Hi! I hope you've enjoyed the first half of 2015. I have some updates from Stonemaier headquarters, as well as a special 3-day sale to celebrate our new Shopify store.
Shopify Store Launch and 3-Day Sale
To celebrate our switch to Shopify to sell in-stock products (we use a different service, Celery, for pre-orders), we've put all in-stock items on sale for the next 3 days. The sale will end on Saturday at noon CST.
Here's the list, with some limitations based on where the products are in stock (prices don't include shipping, but shipping fees are our regular low prices and can be shared by multiple items):
- Euphoria (US only): $49 (MSRP: $70)
- Euphoria and Treasure Chest Combo (US only): $79 (MSRP: $125)
- Treasure Chest (global): $32 (MSRP: $55)
- Tuscany (US and Australia only): $49 (MSRP: $70) Last weekend, Tuscany was given the Dice Tower award for Best Game Expansion of 2014! This is the retail version, so it doesn't include the coins, but you can get them separately at Meeplesource.
- Update Pack for Viticulture 1.0 (global): $5 (MSRP: $10)
- Wooden Stars (global): $7 (MSRP: $12)
The current version of Viticulture (second edition) already has the update pack built into it. Also, the current version of Euphoria (second printing) comes with wooden stars.
Scythe
Scythe is in the middle of the first wave of blind playtesting. That's when we send the rules and print-and-play files to ambassadors around the world, and people learn the game on their own and play it. In the last few weeks we've had over 100 blind playtest sessions, and from our playtests, the game is already much improved as the result of that playtester feedback.
Jakub Rozalski (Scythe worldbuilder and artist) recently completed the designs for the coins in the game. Each faction influenced one of the coin denominations. The factions exist in an alternate history 1920s Eastern Europe, so while the coins are fictional designs, they're inspired by actual coins and iconology of that era. These coins will be represented in cardboard form in the retail version of Scythe, as well as metal versions in the premium Kickstarter version of the game (we haven't finalized the pledge prices yet).
New Treasure Chests
We're in the process of working with backers and sculptors to design 5 new treasure chests of realistic resources, to be released through several Kickstarter projects in the next 12-18 months. Here's a quick glimpse at some of the early sculpts for these tokens:
Other Quick Updates
- Gen Con: On each night of Gen Con, we'll be hosting a big game night from 8:00-11:00 in our conference room (Denver room in the Marriott). Tickets for these events are also sold out, if you have some spare $0 tickets and want to drop by to play some games, please feel free to do so. I'll only turn people away if the room gets too crowded. I'll also be a part of Kickstarter advice panels moderated by John Wrot on Friday and Saturday.
- Design Day: Our second annual Design Day will be held in St. Louis on September 26. Design Day is a place for current and aspiring game designers to help each other by giving and receiving feedback on game prototypes, expanding their network within the gaming community, and learn from clever mechanisms in published games. We have exactly 8 slots remaining, so now is your chance to sign up.
Other Product Updates
For full details on your specific location, visit this page on our website (updated weekly).
- Between Two Cities: We should receive the advance copies in a few weeks, so we're on track for early November delivery to backers, if not sooner.
- New Treasure Chests: Production of the tokens continues, and we'll hopefully have the advance copies by Gen Con. We're on track for January delivery to backers.
- Euphoria Expansion: The design for the Euphoria expansion by Morten Monrad Pedersen is in progress.
- Euphoria and Tuscany: Euphoria and Tuscany are available in stores everywhere. The Tuscany misprint stickers are on the BGG store here. While we plan to reprint parts of Tuscany in the future, it is unlikely we will reprint the entirety of it every again, so now is the time to get it if you're interested in expanding your Viticulture experience.
- Viticulture: Viticulture is sold out to distributors. We're planning a reprint for December/January release (no Kickstarter, maybe pre-orders through our website).
- Treasure Chest, Coins, and Stars: The original Treasure Chest, metal coins, and stars are available at Amazon in the US, UK, Canada, and Germany. The coins can also be found through our fulfillment partner, MeepleSource. Individual resource tokens are available from MeepleSource and Game Trayz.
Top 3 Most-Read New Blog Entries in June:
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What We've Been Playing: Scythe, The Voyages of Marco Polo, Camel Up, Patchwork, Hive, 7 Wonders with Babel, Zhang Guo, Chaos & Alchemy, Pay Dirt, Funemployed, Telestrations, Castles of Mad King Ludwig
If you'd like to discuss the contents of this e-mail or if I need to add/change something without resending the newsletter to everyone (i.e., confusing phrasing or a broken link), please go to this page on our website.
Thanks!
— Jamey Stegmaier
Stonemaier Games
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