The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Chase... Challenge your own mind to determine the fate of your wandering thoughts in this engaging yet relaxing abstract solitaire card game inspired by the principles of meditation and mindfulness.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
December ‘24 Update: All Good Things…
about 2 months ago
– Mon, Dec 30, 2024 at 10:27:35 PM
I hope you’re all having a joyous and wonderful holiday season. As far as this year—and this Kickstarter campaign—goes, the doors are closed, the floors are mopped, the chairs are up on the tables and it looks like it’s time to turn out the lights and close up shop. This will be the last planned update for the campaign.
The last handful of backers in Asia, Australia and a few other scattered map-parts allegedly received their games this month and that means we can now officially announce that fulfillment is… fulfilled. If for some reason you have not received your game it means something buggy has happened. Please reach out to me as soon as possible and I will make sure you are taken care of.
I’ve been mulling over what to write in this last admittedly non-update for a few days and I’ll be honest, I’m kind of stumped. I’ve currently got a whirlwind of mixed emotions and leftover holiday sweets going on which isn’t helping bring much clarity. I guess I’ll do what I always do—ramble a little about what I’ve been doing all month.
Which is easier said than done because the answer is blessedly… not much.
For the first time in as long as I can remember (I’m old, so my memory doesn’t go back very far) I haven’t been spending almost every waking hour dreaming / designing / writing / planning / researching / budgeting / coordinating / managing / emailing / accounting / abillionother-ings for Nevermind The Distraction. Which means suddenly I don’t have anything pressing going on and my momentum has considerably de-mentumed, unmentumed?
Anyway, it’s weird.
Newton’s Law of Inertia says objects in motion tend to stay in motion while those at rest tend to stay at rest. Right now I’m enjoying being at rest, but it is odd. I keep getting this disorienting feeling like there’s something I forgot to do, but it’s actually just that its finally all been done.
I hope. I didn’t forget anything did I?
Nevermind The Distraction started off as part experiment—part passion project. Thanks to Kickstarter and every one of you wonderful folks who believed in it enough to pledge, it was able to grow into a passion enterprise? undertaking? endeavor? odyssey? adventure? One of those. Actually a bit of all of those.
Thank you for believing in it and in me and I sincerely hope you have enjoyed the campaign and will find continuing enjoyment in the end result on your tables.
As far as the future of Zentrovert Games and Nevermind The Distraction, I have some ideas brewing for new Distraction Packs and even an entire new game version or two. I still want to look into a more clinically focused version to assist mental health professionals and possibly a digital/mobile version of Nevermind as well. I have also been noodling on an idea for a completely new and very different game that I may or may not tinker with in the months to come.
Head over to zentrovertgames.com and sign up for the newsletter to be notified of new things as they come up.
I’d like to end by offering my deepest and most sincere gratitude for your continued support, graciousness and generally great vibes throughout the campaign. There were a few me-created bumps along the way, and yet I never received the slightest bit of negativity—either public or private—from a single backer. The internet can be a rough place and I entered into this adventure expecting to take a few punches along the way. I can’t begin to tell you how much it has meant to me that even during some difficult times, I never felt anything but love, grace and patience from each and every one of you.
From the bottom of my heart, Thank You.
Cheers,
-AJ
(I now return your last Mondays to their originally scheduled programming)
Fin
November ‘24 Update: <insert pun-chline here>
3 months ago
– Mon, Nov 25, 2024 at 11:25:21 PM
Last month’s headline was intentionally written as a setup for a joke this month about it "not being a train after all", but now a month later I can’t seem to find it, so this month you get to make up your own punchline! Make it a good one. Snort your favorite beverage out your nose and everything. Just not orange juice—that hurts.
Anyway, while the majority of you have received your games, there are a small handful of backers who are still waiting patiently, so I don’t want to officially close things down quite yet, which means it’s the last Monday of the month and I’m still here!
Nevermind The Fulfillment
Backers in Europe, the US and Canada all received their games over a month ago, but some backers in Asia, Australia and ROW (rest of the world) are still waiting for their games through VFI and their hub partners. If you live in any of the following countries, you should be receiving your game Soon™ (at least based on VFI’s current chart).
So with Kickstarter fulfillment either done or out of my hands, what have I been doing this month?
Zentrovert Games Website
The website and store launched earlier this month, and I have begun fulfilling post-campaign orders. There have not been many, but certainly more than I expected with zero advertising, which is cool! Now that the website is live, you can head on over and subscribe to the newsletter for things like:
New product announcements (see below)
Sales and promotions (see below)
Blog posts (see —you get the picture)
Once these Kickstarter updates stop coming, the newsletter will be the main way for us to stay in touch regarding all things Nevermind.
New Distraction Packs Coming!
I’ve always felt that Nevermind is at its strongest when the people playing it have a more personal connection to the images on the cards. I know this is true because back when it was just a free Print-and-Play, some folks got creative and made cards using their own images to personalize their experience and even do things like process grief and beat addiction!
The way-long-term vision has always been to eventually have so many different themed Distraction Packs available that people can pick and choose the ones that mean the most to them—to more accurately represent what their actual thoughts might look like while playing the game.
To this end, I’ve started the ball rolling on doing regular release small print batches of new Distraction Packs that will be available only on the Zentrovert Games website. These runs will be fairly limited in quantity (re-ordering as needed) and are a good way to develop a library of Distraction Packs without breaking the bank. When it comes time to do a second printing of the core game, the more popular packs can be added for larger release. You can sign up for the newsletter to be notified as new ones release.
For now, I’m working with The Game Crafter to create these small batches to match the cards that come with the game as closely as possible. It’s not a perfect match, but you have to look really really close to tell the difference. So, all that said:
Introducing…
Oil & Water Distraction Pack!
If you remember back to the early days of the campaign, we did the voting for the community Distraction Pack and the winner was Space (The Cosmos). Oil & Water actually came in a close second, so it seemed like a great place to start for the first official standalone Distraction Pack!
A small batch of these is available NOW in the Zentrovert Games webstore!
Nevermind The Holiday Deals!
This week is Black Friday and now that post-campaign inventory is available, it seemed like a good time to start a promotion or two. So over at the Zentrovert Games webstore from now through the end of the holidays, we will be offering free shipping on all orders over $50. I know, this isn’t terribly helpful to backers who already received their games last month, but:
BACKER-ONLY Special!
Kickstarter backers who order any additional copies of the game will receive a $5 discount—which basically means the Kickstarter pledge price from last year will still be honored for you until January. This could be great for any of you who only got one version of the game but now wishes you’d gotten both, or as a great holiday gift for any gamers in your life who have seen you playing Nevermind and said “What the holy heck is that?”
Speaking of gifting Nevermind, digital gift cards are available in the webstore too, and they will also be $5 off for backers only.
Oh, and these discounts will combine with the free shipping discount mentioned above.
To get the backer discount, you will need to order using the same email address as your Kickstarter account, and use the coupon code 23KSBACKER. Unfortunately, as the store is only set up for US sales (so far), this method will only work for US backers. If you are not in the US and want to take advantage of this offer, email me at [email protected].
Breathe.
That’s what I’m calling the new blog. I’m not entirely sure how “bloggy” it’s going to be yet, but as a few of you have said you wouldn’t mind continuing to receive my monthly updates—in all their self-deprecating glory—here is your chance. Head over to the website and subscribe to the newsletter if this is your thing.
Also, my first blog post is a little-too-personal campaign end message to all backers (TMI Alert).
BGG Ratings
As I’ve been pitching Nevermind to distributers and retailers, I’ve realized they always have the same initial response:
“What’s the rating on BGG?”
This is a bit frustrating because the original prototype/print-&-play listing has a respectable 8.6, but both of the new listings still have the dreaded --. While the math across the two new versions would have us at an 8.7, unfortunately, there have not been enough total ratings left for their system to calculate a score. We only need a handful more ratings to cross the threshold, so if you have played your copy of Nevermind and are on BoardGameGeek, please consider leaving us a rating. It really does help more than you would imagine.
Well, I think that's it for November. Happy Holidays everyone!
-AJ
October ‘24 Update: The Light at the End of the Tunnel…
4 months ago
– Mon, Oct 28, 2024 at 09:39:44 PM
Wow, what a rollercoaster month—and the second in a row to have gone almost exactly to plan! I’ve been hearing from a lot of you who are getting your games and I’m sooo relieved fulfillment seems to have gone smoothly—for the most part!
Ok, so let’s talk about it, where is everything at?
Nevermind The Progress - Fulfillment at 96%
As of today, fulfillment is largely complete—with some exceptions. Here’s a breakdown of where everything stands by region:
Europe - 100%
All shipments to European backers are shown as having been delivered (finally). If you are in this region and have not received your reward, please reach out to me immediately at [email protected] as something has gone wonky.
I do have a handful of extra copies at the hub handling European fulfillment to deal with damaged shipments. Please check your orders as soon as you can to make sure you don’t need any replacements which will be much harder for me to do once all remaining inventory is in the US.
If you are a European backer and would like to purchase an extra copy for yourself or as a gift, email me at [email protected]. Though the webstore will be live soon, it is likely that I will not be able to fulfill outside of North America, so once the remaining European copies are gone, it may not be available there for the foreseeable future.
US - 100%(ish)
All confirmed shipments to US backers are shown as having been delivered—with the exception of a couple folks I haven’t been able to arrange local pickup with yet. If you are in the US and have not received your reward, please reach out to me immediately at [email protected] as something has gone sideways.
There are still a small handful of US backers who backed the Kickstarter campaign for a physical copy or two, then never completed their BackerKit survey to pay for shipping and give me their address information (despite many, many emails reminding them to). If you are one of these folks—whether reading this now or at some future date when you went to check up on the campaign status—please reach out to me as BackerKit is now closed and I will need to fulfill your order manually. I will do my best to honor your pledge for as long as I have inventory, but once it is gone, I may not be able to fulfill your order.
If you are a US backer and would like to purchase an extra copy for yourself or as a gift, the webstore at zentrovertgames.com should be live very soon. Keep an eye out for special holiday deals for backers only!
Canada - 100%
All shipments to Canadian backers are shown as having been delivered. If you are in this region and have not received your reward, please reach out to me immediately at [email protected] as something has gone pear-shaped.
Asia / Australia / Rest of World - (sigh)
While all copies going to these regions have been with the fulfillment partner VFI since well before last month’s update, unfortunately, fulfillment has not yet begun in any of these areas. As I understand it, this is normal and nothing to be particularly worried about, this is just VFI’s process, as they wait until they have a big enough shipment before sending to the various regions (hence “in consolidation”). If you live in one of these regions and back boardgame Kickstarters often, this is probably nothing new to you. My sincerest apologies that your orders are taking so long to get to you.
If you want to check progress in your region, here are the instructions (reposted from last month):
Either scroll down to Nevermind or use the Jump to letter dropdown and select N.
Status as of this update.
The listing for your region includes the VFI distribution partner who will be shipping your games to you as well as an estimated date they will get it. I’m told delivery can take anywhere from 2-14 days after the regional hub has received them. Some regions are listed as In Consolidation, which just means internal coordination stuff is still underway and they will assign an estimated date as soon as they get the logistics all lined up.
Though the listing includes an email address, please try not to bother them unnecessarily. If there are any concerns, please reach out to me first. As the publisher, I may have more leverage to get answers quickly.
As I understand it, once the copies have arrived in your region, you should receive an email from them with a shipping notification and tracking number.
Nevermind The Diary
With the project largely complete, there isn’t much in the way of “Next Steps” so I guess I’ll ramble about my month a bit...
Receiving the Games
Boy was this a surreal experience. After thousands of hours working on Nevermind over the last four years, finally seeing that pallet in my garage was simultaneously rewarding and… anticlimactic? Having such a massive milestone pass with so little fanfare was… weird. Like, I didn’t expect fireworks or a parade or anything but after years of looking forward to this singular moment, I guess I had come to expect… something.
Ben knows exactly what I mean.
The garage crickets were sweet and very morally supportive though. Thanks guys!
The other sort of let-down was getting the freight bill. I’d been managing the budget pretty well up until this point and whenever things were going to go over their budget it was because of a decision made consciously, like engaging an actual branding and graphic design expert, or adding in a second rulebook.
As of last month, it was looking like I’d done a good job of managing the financials, and I was going to be able to spring for a nice juicy double-cheeseburger with the money left over. Not bad for a first-timer, right?
Buuuut, then the freight invoice came in 60% higher than the quote and... well, that stunk—I was really looking forward to that cheeseburger.
US Fulfillment
I’m glad I decided to do US fulfillment myself. The way I saw it, even though it was about the same price as having a fulfillment company do it, I could do my own (super-anal) quality control and still get it out faster than waiting our turn with some big corporate operation. I needed to set up a system to fulfill the extras from the webstore anyway, so I figured I could use the practice.
I had all of the boxes premade and ready to go with the packing slips when the inventory showed up, so I was able to get it all turned around within 48 hours. I’m sure if it was several thousand shipments instead of only a couple hundred I would feel differently, but I actually quite enjoyed the mindless monotony of packing the boxes.
Game Reception (so far)
As mentioned above, I’ve been hearing from folks all over who have gotten their games and their love and gratitude have been hitting me right in the feels.❤️ I’ve worked really hard on this project since <checking watch> like the dawn of time, and it is enormously gratifying to hear that folks are enjoying it and connecting with it on the level intended.
One of my favorite conversations so far came from a gamer friend who backed the Kickstarter mostly just to support me:
“It fits in the corner of my table, so I've just left it set up. I rotate back and forth between the 2 versions. Many times, I sit down just to play once, and end up playing 2 or 3 times. I've played it every day since I got it (39 times now). Without the personal connection, I might not have backed it, and that would have been a serious error. I just adore Nevermind, I feel so peaceful when I play it.”
So what other sorts of feedback have I been getting? Well, it seems like everyone loves the component quality—especially the playmat—and I’ve gotten a lot of praise for the How-to-Play Guide, which is a huge relief since that sucker was largely responsible for the delay. Gameplay-wise, it seems to be working as intended with folks enjoying a session or two to calm down, relax and get out of their heads.
If you have received your copy, played it and would like to share your thoughts, I’d love to hear from you! I’m currently looking for testimonials to include on the website, so if you have one and wouldn’t mind me using it, reach out!
Here are a few different ways you can let me, or the world know how you feel about Nevermind The Distraction:
Leave a rating or review on BoardGameGeek. (This really helps!)
If you’re on social media, share your… no, actually, if you’re on social media, do your mental health the biggest favor ever and Get. Out. Now!
The Website
Beside managing fulfillment, the vast majority of my time this month has been spent working on setting up the website which has been a mixed bag. On the one hand, I’m learning a lot about retail and e-commerce which is something I’ve never really been exposed to with a background in architecture.
On the other hand I’m finding out how frustratingly constrained these “turn key” e-commerce platforms are. It’s like, you want a plain white Toyota Camry with nothing in it? Great, here are the keys! You want it to be blue instead of white? Sorry, that’s going to require you to learn web coding. You want floormats and Bluetooth? That’s going to require a separate $19.99/mo. plug-in app. For each. Oh, I’m sorry, you wanted removable floor mats? Those are $49.99/mo. and that plug-in doesn’t play well with the Bluetooth one.
Those are all frustrating things that can eventually be overcome with enough money or sheer pig-headedness (guess which one I have? I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count). So, yeah, I’m learning CSS web coding.
In fact, that is the recipe for so much of this project. I don’t know how to do something? I do a bunch of research and then beat my head against it until it eventually gives in. So far that has worked well. It’s been painful, but it has worked.
Until I got to product photography.
So yeah, a new website means I need photos of the game that will show off its table presence right? Buuut, thanks to those freight costs, hiring a photographer (even one without a cheeseburger) is out of the question. So I figure, the game looks great on the table, how hard can it be to photograph it? I fire up YouTube and put on my hardhat, ready to beat another new challenge into submission…
Guess what no amount of research, cheap lighting rigs and stubborn pig-headedness will make up for? Talent.
Soooo, I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that the website is going to have to go live with mediocre photography. My friends are telling me I’m being too much of a perfectionist and it’s fine. These are the same people who convinced me not to go another round of color-correction with the game manufacturer, so I trust them. Mostly.
I’m going to go back to coding now. At least that doesn’t require talent. (oh stop, you know what I meant)
More Website-y Stuff
The website and store should be live in the next week or so. It will likely be pretty bare bones shop-related stuff to start, but I have plans to add lots of game resources in the future. Both editions will be available for purchase in the US (to start anyway). Unfortunately, the price of the game needs to go up to $30 to cover the increased cost of, well… everything. As far as availability in retail, there are certainly hopes and dreams, but no concrete plans yet.
I have had a handful of people tell me that they actually enjoy reading these updates and one person even suggested/requested I keep going with a blog on the website once the campaign updates stop. I’m not sure how I feel about this. What do you all think? Would any of you care to read about the Continuing Adventures of Zentrovert Games on a semi-regular-ish basis?
Oh Jeez, He’s Still Going?
Yeah, but this part is important.
Put frankly, this time of year can suck. The days get shorter and colder and for some of us, Seasonal Affective Disorder climbs in and sets up camp. Compound that with the responsibilities of the holiday season and things can get pretty tense.
But (for some of us) this time of year every four years…
It’s can get pretty nasty out there folks. I’d like to offer these thoughts for those looking to stay sane this holiday/election season.
Breathe.
Try to stay in the moment. Sure, there are lots of things that could happen elsewhere and tomorrow, but when you feel yourself sliding down that ol ‘what if’ rabbit-hole, ask yourself “Is this moment right here and right now really all that bad?”
Try to have patience and grace for yourself. You’re doing the best you can.
Try to have patience and grace for others. Believe it or not, they are doing the best they can too.
Try to remember that we are more alike than we are different.
Your time and attention are your most precious non-renewable resource. Don’t waste a single second of either on anyone or anything that would use it against you, especially for profit (yes, I'm looking at you InstaFaceTokX). Seriously folks. If you can, Get. Out. Now! I promise you won't regret it.
Breathe.
Alright, that’s it for this month. I’ll talk to you all again in November for what will probably be the last update of the campaign!
-AJ
September ‘24 Update: This is the Fulfilling Part!
5 months ago
– Mon, Sep 30, 2024 at 08:27:49 PM
Yep, it's already the time of the month where I try to make some awkward small-talk-y joke about the weather. Don't set your expectations too high, this month's will likely Fall short.😜
It’s surreal to be at this point in the project after so long. Literally thousands of hours spent dreaming, designing, planning, networking, writing, researching, budgeting, redesigning, rewriting, coordinating, hoping, spreadsheeting… OMG, SO. MANY. SPREADSHEETS! And finally, here we are—at the end of the first paragraph.
Nevermind The Progress - With Photos!
Strangely enough, September went… exactly to plan! Assembly and final packaging wrapped up (pun intended) the week after the last month’s update.
The games were then trucked off to the various regional distribution hubs and the copies headed to North America were put on their big flat boat. Then, some seafaring occurred and late last week those cool container crane-y things happened in Los Angeles.
Currently, the North American copies are cutting their way through the red-tape jungle of US Customs, and will hopefully be breaking loose this week sometime.
Nevermind The Fulfillment
Here’s a breakdown by region of where everything is at and what you can expect in the next few weeks:
Europe
All copies going to European backers were shipped out last week! Everyone should have received an email with a tracking number from either SFC, BackerKit or both. Unfortunately, though you can use the link to track where your package is at, there is no estimated delivery date—probably because customs can be unpredictable. That said, SFC uses air freight, so things should go fairly quickly, with some Europeans getting their copies possibly as early as this week!
One quick note: With the exception of backers in Switzerland (where it unfortunately wasn’t an option), everything has been shipped VAT prepaid. If anything goes funny and you are told you need to pay VAT to get your game out of customs-jail, please reach out to me and let me try to clear things up before you pay any extra.
If you have any questions or run into any issues, please reach out to me either using Kickstarter or email me directly at [email protected] (or, use the brand new customer service email mentioned below)
Asia / Australia / Rest of World
All copies for these regions are currently with VFI and are being prepared to be sent off to their various hubs. To check on the progress for your region, follow these steps:
Scroll down to Nevermind or use the Jump to letter dropdown and select N.
The listing for your region includes the VFI distribution partner who will be shipping your games to you as well as an estimated date they will get it. I’m told delivery can take anywhere from 2-14 days after the regional hub has received them. Some regions are listed as In Consolidation, which just means internal coordination stuff is still underway and they will assign an estimated date as soon as they get the logistics all lined up.
Though the listing includes an email address, please try not to bother them unnecessarily. If there are any concerns, please reach out to me first. As the publisher, I may have more leverage to get answers quickly.
Because of the way VFI processes orders, some regions may get their copies much sooner, while others may take longer (sorry Israel!). This isn’t something I have any control over and if you live in a region with one of the longer wait times, I sincerely apologize.
As I understand it, once the copies have arrived in your region, you should receive an email from them with a shipping notification and tracking number.
US
As mentioned above, the US copies are currently in customs in LA and should be headed to the US fulfillment hub soon (estimates say next week-ish). I say US fulfillment hub, but honestly that’s just a super fancy euphemism for my house, since I’ll be doing US fulfillment myself. It was going to cost the same and this way we don’t have to wait our turn in line with some giant fulfillment organization. Plus… I feel better controlling the few things that I can (we’ll see how I feel about this decision after fulfillment though).
Fulfillment-wise, I have done as much as I can to prepare in advance, so packing materials and packing lists are ready and I’m just waiting for the games to arrive. All I have to do is print labels and pack boxes. I’m fairly confident I can get it all shipped out within 2-3 days of receiving it.
In the next couple weeks you should receive an email from PirateShip or BackerKit with a tracking number once the label is printed, but it may take a couple days before it actually gets moving.
If you have any questions or issues, please reach out to me either using Kickstarter or email me directly at [email protected].
For those of you in Las Vegas who opted for Local Pick Up, I’ll reach out to you directly.
Canada
The minute I have the North America copies, my very first task—before anything else—will be to ship the few cases going to Canadian backers up to Pick & Pack Logistics in Canada. They are also all ready to go and will start sending out packages as soon as they get their copies. As with everything else, Canadian customs is the biggest unknown, so nothing to do but keep our fingers crossed there.
Final Notes on Fulfillment
In summary, if everything goes well, most backers should be receiving their games in October or early November, with some possible stragglers in Canada and other countries sliding into later November.
For all non-US backers: Each of the hubs have been given a few extra copies to deal with replacements in case any games are received damaged or missing components. As you get your games, please take a look and make sure everything looks good and let me know if there is anything wrong. It’s going to be much harder (and more expensive) to fix problems months down the road once there are no copies left in your region.
Nevermind The Less Fulfilling Stuff
Though fulfillment has been the biggest focus this month, it wasn’t the only one. Here are a few other things I’ve been up to in preparation for all of you getting your games:
DIZED Interactive Tutorial
As mentioned last month, I’m working with DIZED to get a tutorial for Nevermind onto their excellent platform. I decided to focus on this interactive tutorial instead of the traditional How to Play video, first, because I think it’s more effective to learn as you play—versus watching a lecture— and second because this way I don’t have to stress about my lack of video skills (both behind and in front of the camera) affecting your learning experience.
Unfortunately, though I’ve been trying my hardest to get the DIZED tutorial done before you receive your games, fulfillment coordination has been the biggest priority this month and I wasn’t able to get as far on the tutorial as I was hoping—though I DID put a major dent in it.
Here are some screenshots of the work in progress.
At this point it looks like it’s probably going to take a few weeks past fulfillment to get the tutorial complete and posted. If this is the way you prefer to learn, hang tight. It’s coming!
BGG
I have also added the Kickstarter versions of Nevermind to BoardGameGeek for those of you who like to track your collections and plays this way. If you play Nevermind and enjoy it, it does really help if you rate it on BGG! As I will be contacting retailers and distributers in the coming months, I know they will likely look at how it’s doing on BGG and a good score could make a big difference!
Sleeves
If you like to sleeve your games, the Nevermind cards are standard poker width but square (63.5 x 63.5mm). There are 106 cards in a box, so a single package of Sleeve Kings SKS-8847 will cover the whole game with a few left over.
HOWEVER… I strongly and sincerely recommend—no, implore you—to at least try Nevermind unsleeved for a couple key reasons:
First, the game is designed to be a tactile as much as aesthetic experience, with the various component textures contributing to the Zen-like nature of the the game. I sleeve most of my games and have played Nevermind sleeved and… I did not enjoy it at all. It contributed to the tactile nature of the game in the same way my grandmother’s plastic couch cover contributed to the tactile experience of my childhood.
Second, the game is designed to allow the player to enter a flow-state, where the turns are short and simple and you can sort of ‘zone out’ while playing. I found playing with sleeves all but erased the possibility of this happening because flipping sleeved cards in a grid suddenly turns Nevermind into a dexterity game!
New Customer Service Email Address
I have created an email address specifically for customer service at [email protected]. As you receive your games, if you have any problems with them at all, such as missing or damaged components, please send an email to that address with as much detail as you can, including photos, and I will do my absolute best to make it right.
Website & Webstore
Similar to the DIZED tutorial, this is something I was hoping to have live by the time you started receiving your games so you had easy access to information and resources. However—like the tutorial—it has taken a back seat in terms of priority and isn’t going to be finished in time. I’m planning to shift focus to this as soon as fulfillment is done, the goal being to have it live, including a webstore, for the holiday season.
Ok, that's it for September. See you next month. We're almost done!
-AJ
August ’24 Update: Mass Production is Complete!
6 months ago
– Mon, Aug 26, 2024 at 09:08:45 PM
As August winds its way to a close, this month’s update is going to be pretty short and sweet, but has only good news! If you read nothing else, please know shipping addresses will lock down this Friday!
Nevermind The Progress
As the title of the update suggests, we’ve hit a major milestone—mass production is finished!
I was hoping to have some photos or video from the factory to share, but didn’t receive them in time to include in this update. They did send me the MPCs (mass production copies) to review and approve, and I’m happy to say, they look great!
There were a couple really minor things that didn’t come out quite the way I had hoped, but several people close to me—who I trust to keep me in line on these matters—have unanimously assured me they are the kinds of things only I will ever notice and not at all worth delaying the project even further to change.
Currently the manufacturer is packaging everything up to get it ready to ship out which should happen in the next couple of weeks.
Thanks to GenCon (and post GenCon Covid), I was able to make tons of non-progress on the new website and Dized tutorial this month, but those are admittedly much lower priorities than getting your games on boats!
Nevermind The Next Steps
September is going to be a combination of keeping my fingers heavily in the middle of the freight/fulfillment pies in the foreground while working on the Dized tutorial in the background.
Shipping Addresses are Locking Down!
Shipping addresses will be locking down in BackerKit this Friday 8/30!
What this means is if you have moved recently or are moving soon or for any other reason want to change the shipping address we have on file for your rewards please do so right away! This weekend the addresses will be exported from BackerKit and sent off to the fulfillment hubs to prep packages for the final leg of their journey and it will be much harder to redirect them after that.
To change your address, log into www.BackerKit.com, click your profile avatar in the upper right, select Your Pledges & Surveys in the drop-down menu and then find Nevermind The Distraction in your list of surveys. Click the link to edit your address and then… well… edit your address! Email me at [email protected] if you have any issues doing this.
As suggested by Newton’s first law of motion, if you have not moved, you do not need to do anything more. Just sit tight and wait for the gaming goodness to show up one day!
Nevermind the (unchanged) Timeline
I’m including this so you don’t have to go searching through previous updates for answers about the fulfillment timeline. To be clear, this is the same timeline discussed last month, so nothing has been changed or further delayed.
Just a quick reminder that plenty of unexpectedness could still happen—especially regarding oceanic freight this time of year—so for now let’s all keep our fingers crossed and our expectations… fluid.
Manufacturing
August • Mass Production Complete - DONE! • MPC (Mass Production Copy) sent to publisher for final approval - DONE! • MPC Approval - DONE! • CE Testing & Reports - Underway • Final assembly and transit packing - Underway
September • Oceanic freight out - early/mid Sept • Domestic freight to China fulfillment hubs - mid Sept
Freight & Fulfillment - By Region
Europe - Fulfillment direct from China (no oceanic freight) • Mid September - Ground freight to fulfillment hub • Late September - Fulfillment begins
Asia / Rest of World - Fulfillment direct from China (no oceanic freight) • Mid September - Ground freight to fulfillment hub & waiting our turn in fulfillment queue • Early-Mid October - Fulfillment begins
US & Canada • Mid-September - Oceanic freight out • Late October - Oceanic freight arrival • Port/Customs - (the biggest unknown as holiday port traffic could change things) • Ground Freight to US fulfillment hub • Air Freight to Canada fulfillment hub • Late October / Early November - Fulfillment begins
Ok, that’s it for this month. We are getting so close! Hopefully by this time next month, the bulk of the games will be halfway across the ocean and the first backers in Europe may even be getting their copies!
