during the pandemic, and it's been a joy to watch him bring his dream to reality over the course of the last couple years.