Hey everyone,
It’s been just over a month since the last newsletter! In this edition:
- Introducing my new upcoming game: Stamp Showdown. Spoiler: you can already play it!
- River Rats production and fulfilment update.
- My Game Design & Publishing blog & podcast feature
Introducing: Stamp Showdown
My friends and I were on my balcony, enjoying some Korean bites and makgeolli (Korean rice wine), which serves as fuel for our card game try-out session. While the others were still eating, I took 30 seconds to explain the next game we were going to try. The first few had missed the mark, so we really hope this one would bring the fun.
In preparation for the evening, I scoured Reddit and BoardGameGeek for novel card game designs that can be played with a standard deck of playing cards; the signature of my publishing company, Four Suit Studio. I selected five games, and we started testing the more complex ones.
The game I just explained in between bites was Lamarckian Poker. It’s a design by James Ernest who is known for games like Lords of Vegas, Tak, Light Speed: Arena and 252 other designs. Despite its simplicity, it stood out right away. While playing, we were having fun within minutes: we were laughing, trying to mess with each other’s hands, and we got fully hooked. It was a blast!
The next day, I reached out to James, told him I loved his game, and what I think could use some tweaks, and asked if I could license a new variant of it and if he wanted to develop it further. He responded swiftly and was positive to all of it!
Over the past few weeks, he’s been refining the game, while I worked on the theme and ran some playtests. The result is Stamp Showdown. Right now, the rules are 98% done, and you can already try it!
About the game:
In Stamp Showdown, you’re competing in a high-profile stamp competition where only the most stunning collection will win. Each turn, trade stamps from your hand with the central trader’s market, curating your set while cleverly disrupting your opponents’. When the final showdown begins, only the most impressive combination will take the prize!
River Rats production & fulfilment update
If you’re a backer of the campaign, here’s everything you need to know:
🕓 River Rats card game (minor hiccup, ready in 20 days)
🔵 Playmats (on track, almost ready)
✅ Poker Chips (done, arrived in warehouse)
🔵 Pouches (on track, almost ready)
✅ Posters (on track, ready next week)
✅ Postcards (on track, ready next week)
✅ One Card Maze (done, arrived in warehouse)
✅ Uncut sheets (on track, shipped to the Netherlands)
River Rats cards
The game was completely finished, and I was super excited when I received this video from my manufacturer:
But upon close inspection, I noticed the box was made of standard cardboard material, and not the high-quality speciality paper I’d ordered. The manufacturer admitted to their error, and they’re now re-printing the boxes on the speciality paper.
Unfortunately, this added about 25 extra days to the production process. Otherwise, we probably could have started fulfilment this week, and now it’ll be about 4 weeks later.
Poker chips, pouch and playmats
Poker chips
The poker chips are completely done and already waiting at the warehouse. They’re pretty cool if you ask me!
Pouch and playmats
I’ve received and approved physical samples of the pouch and the playmats. So right now, the playmats and the pouches are in mass production!
Shipping posters, postcards & uncut sheets
All done! The uncut sheets are on their way to the Netherlands to get signed by the incredible illustrator Rixt Heerschop.
We’ll start shipping out the postcards, posters, prototypes and uncut sheets in the first week of September.
Overall status: We are still on track!
Featured in Crowdfunding Nerds Podcast. And check out my blog!
This Monday I was interviewed on the Crowdfunding Nerds Podcast about my marketing strategy for the River Rats Kickstarter.
I created an interactive timeline covering each step I took to present River Rats to the public. If you’re into crowdfunding, game publishing, or behind-the-scenes strategy:
My next newsletter will cover our plans for SPIEL in Essen, Germany.
If you’re attending and want to meet up, let me know! Also, if you’d like to demo River Rats or Monsters of Loch Lomond, and get some cool free perks, just hit me up.
-Robin
