Assorted Updates
6 months ago – Thu, Nov 09, 2023 at 07:55:42 AM

So, it is with a fairly happy mood that I begin today's update, to say that all orders that were made prior to the deadline have now been shipped.  Four of you purchased after that deadline and will be getting your product soon (they are in the queue, but I do not know how many other shipments of other products are ahead of you).  If you know of anyone who wants to purchase a copy, we're now finally into the 2-digit numbers of games left, so while there are plenty to be had, there are no longer 100-plus.  Get on it, latecomers!  (The games are for sale at:  EoC on Backerkit.) 

I have heard from folks in Canada, the UK, Spain, and Germany that their games have arrived.  If you ordered the game prior to Oct 15 and have not yet received it, please shoot me an email at [email protected] and I will investigate.

Among the last to receive their games was me -- I ordered all of the games for those who requested local pick up -- these arrived yesterday afternoon.   So I can now announce that if you ordered a game and indicated you would come visit me to get a copy (or perhaps arrange for me to drop it off chez toi if you live close to Lafayette/Walnut Creek/Oakland), they are available.  I will be emailing all local customers via the EoC gmail, but as a general announcement, come and get your games!

In terms of the digital game, we are still in beta test, but there has not been a bug report for a month.  We are in the queue to get into the queue to be released, but the BGA people are incredibly non-responsive -- almost like a boardgame artist with overdue artwork -- and so while I'd requested a release around the middle of Bowl Game Season in December, it's feeling more like it might happen closer to NLI day in February.  The good news is the game is fully playable by all who want; the beta status doesn't affect that at all.  And there is a great introductory tutorial that I would recommend for people even if you only really want to learn the game to play with your physical copy.  The bad part about being in prolonged betaville is that until a game is formally released, I cannot set up a tournament.  It's my intent to do so as soon as we go from beta to general release, and I hope many of you will participate.

You can sign up for BGA here: Sign up for free BGA account 

You can get the Tutorial here:  EoC Tutorial on BGA 

You can see the game itself, here:  Play EoC on BGA 

(Also, one kind backer is working on translating the game into German.  if you would like to tackle another language that you are fluent in, BGA offers bonus points (including, I think, free months of "premium" access, usually costs $3/mo), so let me know.  Would love to see a Turkish version, inter alia!)

Finally, a little meh news.  As the game has been out in the world, eagle-eyed gamers have spotted three more rulebook mistakes, one of which is somewhat major (and embarrassing) while the other two aren't fatal, but still chagrining.  My proposal on this is to make up some more stickers, but probably not 600.  Instead, I will order 50 of each, and anyone who wants these three stickers to bring their printed rules truly up to snuff can send me a self-addressed stamped envelope (we used to call this a SASE back in the day) with or without cash inside, your choice, and I will send you the three additional rulebook stickers.   These aren't ready yet, but feel free to send me the SASE now if you want.  My address is available upon request via [email protected].

However, many of you might just prefer to print a nice version of the rules yourself with all the mistakes fixed.  I maintain a living version of the rulebook (and the Family Rules and the Solo Rules) online, and you always have my permission to download the live version and print.  I'd recommend this, as it would obviate the need to use one of the five stickers you got in your shipment (the large one), eliminate the need to send a SASE for more stickers, and leave you with a cleaner version of the rules, esp. if you print it at a place like Office Max where you can get nice, glossy paper.  The current version has all of the errors fixed, except the artwork on the example that got changed is less-than-aesthetically perfect.  You can find it at the link below, though, and I will alert everyone when Sean, the rulebook graphic artist, has gotten me a less amateurish version that looks better.  In the meantime, here are the links to all 3 sets of rules, as well as the "Newbie Campaign" which was always planned as downloadable content:

Standard Version rulebook:  EoC Standard Rulebook 

Family Version rulebook:  Family Version Rulebook 

Solo Rules:  Solitaire EoC vs the Bubba Bot 

Newbie Campaign:  Newbie Campaign 

That's about it for now.  For you local folks, look for an email from me soon!  And feel free to reachout before that if you want.

ABC,

Andy

A tiny erratum
7 months ago – Mon, Oct 23, 2023 at 06:22:44 PM

The Games are arriving in people's hands, which is great.  However, I did want to flag one issue for your attention and to tell you that everything is fine.  Two attentive readers of the rulebook have noticed a discrepancy between the quantities listed on pages 6-7 of the rules and the actual quantities of a few of the components.  Specifically, as one kind reader informed me:

Specifically I have 35 of the green EoC and 30 of each other color (to the rulebook’s stated 40 of each color – 185 total to the rulebook’s 240 total). I also have 9 of each color of the Player Tokens (3 small and 6 large) to the rulebook’s stated 10 each. 

You don't need to hear the whole megillah about why, but late in the process of getting our artwork approved for manufacture, we had to change the quantities of these tokens.  But the guy in charge of the rulebook (me!) forgot to update these counts.  As for why you get more green than the others... it's a Kickstarter Stretch goal... yeah that's the ticket!

So rest assured, if you count and get 30x5+35, and 9x4, you've got the right numbers.

In more positive news, here's one happy recipient!

ABC,

Andy

Fulfillment Shipping to Begin This Week
7 months ago – Mon, Oct 16, 2023 at 09:01:54 AM

Direct from Ark Transport:

The majority of EoC orders have been packed. I expect all orders will have been picked up by carriers by Thursday. International orders may not pick up until Friday. They will receive a tracking email from [email protected] and the "ship-from" on the label will be Fulfill in Cleveland OH. We use a number of regional carriers for deliveries. Below is a list.

US - UPS, USPS, FedEx, GLS, LSO, etc...

CA - Purolator for almost all backers

RoW - Mainly UPS and FedEx

So, I would say it is now safe to start getting excited.  

US residents may start getting emails by this Thursday, international residents perhaps as early as Friday.  I would love to hear from any Canadians, in particular, when you get your alert because I know often Canada get very slow fulfillment, but it seems like you'll be almost as quick as the US.  Perhaps having the warehouse on the shores of a Great Lake helps a bit in that respect.  I also would love to hear from the Europeans, Asians, Oceanians, or South Americans among the customer base.  There are not many of you but I really would like to know when you find out your package in en route, and whether you are able to track it appropriately.  

Most importantly, I'd love to hear from every one of you (who wants to let me know!) when you get your game.  Take a selfie if you can with the game in your hand or on the table and I'll share it on the EoC social media feeds.  it will please me to almost no end to know EoC is finally getting into backers' hands.  I know it has been an 18-month journey for you that should have taken just 6, but I do hope you'll find the wait was worth it.  Remember I can be pinged for a rules-explanation zoom session if you want your game group to get a customized "how to" and there are also good resources on the web, most especially this tutorial I commissioned from BoardGamegeek: https://boardgamegeek.com/video/384669/envelopes-cash/envelopes-cash-bgg-how-play.  

I will be even happier once I know the games really did ship, but it seems we are very close.

In digital news, the Board Game Arena (BGA) version has been approved to exit the Beta test stage and go live.  I am still in discussions with the BGA folks about the terms of release (e.g., when, but also whether it will be a premium game that only paid members can launch [but anyone can join as the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th players] or as a free-for-all-to-play game).  I am leaning to free, since the goal remains to get the largest audience for the game, but the BGA people are very slow and so I want to hear the terms (and learn how their business model works, after all this is my learn-by-doing project for the game industry) before I decide for sure.  It sounds like the official digital release might be right around the start of Bowl season.  I'm going to optimistically say it will be released (/fingers crossed) before the kickoff of the 2023 Duke's Mayo Bowl, at 5:30pm ET on December 27, 2023, but I cannot promise until BGA gets back in touch.  If you are a member of BGA (even with a free account), you can currently play by going to  https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=envelopesofcash.  And if you don't have an account, they are free (or $36 if you want a premium account, but not required at all) and you can sign up here:  https://boardgamearena.com/?h=3ld8.

ABC,

Andy

Fulfillment begins this month
7 months ago – Tue, Oct 03, 2023 at 04:01:41 PM

I have been delaying providing you with an update for about a week because I really wanted to make sure everything was set before I announced anything.  But all 600 games reached the warehouse in Cleveland, Ohio, and the fulfillment company (Ark Transport) has the full list of orders.  We went through four iterations for me to find every possible reason why the fulfillment software was holding on to some backers (missing phone number, error in the amount owed due to shipping cost issues, garbage characters in address) but now everyone who has paid for their game and provided a valid shipping address is schedule to have their game shipped out.  According to the Ark Transport folks:

"We expect to start packing EoC on 10/11 and have that completed by 10/13 with the games likely departing our facility 10/13 or 10/16."

For those of you in the USA, I think that means you will get your games before Hallowe'en.  I'm not as confident for international orders, but obviously I will keep you informed as the process moves forward.

When a Kickstarter fulfills, often times you will get a somewhat random alert from FedEx or UPS or the Postal Service saying you have a package coming from who-knows-where.  I share this uncertainty on my own game purchases.  So, once the shipments start going out, I'll let you all know what to expect in terms of an alert, so you can be ready to grab it, in case of there being porch burglars in your area, etc.

I do have a couple of requests for y'all though.  First, when your game arrives, if you have a chance to take a selfie and send it to [email protected], I'd like to post on BlueSky and X a happy selfie thread.  If you don't want a photo, then just ping that email to say you got it, I'll enjoy knowing the game is out in the world.  And any in-use photos once you get it to the table will be welcomed as well.

To that same end, feel free to upload images to Boardgamegeek.com.  And while you are at the BGG site, if you have a chance to give the game a review, I'd really appreciate it.  There are a few trolls who have created burner accounts just to rate the game as a 1, and some offsetting love from the actual customers would go a long way towards outweighing that hate.

Finally: There are 3 of you who paid for your games and have never entered shipping info.  I've emailed you directly (multiple times, including this morning), but as much as I would like to just give the games to Santa and have him deliver, the actual fulfillment company needs an address or else they don't know how to reach you.  The initials of those people are DF, KJ, and TH.  If you are not sure whether that's you or not, feel free to ask me, using the [email protected] address.

Anyway, that's the update.  Now I just have to patiently wait two weeks to (hopefully) tell you the schedule went as planned.  Inshallah and ABC!

Andy

VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE // On U.S. soil // FINALIZE YOUR ADDRESSES!!!
8 months ago – Thu, Sep 21, 2023 at 05:52:34 AM

I received notice from Ark Transport, our logistics company, that all 600 copies of Envelopes of Cash have cleared customs.  As of last night, they were still at the freight terminal in Newark*, New Jersey, but the ETA for arrival in Cleveland (Ark's hub) is 9/25 (just 4 days from now, 🤞).

I will be locking down changes to mailing addresses on Monday, September 25.

If you have moved since you ordered EoC, it is important that we have your correct address IN BACKERKIT.  I have noticed a few people have changed their addresses in Kickstarter, so on Sunday (the 24th) I plan to cross reference the two databases and contact anyone where the mailing addresses differ, but if you know your BACKERKIT address is not up to date, now is the time to remedy that.  Please!

Here is the link to backerkit to verify your address: https://bit.ly/LATE-EoC.

(note, I am also going to email every person via the EoC gmail account with this same message, just to minimize the chances of the inevitable "oh shit, I don't live there anymore" messages that I expect will start to trickle out.)

If for some reason, you are confused by all of this or you don't have time to verify things, just email [email protected] with your current mailing address and telephone number and I will make sure your info is updated/correct in the system.

I do not yet have an estimate of when games will start shipping.  But I am increasingly hopeful you will have the games while there are still technically twelve schools in the Pac-12.  As they say in Turkey: Inshallah!

* For those not familiar, the Newark in New Jersey is commonly pronounced as NEWurk, as opposed to New Ark, Delaware, which is New ARK.  But my father, whom you all know as the Oil Baron, grew up quite close to Newark and pronounces it Nork.  Growing up we always thought this little vestige of his northern New Jersey accent was quaint.  But then I studied a lot of pre-1700 English history and learned that places like Norwich in the UK are typically pronounced Norch and, yes, Newark could become Nork.  So take that for what you will but I find it fascinating (and even more quaint than I suspected at age 15), my father grew up with a tiny bit of an East Anglian accent just b/c he lived near the port of Newark.

ABC, Andy