Shipping Update
almost 4 years ago – Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 06:34:37 PM

Hi,

We want to thank you again for being so supportive along our journey together. As the games are now on the boats, we'd like to confirm the delivery estimates, talk about the different gameplay variants that were unlocked during the Kickstarter campaign, and show you a great new tutorial of Project L.

• Updated USA / Canada delivery estimates — MSC Vanda is on it's way.
• Gameplay variants — Check out the other ways to play the game!
• Project L tutorial by Juegos de mesa 221B (in Spanish) is here.

Updated USA / Canada delivery estimates:

The packages to USA are travelling on MSC VANDA, which is a different ship than we had originally planned. It has already left China and is currently on its way to the Port of Los Angeles. You can track its location through vesselfinder.com. The US customs office didn't allowed boarding according to our plan because the delivery company didn't initially submit all the necessary documents. We have been communicating with both sides and resolved the issue. This means that US backers will get their games at the same time as backers from the EU, and backers from Canada can expect deliveries approximately a week after that.

The rest of the delivery estimates remain the same as in the previous update:

• EU backers: 17-28 August (currently on the ship YM WONDERLAND)
• USA backers: 17-28 August
• Canada: 24 August - 4 September
• Australia: 3 - 14 August
• China, Hong Kong, Singapore: delivered

Gameplay variants

During the Kickstarter campaign, you have unlocked a plenty of gameplay variants for Project L! They are all available now so let's take a look at what they are and how they play:

Line Clear variant (multiplayer): This variant vastly reduces downtime when playing with 4-6 players. It's fast and furious as there are two sets of puzzle rows on both sides of the deck instead of just one so two players can play at the same time! Each of the active players will get a glass marker that determines whether a player can take puzzles from the left or right side of the puzzle row. When both active players finish their turns, they pass the markers clockwise.

Scoring variant (multiplayer and solo): At the beginning of the game, every player is assigned one of the level-3 or level-4 pieces. The more pieces of that one kind you have at the end of the game the more extra points you score. Will you adapt your strategy so it fits the pieces you want to collect or rather try to spoil the plans of your opponents by taking out those puzzles and pieces that would help them?

Piece Unlocking variant (multiplayer and solo): In the Piece Unlocking variant, players can only use/get level-1 and level-2 pieces until they unlock the others by using one of six different Unlock Sheets. When you want to unlock a piece, you have to pay a specific piece to do that. At the end of the game, you get extra points for all the pieces you didn't unlock as a reward for managing to play with limited resources.

Aggressive variant (duel and solo): You will try to overpower your opponent by breaking through their shield while fending off their strikes! In the aggressive variant, completing puzzles lets you launch an attack on your opponent while every puzzle in your victory pile count as a shield. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins, so what about making sure that you're the only one left?

Where to find them: The Line Clear variant is a part of the rulebook, and you can find the other three at boardcubator.com/games/project-L/variants

Project L tutorial by Juegos de mesa 221B

Juegos de mesa 221B, a great Spanish channel about board games, has made a wonderful tutorial for Project L! If you speak Spanish or would like to pass some time waiting for the ships to arrive to ports, take a look:

That's all from us for now. Thank you again very much for your amazing support. We can't wait for all of you to have Project L in your hands!

Michal

*IMPORTANT* Update Your Address in BackerKit
almost 4 years ago – Sat, Jun 13, 2020 at 10:50:51 PM

Hi,

We're about to send your delivery addresses to the fulfillment companies, so please make sure that your BackerKit address is correct by June 16 (see how to do it below).

• *IMPORTANT* Check your BackerKit address by June 16 (see below)
• Delivery estimates — Boats are booked and the shipping plan confirmed!
• Samples of improved packaging — Without a scratch.
• Giveaway — What's your take on game components? (enter the giveaway here).
• The Dice Tower review — Have you seen Tom's review of Project L?

IMPORTANT: Update your BackerKit address by June 16

Please make sure to check that your Project L BackerKit survey has your correct delivery address by June 16. We will lock addresses in BackerKit on June 17 in order to give shipping information to the fulfillment companies. 

How to check and update your address in BackerKit:

• access your Project L BackerKit survey 
• click on “Edit Your Address” on the top-right corner of the page
• click on “Edit Shipping Info”
• edit your address and click on “Next” to submit it

If you encounter any problems, send us an email to [email protected]

Delivery estimates

The games are ready to go! The manufacturer has confirmed that all games will leave the factory next week to be loaded on boats and begin their journey to our hubs in the EU and USA. Once the hubs hand the games over to the final fulfillment companies, we’ll send you an email with your tracking number. This is when you should have the games in your hands:

• EU backers: 17-28 August
• USA backers: 3-14 August

You can even track the ships through vesselfinder.com! Their names are YM WONDERLAND (EU) and MAERSK ELBA (USA). 

Samples of improved packaging

In the last update (Update #37) we told you about the additional protective elements we put into the box so the components are extra safe on their way to you. In fact, it turned out to be so good that we were able to keep the original sharp-corner design we planned for the Player Aids. One of our concern was also protecting the puzzle boards, and below is a picture the two extra foam inserts and 4 cardboard sheets at the ends of the puzzle stacks.

Giveaway: What's your take on game components?

You have probably noticed by now that we pay a lot of attention to the quality of the components and to the tactile aspect of games so it is great to both play the game and play with it. Being so grateful for the amazing feedback we got from you before, we'd also really love to hear what you think about what kind/shape/material of components you enjoy in games, and we want to give away one of our games in the process.

Let us know what you think by following the link below — we would appreciate is so much!

• Enter the giveaway

The Dice Tower review of Project L

Finally, in case you haven't seen it yet, check out Tom Vasel's review of Project L to see what you can look forward to!

That's all from us for now! We hope you're as excited about the news as we are. And again, please make sure you check if your BackerKit address is correct.

Thank you so much for your amazing support along the Project L journey!

Michal

Advance Copies and Delivery Estimates
almost 4 years ago – Thu, May 07, 2020 at 09:55:51 PM

Hi,

We've received advance copies of Project L check, so let's take a look at them in detail and go over the next steps and delivery estimates. Also, don't miss the short Essen flashback video right at the end!

• Advance copies — Check out the games we've received!
• Next steps — What will happen from now on.
• Updated delivery estimates — When you will get to play the game.
• Essen 2019 flashback — First impressions of Eric Summerer from the Dice Tower!

Advance copies

The advance copies are here! They took a bit longer to arrive than we expected because the delivery times of FedEx were affected by the problems related to the coronavirus (tracking unfortunately didn't work), and by an extra stop the games made at the customs office. But now they are here, we have to say that the games are gorgeous!

Let's start with the expansions. The Ambassador Pack is absolutely fabulous, and there is nothing we don't love about it! The Ghost Piece expansion is just as beautiful — in Marek's own words, "the Ghost Piece expansion looks and feels like a jewelry box," and we can't wait for you to get your hands on it so you can see for yourself!

As for the base game, the boxes turned out beautifully, and we are 100% satisfied with them. The same goes to the pieces, the overall look, and the feeling we had during the unboxing. We're also incredibly happy that all the manufacturing issues that had previously affected the puzzle boards are now completely gone after the puzzle board structure was reinforced with an additional layer of blackcore (details about this are in Update #33). Now they're beautiful geometric recessed boards (see below).

Thanks to the fact the advance copies were shipped by an express air freight during which boxes may undergo heavy impacts and rough handling, we found a few potential issues that may affect certain components such as the rulebook, player aids, and one white puzzle board that is in contact with the inner compartment of the insert (see the picture below showing pressure marks imprinted on the back of that puzzle board). While these issues were caused by the fact that the advance copies were not protected enough for the air shipment (this shouldn't happen during normal shipping to you), we still want to add more protective elements into the box to keep the components extra safe.

To confirm this was only a shipping issue, the manufacturer opened a number of games to check the state of the components before the shipping process begins and found they are in perfect condition.

Next steps

While the issues that appeared on the advance copies were caused by the fact that the packaging wasn't suited for the exceptionally rough handling during the air freight, we still want to be sure that the games won't be damaged on their way to you during sea freight and the last mile delivery. So, these are the additional protective elements that we worked out with the manufacturer:

• The rulebook and the player aids will be shrink wrapped together with a cardboard sheet in between them for extra stability and to secure the player aids from moving. Another cardboard sheet will be placed between these and the rest of the components in the insert. Double safe!
• Two more cardboard sheets will go to both ends of the tray with the puzzle boards in it. Two extra foam trays will be in the middle of that tray, between the separator and the puzzle boards themselves. This will make the tiles fit snugly in the tray while the foam will serve as an additional bumper, softening any impacts and further protecting both the insert and the puzzle boards.
• The corners of the player aids will be rounded, which will make them more durable as they won't have any corners that could get bent during shipping. On the pictures below, you can see the difference between rounded corners (on the left) and the issue we want to prevent (on the right).

Updated delivery estimates

According to the manufacturer, these extra protective elements will be added to the game boxes by the end of May as it involves opening and re-assembling the games. This pushes the deliveries further ahead, but we feel it is worth it to overprotect the components rather than risk that anything would happen to them on their way to you.

Shipping process from the end of May:

• 2 weeks to load the games on ships
• 2/4 weeks of sea freight (US/EU)
• 1 week to unload the games and sort out the customs process
• 2 weeks for fulfillment and deliveries

Estimated deliveries:

• USA: 6 - 17 July
• EU and rest of the world: 20 - 31 July

Essen 2019 flashback with Eric Summerer

During Essen SPIEL 2019, we had the wonderful opportunity to play Project L with a lot of you, and it was a blast! We still remember how amazing it was to meet backers of Project L as well as other people from the board gaming universe. Among those who stopped by our stand was Eric Summerer from the Dice Tower. Check out the video below where he talks to Michal about his first impressions of Project L! Did you have a chance to play the game at Essen as well? What were your initial thoughts?

This is all from us for now. We'll be back with another update before the games are loaded on ships. What do you think about the unboxing pictures? Let us know in the comments!

Thank you very much for your incredible support!

Michal

Updated Delivery Schedule
about 4 years ago – Wed, Mar 04, 2020 at 02:23:02 AM

Hi,

We'd love to share with you an updated delivery schedule and news that we have received from the manufacturer, Panda GM, as well as to recapitulate what happened so far and where Project L is in terms of production.

What happened so far

Update 34: By the end of the second week of January, the factory finished production of all the game components, and the only thing left was to assembly them into the boxes. We've received two mass production copies that had manufacturing issues we've encountered in the past resolved (pictures from the unboxing and the quality control check are here). At that point, we booked a trip to China as we wanted to be present during the final assembly to make extra sure all the games are perfect before we ship them to you. This was scheduled to the end of February as the factory closed for the Chinese New Year holiday.

Update 35: As most of you probably know by now, China (and now also many other parts of the world) was struck hard with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Covid-19 (more information here). As a result of this outbreak, Chinese factories were forced to stay closed for an extended period of time even after the Chinese New Year ended in order to minimize the chance of spreading the virus further. Our scheduled flight to China was cancelled, and we had to wait to see how the situation unfolded.

Latest production news

The factory was closed until early March as a precautionary measure taken to minimizes the chance of spreading the infection among the workers, whose health is being closely monitored through regular health checks. The factory will now gradually get to 100% of its working capacity, and we have received an estimate that shows the assembly will be finished during the week starting with 6 April. We were strongly discouraged from flying over to China to do the quality control check in person, but we are communicating with Panda GM in order to devise an extended quality control check of the games before they are shipped to you.

Next steps, estimated from the point the games are assembled (from 13 April onward):

• 2 weeks for final quality check
• 2 weeks to load the games on ships
• 2/4 weeks of sea freight (US/EU)
• 1 week to unload the games and sort out the customs process
• 2 weeks for fulfillment and deliveries

Estimated deliveries:

•  USA: 1 - 14 June
•  EU and rest of the world: 15 - 28 June

This is all from us for now. We'd like to thank you so much for your amazing support and patience, as we're looking forward to seeing the assembled games and sharing the quality control process with you.

Michal

Coronavirus & Delivery Schedule
about 4 years ago – Tue, Feb 11, 2020 at 10:02:43 PM

Hi,

At the beginning of January, just before the our manufacturer, Panda GM, closed the factory for the Chinese New Year, we have published an update (Update #34) with an outline of the next steps and delivery estimates. We were eagerly awaiting the day the factory will reopen, games will be assembled, and we could fly to China for a final quality control check before the shipping begins.

However, as many of you probably know, the outbreak of a novel coronavirus (more information here) led the Chinese government to extend the Chinese New Year to prevent the disease from spreading. To be extra safe, the manufacturer informed us that they are postponing the reopening of their factory for one extra week on top of the government regulations. This means that the factory should open on February 17 instead of February 3, which will affect the assembly, our visit to the factory, and the delivery dates.

Right now, we hope for the best for everyone, as we keep monitoring the coronavirus situation closely. We're awaiting more information from the manufacturer next week, and we'll let you know as soon as we know more about the situation and about an updated delivery schedule.

If you'd like to know more about the coronavirus, there is a thorough FAQ section on the World Health Organization website with lots of useful information.

Thank you very much for supporting Project L.

Michal