Hi everyone!
TL;DR: Check out your backer name on our website! Printing, production, and shipping are now entirely in the hands of our great vendor partners. Printing is expected to be complete by June 25th. We are optimistic that we're going to be have games in hand by the end of the summer. Alex is on the edge of his seat trying not to explode.
June 1 - Project Update
Thank You Backers!
If you haven't yet seen your name in highlights, please visit the updated Meet the Pack page! This project is such an underdog success story, and now you can show off to your friends that you were with us the whole time! Bragging rights forever!
Printing and Production Update
This project has been a series of skips, hops, and now leaps of faith. Our team turned over everything to the factory and fulfillment partners and at this point we are waiting for final updates on the completion of the printing, quality control, packing, and freight shipping of the games. ETA for all games to be printed completely with quality assurance checks is now June 25th.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the transitive property of high fives!
Printing ETA June 25. Due to challenges with the inks, drying, and printing quality of the artwork on final physical materials, there were several late stage adjustments that Sarah had to make. Unfortunately BODA had not identified the challenges earlier, but that's one of the hurdles we knew we would face working with an overseas team. Thankfully, Sarah's determination and skill really won out and we are delighted with the results. It really became an international effort to get this done correctly.
The good news is that we're officially "hands off" at this part of the process.
"I can't believe that I've closed Photoshop for this whole project. Even if I opened up the files, there's nothing we can do at this point because everything is with the print team! It's really exciting." ~ Sarah
"I'm easily the most excited person to have everyone get their copy of the game!" ~ Alex
"We've double triple checked all of our big question marks at this point, so it seems safe to me to move forward!" ~ Kiki
Child Safety Testing - We're getting these complete data results soon. There was a lot shared in our previous update about the testing. Key to the project being available to ages 10+ we knew we needed to execute the testing on the materials. This also allows us to be considered, eventually, by big box retailers.
Shipping and logistics are dependent upon the completion of the printing, so I've put together some best guesses.
Optimistic schedule:
COMPLETE - approval of proof/production copy
June 25th - BODA games will complete printing / packaging of the games
Late June - truck from factory to dock
Early July - picked up and loaded on to ship
July - arrives in Portland
July - cleared customs / offloaded from ship
July - arrives at warehouse
August - in the mail to backers
Late August arrivals of all official copies to our backers
Impacts to the timelines at this point:
+3 weeks printing prioritization at factory and quality assurance process
+2 weeks for the loading / shipping of the game (prioritization of perishable goods by the shipping companies, and Suez Canal debacle)
+1 weeks to offload from ship
+1 weeks to clear customs since this is our first project and customs is scrutinizing stuff from China
Late Summer for the delivery of games to our backers
Dogs BOND is on the way! If the past year has shown us anything, it's that patience and resilience does pay off. We know that you're excited for the game and that everyone is eager to share it with friends and family back at the game table.
We cannot thank you all enough for your support. Dogs BOND has always been a “little project that could”, and that’s all thanks to our backers.
FAQ: I need to update my shipping information / email / order
Thank you all for your patience and support!