Pallets of Paper & Paverson's Next Game!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 04, 2022 at 11:49:44 PM

October is upon us, Distillers!

A few fun, big announcements here that I'm hoping you all can take a few seconds to read. Everything from factory updates to new game announcements, it's been another busy month for Paverson Games! For this month's issue of Distilled Kickstarter Updates, we've got the following:

• Something is finally happening at the Factory! 🥳
• Martin G. comes through again with another printable masterpiece 🖨
• What's Next from Paverson Games! 🎊
• Gamehole's & Protospiels - weird con names for 2022, that I'll be attending 🙃
• A spooooky opportunity to support a new indie game 👻

 Materials Delivered to the Factory!

Finally, the day has come - evidence from Whatz Games that Distilled is just about ready to begin production! 🥳 They sent me this video last week, and stated that they will begin production right after the national holiday week of celebration titled "Golden Week" (celebrating the founding of the People's Republic of China). So, if all goes well, the printing presses might begin on October 10! 🤞

 What you see above is pallets of paper to print the thousands of cards, boards, and manuals for Distilled!

One item that apparently did slip in to the printer before the National holiday were the coasters! Many of Distilled's items are actually produced at other factories (not the main Whatz factory), which is quite common. Regardless, they will be sending me a "production copy" of every single item, presented in its final packaging w/ shrink/baggies, SKUs, and all.  I need to inspect each and every item to make SUPER SURE it all is exactly as we want it for all of you. For instance, we're printing 8,000 sets of coasters, so we want to be sure these are correct! Anyone who is a Signature Blend backer will be receiving a free set of these double-sided beauties to hold their drinks while playing!

As a point of how I'm investigating each item: I may write back to ask if this would make more sense in a shrink-wrapped or folded cellophane wrap. While I don't mind this current packaging (you can re-use the baggie), it might make sense to consider the impact this has on overall weight/space. I'll also be double-checking each of the eight coasters individually, to make sure of things like the whisk(e)y label having two sides (one w/ an 'e' and one without!) and that printing is at the expected quality for these. 

I'm fairly certain that by next month, I should have full production samples of all items, including the game, to show off here. We will see! 🤞

AME-PNP 🖨

Martin G. has done it again! First, he crafted an awesome PnP of the base game, which all backers received. Now, he's done it again with both the Africa & Middle East Expansion and also the Kickstarter Mini-Expansion! What this means for everyone is that you can log back in to your Backerkit account and download the mini-expansion as part of the base game (it is in a separate folder). This came free along with the main PnP.

Regarding the Africa & Middle East Expansion, you would only be receiving that if you specifically paid for that PnP add-on in the pledge manager, so it is likely that *most* of you would not have gotten this email notification. But if you did, you would have received an email a week or so ago stating that it was also ready for download. One of our backers, Alexander Norbäck, already printed it out and it looks AWESOME, below!

Also, both game rulebooks are being updated on their respective BGG pages (perhaps live by the time you see this!). If you are a BGG user, please do me a favor and both Like and Subscribe to the base game and the expansion on BGG via these links:

• Distilled Base Game on BoardGameGeek
• Distilled: Africa & Middle East Expansion on BoardGameGeek

📣 Announcing the next title by Paverson Games! 📣

Distilled is just about to start production. And as you know from supporting and following this journey, it takes a loooong time to create a game. So I knew that we needed to get started on our next title as soon as possible - yet make sure we've done everything we could for Distilled. Earlier this year I realized that the time was ready to strike out on our next game design journey. So with that, let's pull back the curtain on Paverson Games' next title: Luthier: The Art of the Instrument! 🎻

Staying strong to our interest in a hearty blend of both mechanics and theme, and pivoting from one sophisticated pastime to the next, we are turning our focus from fine whiskies to classical music! Luthier is co-designed by myself and Abraham Burson, with heavy game development by Richard Woods, who served a similarly strong role in Distilled.

Luthier puts you in the seat of one of the many different famous luthiers and instrument makers from 18th century Europe, crafting various musical instruments for famous composers, nobles, and performers. Fans of Distilled will recognize the attention to theme-driven gameplay and historical research, coupled with a new and unique mechanic, which this time involves hidden bidding and worker placement. 

Be sure to hop over to my blog announcement about Luthier to learn more about the history and details behind the game. Or perhaps join our Luthier Facebook group to engage in our community and potentially help to playtest this next title that will come to Kickstarter in the future! Comment below if you are a fan of classical music or play(ed) an instrument! Perhaps your favorite composer or instrument will even show up in the game!

And if BoardGameGeek is more your speed, feel free to also give us a like and follow at the new Luthier BGG page!

It's Where You Put Your Games, 2022 Con Edition

We had a wonderful opportunity to meet some of you at a few cons this summer, including both Origins and Gen Con. While we aren't able to attend Essen or PAX Unplugged this year, we will be doing a couple more local cons (as a full-time professor/administrator, it is hard for me to get away!). Perhaps I'll get to see you at one of the two final cons we're attending this year, both in Madison, and in our home state of Wisconsin...

First up will be Gamehole Con! Perhaps one of the strangest names out there, we'll have a small booth and will be running a bunch of games throughout the con. While the games were sold out months ago, you can still stop by the booth to check out the game or even buy a Distilled t-shirt! KS BACKER SPECIAL for 2022:  Kickstarter backers can get a shirt at cost for only $10! We'll also be taking pre-orders for the retail version of Distilled, so if you had friends who had hoped to get it but missed the Kickstarter, they can do that in person at the Gamehole. 

In December, I'll be returning to Madison and bringing Luthier to Protospiel Madison! 🎻 A protospiel is where a bunch of designers (and usually some players) bring their prototypes to be playtested multiple times (while also playtesting other games as well). These events are open to the public, so if you are someone who enjoys playing prototypes before they hit Kickstarter or retail, this could be a great opportunity to do just that! 

Additionally, I will also be giving a presentation at the adjacent Crafter Con, about my Kickstarter experience with Distilled. Also, if you are a game designer, it would be super-fun to playtest your game, and if you're just looking to playtest games, perhaps you'll be one of the first in the world to try Luthier in person!

So that's Last Call for this October update! Lots of great steps forward, but still more exciting things to happen in these final months of 2022! Until then, I hope all of you can enjoy this spooky fall weather and I'll talk to all of you again in early November!

Sláinte,

 P.S. In the spooky vein of Halloween...

I wanted to give a quick shout out to game design friends of mine who are launching their very first Kickstarter campaign today. I've been playtesting and communicating with these guys for a while now, and am really excited about their big debut with The Stifling Dark. Consider giving this Minnesota-Wisconsin crew some love by hopping over to their Kickstarter page to check it out!

...and of course, the (unchanged this month) progress chart!

Teeny-Tiny Update!
over 1 year ago – Thu, Sep 08, 2022 at 08:55:06 PM

Greetings, Distillers!

With the start of September, it means it is the start of fall as well - back to school, the air getting a bit more crisp, and the smell of pumpkin-spice lattes wafting through the air! Coming off of a pretty big double-whammy August update, this is going to feel a bit flat, I'm afraid! We truly are playing the "waiting game" right now, with everything being in the factory's hands. 

But if anyone knows me, they know that I can't just sit around and twiddle my thumbs, so this provides a few hints about the future. So in this update you'll find:

• A Small but Mighty Expansion
• Project D.O.G.
• A Future Segue
• Updated delivery schedule

Cask Strength

As some of you might recall, my original design for Distilled was actually a deck builder. As with most deck building games, you are creating an engine within your deck, which means that each card (usually) has its own special power. Without going into details here (read it via the above link), I made the call to change directions with Distilled and drop the deck building mechanic. This meant that most cards could lose their actions/effects, as it became a bit too complicated to manage both those and also just simply purchasing different cards to craft recipes. 

But we've also had the idea that it would be neat to figure out a way to get these types of cards back into the game, somehow. We knew that it wasn't something necessary for the base game, as it would only increase the weight and crunchiness to a point that some might not appreciate it (and become overwhelmed). But we've always made it a goal to return to that for our more hardcore audience.

Well, I'm happy to report that we've started working on what we are calling the "Cask Strength" mini-expansion, which - just like a cask strength whisky - would infuse a bit of additional power or "oomph" into the game. Players seeking a bit more decision space beyond the base game could acquire this to essentially replace certain cards in the market with these enhancements, plus include another few add-ons and fun things we think will be neat to have in this mini-expansion. 

Our developer, Richard Woods, is taking the lead on designing this, and is already off and running with some ideas, prototypes, and playtesting. We're hoping this will result in a small tuckbox of cards, with a goal of having it ready sometime next year, but we will see! 

But as you can imagine, we hope that this is only one more addition to a nice collection of expansions. Here's a question for all of you: what would YOU want to see in a future Distilled expansion? Leave it below in the comments - I can't wait to see what people post, as maybe it will find itself in a future expansion for Distilled!

PROJECT D.O.G.

When we passed $400K during the Kickstarter campaign, we announced a few cool things, including blank flavor cards (so you could create your own flavors), the first player token being metal, and most uniquely, the idea of an online generator to create tasting flights and your own recipes! 

I'm thrilled to report that our own Seth Berrier, who was responsible for creating the amazing Tabletop Simulator mod of Distilled, is at it again with the Distilled Online Generator, or "D.O.G." for short! He's already made some amazing headway, with our goal of releasing it around the same time the game is released to all of you! 

Seth is still a ways out from anything being ready, but I did want to include the below screenshots to help you visualize what this is beginning to look like, and how cool it will be!

This completely free online tool (thanks to your generous Kickstarter support!) will allow you to do two things:

First, you'll be able to place a custom combination of recipes into your own unique tasting flight. With eight separate flights in the base game, we feel we have presented a LOT of balanced and thematic options for you, but there is still a great amount of potential for new combinations! This will allow you to craft your own combo by dragging and dropping recipes onto the clipboard, and then allow you to print them out for your next custom game night!

Secondly, and this is where it really opens up some awesome potential, this D.O.G. will also allow you to create your own, unique spirits, complete with recipe and labels! For instance, some of our Greek friends were sad to hear that Ouzo was cut from the final collection of spirits. Fear not! You can now create your own recipe for Ouzo (named whatever you'd like), to print and play in the game! We're hoping this will not only result in some cool ideas, but also some great community sharing and fan-created content! 

Remember, what you see above is simply the bare bones, prototype version. There is still a great amount of work to do, and the entire project is very much still in active development. We have stretch goals of allowing you to upload your own images for the labels, amongst other things, for example.

As we get more refined, we'll be looking to our Paverson Games Discord server to help us bug test it, so if you're the type that loves to be on the bleeding edge, come on over to join us!

PROJECT: SEGUE

I'm really, really excited about this one, but I can't say anything yet! The yet-to-be-named project that I'm currently referring to as "Project: Segue" will be the next game by Paverson Games, released sometime in the (somewhat distant) future! Right now, I'm putting most of my energy towards making sure those Distilled games are manufactured and shipped to all of you, but have also been considering "what's next" as well. I'm hoping that in the next few months, I can tell you more about this exciting next chapter for all of us!

Timeline Update

Unfortunately, not much to report here. There has been power/energy usage restrictions enacted in China as of late, and this has delayed the project, sadly. They are now targeting it to be completed in late November, which we hope would mean that it would be arriving to all of you in Q1 of 2023, as I mentioned last update. I'll continue to provide any other updates I get from the factory, as it is in their hands at the moment!

So that's Last Call for this September update! A few exciting things on the horizon, and we continue to hope and wait on the manufacturing to be completed! Until then, I hope all of you can enjoy the upcoming fall weather and I'll talk to all of you again in early October!

Sláinte,

August Update Part 2: Post-Gen Con (the one about GAMETRAYZ!)
over 1 year ago – Sat, Aug 13, 2022 at 11:51:47 PM

Happy mid-August, everyone! I hope you like pictures, cuz boy-o is this update packed with them! Remember, I sent "Part 1" of this update right before Gen Con, and now we're here with Part 2 right after Gen Con.  Read and look on, because we have a few things to cover:

• Post-Gen Con Pics!
• Drink Coaster Pics!
• Playmat Pics!
• GAMETRAYZ PICS!
• Timeline Update...

(so yeah, allll the pics! that's a lot of pics!)

We Came, We Saw, We GEN CON'd (Veni, Vidi, Gencondi)

What a trip Gen Con was! As I mentioned before, I did not get a booth this year, but we did have 28 sold-out game events of Distilled, which were expertly GM'd by Jessica and Tim throughout the con. We had various Kickstarter backers play the game and swing by, and also sold a few pre-orders.  This was "Gen Con Recon", in which I took about 150 photos of booths and setups, so that I can be best prepared for next year when I actually have a booth! It was also great to see a ton of backers and friends, hold some business meetings, and even take a Lime scooter out to the warehouse where Distilled will be fulfilled through Funagain Logistics!

Put a Drink on It

Are you a Signature Blend backer from our campaign? If so, here's a few shots of the cardboard drink coasters you're getting! We have all 15 spirit labels converted into one side of the 8 drink coasters (whiskey/whisky is on one coaster).  These are the awesome labels that Erik designed, and he popped them onto a circular format for us to enjoy while protecting our tables from ever-condensating bevvies. Remember, these are just fun freebies, so they are made of cardboard and something neat to have around the table when you're playing!

Market Fresh

I'm very excited to share this one, as nobody has seen it yet (besides those who played at Gen Con!). This is the Premium Market Playmat that some of you ordered. We had it available to buy during the Kickstarter as an add-on, but don't sweat it if you missed out - we'll be selling it next year at cons and potentially online. Like most neoprene mats, this is NOT required for the game, and doesn't fit in the box, but is a fun way to bling out the experience, especially if you play on a hard surface (picking up cards off of a hard surface can be tricky without something like this). 

I hope you'll agree that Erik has knocked it out of the park again. He decided to mimic the style of your distillery player board (with that orthographic front view inside a building), and has three unique floors of a building depicting the three rows of the market. At the top, we have an empty convention hall, waiting for the specialists and equipment to fill the Distillery Upgrade row! In the middle, it is the indoor farmers market, to hold all our Premium Ingredients. Finally, in the basement is the storage for the Items that are our bottles and barrels. Off to the right side he's included a "loading zone" to reminder you to load things on to the truck (which will be parked right next to the mat). Overall, I couldn't be happier. And it is of course stitched around the edges too!

GAMETRAYZ TIME!

Alright, admit it. You scrolled down here first, once you saw the word GAMETRAYZ up above. I don't blame you. This is exciting. This is yet another thing that is making Distilled a premium, top-shelf product, and allowing you to have easy setup and teardown every time you play! And of course, no plastic baggies needed for cards and chits with this system!

This is an especially extensive Gametrayz setup, and the extra-large box length, width, and height demonstrate that. With a total of eight different tray components across three layers, this sucker is pretty sweet.

Immediately upon opening the box, you'll see the main rulebook and "First Taste" guide (remember, we have two rulebooks in Distilled, as the second one acts as a beginner guide).  Once you lift that off, you'll see the five distillery player board resting in the top tray, like you see above...

Once you take off the player boards, as well as the truck and basic market boards (not pictured), you'll see the five recipe clipboards, spirits awards, first player marker, and barrel round marker in their own dedicated, clear tray. I've taken it out to show it in the above picture. But what is under that is the true magic...

The middle three trays are what makes Distilled unique, and truly top shelf. I came up with these design ideas myself, and sent them to Gametrayz to execute (I have a background in 3D modeling and sculpture, so I always love thinking in the third dimension whenever possible). I wanted something thematic, so that when you opened up the box, it wasn't just a simple rectangle. I wanted unique shapes to Distilled, much like PARKS and other games have done.

The money and cube trays serve two purposes - they store and organize the components, but they also can be dropped out on the table and used during the game. Configure them however you want, as they are two identical containers. I deliberately wanted small barrel shapes for these, to evoke the theme of Distilled, and knew that we could push it even further with the label tray...

The label tray is the centerpiece of the trays. I envisioned a giant barrel that had separate sections for each set of 5 labels (Moonshine and Vodka have 10, and there is one giant row for all the Signature Recipe Labels). All labels (and more) fit in a nice, barrel-shaped, golden container! While this could sit out on the table, it likely won't be used during the game. You'll grab the labels you need during setup and set this aside until you're ready to put them back in the box.

Gametrayz was able to also fit the 5 player markers and 50/100 lap tokens in there, which is a nice touch. You can see where all those Signature Recipe Labels go in the back as well (between the double-long Moonshine and Vodka label areas).

But oh, what's this? EMPTY SPOTS? That's right folks, we got you - this holds your entire Africa & Middle East Expansion as well! You'll have new Signature Labels, as well as four new, unique labels from that region for these four empty spots!

Last but not least, here's where all the weight of the game - the hundreds of cards - goes! The card tray at the bottom of the box holds ALL the cards, plus all the Africa & Middle East expansion cards! Oh, and are you a sleever? It fits all of those cards SLEEVED as well! Paverson Games takes care of our sleevers - don't you forget it!

Overall, while the Gametrayz system adds a fairly significant cost to the project, as well as the space it takes up (it could be a MUCH smaller box!), we feel that this top-shelf, deluxe experience is what our fans want, and I'm so absolutely thrilled to be delivering such a high-quality product to y'all!

Will I Get this by December?

Many of you have been asking about when Distilled might be delivered to you. As you might recall, our original estimate for fulfillment (to your doorstep) was December 2022. While that is still four months away, it is looking like it might be a stretch to be aiming for that date. While we will begin printing very soon (Whatz is ordering all the materials for the game and expansions/add-ons next week), the printing process takes 2-3 months in itself!!! Even if we're super optimistic, and the game is in fact finished in November, the likelihood of it getting halfway around the globe and to your doorstep within a month is darn near impossible. 

I don't want to state a specific date yet, but I'm hopeful that if we can't make the December 2022 estimate, then we hope to be getting it to you just after the new year (Q1 of 2023). But I'll honestly be able to provide a much more educated estimate (it is always an estimate!) in another month or two. 

Finally, you'll see our progress chart at the bottom of this email, and I can tell you that it will not be changing much in the next few months. I just don't want you to wonder why nothing is progressing, because it actually is - it will take a couple months at the factory, with such a big order as Distilled is (we're printing 30,000 copies of the base game alone!!!). 

So, there's Last Call for our 2nd mini-update of the month. Hopefully you'll agree that the images in this update more than make-up for a bit less writing on my part. Pictures definitely are worth 1,000 words, especially when they have cool stuff like coasters, mats, and trays in them!

Until next time, Sláinte!

August Update Part 1: Pre-Gen Con (Short 'n' Sweet)
over 1 year ago – Wed, Aug 03, 2022 at 06:38:32 AM

Due to the behemoth that is GEN CON in August, I've decided to divide up our August update into two distinct parts. Part 1, which is what you are reading, will be quite minimal, with a few hints at whetting your appetite for Part 2, which will be a post-Gen Con, mid-August update!

So, without further ado, here's a brief Part 1 Update:

• GET YER T-SHIRTS HEEEEERE! (and Gen Con Preview)
• PnP in the Wild & Tabletop Audio is now available for streaming!
• On Whisk(e)y Wednesday: Gametrayz, Coasters, and Neoprene Playmat!

T-SHIRTS, GET YER T-SHIRTS (at Gen Con only!)!

I mentioned this in last month's update, but I had a small run of t-shirts made for our fans, and will be bringing about 40 shirts with me to Gen Con. Some of you have already reached out to reserve one, and if you will be at Gen Con (or know someone who will be), I'm selling them at cost ($10) to our Kickstarter backers, and for $20 to everyone else. NOTE: If you want to make sure to get one,  send me a PM ASAP to confirm I have your size, and then reserve and pay for one (supplies limited!)! 👕💰

While I won't have a booth at Gen Con (like I did at Origins), we'll be running 28 separate games of Distilled throughout the con, with awesome support from Jessica and Tim, our game masters. I hope you'll swing by to say hi to them in Hall D. Distilled will occupy tables 47 & 48 of the Purple Zone throughout the con. 

The reason I won't have a booth for Paverson Games is because we don't have product to sell yet, and the cost of booths at Gen Con is so enormous, that I felt it was best to use this year as my "Gen Con Recon" (Gen (Re)Con?) year. I'll be meeting with various folks, playing some games, and cruising the exhibit hall, so that I can be best prepared for a strong showing next year. I really do hope that I might get to meet many of you, so perhaps we'll  bump into each other (I'll be wearing a Distilled t-shirt everyday, natch!).

Printing, Playing, and...Listening!

Two big milestones that support the game came out in the last month, both of which all of you - as Kickstarter backers - got to help support (and now enjoy!). First, we released the long anticipated Print and Play (PnP) build by Martin Gonzalvez, that we talked about in last month's update.  I've already seen hints of it being built by some fans (check out Alexander's, below!), and would love to have any other pictures of this progress posted on our Distilled Facebook group! Thanks again to Martin for crafting such a masterpiece - I know he is hard at work at finishing the Africa & Middle East expansion PnP right now, so for those who also ordered that PnP as an add-on, you'll get that to look forward to as well!

Isn't that PnP above awesome? Alexander, posted these pics (and many more) on Martin's Print and Play Hideaway Facebook group, and I have give him amazing credit for his insert design, as well as the high quality attention throughout the build - it seriously looks like the real thing!

In addition to the sweet PnP files that every single one of you awesome backers got a chance to access (you should have received an email from Paverson Games and Backerkit to access it at a super-secret link, as it is only for your personal use as a backer!), we also made the commissioned, ambient soundtrack to Distilled free and available to all to stream online! Remember, you all got exclusive access to that soundtrack as well (via a similar email), in which you get to have the files as mp3's (and multiple iterations of each track). For the general public, they will just be available on Tabletop Audio's website. Just search "Distilled" and all six tracks will pop up!

Tune in to Pre-Gen Con Whisk(e)y Wednesday TOMORROW!

Our Distilled Facebook group members know that I usually try to do a "Whisk(e)y Wednesday with Dave" about once a month on the Facebook group, just to check-in and give people an update on all things Distilled. If all goes well, I'm hoping to do this from Gen Con on Wednesday (tomorrow) night! Depending on how my travels go that day, it may be in my hotel room, or it may be somewhere in the convention center - we'll see! I also don't know exactly when it will be, but likely around 8pm or 9pm CST.

But what is most important is that I'll be revealing the gametrayz insert and neoprene playmat live on camera, as well as the promo drink coasters. Who knows if I'll have whisky with me, but I thought it would be fun to do this from Indianapolis, before Gen Con really kicks off the following day!

So, there's Last Call on your short but sweet update! I'll be back in a couple weeks with another update, where I'll have pictures from Gen Con, pics of the trays and mat, and other exciting updates! So hopefully this satiated your appetite, and perhaps I'll see a few of you later this week in Indy - let's do a fist bump and grab a pic together! 

Until then, Sláinte!

PS. Remember, I'll have a limited supply of t-shirts at Gen Con - I'll just need your size and also payment via paypal ($10 for KS backers, $20 for others). Send me a PM in case this is of interest to you!

Sizzlin' Summer Update - from Scotland!
almost 2 years ago – Sat, Jul 09, 2022 at 05:18:20 AM

Happy July Distillers! 

Okay, there is WAAAAAYYY too much to cram in to this month's update. But I'm gonna do my best. First off, I'm currently writing this while in SCOTLAND (more on that in a bit)! This has been a crazy past month, and will be crazy for most of July and early August too (especially with GEN CON happening in exactly one month from now!!!).

Buckle up, as I take you on a whirlwind update this month full of goodies (but pardon the brevity of words this month, due to SCOTLAND (again, more on that in a bit!)).

• Caledonia (aka Scotland!)
• Origins Postmortem
• Factory Sample Photos 
• Translations Complete! 
• PnP is (almost) READY!

"Caledonia*, you're calling me..." 

Some of you are probably saying "wait, Dave is in SCOTLAND!?! Did he take the Distilled money and run, drinking his way through the country, from distillery to distillery?!?" 🥃 Oh how I kinda-sorta wish you were correct! No, I am actually working as part of my main (real?) job! I'm currently teaching 23 students who are about to start their journey as college students at UW-Stout in the fall. It is a new program we've developed called "JUMPSTART: Scotland", where I'm teaching a class about Design Thinking in Scotland, and my colleague, Dr. Mitch Ogden, is teaching Scottish Storytelling. We're having a great time, but boy is it a lot of work to be simultaneously teaching 23 students and also trying to continue to move Distilled along! The experience runs through July 22nd, after which I'll be returning to the states (and taking a looong nap). 

Bad news: not much (if any) game playing right now, and not much whisky drinking either! 😭

Good news: The final project for the students is to design a game about or inspired by Scotland, so I'll get to play some game prototypes at least!

Overall, me being here - three years after I created Distilled in this very country - has been a wonderful experience, even if it has added a bit of stress to things ;) 

 PS. And one more awesome thing that happened: I finally got to meet Richard, our developer, in person! We got together for an awesome weekend of gaming in the Lakes District of England, and while Richard beat me at pretty much every game we played (no surprise there!), it was still a blast! Here's a picture of Richard and I with Peter Rabbit, as there is loads of Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit-themed attractions there that our families really enjoyed. 

*Caledonia is another name for Scotland, and here's a beautiful song about it too ;)

ORIGINS Game Fair Report

Lordy be, where to begin with Origins? It seems like a lifetime ago, but really it was only a month in the past! In short, it was abso-freakin-awesome! I got to meet so many cool people in person, had Kickstarter backers come by my booth to say hi, and we spread the Distilled gospel to the good people of the Midwest and beyond! We had TWENTY EIGHT sold out games, all being run by the amazing Amanda, John, and Jason, and our booth was constantly busy, with awesome support from the fantastic Holly and even some help from my brother! The visuals created by Erik for the booth and game tables really popped as well, drawing people in from afar. I could go on and on, but to keep things short, here's Origins by the numbers, as well as some pics from the great event:

• 28 four-player games of Distilled played
• 83 games sold as pre-orders
• 112 T-shirts sold (or given away)
• 222 Distilled shot glasses sold (or given away)

We gave a free shot glass to every person who played the game, and a shot glass and shirt to those who pre-ordered the retail version of Distilled (only you fine folks get the KS goodies!). The glasses aren't the same high quality that you'll get as Signature Blend backers, but it is close (I printed these myself through a company in the states). I had the t-shirts made and sold at cost ($10) to our Kickstarter backers, and for $20 to everyone else. NOTE: I'll have Distilled t-shirts at Gen Con as well, but only if you send me a PM ahead of time and reserve and pay for a size! 👕💰

Factory Samples are here!

June was also a crazy month for getting some amazing stuff from the factory! This came in the form of both the all-hallowed "white sample" as well as color proofs of all printed paper in the game. As you'll see from the photos below, this was a SUBSTANTIAL step forward in having Distilled become a reality!

What is a white sample, you ask? Well, it is the ENTIRE game's paper products (box, cards, boards, etc.), all cut out and wrapped up, but without any printing. This is important to have and review, for a variety of reasons:

• checking the die-cuts on all cardboard and tokens
• measuring everything for length, width, and depth (thickness)
• estimating the weight and volume of the product
• understanding what the punchboards will look like
• reviewing the dual-layered and other boards for quality

As you'll see below, you really start to get the idea of the scale of Distilled, and exactly how much you'll be getting packed into this box! This also helped us measure the Gametrayz samples, which I'll be revealing next month (and boy do they look awesome!). 

But nothing can communicate the sheer size of Distilled like the pages and pages of color proofs. At roughly the same time as the white sample arrived, I also received giant tubes with every single card and other printed element showing up at my door as well. This consisted of GIANT color prints of the cards, boards, tokens, rules, and boxes for us to examine. 

Erik and I investigated things thoroughly, and found no errors, but did decide to make some final changes for accessibility (to make it easier to read) on a small collection of cards. Otherwise, things looked fantastic. Erik's artwork really shines, and pops out from the page over and over again!

 Finally, Richard suggested I lay everything out on the floor and take a picture, so you can see the serious, serious size of Distilled.  I can't believe that is all going to fit in a single box, and wow will it be phenomenal when you get it!

Watch your Language!

On the language front, I'm happy to report that ALL LANGUAGES have been translated and completed! This is another massive milestone, as it has occupied countless hours of my time over the past few months, and represents a lot of work by some talented translators and graphic designers. I am sad to report that the first print run will not be including Japanese or Traditional Chinese, as those localization partners were unable to complete things in time (but fear not, they will be coming through in the next print run!). As a reminder, neither of these were connected to the Kickstarter campaign, so it does not affect anyone's pledges or rewards. Special thanks to Michael at Meeple on Board Vanguard for helping to navigate some of these tricky localization issues. I've included a few samples below, to help you see how Distilled will truly be an international experience!

PnP Dropping Soon...

Some of you might remember that we have been looking out for our friends in the Print and Play (PnP) community since the very start of Distilled's journey. Now, this goes beyond offering a free "lite" version of the game for download during the campaign (which we did). We also offered the PnP as a backer tier, and have thrown in the PnP version of the game for free to all of you backers of the physical game as well.  

If it were just as easy as "sharing the factory files with you", we could have done that a long time ago, but we're doing this RIGHT.

We're working with well-known PnP builder and designer, Martin Gonzalvez, to deliver the best possible PnP build of Distilled that we can! Martin has been working extremely hard over the past month or so to complete the base game's build (with the expansion to follow shortly thereafter). I'm thrilled to announce that we are just about ready with the PnP version for all of you to download and access! 

Just like with the soundtrack announcement last month, you'll be receiving an email from Backerkit and Paverson Games in the next week or so, with instructions on downloading the PnP file. I've copied and pasted  (and edited) the instructions I gave last month, below, so you know how exactly to access this:

Here's how it will work for you, as a backer, to download these files*:

• If you've already paid for shipping and locked your order (that's 91% of you), you'll get an email from Backerkit and Paverson Games soon, with the title "New Digital Content for Distilled on BackerKit"
• Once you click the link, it will take you to a portion of Backerkit that shows  downloadable zip files (each file is LARGE, around 1.5 GB each), so find a time and place that works to download this larger file!). Note: there is a chance I'll be hosting this offsite from Backerkit, but you'll get that information in the email if so.
• Upon unzipping the file, you’ll see that there are is a README text file that will provide some tips on how to best attack this PnP, written by Martin. 
• Martin has built it for both A4 and US Letter, in hopes it helps both sides of the pond to get Distilled onto the table faster. You'll want to download the one that works best for you.

*NOTE: if you are one of the 682 who have not yet finished your order, you cannot access the above, and you currently will not be receiving any reward for Distilled, so make this a priority and be sure to do that here!

ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: As a backer, you are receiving these files as an exclusive reward. Because of this, I ask that you not distribute them in any other way and keep them solely for your personal use.

But Dave, where would I even begin with making a PnP? For those uninitiated into this world, please know that while it is an awesome avenue to creating games, it can be a lot of work. It could take quite some time, plus ink and paper and other supplies, to make it happen. But many have found this to be a hobby unto itself - crafting and making the games yourself can be a cathartic experience indeed! Just ask all the veteran PnP'rs out there! So, if you're curious, perhaps read and watch below for some great starter tips!

 Great how-to video tutorials, by Martin himself:

• Martin's "how to make print and play cards" tutorial video: https://youtu.be/00h0KFbkViA  
• Martin's "how to make laminated print and play cards" tutorial video:  https://youtu.be/fws1hN782yw 

And with that, it is another last call on our monthly Distilled update! Next month, I hope to share some exciting updates about the premium market neoprene playmat that Erik's designed, as well as the Gametrayz shots! Next time I write, I'll likely be about ready to leave for Gen Con, where we'll be running sold out games of Distilled. I hope I might get to see some of you there, so don't be shy and let's do a fist bump and picture! 

Remember, I'll happily bring a t-shirt for you to Gen Con - I'll just need your size and also payment via paypal ($10 for KS backers, $20 for others). Send me a PM in case this is of interest to you!

Until then, Sláinte!