@Drifty Boots, agreed. In addition, simpler games can provide a ton of fun through tweaking, trying to find alternative modes of play that make them more complex.
Brian Falls 2015-01-24T20:59:01-05:00
Any wagers as to which will be reached first? 100k backers, or $4M?
Rand Chua TL 2015-01-24T20:59:23-05:00
Upgrade the cards to plastic cards? laminate the cards so we gamers to need to sleeve them?
Adam Wragg 2015-01-24T21:05:39-05:00
Exploding kittens iOS?
Eric 'Trinkets' Baumgarten 2015-01-24T21:06:29-05:00
@Brian Falls 100,000 all day. It will be close. But I think it will be around $3,935,000 when we reach the baler goal
Nicklas Linder 2015-01-24T21:06:46-05:00
I´m guessing 100k backers before $4m. Otherwise the average spend needs to go up $20, from 39 to 59. Maths, winning bets since... ages ago. :-D
Eric 'Trinkets' Baumgarten 2015-01-24T21:07:13-05:00
*backer goal
Rand Chua TL 2015-01-24T21:14:06-05:00
Wow going to reach 4 million soon!
James K 2015-01-24T21:28:13-05:00
My guess is 4M by end of week, but the craze has definitely died down. Most people who want to be in, are in already.
James K 2015-01-24T21:29:10-05:00
@Ashley, If your boyfriend truly thinks that way, you should get rid of him quick! You do not need that kind of negativity in your life!
Susan 2015-01-24T21:30:49-05:00
How about for the next stretch goal (after the 100 000 backers stretch goal) you add some shiny cards, like holographic or metallic cards? Even if it means to get them having to pledge more?
Eric 'Tchotchke' Aschner 2015-01-24T21:31:50-05:00
@Nicklas
You never know... someone might decide to throw down a few hundred thousand extra into their pledge. ;)
Bobby Allen 2015-01-24T21:54:54-05:00
@susan, NO, it will be hard enough to get the game made as it is. They ask their manufacture about how to produce 1000 units. The timeline to make 1000 is no where near the timeline to make 100K units. They may even have to switch vendors, many many logistics for such success.
Stretch goal 1/2" button. Small buttons are cheap, until you have to buy 100K of them.
I say NO to additional stretch goals. Additional items add costs to the base line without increasing revenue.
Yes we raised x million.. fees, production costs, shipping = x+1 million and the project never delivers. Another KS project described that adding 1 card added enough weight to move the game to the next bracket. 1 card was the difference from delivering the product and utter failure. Google has many other examples.
You backed the game as is, the creators calculated costs based on as is. it is very easy to get caught up in the buzz and then over promise and not be-able to deliver.
1 new card added to the deck = 100000 new cards printed and shipped.
Anthony Terragna 2015-01-24T22:19:36-05:00
The comments are by far the most rewarding of all rewards.
Christopher Whitmore 2015-01-24T22:43:51-05:00
@Bobby Allen, I understand your points, but additional stretch goals don't ~have~ to be production related. They could be something along the lines of reducing shipping costs to backers and things.
Sandy Masuo 2015-01-24T22:54:46-05:00
Is there a polydactyl cat card? My tabby has thumbs and he knows how to use them...
Chris Johnstone 2015-01-24T23:06:26-05:00
@Bobby Allen, you make an excellent point, and I agree with your point almost entirely. I would suggest that the Exploding Kittens team could maybe do a couple stretch goals that are add-ons, and not free inclusions. The Wooden Box doable, reasonably easy to obtain, not terribly heavy, maybe it costs you $15 extra ( I have no idea what the box, and shipping would actually cost, this is a random number that with no research looked reasonable.) for a spiffy box to hold both decks, and the additional shipping weight.
Susan 2015-01-24T23:06:40-05:00
@Bobby Allen I wouldn't mean for it to be additional cards, I would mean they would make some of their planned cards shiny, like maybe the exploding kittens cards? Though yeah it's understandable the production timeframe will probably be extended.
Pha3drus 2015-01-24T23:12:13-05:00
I'm sure some of you know about it, but for those who don't there's a cool Conan the Barbarian board game project running right now. Lots of SG broken and it's over $1m already! Check it out of you like cool miniatures with swords!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/806316071/conan
Kate Merriweather 2015-01-24T23:13:42-05:00
Okay. I see that people aren't getting the fact that you can order multiple SFW decks by backing at the single SFW deck using funds in multiples of the SFW deck level. So. If it is $20 for the single SFW deck, and you want three of them, you back at $60 (plus appropriate shipping) and stay on the $20 level radio button. You do this via the "modify your pledge" button after your original pledge level choice.
Hope this helps! *dives off into the ocean wearing a kitten suit*
James Jones 2015-01-24T23:47:55-05:00
Does anyone know if 2 or 3 blank cards are included in the game?
Eric 'Tchotchke' Aschner 2015-01-24T23:53:43-05:00
@James
Doubtful. They surely picked 56 cards for a specific reason, most likely what's on a single per-cut card sheet (7*8). So if both decks are 56 cards, they wouldn't have any room to add one in. They'd have to make new one sided sheets (which obviously would be cheaper) and just add a few to each shipment. Could be a later SG for sure, but I think you're the first person to ask for it.
Eric 'Tchotchke' Aschner 2015-01-24T23:55:40-05:00
Also, if they don't, just get blacked out sleeves and make your own. You could design on the computer and no fear of messing up a card. :)
Wes Ewing 2015-01-25T00:50:02-05:00
Y u no break 100K today?
Christopher Whitmore 2015-01-25T01:08:13-05:00
Exactly 10,000 more backers until No. 1!
Jarlaath 2015-01-25T01:22:04-05:00
Hey guys :)
Does anyone know or have a rough idea about the shipping cost for 10 base decks+10 NSFW decks to France ?
Sorry to bother you with that but I can't find any answer.
Thank you :p
Krissy Olson 2015-01-25T01:42:09-05:00
Ok I may be an idiot, but can someone tell me step by step how to do the multiple decks thing?
John Manek 2015-01-25T01:50:35-05:00
Krissy Olson - Click on the manage button beside your pledge and change the value of the pledge to equal the number of decks you want plus the shipping costs to your country.
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2015-01-25T01:54:10-05:00
@Krissy, choose your pledge level, 20 or 35. It will add the freight to that automatically. Then increase your total (numbers in green) by the amount of decks you want. Eg 35 +freight + 35 + 35 would give you three sets of the nsfw pledge. The additional freight required will be figured out later. Hope that helps.
John Manek 2015-01-25T01:54:48-05:00
Jarlaath - Since it says this on the order page. ""-To order multiple pairs of decks, just add $35 for each extra pair of decks you'd like. (extra shipping charges may apply)"" You would pledge the $350 plus at least 1 shipping cost. Because your doing 10 decks I would assume there would be extra charges for shipping. You could email them about it but you may not get an express reply due to the volumes they are getting.
John Manek 2015-01-25T02:03:30-05:00
For those who are looking at buying multiple decks the FAQ has an answer considering the extra charges may apply. When you do/did your base pledge for 1 deck you choose the first shipping cost. When you order extra decks you just add the value of the deck itself to your order. So for example of you want 10 decks+NSFW you would pledge $350 + shipping cost to your country which is only based on 1 deck. Any extra shipping costs falls under this FAQ information bit. So for those wanting to know shipping costs beyond 1 deck nobody knows at this time and I am assuming if there is an additional cost you will be directly contacted by the company to arrange payment of those shipping costs before your product is finally shipped.
""What does "extra charges may apply" for my shipping mean?
We’re still negotiating on the shipping. We’ll try to get the lowest shipping possible, but for now we don’t want to make any promises we can’t pinky swear on.
For the time being, just use the price for a single deck given to you by the shipping calculator, and we’ll confirm everything before putting your Exploding Kittens in the mail.""
Whitney Jokisch 2015-01-25T02:09:14-05:00
Just backed it. Couldn't resist any longer lmao. Can't wait for my decks!
Allie Wicklund 2015-01-25T02:13:55-05:00
We are almost to 100k! 25 days to get 4k backers shouldn't be too bad :)
Troy Kirby 2015-01-25T02:18:54-05:00
Wonder what the next stretch goals will be... I don't think this is slowing down... I think once it hits $4-$5 million, thats when the folks who haven't been paying attention catch on, and suddenly, it sprouts up another round of backers and funds.
James Sauter 2015-01-25T02:20:47-05:00
I just tripped my order O.O
We can't wait to get our hands on them.
The twisted game the whole family can play
Congraduations guys!
Jarlaath 2015-01-25T02:45:47-05:00
@John Manek
Thanks for the answer. Are you involved in the Exploding Kittens project ? (I guess you are, obvioulsy^^)
Are you the campaign manager ?
(sorry again if that question has already been asked several times...)
Wow, it looks like things really DO slow down on the weekends.
My friend Kim thinks it's because people do more on the internet when they're in the office than at home/off work. Cynical, but likely true. :P
But at least we JUST hit 96,000 backers... 4000 to go!
Andre "Silver Ninjatten" Bernier 2015-01-25T03:02:32-05:00
If everyone just made a second kickstarter account and pledged $1 we could be there already.
The Arrow 2015-01-25T03:36:00-05:00
@yohannon I don't think it has much to do with the weekend, but rather it's the project settling on the mid-project-lull that almost all projects have. It'll pick up again in a couple of weeks.
Jodie White 2015-01-25T03:37:34-05:00
That wouldn't make a bigger community lol. Also need to have a card related to cheese to make you draw a card (and ifts an exploding kitty you put it at the bottom of the deck) and maybe a cracked out trex card that causes the whole discarded card pile to get shuffled back into the deck again.
Corneal Pendulum 2015-01-25T03:38:13-05:00
I refuse to give any more money considering the current postage fee.
Other have said that it'll be a logistical nightmare. They'll have the cash in the bank account, but it takes a lot of paperwork, manpower, heavy organising to actually make it happen. For a team of just three people and some contacts, that's not feasible.
Please. Let's not be stupid here. With this many orders they are OBVOUSLY going to hire agents or support staff. Logistical nightmare? Heavy organisations? No. It'll just mean more work. And are we not allowed to expect that from these guys? Can we not raise our standards? Anything is feasible for them with $3mill+ in their account. Only a TINY percent of that cost is actually going towards production.
But of course Im in the minority. A further stretch with their money would benefit ALL while decreasing delivery fees would only benefit international folks...
ANDRES P. S. 2015-01-25T03:56:47-05:00
I want the 96052 bakers for Conan KS too
ANDRES P. S. 2015-01-25T03:59:54-05:00
4M SG... EU friendly and 10$ shipping
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2015-01-25T04:04:08-05:00
That's a lot of bakers!
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2015-01-25T04:04:08-05:00
That's a lot of bakers!
John Drinkwater 2015-01-25T04:05:19-05:00
When this campaign finished with over 150,000 pledgers are guys actually capable of actually delivering this product?
Jonny 2015-01-25T04:14:44-05:00
I can´t wait!!! Best idea EVER!!
Wes Ewing 2015-01-25T04:16:10-05:00
@John Drinkwater
No. It's completely impossible. Never been done before. And clearly won't be... Obviously I'm being sarcastic.
Just like the last project you and I backed, your concerns are similar. "Oh look! Overwhelming success. I couldn't get 'er done, so that means they probably won't either."
I am off to sleep now which means that I will probably miss the moment we reach 100k backers.
@John Drinkwater I personally doubt that they will be able to maintain the current delivery date due to the logistical nightmare they have in store for them trying to fulfill what will likely be between 150k and 170k orders.
That being said I am more than willing to cut them some slack and I will still be happy if my order arrives a month or two later than scheduled.
Andrea Newell 2015-01-25T05:10:18-05:00
Shipping plus the tax and import charges (£8 'admin' charge on top of 20% tax at the moment) hurt us in the UK so if the value goes up from two decks, it means my bill when it arrives will also be going up :( I could wait until it inevitably sells in UK shops, but where is the fun in that?!
My son (who..er..yes is 30yrs+.. honest...) and I are still excited about getting the deck and potentially a full NSFW deck too. We fully expect it to ship late due to the success and that doesn't bother us at all.
Nick Bicanic 2015-01-25T05:31:06-05:00
@John Drinkwater - these "guys" are working with the Cards Against Humanity guys - so yeah fulfilment at scale will not be an issue. Not to mention it's mostly just a print job. Printing has massive speed efficiencies at scale. If there was 10 million ORDERS that would be one thing but 50k more here and there. Not an issue ;)
Paul John Eyles 2015-01-25T05:32:37-05:00
Will you be asking for age verification for the NSFW decks? Don't want those under 30's to get corrupted.
Corneal Pendulum 2015-01-25T05:43:51-05:00
One import tax "loophole" many of you may already know about and take advantage of is labeling the package as a "gift".... Although in Japan card game import tax is 3.8% (Jan 2015 rate, just checked) not a lot.. but not 0%... NEVERTHELESS I highly doubt "cardgames" would be charged with import tax... its not luxury items/ value is too low. Japan usually charges tax from roughly USD$100 valued parcels.
@Andrea Newell Wow... UK is flat rate 20pounds...? That shouldn't be the case for mere card games right...?
Corneal Pendulum 2015-01-25T05:48:15-05:00
"Gift packages priced at less than USD$100 in total are exempt from the general tariff (and any other tariff). For this exemption to apply, an individual, not a company, must send the boots to you and they must be marked as a “gift” on the outer packaging. If you order from a retailer any other company, the gift exemption obviously will not apply."
These guys aren't a company right..? Theyre just three indvidual musketeers right? hahhaaaa So maybe we can ALL BE EXEMPT FROM IMPORT TAX IF THESE GUYS PLAY THEIR CARDS RIGHT!
Baldypat 2015-01-25T06:07:02-05:00
@Andrea you can have orders upto £30 or £35 I think in the uk before vat and custom charges are applied. If you have only ordered 1 game then by the time you take into account the exchange rate and postage this product will come in under that value
César 2015-01-25T06:16:11-05:00
Have you thought to translated versions (spanish, french, german, ...)?
John Drinkwater 2015-01-25T06:37:59-05:00
Yes I expect logistical challenges and definitely delays but good to know they have a plan in place to deal with massive numbers of orders.
Michael Botterill 2015-01-25T06:39:58-05:00
@Baldypat @Andrea, hopefully we can convince them to ship the containers with European games directly to the EU making the project EU friendly and eliminating the customs duty and lowering the shipping charges.
Justyna Kaletka 2015-01-25T07:14:06-05:00
We're so close to 100 k backers!! :)
Jay Bloggs 2015-01-25T07:22:04-05:00
@Creators Will there be a print and play version for backers so we can start playing before we receive the proper game?
Georgi Kirilov 2015-01-25T07:22:20-05:00
4260 more!!!
Andrea Newell 2015-01-25T07:54:45-05:00
@BaldyPat I think the threshold is much lower at around £15, above that you get the VAT - but the £8 'admin' charge really bumps up the cost of buying even simple things like t-shirts from the USA.
Tippy Singleton 2015-01-25T08:07:36-05:00
jay bloggs has a good point there!
Corneal Pendulum 2015-01-25T08:51:05-05:00
no actually Jay Bloggs thats a stupid idea. If a print version got released, in an instant it would be downloadable FREE to anyone online... What a waste of my $55... =_=
Tippy Singleton 2015-01-25T08:54:32-05:00
no just to backers. not to public.
Προφέσσορ Φ 2015-01-25T09:12:21-05:00
cat in a box card
Wes Ewing 2015-01-25T09:14:08-05:00
@Tippy
You can't release anything online and reasonably expect it to remain exclusive to any particular group. Once it's out there, it's out there.
Cards Against Humanity has a downloadable version available to this day. And that's what they started with before they offered hard copy. I still chose to buy it (over $100 after all expansion decks and taxes).
Exploding Kittens may very well release a downloadable version in the future, but according to updates not all cards have been determined / created yet.
Personally I think if they ever do release a downloadable version, it would be in their best interests not to for at least 6 months after shipping the Kickstarter sets.
Corneal Pendulum 2015-01-25T09:15:12-05:00
@Wes Ewing. I totally agree with you. (You justbeat me in posting this hahaa)
@Tippy You really think no one is going to release it online/public? Are you that naive? $36 for the NSFW deck is a rip off. EVERYONE knows that. The real production cost to print a card is only a tiny percetent of the $36. Its what is on the paper which gives it value. Think about it. Its paper + ink. Why do you think torrenting is so popular?
Wes Ewing 2015-01-25T09:48:59-05:00
Also just a reminder to all of the "more stretch goal advocates", roughly 15% of total pledges are consumed by fees (Kickstarter, CC processing, and survey / post campaign management software).
And on a $20-$35 product, after all production related costs the remaining funds are tight enough that it's unrealistic to expect a throw in like an additional item such as a t-shirt for everyone.
I think the current stretch goal of making the NSFW deck a full deck is perfect in so many ways. If more stretch goals are announced, it will simply be another added bonus.
Brian Dickinson 2015-01-25T10:00:35-05:00
@Corneal: I don't think it's a ripoff so please only speak for yourself. Also, if you think it is a ripoff then I really hope you didn't back it for that amount. Purposefully getting ripped off isn't very smart.
Prairie Householder 2015-01-25T10:13:55-05:00
I can't wait to play! I'm more than willing to be patient and provide cheerful support! Thanks, Team Exploding Kittens!
Paul John Eyles 2015-01-25T10:16:42-05:00
@Corneal: It is 2 decks for $36.00 the normal and the NSFW deck. That is not a rip off and is good value in my opinion.
Amanda Rene 2015-01-25T10:18:37-05:00
@Wes, sure, there's ways to access games for free. And sure, it only costs so much to put to the game on the card and the production and whatnot. But what you're paying for is the creative ideas, which is COMPLETELY worth it and they deserve the commerce for their ideas. Afterall, the game wouldn't exist without them.
I'm completely willing to support creative ideas. I have CAH and few of the expansions because I know it's a fun game and I get my monies worth out of it in game play. But if I'm enjoying the game so much, to me it only seems fair to have actually purchased the game instead of being cheap with it. If everyone felt the way you did, no one would even try to mass produce games. And that would leave us just playing Monopoly.
Peter S. 2015-01-25T10:23:25-05:00
Still would like to get information from the team on card stock and box quality. It is a no brainer to me that they should be interested and can afford to produce very high quality here.
Once they confirm that, I think the value is very fair. Reduced shipping, or at least reduced shipping for a mutl-pack (3, 6, 10 etc.) would really seal the deal. I also think they should be able to deliver EU friendly shipping at this point.
Eric 'Tchotchke' Aschner 2015-01-25T10:26:32-05:00
Also keep in mind that most SGs are designed to take advantage of the economy of scale. For example, if I've raised enough money to print (not necessarily sold, but print since I'm trying to launch a new game and not just sell some stuff) 700 decks, getting to 1,000 decks is a big deal for me. There's a pretty good price break at that tier. Or 5,000, whatever.
When you are printing 200,000 decks another 100,000 isn't really going to be cheaper per unit. I could see the EU fulfillment getting cheaper if they were able to print / ship in bulk there and have an EU company do fulfillment for them. (Amazon UK & Amazon Germany maybe)
People seem to think these guys have already profited nearly $4M. That just isn't how it works. KS fees (5%), CC fees(3-5%), and survey management probably come in at ~12-15%. Printing two decks in full color with boxes with good quality (but not plastic), even in scale, will come out to around $5. Then we have the bigger game box, let's say $2. A "Thing-of-incredible-delight" can vary in cost, but let's say $2. Then shipping in the US is currently free which is because they are keeping the weight down to fit into first-class mail. This means it should come out to $3-4 each, plus a small amount for the bubble envelope and printing the label (so we'll round to $4 each). I'm sure even at the high international rates, this same discount was included in the price. Of course they can't actually send you all of that themselves, so they would outsource that for probably another $3 a package. Plus even in the US, most states will require sales tax which if using Amazon to fulfill would certainly be collected, so drop another 5% of retail value. (Some states are more, some are less)
So, let's tally the whole kit(ten) and caboodle. For a $35 pledge, they actually get $29.75. Then they spend $17.75 to ship it to you. In the end the actual markup then is 50% which is very very good for a card game and especially for a limited edition. So what will they do with the other $1.7M?? Well, likely print and distribute more cards. If you launch a KS and break even then what the heck was the point? You didn't get started, just kicked. Worse still a significant portion of people who would buy your game already own a better copy.
tl;dr - Stop complaining. The cost is extremely fair compared to other games. If they do add something it needs to be cheap and small to fit into the current package. If they added say, t-shirts, then even at $5 for printing, and $5 for fulfillment and shipping they still lose more than half of their seed money.
Wes Ewing 2015-01-25T10:27:07-05:00
@Amanda
What are you talking about??
I never said I didn't think it was fair value, or not worth paying for, or that they shouldn't prosper from their ideas.
I've pledged $35 and if circumstances permit will happily up my pledge to order more sets as gifts.
*confused* but looking forward to Exploding Kittens nonetheless!! :)
Leprenaut the Protector 2015-01-25T10:30:44-05:00
So if I want both the original deck and the NFSW deck do I pledge $55?
Emily Grimes 2015-01-25T10:32:52-05:00
@ David, no just $35, if you read the pledge descriptions, $35 includes both decks, the Exploding Kittens deck and the NSFW deck.
Eric 'Tchotchke' Aschner 2015-01-25T10:33:09-05:00
@David
The $35 pledge includes a copy of each deck. If you want an extra standard deck (2+1) it would be $55. If you wanted two copies of each it would be $70.
There are 96k plus backers and people are complaining that $35 for two decks of a COMPLETELY ORIGINAL card game is too much? I back A LOT of Kickstarter card decks and the average price for a single deck is $15-20, some less $10-12 for early backers, and some more $25-30 depending on quality, card stock and packaging as well as limited edition. (And these are for your typical playing cards that you can buy at the store for $5, only with better colors and artwork)
I understand the shipping concerns from those overseas. It's never fun having to pay high shipping costs but I don't think these shipping costs are outrageous, yet hopefully they will find an EU fulfillment center to ship out of to make it easier for all of you.
The easiest fix? Back at $1 until we hear from there behind the curtain. However they've said they are working on it and there is still a long time before this ends. Can we all just take a deep breath and have a little patience? :-D
No you aren't the only one who wants to know if the quality of materials used is planning on being upgraded. Many have voiced this question/concern ever since it passed 1mil. However I think most of us are just waiting to see what they say now as there is no point in beating a dead horse, ya know? ;-)
Eric 'Tchotchke' Aschner 2015-01-25T10:41:46-05:00
88,888 NSFW backers!
Peter S. 2015-01-25T10:43:01-05:00
@Quinn - it is only a dead horse because they aren't jumping in to the comments section. It really would be nice to interact with them. It is what I enjoy most about KS - interaction with the backers and with the creator.
Keith Vorderbruggen 2015-01-25T10:45:44-05:00
I just heard Exploding Kittens is using AdMagic to print the cards. I have some friends using them now for a tarot deck. AdMagic misprinted the colors on the deck and are refusing to fix it. Almost all of them were too dark and some the colors were just wrong. You may want to look at a different vendor.
Wes Ewing 2015-01-25T10:57:19-05:00
@Keith
That's unfortunate. But I'm confident that the Exploding Kittens Team will be provided with samples for final approval before they move forward with producing the entire run. It'll get done right.
Dave Haynie 2015-01-25T10:59:29-05:00
Wow... more than halfway to Pono... this is getting insane! And really, really close to the 100k mark. Clearly my tweet has pushed it over the top.
Just wondering how many types of cats are in the art on the cards?
Number of color of the cats?
Ari Porad 2015-01-25T11:42:01-05:00
Hey, I was thinking. There should be a card, maybe a "nuke", where it kills everybody, unless each person has a defuse card. Maybe a kitten snuck in to the nuclear control center?
@Peter : Actually I totally agree with you on wishing the creators would comment some more. It is one of the more enjoyable aspects of just handing someone your money blindly. Actually hearing back from them.
I just think at this point it may be a waiting game until they have some concrete answers instead of speculation. Although I'm right there with you that I would be extremely disappointed if all we get are a few more cute drawings of shocked cats exploding and thanking us for shoving money in their faces.
+1 for exploding kitten card that nukes the whole game unless everyone has a diffuse card. Genius.
One More Rabbit 2015-01-25T11:58:00-05:00
Haha, I laughed so hard when seeing this game. I've kept an eye on Oatmeal's work before and find it most amusing. Good entertainment and well deserved success.
And since I'm going to be an EK troll today, I will do my daily shout-out/request for an Exploding Kitten via radioactive yarn bomb or exploding knitting needles. Heheheh
Cal "Blackhawk" Rasmussen 2015-01-25T12:01:31-05:00
To those that want to hear more from the creator and may worry that they are just going to run with your money. Well that's not going to happen. They have gotten a lot of press about this plus The Oatmeal has a following already. So it will be extremely hard for them to do that.
I don't think the knew this was going to get close to 4mill within just a few days. They have some big issues to resolve that are more important then giving us more SGs. Plus they have once and awhile popped into the comments. Maybe they haven't been as much over the weekend because maybe the have families that they would like to spend some time with. Just my two cents for this morning.
Benjamin Chernik 2015-01-25T12:24:49-05:00
yeah the faq seems to cover just about any reasonable question people might have so there's really no reason for them to constantly comment here or post updates when there's no new info to give...they're pretty good about posting new updates when a stretch goal is reached or a milestone is crossed...anything more than that is just us wanting them to stroke our egos by responding to us personally...some creators are willing or happy to be more present but it's not necessary...they have said on multiple occasions that they read all of their emails and comments so that should be good enough...
Peter S. 2015-01-25T12:28:02-05:00
@Cal I'm not worried about them disappearing with the money. They have hardly engaged here and I wish they would. I say this from a positive angle. It is just more fun to interact with the creators. IMO that is how they build the community. They could join the banter without giving firm answers. And relatively there aren't so many comments. In other projects I've backed it has been far more intense. It is constructive criticism.
Peter S. 2015-01-25T12:30:26-05:00
People should look at the creator feedback in tiny epic galaxies to see how it is done. It is great that people are supportive but there is room for improvement.
Pha3drus 2015-01-25T12:42:42-05:00
Its a pretty clear cut game! Look how much its grown without the need for stretch goals at all! People just want this period. Not all kickstarters are the same. Exploding Kittens is more like a special pre-order opportunity to get the exclusive NSFW deck.
@Drifty Boots, agreed. In addition, simpler games can provide a ton of fun through tweaking, trying to find alternative modes of play that make them more complex.
Any wagers as to which will be reached first? 100k backers, or $4M?
Upgrade the cards to plastic cards? laminate the cards so we gamers to need to sleeve them?
Exploding kittens iOS?
@Brian Falls 100,000 all day. It will be close. But I think it will be around $3,935,000 when we reach the baler goal
I´m guessing 100k backers before $4m. Otherwise the average spend needs to go up $20, from 39 to 59. Maths, winning bets since... ages ago. :-D
*backer goal
Wow going to reach 4 million soon!
My guess is 4M by end of week, but the craze has definitely died down. Most people who want to be in, are in already.
@Ashley, If your boyfriend truly thinks that way, you should get rid of him quick! You do not need that kind of negativity in your life!
How about for the next stretch goal (after the 100 000 backers stretch goal) you add some shiny cards, like holographic or metallic cards? Even if it means to get them having to pledge more?
@Nicklas
You never know... someone might decide to throw down a few hundred thousand extra into their pledge. ;)
@susan, NO, it will be hard enough to get the game made as it is. They ask their manufacture about how to produce 1000 units. The timeline to make 1000 is no where near the timeline to make 100K units. They may even have to switch vendors, many many logistics for such success.
Stretch goal 1/2" button. Small buttons are cheap, until you have to buy 100K of them.
I say NO to additional stretch goals. Additional items add costs to the base line without increasing revenue.
Yes we raised x million.. fees, production costs, shipping = x+1 million and the project never delivers. Another KS project described that adding 1 card added enough weight to move the game to the next bracket. 1 card was the difference from delivering the product and utter failure. Google has many other examples.
You backed the game as is, the creators calculated costs based on as is. it is very easy to get caught up in the buzz and then over promise and not be-able to deliver.
1 new card added to the deck = 100000 new cards printed and shipped.
The comments are by far the most rewarding of all rewards.
@Bobby Allen, I understand your points, but additional stretch goals don't ~have~ to be production related. They could be something along the lines of reducing shipping costs to backers and things.
Is there a polydactyl cat card? My tabby has thumbs and he knows how to use them...
@Bobby Allen, you make an excellent point, and I agree with your point almost entirely. I would suggest that the Exploding Kittens team could maybe do a couple stretch goals that are add-ons, and not free inclusions. The Wooden Box doable, reasonably easy to obtain, not terribly heavy, maybe it costs you $15 extra ( I have no idea what the box, and shipping would actually cost, this is a random number that with no research looked reasonable.) for a spiffy box to hold both decks, and the additional shipping weight.
@Bobby Allen I wouldn't mean for it to be additional cards, I would mean they would make some of their planned cards shiny, like maybe the exploding kittens cards? Though yeah it's understandable the production timeframe will probably be extended.
I'm sure some of you know about it, but for those who don't there's a cool Conan the Barbarian board game project running right now. Lots of SG broken and it's over $1m already! Check it out of you like cool miniatures with swords!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/806316071/conan
Okay. I see that people aren't getting the fact that you can order multiple SFW decks by backing at the single SFW deck using funds in multiples of the SFW deck level. So. If it is $20 for the single SFW deck, and you want three of them, you back at $60 (plus appropriate shipping) and stay on the $20 level radio button. You do this via the "modify your pledge" button after your original pledge level choice.
Hope this helps! *dives off into the ocean wearing a kitten suit*
Does anyone know if 2 or 3 blank cards are included in the game?
@James
Doubtful. They surely picked 56 cards for a specific reason, most likely what's on a single per-cut card sheet (7*8). So if both decks are 56 cards, they wouldn't have any room to add one in. They'd have to make new one sided sheets (which obviously would be cheaper) and just add a few to each shipment. Could be a later SG for sure, but I think you're the first person to ask for it.
Also, if they don't, just get blacked out sleeves and make your own. You could design on the computer and no fear of messing up a card. :)
Y u no break 100K today?
Exactly 10,000 more backers until No. 1!
Hey guys :)
Does anyone know or have a rough idea about the shipping cost for 10 base decks+10 NSFW decks to France ?
Sorry to bother you with that but I can't find any answer.
Thank you :p
Ok I may be an idiot, but can someone tell me step by step how to do the multiple decks thing?
Krissy Olson - Click on the manage button beside your pledge and change the value of the pledge to equal the number of decks you want plus the shipping costs to your country.
@Krissy, choose your pledge level, 20 or 35. It will add the freight to that automatically. Then increase your total (numbers in green) by the amount of decks you want. Eg 35 +freight + 35 + 35 would give you three sets of the nsfw pledge. The additional freight required will be figured out later. Hope that helps.
Jarlaath - Since it says this on the order page. ""-To order multiple pairs of decks, just add $35 for each extra pair of decks you'd like. (extra shipping charges may apply)"" You would pledge the $350 plus at least 1 shipping cost. Because your doing 10 decks I would assume there would be extra charges for shipping. You could email them about it but you may not get an express reply due to the volumes they are getting.
For those who are looking at buying multiple decks the FAQ has an answer considering the extra charges may apply. When you do/did your base pledge for 1 deck you choose the first shipping cost. When you order extra decks you just add the value of the deck itself to your order. So for example of you want 10 decks+NSFW you would pledge $350 + shipping cost to your country which is only based on 1 deck. Any extra shipping costs falls under this FAQ information bit. So for those wanting to know shipping costs beyond 1 deck nobody knows at this time and I am assuming if there is an additional cost you will be directly contacted by the company to arrange payment of those shipping costs before your product is finally shipped.
""What does "extra charges may apply" for my shipping mean?
We’re still negotiating on the shipping. We’ll try to get the lowest shipping possible, but for now we don’t want to make any promises we can’t pinky swear on.
For the time being, just use the price for a single deck given to you by the shipping calculator, and we’ll confirm everything before putting your Exploding Kittens in the mail.""
Just backed it. Couldn't resist any longer lmao. Can't wait for my decks!
We are almost to 100k! 25 days to get 4k backers shouldn't be too bad :)
Wonder what the next stretch goals will be... I don't think this is slowing down... I think once it hits $4-$5 million, thats when the folks who haven't been paying attention catch on, and suddenly, it sprouts up another round of backers and funds.
I just tripped my order O.O
We can't wait to get our hands on them.
The twisted game the whole family can play
Congraduations guys!
@John Manek
Thanks for the answer. Are you involved in the Exploding Kittens project ? (I guess you are, obvioulsy^^)
Are you the campaign manager ?
(sorry again if that question has already been asked several times...)
Wow, it looks like things really DO slow down on the weekends.
My friend Kim thinks it's because people do more on the internet when they're in the office than at home/off work. Cynical, but likely true. :P
But at least we JUST hit 96,000 backers... 4000 to go!
If everyone just made a second kickstarter account and pledged $1 we could be there already.
@yohannon I don't think it has much to do with the weekend, but rather it's the project settling on the mid-project-lull that almost all projects have. It'll pick up again in a couple of weeks.
That wouldn't make a bigger community lol. Also need to have a card related to cheese to make you draw a card (and ifts an exploding kitty you put it at the bottom of the deck) and maybe a cracked out trex card that causes the whole discarded card pile to get shuffled back into the deck again.
I refuse to give any more money considering the current postage fee.
Other have said that it'll be a logistical nightmare. They'll have the cash in the bank account, but it takes a lot of paperwork, manpower, heavy organising to actually make it happen. For a team of just three people and some contacts, that's not feasible.
Please. Let's not be stupid here. With this many orders they are OBVOUSLY going to hire agents or support staff. Logistical nightmare? Heavy organisations? No. It'll just mean more work. And are we not allowed to expect that from these guys? Can we not raise our standards? Anything is feasible for them with $3mill+ in their account. Only a TINY percent of that cost is actually going towards production.
But of course Im in the minority. A further stretch with their money would benefit ALL while decreasing delivery fees would only benefit international folks...
I want the 96052 bakers for Conan KS too
4M SG... EU friendly and 10$ shipping
That's a lot of bakers!
That's a lot of bakers!
When this campaign finished with over 150,000 pledgers are guys actually capable of actually delivering this product?
I can´t wait!!! Best idea EVER!!
@John Drinkwater
No. It's completely impossible. Never been done before. And clearly won't be... Obviously I'm being sarcastic.
Just like the last project you and I backed, your concerns are similar. "Oh look! Overwhelming success. I couldn't get 'er done, so that means they probably won't either."
We need this for table top simulator.
I am off to sleep now which means that I will probably miss the moment we reach 100k backers.
@John Drinkwater I personally doubt that they will be able to maintain the current delivery date due to the logistical nightmare they have in store for them trying to fulfill what will likely be between 150k and 170k orders.
That being said I am more than willing to cut them some slack and I will still be happy if my order arrives a month or two later than scheduled.
Shipping plus the tax and import charges (£8 'admin' charge on top of 20% tax at the moment) hurt us in the UK so if the value goes up from two decks, it means my bill when it arrives will also be going up :( I could wait until it inevitably sells in UK shops, but where is the fun in that?!
My son (who..er..yes is 30yrs+.. honest...) and I are still excited about getting the deck and potentially a full NSFW deck too. We fully expect it to ship late due to the success and that doesn't bother us at all.
@John Drinkwater - these "guys" are working with the Cards Against Humanity guys - so yeah fulfilment at scale will not be an issue. Not to mention it's mostly just a print job. Printing has massive speed efficiencies at scale. If there was 10 million ORDERS that would be one thing but 50k more here and there. Not an issue ;)
Will you be asking for age verification for the NSFW decks? Don't want those under 30's to get corrupted.
One import tax "loophole" many of you may already know about and take advantage of is labeling the package as a "gift".... Although in Japan card game import tax is 3.8% (Jan 2015 rate, just checked) not a lot.. but not 0%... NEVERTHELESS I highly doubt "cardgames" would be charged with import tax... its not luxury items/ value is too low. Japan usually charges tax from roughly USD$100 valued parcels.
@Andrea Newell Wow... UK is flat rate 20pounds...? That shouldn't be the case for mere card games right...?
"Gift packages priced at less than USD$100 in total are exempt from the general tariff (and any other tariff). For this exemption to apply, an individual, not a company, must send the boots to you and they must be marked as a “gift” on the outer packaging. If you order from a retailer any other company, the gift exemption obviously will not apply."
These guys aren't a company right..? Theyre just three indvidual musketeers right? hahhaaaa So maybe we can ALL BE EXEMPT FROM IMPORT TAX IF THESE GUYS PLAY THEIR CARDS RIGHT!
@Andrea you can have orders upto £30 or £35 I think in the uk before vat and custom charges are applied. If you have only ordered 1 game then by the time you take into account the exchange rate and postage this product will come in under that value
Have you thought to translated versions (spanish, french, german, ...)?
Yes I expect logistical challenges and definitely delays but good to know they have a plan in place to deal with massive numbers of orders.
@Baldypat @Andrea, hopefully we can convince them to ship the containers with European games directly to the EU making the project EU friendly and eliminating the customs duty and lowering the shipping charges.
We're so close to 100 k backers!! :)
@Creators Will there be a print and play version for backers so we can start playing before we receive the proper game?
4260 more!!!
@BaldyPat I think the threshold is much lower at around £15, above that you get the VAT - but the £8 'admin' charge really bumps up the cost of buying even simple things like t-shirts from the USA.
jay bloggs has a good point there!
no actually Jay Bloggs thats a stupid idea. If a print version got released, in an instant it would be downloadable FREE to anyone online... What a waste of my $55... =_=
no just to backers. not to public.
cat in a box card
@Tippy
You can't release anything online and reasonably expect it to remain exclusive to any particular group. Once it's out there, it's out there.
Cards Against Humanity has a downloadable version available to this day. And that's what they started with before they offered hard copy. I still chose to buy it (over $100 after all expansion decks and taxes).
Exploding Kittens may very well release a downloadable version in the future, but according to updates not all cards have been determined / created yet.
Personally I think if they ever do release a downloadable version, it would be in their best interests not to for at least 6 months after shipping the Kickstarter sets.
@Wes Ewing. I totally agree with you. (You justbeat me in posting this hahaa)
@Tippy You really think no one is going to release it online/public? Are you that naive? $36 for the NSFW deck is a rip off. EVERYONE knows that. The real production cost to print a card is only a tiny percetent of the $36. Its what is on the paper which gives it value. Think about it. Its paper + ink. Why do you think torrenting is so popular?
Also just a reminder to all of the "more stretch goal advocates", roughly 15% of total pledges are consumed by fees (Kickstarter, CC processing, and survey / post campaign management software).
And on a $20-$35 product, after all production related costs the remaining funds are tight enough that it's unrealistic to expect a throw in like an additional item such as a t-shirt for everyone.
I think the current stretch goal of making the NSFW deck a full deck is perfect in so many ways. If more stretch goals are announced, it will simply be another added bonus.
@Corneal: I don't think it's a ripoff so please only speak for yourself. Also, if you think it is a ripoff then I really hope you didn't back it for that amount. Purposefully getting ripped off isn't very smart.
I can't wait to play! I'm more than willing to be patient and provide cheerful support! Thanks, Team Exploding Kittens!
@Corneal: It is 2 decks for $36.00 the normal and the NSFW deck. That is not a rip off and is good value in my opinion.
@Wes, sure, there's ways to access games for free. And sure, it only costs so much to put to the game on the card and the production and whatnot. But what you're paying for is the creative ideas, which is COMPLETELY worth it and they deserve the commerce for their ideas. Afterall, the game wouldn't exist without them.
I'm completely willing to support creative ideas. I have CAH and few of the expansions because I know it's a fun game and I get my monies worth out of it in game play. But if I'm enjoying the game so much, to me it only seems fair to have actually purchased the game instead of being cheap with it. If everyone felt the way you did, no one would even try to mass produce games. And that would leave us just playing Monopoly.
Still would like to get information from the team on card stock and box quality. It is a no brainer to me that they should be interested and can afford to produce very high quality here.
Once they confirm that, I think the value is very fair. Reduced shipping, or at least reduced shipping for a mutl-pack (3, 6, 10 etc.) would really seal the deal. I also think they should be able to deliver EU friendly shipping at this point.
Also keep in mind that most SGs are designed to take advantage of the economy of scale. For example, if I've raised enough money to print (not necessarily sold, but print since I'm trying to launch a new game and not just sell some stuff) 700 decks, getting to 1,000 decks is a big deal for me. There's a pretty good price break at that tier. Or 5,000, whatever.
When you are printing 200,000 decks another 100,000 isn't really going to be cheaper per unit. I could see the EU fulfillment getting cheaper if they were able to print / ship in bulk there and have an EU company do fulfillment for them. (Amazon UK & Amazon Germany maybe)
People seem to think these guys have already profited nearly $4M. That just isn't how it works. KS fees (5%), CC fees(3-5%), and survey management probably come in at ~12-15%. Printing two decks in full color with boxes with good quality (but not plastic), even in scale, will come out to around $5. Then we have the bigger game box, let's say $2. A "Thing-of-incredible-delight" can vary in cost, but let's say $2. Then shipping in the US is currently free which is because they are keeping the weight down to fit into first-class mail. This means it should come out to $3-4 each, plus a small amount for the bubble envelope and printing the label (so we'll round to $4 each). I'm sure even at the high international rates, this same discount was included in the price. Of course they can't actually send you all of that themselves, so they would outsource that for probably another $3 a package. Plus even in the US, most states will require sales tax which if using Amazon to fulfill would certainly be collected, so drop another 5% of retail value. (Some states are more, some are less)
So, let's tally the whole kit(ten) and caboodle. For a $35 pledge, they actually get $29.75. Then they spend $17.75 to ship it to you. In the end the actual markup then is 50% which is very very good for a card game and especially for a limited edition. So what will they do with the other $1.7M?? Well, likely print and distribute more cards. If you launch a KS and break even then what the heck was the point? You didn't get started, just kicked. Worse still a significant portion of people who would buy your game already own a better copy.
tl;dr - Stop complaining. The cost is extremely fair compared to other games. If they do add something it needs to be cheap and small to fit into the current package. If they added say, t-shirts, then even at $5 for printing, and $5 for fulfillment and shipping they still lose more than half of their seed money.
@Amanda
What are you talking about??
I never said I didn't think it was fair value, or not worth paying for, or that they shouldn't prosper from their ideas.
I've pledged $35 and if circumstances permit will happily up my pledge to order more sets as gifts.
*confused* but looking forward to Exploding Kittens nonetheless!! :)
So if I want both the original deck and the NFSW deck do I pledge $55?
@ David, no just $35, if you read the pledge descriptions, $35 includes both decks, the Exploding Kittens deck and the NSFW deck.
@David
The $35 pledge includes a copy of each deck. If you want an extra standard deck (2+1) it would be $55. If you wanted two copies of each it would be $70.
There are 96k plus backers and people are complaining that $35 for two decks of a COMPLETELY ORIGINAL card game is too much? I back A LOT of Kickstarter card decks and the average price for a single deck is $15-20, some less $10-12 for early backers, and some more $25-30 depending on quality, card stock and packaging as well as limited edition. (And these are for your typical playing cards that you can buy at the store for $5, only with better colors and artwork)
I understand the shipping concerns from those overseas. It's never fun having to pay high shipping costs but I don't think these shipping costs are outrageous, yet hopefully they will find an EU fulfillment center to ship out of to make it easier for all of you.
The easiest fix? Back at $1 until we hear from there behind the curtain. However they've said they are working on it and there is still a long time before this ends. Can we all just take a deep breath and have a little patience? :-D
@eric @emily thanks guys. Shoulda read, that's my bad. Newbie mistake
I'm surprised that no one supports my requests to get some details about quality here. Strange that the team is silent on such a basic issue.
@Peter S.
No you aren't the only one who wants to know if the quality of materials used is planning on being upgraded. Many have voiced this question/concern ever since it passed 1mil. However I think most of us are just waiting to see what they say now as there is no point in beating a dead horse, ya know? ;-)
88,888 NSFW backers!
@Quinn - it is only a dead horse because they aren't jumping in to the comments section. It really would be nice to interact with them. It is what I enjoy most about KS - interaction with the backers and with the creator.
I just heard Exploding Kittens is using AdMagic to print the cards. I have some friends using them now for a tarot deck. AdMagic misprinted the colors on the deck and are refusing to fix it. Almost all of them were too dark and some the colors were just wrong. You may want to look at a different vendor.
@Keith
That's unfortunate. But I'm confident that the Exploding Kittens Team will be provided with samples for final approval before they move forward with producing the entire run. It'll get done right.
Wow... more than halfway to Pono... this is getting insane! And really, really close to the 100k mark. Clearly my tweet has pushed it over the top.
I have fantastic quality KS card games that were produced by http://www.ludofact.de/en.html and I know others use http://pandagm.com/ with success
Just wondering how many types of cats are in the art on the cards?
Number of color of the cats?
Hey, I was thinking. There should be a card, maybe a "nuke", where it kills everybody, unless each person has a defuse card. Maybe a kitten snuck in to the nuclear control center?
@Peter : Actually I totally agree with you on wishing the creators would comment some more. It is one of the more enjoyable aspects of just handing someone your money blindly. Actually hearing back from them.
I just think at this point it may be a waiting game until they have some concrete answers instead of speculation. Although I'm right there with you that I would be extremely disappointed if all we get are a few more cute drawings of shocked cats exploding and thanking us for shoving money in their faces.
+1 for exploding kitten card that nukes the whole game unless everyone has a diffuse card. Genius.
Haha, I laughed so hard when seeing this game. I've kept an eye on Oatmeal's work before and find it most amusing. Good entertainment and well deserved success.
And since I'm going to be an EK troll today, I will do my daily shout-out/request for an Exploding Kitten via radioactive yarn bomb or exploding knitting needles. Heheheh
To those that want to hear more from the creator and may worry that they are just going to run with your money. Well that's not going to happen. They have gotten a lot of press about this plus The Oatmeal has a following already. So it will be extremely hard for them to do that.
I don't think the knew this was going to get close to 4mill within just a few days. They have some big issues to resolve that are more important then giving us more SGs. Plus they have once and awhile popped into the comments. Maybe they haven't been as much over the weekend because maybe the have families that they would like to spend some time with. Just my two cents for this morning.
yeah the faq seems to cover just about any reasonable question people might have so there's really no reason for them to constantly comment here or post updates when there's no new info to give...they're pretty good about posting new updates when a stretch goal is reached or a milestone is crossed...anything more than that is just us wanting them to stroke our egos by responding to us personally...some creators are willing or happy to be more present but it's not necessary...they have said on multiple occasions that they read all of their emails and comments so that should be good enough...
@Cal I'm not worried about them disappearing with the money. They have hardly engaged here and I wish they would. I say this from a positive angle. It is just more fun to interact with the creators. IMO that is how they build the community. They could join the banter without giving firm answers. And relatively there aren't so many comments. In other projects I've backed it has been far more intense. It is constructive criticism.
People should look at the creator feedback in tiny epic galaxies to see how it is done. It is great that people are supportive but there is room for improvement.
Its a pretty clear cut game! Look how much its grown without the need for stretch goals at all! People just want this period. Not all kickstarters are the same. Exploding Kittens is more like a special pre-order opportunity to get the exclusive NSFW deck.