The Plague Ships have sailed - track them in real time
over 9 years ago – Thu, Oct 27, 2016 at 09:50:47 PM

Ahoy Scurvy Sailors

Just a quick post to let you know that all the board games are now loaded onto ships and are sailing to their destinations! (see here for the previous update with details and photos of manufacturing) 

There was a typhoon recently and we are still waiting to see how that impacts the shipping schedules but I thought it would be cool to let you track the ships that your games are on in real time.

Games for USA and Canada: MAERSK ERVING -> Los Angeles, USA. Tracking link

Games for everywhere else: MSC HAMBURG -> Felixstowe, UK. Tracking link

Don't panic if you see the ship heading the wrong way - they often take odd routes to pick up more cargo. Also - there is a chance that the games will be transferred to a different ship at some point - which also makes tracking harder! Take everything you see with a pinch of salt.

The voyages should take around 30 days in total - will keep you all updated.

James

p.s. One thing I'm a little worried about is if the games will be flagged up in customs when entering the port. I can imagine a load of boxes saying "plague" stamped with biohazards might appear concerning to officials...

p.p.s If you have recently moved - please update your address ASAP in backerkit so the game gets sent to the right place. (contact us if you need help)

Manufacturing complete and Delivery update!
over 9 years ago – Mon, Oct 24, 2016 at 09:25:05 PM

Hello Plague Backers

The factory has finished making the games - hurrah! General progress and timeline update below as well as photos of the manufacturing process and the game (including the DNA counters)

General Status:

Now the factory has finished - the games are being boxed up and delivered to Yantian prior to being loaded onto ships. We will have two shipments - one going to the US and one going to the UK (from there - they will be sent to backers all over the world). Packs of 12 games are bundled into cartons and these cartons are palletised to allow for easy transport before being stacked in containers. Together - all of the games will weigh almost 10 tonnes! (for reference - the heaviest ever polar bear weighed 1 tonne, a blue whale tongue weighs 2.7 tonnes)

As soon as the first few games had been made - Panda sent us a few copies so we could check everything was ok. Opening them up was quite nerve wracking but happily - everything is looking wonderful!

Delivery Timelines:

This is the current position - but please note, things may and probably will change.

• The games have container space booked with shipping companies to get the games to the US and UK. They should arrive by the end of November. 
• The fulfilment centers then need to get the games out - normally this takes 15 days - however, due to Christmas, this stage will take an extra 10-15 days. Currently working with partners to understand how long exactly and if there is anything we can do to accelerate. 
•  Finally, the games actually have to be shipped by the postal service - this will take anywhere from 3-15 days - depending on how far away you are from the fulfilment hubs.

Currently - there is a chance you may receive your games before Christmas - but it is going to be very close so it may be January instead. Rest assured we are doing everything we can to get the games out to you as quickly as possible with the help of Panda and our fulfilment partners. e.g. One big thing that we decided to do was to split up our shipment of games. As well as making the games for backers - we are making some copies to sell at retail - however, as every day counts - we decided to send the kickstarter games as soon as they are ready - rather than wait for the retail copies. Although this means we have to pay a lot more for shipping - it lets us get the games to you 2-3 weeks quicker!

Hopefully my next post will be to tell you that the games are on the water!

Stay healthy

James

Photos of the game being made in China: 

Manufacturing in progress!
over 9 years ago – Wed, Sep 28, 2016 at 12:28:08 AM

Greetings Germophiles

Exciting times - as I write this, the game is being manufactured in China - we are getting close to the finishing line!

Plastic components

We have finally been able to sort the issues with the plastic components that have been slowing things down. The molds have been polished until they glisten and various other magic things have happened so that now our biohazards are smooth, shiny and lovely! See some photos below 

Card Sleeves

Some backers are very keen to sleeve their cards and were asking what sleeves work best. The Mayday Games 50 x 75 Card Sleeves fit great - see photo below. Note - there is 5mm of extra height to the sleeves which you can either keep - or trim off once fitted. 

 Production and Delivery timelines

Now that manufacturing is in progress - things are starting to become more predictable. This is the current position - but please note, things may and probably will change. There are a lot of moving parts - almost all of which are out of my control! 

• Panda - the company manufacturing the game in China are hoping to have the game ready to leave their factory on the 17th October. 
• I am currently working with shipping companies to get dates for when the games will arrive in the fulfilment centers in the US and UK. If things go smoothly - they should arrive by the end of November. 
• The fulfilment centers then need to get the games out - normally this takes 15 days - however, due to Christmas, this stage will take an extra 10-15 days. Currently working with partners to understand how long exactly and if there is anything we can do to accelerate. 
• Finally, the games actually have to be shipped by the postal service - this will take anywhere from 3-15 days - depending on how far away you are from the fulfilment hubs.

I'll update you again as soon as things become clearer - hopefully with some photos of the game in the factory :)

Stay healthy

James

p.s. the final cards will have rounded corners - these are manufacturing samples and don't have them

Manufacturing nearly started!
over 9 years ago – Fri, Sep 09, 2016 at 12:39:29 AM

Hey there

Latest news on the game production below!

Reviewing and approving final printed files

Last time I posted, I explained how we had gone through the Pre Production Copy of the game and found various things that needed fixing. I'm pleased to say that we got the latest set of printed materials through today and all the outstanding issues have been sorted. You can see the normal and Collector's Edition box below - they look fantastic!

Box Insert and organising

I was also working with Panda (the manufacturers) to improve the storage of components inside the box. After several iterations - we now have the following insert which allows each set of cards to be kept separate from the others along with a main compartment for the rest of the components. I've loaded up the box and given it a strong shaking - all the pieces remained in the correct places :) I'm making one last change to make sure the rulebook doesn't crease but the photo below is almost final!

Plastic Components (DNA and Plague tokens)

Unfortunately, the quality issues with the plastic components are still present. The latest batch that we received are much better than the initial batch - but still not good enough. The factory are currently working hard to improve things by polishing/tweaking the mold as well as adjusting colours. I'm expecting an update in the next few days and hopefully updated components soon after.  

Production and Delivery timelines

Frustratingly, the quality issues regarding plastic components are currently holding up manufacturing. As mentioned in the last update - our contingency time is used up and as the plastics are not resolved, we are currently at risk of delivering 1-4 weeks late. Panda (the people making the game for us) are focusing on resolving the component issue as an absolute priority. I'll provide an update next week letting everyone know how things are developing - hopefully we will be able to approve the plastics very soon.

Providing / updating your shipping address

You can update the shipping address by using the BackerKit survey link you received from us previously.

Remember - if you haven't completed your BackerKit survey yet - then get in touch with us at [email protected] straight away

Stay healthy!

James

Pre production copy of game arrived!
over 9 years ago – Sat, Aug 27, 2016 at 12:40:00 AM

Hi Everyone

Receiving the physical Pre Production Copy

Exciting times - we have been reviewing the 'pre production copy'(PPC) of Plague Inc: The Board Game that we received from Panda GM (the people printing it). This is a copy of the game made for us to check what the game will be like when it is made in bulk by the factory. 

 We reviewed every part of the printed game with a fine tooth comb to spot things that needed fixing / editing. I'm a perfectionist so want to make sure everything is perfect! Here are some of our key findings (note - I tend to focus on the negative bits that need fixing - everything that I don't comment on looks great :P ) :

• Game Box - tweaked design a bit to make game title more prominent. Also needed to update some text
• Box insert - needed to improve storage of game in box - investigating different shaped tray or provision of bags
• Rulebook - few rule tweaks from final playtests to update + typos fixed
• Trait cards - some cards have inconsistent colours - after much head scratching - this was found to be due to the method we were combining the files. Getting someone from Panda to combine them fixes it (thanks Darrell :) )
• Event cards - some of them also have inconsistent colours. Also needed a few text tweaks from final playtests
• Country Cards - Russia and Chile have old style airport icon which could be cut off when corners rounded - needed fixing. Also Mongolia has country stats text incorrectly bolded
• Single Player rules - few typos fixed
• DNA Score counters and Plague Tokens - not happy with quality of pieces - factory going to redo with different technique to get them up to standard and also experiment with different translucency options 

We worked late into the night for days in order to get all the updated files finished and Panda are now doing a great job turning things around to get us an updated PPC for us to (hopefully) confirm. Once this is done, we can move into mass production!

Production and delivery timelines

I'm afraid we have used up the contingency time and are at risk of delivering 0-2 weeks later than targeted. The issue with the card colour inconsistency and the token quality has knocked our schedule which is annoying - however, I hope you agree it is better to fix them than risk shipping an inferior game.

We should receive the updated materials from Panda early next week and once approved, we will then be able to lock down final manufacturing dates and give a more precise shipping date.

Updating your shipping address

You can update the shipping address by using the BackerKit survey link you received - we will send a message to everyone just before we actually send out the parcels.

Remember - if you haven't completed your BackerKit survey yet - then get in touch with us at [email protected] straight away

Hope you found this all interesting - I'm really proud of the game and how it is looking - I can't wait for you to all be able to play it :)

James

p.s. you can read about the latest playtests here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/932314378/plague-inc-the-board-game/posts/1658673