First Copies, Community Voting, and Credit Card Charges
12 days ago
– Mon, May 06, 2024 at 05:57:18 PM
Greetings all! This update covers pre-production copies, how to vote on community challenge finalists, and charging credit cards for shipping.
PRE-PRODUCTION COPIES
We are excited to announce that we have received the first 4 copies of Bah Humbug and the 12 games of Christmas. These are pre-production copies, which means they are the very last step before we print in bulk. We are sending 3 of these copies to our designers in Canada, California, and the Dominican Republic. Once we approve these, we will be ready to print!
One of the things we tweaked recently was the box insert. The cards, box, bag, and wooden components are also looking great.
After so much time, it feels good to finally have our hands on these first copies. And we look forward to sending your copies soon!
THIS MONTH, WE WILL CHARGE CREDIT CARDS
We are using BackerKit to begin charging cards for the shipping and add-ons. (These are the items you selected when you completed your post-campaign survey.) This also means your address is locked in for this summer's delivery. If you have changes to your address, you can email us at [email protected] to update it.
Help us choose which game to release for December 2024! The 3 game ideas are listed below, along with the form to vote for your favorite.
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BAUBLES & WREATHS
by Randi Samuels
Who will have the most decorated wreaths in the neighborhood?
Baubles & Wreaths is a competitive "climbing" card game for 3-12 players. Play cards to decorate wreaths for Chrsitmas. If you can’t continue decorating, you'll have to take a piece of coal. But when you add a Golden Ring, you'll get extra baubles.
Read the rules here
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CURMUDGEON
by Pete King
Become the greediest miser of Christmas by grabbing all the presents you can, plus a mound of coal, and a big fat Christmas goose!
Curmudgeon is a competitive I-cut-you-choose game. The player with the most of each type of card earns points for each card of that type in their opponents' hands. Hidden cards allow subterfuge and doublethink in this game that lets you soak up that wonderful miserly Christmas spirit. Generously give your opponents gifts that score you the most points!
Read the rules here
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SUGAR PLUMS (DANCED IN THEIR HEADS)
by Ashley Killeen
The Victorian Christmas Season may have been merry and bright,
but it was also the traditional season for sharing spooky ghost stories...
Sugar Plums (Danced in Their Heads) is a cooperative game loosely inspired by the 1816 Christmas story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. In this game, we recreate a scene of the 6 Sweetling children nestled cozily in their beds on Christmas eve. But this time, it’s spooks and specters that dance in their heads! Each child is plagued with at least one nightmare, and the nightmares might keep growing if the sweet Sugar Plum dreams (the players) don’t act quickly! Remove the nightmares and let the 6 Sweetling children lay abed with dreams of Sugar Plums.
Read the rules here
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Once you've looked at the three games, you can vote for your favorite here:
VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE GAME HERE
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STAY TUNED FOR MORE
That's it for this update, but we'll share more soon. Thanks again, from the bottom of my heart, for backing this project, and for sticking around while we make everything exactly right for this Christmas.
With appreciation,
Emily
All the fun parts...
3 months ago
– Mon, Feb 12, 2024 at 11:17:58 AM
Hi everyone. I hope 2024 is treating you all well.
Everything with Bah! Humbug! is moving along, slowly but surely. Our total production cost has been paid, and print files are at Panda Game Manufacturing. We have been working out some (really boring) print details—like safety testing marks, UPC bar codes, and other things most of us don't usually think about when it comes to bringing a game into the world. But we think we have every "T" crossed and every "I" dotted now. It's currently Chinese New Year, but we intend to go to print very soon after factories reopen.
BackerKit surveys are mostly complete. No credit cards have been charged yet. We are waiting on a few folks to lock-in their addresses and confirm orders so we can finalize everything for fulfillment and shipping all at once. If you haven't completed your survey yet, we are emailing you again this week. Please check your email (including your SPAM folder) to make sure we have your address and can ship your game(s)! Cards will be charged closer to the shipment date. If you have any changes to your address or questions about your order, feel free to email us at [email protected] and we can work directly with BackerKit to get things solved.
PNP files have been shared via Google Drive. If you have any questions at all, please let me know at [email protected] and we can troubleshoot. Note that there has been one major change since Christmas--Evan Halbert's "The Giving Spirit" has been redesigned slightly. Check out the new pages in the rulebook, and a new reference card within the Google Drive folder.
We will be working with Spiral Galaxy in the UK to fulfill non-US orders. They are experts in shipping games internationally, and we are confident that everything will run smoothly once games are in their hands. We are also running the game through safety testing, to make sure we can get Bah Humbug into retail stores and countries around the world.
Next update, I hope to share more fun stuff. Watch for...
- Photos of pre-production copies
- A link to the online Tabletop Simulator mod, which you can use to play Bah Humbug and all its associate games online
- Rules for the 3 finalist games from last year's Bah Humbug community design challenge. (We'll need your help to decide which game will be developed and released as our free "Christmas card" this coming Christmas!)
Bah Humbug coming in 2024, PNP cards available
6 months ago
– Fri, Nov 17, 2023 at 09:28:19 AM
Hello friends,
Apologies that it's been so long since our last update! Unfortunately a sequence of life events and transitions got in the way of updating as often as I had promised. I'm aiming for monthly updates from here on out. Below I'll talk about delivery schedule and PNP access.
Per our last update, the physical copies of Bah Humbug will be delivered well in advance of Christmas 2024. (But not Christmas 2023). We are working on one a sizing change to the rulebook, which has been time consuming because of how many pages are in it. We've always been committed to games in small boxes that aren't full of air space. But that has caused some issues with adding the spiral binding back to the book. We now need to tweak the margins on every page to make it fit. So we are going through everything with a fine-tooth comb again to make sure nothing gets bumped or lost in the margins. Then we can get our prepress copy from Panda.
We still plan to go to final print after Chinese New Year 2024. I can't imagine a situation where the physical games wouldn't be delivered by October or November 2024.
The PNP files for the cards are already posted. There are also some extra goodies in that folder, like coloring sheets and gift tags you can use this year. You should have received an email with permission to access the folder. I resent those invitations earlier this week. If you have any trouble accessing the files, please feel free to email us at [email protected] or send us a message here and we'll make sure you can access them.
We are currently deciding how to format the final PNP rulebook. With Bah Humbug, the other 12 games, and the bonus games, this rulebook is 100 pages. The printed size will be approximately 4.5" wide x 8" tall. So in theory, it should be possible to print a booklet on A4 or letter-size paper, and easy to read spreads on a tablet. For those who have printed PNP rulebooks before, or have a strong preference about how they should be delivered, we are open to your feedback about how best to deliver these files to you. We hope to have the rulebook posted by Dec 1.
As always, the quickest way to reach us is [email protected].
I look foward to sending you a December update. In the meantime, I hope you have a great start to your holiday season!
Emily
Bah Humbug Status Update
9 months ago
– Wed, Aug 16, 2023 at 11:56:12 AM
Dear Friends,
We have some big news about Bah! Humbug! and the 12 games of Christmas:
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The good news is we’ve come a long way, and everything is nearly complete and ready for printing and production. As a team, we've created, curated, playtested and integrated over a dozen games into this one package. We have finished editing and illustrating the rulebook to make the games easy to learn and share. Bah! Humbug! was very well received at numerous professional industry and playtesting events this year. And our files are in the hands of Panda Game Manufacturing, awaiting our signal to print.
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However, due to our position in the production queue, the time required for ocean freight, and other factors, I regret to report the bad news: we are behind schedule to deliver to you by Christmas this year.
Every step in this process has taken much longer than anticipated, especially with such a small team doing the vast majority of the work. This is our first physical production, and we’ve learned a lot. But we have had some growing pains. At this point, due to my lack of experience as well as factors outside our control (including the fact that we are heading into one of the busiest times of year for production, shipping and logistics), I’m sorry to say that we cannot hit our target of getting the games out by this Christmas, which was the goal. Because we will miss this deadline, we have decided to take our time making sure the game is perfect, and begin printing Bah! Humbug! after the new year.
Here’s what this means for YOU;
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If you pledged $6 or more, you will receive the print-and-play (PNP) version of Bah! Humbug! next month, whether it was part of your original reward tier or not.
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You will still be able to change your mailing address up until we start the shipping process.
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Your credit card will not be charged for shipping or add-ons until we are closer to shipping.
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You will still get your copies of Bah! Humbug!We anticipate they will go out in the first half of 2024.
While we know this is disappointing news, we appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through these challenges. Small Furry Games is not so small anymore, and we are learning how to manage our growth. I'm still proud of where we are. But we have fallen short of our goal and our promise to you, and for that I sincerely apologize.
If you have specific questions, concerns about your pledge, or ideas about how to make Bah! Humbug! an even greater success in 2024, we’re all ears! The quickest way to reach us is at [email protected].
Thanks so much for being part of this project and believing in Small Furry Games. We look forward to delivering Bah! Humbug! to you as soon as possible.
With Sincere Thanks,
Emily
Happy July 25th + Print-and-Play file update!
10 months ago
– Tue, Jul 25, 2023 at 06:50:43 PM
Greetings backers, and happy "Christmas in July!" A large portion of our backers have filled out their BackerKit survey, but we're still waiting for many of you to finish adding your addresses so we can start firming up shipment details in August. Please check your email or follow this BackerKit link, and let us know if you have any questions about completing the survey.
In the meantime, we have been finalizing the cards and rulebook, which were sent to Panda Game Manufacturing this week for final checks.
An early preview of the Print-and-Play (PNP) files is available for those who want to get started building their copy of Bah Humbug (or who are just curious to see the cards). The cards are formatted with plenty of bleed area, and clear instructions for printing. We may still make some tweaks to the reference cards this week, but we now have a semi-final version to share. If you backed at the PNP level or above an already completed your BackerKit survey, you can request early access via Google Drive here. The final files will be distributed via BackerKit and email soon.
Next on our list is getting the 100-page rulebook formatted for easy printing at home, and releasing the rules for our 3 community challenge finalist games, so you can vote on which will become part of the Bah Humbug collection in the future!
If you have any questions, suggestions, or special requests regarding the PNP files (e.g., low-ink versions, special formatting, etc.), feel free to leave them below, or reach out to us at [email protected].
I hope to be updating you again very soon.
Emily
