WHO GOES THERE?

WHO WENT WHERE?
almost 6 years ago – Thu, Jul 05, 2018 at 01:40:00 AM

We are observing our 4th of July holiday today in the United States, but I got an exciting text from our Canadian fulfillment house this morning saying "YOUR SHIPMENT ARRIVED TODAY!".  Excitedly, I jumped out of bed and jetted to the office to collect final address changes and start the process of getting WGT? in at least some of your hands.

After exchanging 20 or so texts and e-mails, I wanted to confirm they also received all the additional items from our Mississippi warehouse to add to the packages (Endangered Orphans games, coasters and books for those that ordered them), and they said "ummm...what did you think we were talking about?  The ship with all the WGT? games doesn't arrive until the 8th!"  All I could muster typing through my newly found nausea was "oh",  

But, that doesn't change the fact that we need to start the final address change process so we can get our reports to the respective fulfillment houses.  So...this is that update:

We will lock down shipping addresses soon. If you need to review your shipping address, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://who-goes-there.backerkit.com/. If you haven’t answered your survey yet, you can still fill it out to get your rewards, but your shipment may be delayed. If you need to change your shipping address, please make the changes in your BackerKit survey in the next few days. 

I'm hopeful our shipments will arrive in Australia, Asia and Canada early next week, so those packages should start fulfilling soon thereafter.  I have no real control of how fast this happens, so bear with me and please don't throw a fit if it still takes time.  The European and U.S. containers are still scheduled to arrive mid July, but these are also much larger containers and will take some time to sort out once through customs.  My expectation is U.S. and Europe to be fulfilled early August, but we hope to get Australia, Asia and Canada moving in the next couple of weeks.  

 Happy 4th of July! 

- Rick and the Certifiable team

SLOW BOATS, BROKEN BUDGETS AND A ROUND 1
almost 6 years ago – Sat, Jun 16, 2018 at 12:34:59 AM

It's been a crazy couple of weeks since my last update, but I finally have some tangible information to share about the cargo that is Who Goes There?

THE LONG STORY (skip down to THE SHORT STORY if you don't care): Coordinating shipments to 6 parts of the world proved to be a much slower and more daunting task than I imagined. And the shear size of the game certainly hasn't helped. We are shipping over 50 tons of cargo and things were moving along nicely until they weren't. When factoring in the cost of the game before the Kickstarter even launched, we made some basic calculations on cubic volume per game and compared it to quotes and our past experience with Endangered Orphans. The fee to get the games to each destination to encourage domestic fulfillment and keeping the shipments as "friendly" as possible is a cost we absorb and then we only charge you the estimated cost for local delivery. We also tried to make the cargo as friendly for the fulfillment houses as possible by requesting all games to be on pallets for ease of maneuvering. This unfortunately added additional shipping containers at a significant cost increase that we simply could not afford, so we were forced to regroup and request the containers be floor loaded in order to maximize the cubic volume of each container. This reduced the number of units and helped with the expense, even though we are still well beyond what we budgeted for. In the end, all that matters is we got the games moving and closer to your hands, but it did cost us some extra time. When I communicated the new packing scenario to our US fulfillment house, however, they refused to accept shipments that were not on pallets. After my request for this one time consideration was denied, I had to scramble to find another fulfillment partner that was willing to handle the floor loaded containers. It will be a lot of labor unloading, but we finally have a scenario that works.

THE SHORT STORY
THINGS are moving!

ASIA: We will be fulfilling Asia from China. This is being coordinated by our US fulfillment center with one of their partners. The games should arrive July 4th to the depot and fulfillment will start shortly thereafter.

AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND: The games are expected to arrive in Sydney on July 4th. I am expecting about a week to go through customs, then Aetherworks will handle the fulfillment as quickly as possible.

CANADA: The games are expected to arrive to port July 16th. Once through customs (please be patient), Lion Rampant Imports is handling our Canadian fulfillment.

EUROPE: The games are expected to arrive to port in the U.K. on July 10th. Once through customs (please be patient), GamesQuest will handle our European fulfillment.

UNITED STATES and REST OF WORLD: The games are expected to arrive to port on July 17th. Once through customs, they then have to be trucked to Indianapolis, IN for fulfillment. We were originally using Black Box, but are now using Ship Naked for fulfillment to the US as well as the Rest of World countries such as South Africa, South America and Central America.

EXPECTATIONS: Please understand we have no control how long shipments can be held up by customs in each area. The fulfillment centers will then have to organize and inventory everything prior to starting fulfillment. They all know how incredibly anxious I am to get the games to you, but some things simply take time. For the purposes of your expectations, please assume August delivery until you hear otherwise or are pleasantly surprised by a package at your door (I am pretty sure nobody has a mailbox that can handle this!). No matter what, please know we are doing everything we can to get this game to you. It really is something to behold, and I can't wait to hear your thoughts when you get it.

CONVENTIONS: I'm at Origins Game Fair today (Jesse, Anthony and Brian are "hopefully" working on the next game back home) walking the floor. If you are at the convention and see me, please say hello. We aren't demonstrating or showing anything, but we are scouting for next year. We will be running games at Gen Con in August, but we won't have a booth. Once we get confirmation from Ship Naked about their fulfillment schedule, we may see if any of you that are attending want to pick up your game at the convention. We will have a booth at Essen and Pax Unplugged later in the year as well. It would be great to meet you if you are attending any of these.

MAN vs MEEPLE: ROUND 1
We were thrilled to play Who Goes There? with Jeremy and David of Man vs Meeple a couple of weeks ago. They had a blast and posted this Round 1 video showing how to play the game. They usually only play one round to kick things off, but they added a bit more since the game plays differently throughout. Check it out and leave a comment (subscribe if you aren't already).

Have a great weekend!

- Rick and the Certifiable team

WHEN GOES THERE?
almost 6 years ago – Wed, May 30, 2018 at 01:03:59 AM

WOULD YOU LIKE A SHIPPING UPDATE?...me too!  As to be expected, everyone is getting really excited to have their copy of Who Goes There? in their hands. There have been a few backers asking when the games will begin shipping, and like you, we are also anxiously waiting. We have been working with multiple handlers coordinating all the shipping details so we can get the games on the boat, but we have also been dealing with communication delays as information is passed back and forth. This part of the process was something we did not have to deal with during the Endangered Orphans fulfillment, since the manufacturer we used at that time took care of it. That being said, things are getting resolved this week and we should have a definitive timeline for you very soon. We just want to try and keep everyone as informed as we are, and to let you know that things are still moving forward, albeit a little slower than we would like.  At this juncture, we are projecting late July to early August fulfillment. 

FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT ORDERED A BASE GAME WITH OR WITHOUT EXPANSIONS:  As you now know, the 4 player Base game is in the same size box as the 8 character Deluxe.  If you are thinking you may want the extra characters, we are giving you one last chance to upgrade from the Base game for $45.  If you ordered an expansion, we'll give you credit for what you already paid and you'll be charged the difference.  The biggest win is everything fits in one box.  If you elect to stay with the Base game at this time and eventually want to add the extra characters, don't worry. We'll have 8 character Deluxe versions of the insert trays available to buy later if you don't want to have to keep the extra boxes.  Shipping may be a few dollars more due to the extra weight as well. But don't feel pressured, the Base game is still all you need! We just wanted you to have a chance in case you have changed your mind after seeing all the updates.   E-mail [email protected] if interested. 

SUGAR PONIES!
Remember that game Jesse warned you about, but some of you bought anyway?  Here is some proof you made a great choice (whether you bought it or not)!

Just like the Deluxe upgrade, you can still add Sugar Ponies to your order by e-mailing [email protected].  Don't worry, I won't tell anyone.  

Have a great week!

- Rick and the Certifiable team

SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE...
almost 6 years ago – Sat, May 26, 2018 at 12:23:11 AM

If anyone knows Jesse, they definitely know he likes to SHAKE IT. Do you see what we have to deal with around here!

 This is just a friendly PSA to remind all our backers out there that items may shift during shipping. Please be kind to your games when storing them, and they will be kind to you. Also remember, it's never ok to throw your game across the room. 

Have a great weekend!

-The Certifiable team

FULLY ASSEMBLED!
almost 6 years ago – Fri, May 18, 2018 at 02:14:41 AM

More of the same? Perhaps. But...we just got our final shipment straight from the assembly line!

Now they will put all the assembled games into their cartons, then onto their pallets, then onto the truck, then onto the boat, and the journey begins!  Of course, the timing of this is still somewhat contingent on how they answer my latest e-mail, but we are on our way!   

For those of you that are liking the KS Infection (white) Box for the 8 character game and wishing you had chosen it, we have about 50 still available.  If you'd like to upgrade to this box or simply add anything else to your order, shoot me a message here on KS or an e-mail to [email protected]. This box will be officially retired and never printed again along with the WGT Coin (we have about 60 coins still available). 

Otherwise, let's get these Things on the boat! 

- The Certifiable team