99.9% of the way there!
24 days ago – Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 05:53:05 AM

I was planning to have the big "Campaign Ended!" announcement today, but ... there are four more orders that are still waiting to be shipped, for various reasons. The good news is that they should be out in the next couple of days, so you should get that announcement soon.

Meanwhile, if you did not receive your order nor a tracking number, please contact me as soon as possible! According to my records almost everyone should get their copy of Worldbreakers by now. The best way to contact me is via email at el.ad.david.amir@gmail.com or via a private message on Kickstarter.

So close!

-- Elli (they/them) and the Worldbreakers Team

99% of the way there!
about 2 months ago – Sat, Feb 11, 2023 at 10:42:39 AM

As of today, 99% of Worldbreakers shipments are on their way, and most have been received by backers! I have been keeping a handy tracking map in my office, and it now looks like this:

Full disclosure, I stole this joke from someone. You know who you are ;-)

If you still did not receive a Worldbreakers shipping notification, please let me know! Email me at el.ad.david.amir@gmail.com, message me through Kickstarter, or ping me on Discord (Elli#2068).

Every campaign has its glitches and the Worldbreakers campaign was no different. As always, I am committed to transparency, and there are three particular issues that I would like to report.

First and foremost, Worldbreakers shipped with an older version of the rulebook, which has a few mistakes. Notably:

• On page 2, the components list 15 stage counters. However, the game shipped with 12 stage counters.
• On page 35, under "Draft Deck (used after completing Chapter 1)", the cards list includes "Burst of Creativity". That card has been renamed to "Throes of Fancy".

You can find the up-to-date rulebook on the Worldbreakers Discord channel, or download it here:

Next, one of the last-minute changes I did was to increase the size of the turn tracker. I increased the size of the Kickstarter-exclusive deck box as well, but apparently not enough! Unfortunately, the new turn tracker does not fit into the box:

(Photo courtesy of Jamie Perconti, the Worldbreakers Designer & Rules Manager.)

Finally, several card doublers arrived at the UK warehouse damaged, which means that we ran out of doublers for some orders. I contacted the four backers whose order is being delayed. The US warehouse (Bridge Fulfillment) sent 20 doublers to the UK warehouse (GamesQuest) and these orders will be fulfilled as soon as the package is received by GamesQuest.

I would like to apologize for the issues described above. Each of them has been an important lesson for future games. In particular, when we reach the Worldbreakers second printing, I will make sure to include the up-to-date rulebook.

If everything proceeds according to plan, the next update will be about fulfillment completion!

-- Elli (he/they) and the Worldbreakers Team

Worldbreakers is OUT!
about 2 months ago – Sun, Feb 05, 2023 at 05:39:49 PM

Worldbreakers is OUT!

I am beyond excited to report that Worldbreakers is on its way to backers worldwide. 95% of non-North America orders have been shipped, with a few stragglers going out this week. According to players in the Discord channel, the game reached Australia and Chile first, with Europe and the rest of the world following. This puts us two months ahead of the campaign's delivery schedule. I am going to brag here for a bit, I don't recall hearing of any board game crowdfunding campaign in recent history that delivered ahead of schedule ;)

For North America (United States and Canada), Worldbreakers arrived at the Bridge Fulfillment warehouse last Thursday. The team there have worked diligently to set up for fulfillment, and packages should start going out mid-next week.

If you are outside of NA and you still do not have a shipping confirmation, please let me know at el.ad.david.amir@gmail.com, through a Kickstarter message, or Elli#2068 on Discord. I will figure out what is going on.

Here are a couple of photos players posted on Discord of their crisp new copy of Worldbreakers:

A Harrowing Story of Four Natural 1s

A now for a tale of true horror! As I reported back in Update #33, Worldbreakers left China to the United States fulfillment hub on October 25. At that point, we were three months ahead of schedule, and in my mind's eye I was already drafting the headlines as the game reaches backers in time for New Year's.  I repeatedly said that sea freight is precarious, but we were fortunate as the boat arrived in the United States by late November. However, that is when the dice started coming against us. For the D&D players out there, the D20s have been hitting natural 1s again and again.

After unloading the container from the ship, we were tagged for a customs inspection. I am doubtful that customs is wary of alternate history board games. However, we shipped Worldbreakers as LCL ("less than container load") and 3/4 of the container was other goods. A customs inspection involves waiting in a long line, after which the container is X-rayed, stripped and examined by CBP (Customs and Border Protection), and then re-packed. We were stuck in customs for 41 days and had to pay an additional $850 in customs fees:

Rows 7 and 8 are a bureaucrat's summary of a long, nerve-wrecking wait.

I was told by the freight company that only 1 in 500 containers are tagged for customs inspection, which was our first two natural 1s.

On January 27 the container was finally on its way to Bridge Fulfillment. It went on a train from the Savannah port to a Container Freight Station (CFS) in Atlanta. There it was broken down and the three Worldbreakers pallets were loaded on a truck which took them to Bridge Fulfillment. On January 31 at 8:49am I received this reassuring photo from Bridge:

From the Bridge Slack channel: "Good morning, looks like your products have arrived."

I immediately posted the photo on the Discord channel, to much celebration! Little did I know that the ominous D20 in the sky was rolling and has hit the next natural 1. Four hours later, Bridge sent me another photo:

From the Bridge Slack Channel: "Hello Elli, the pallets we received are not yours, the BoL is yours, but the shipment is lightbulbs."

IT WAS ******* LIGHTBULBS.

To put things in perspective: the BoL Bridge was referring to is the Bill of Lading. It is the shipment's ID card, which was affixed to it by LongPack back in China. It is a receipt, a contract, and a title to the goods, a critical legal and security document that should not be trifled with. A BoL mix up is unheard of. Through some bizarre accident, the Worldbreakers BoL ended up with three containers of lightbulbs. Since the BoL itself is the mechanism through which the shipment is tracked, we were facing a potentially disastrous situation. There was no way to know when the mix up has happened. My main concern was that the port's staff messed up the BoLs when repacking the container following the customs inspection. It was even possible that the mix up happened back in China, in which case I am doubtful we would have been able to track the cargo.

Thankfully, the situation was not that dire. After a series of tense phone calls, the Worldbreakers cargo was tracked to the Atlanta CFS (Container Freight Station). The freight company sent the truck back to the CFS, and the cargo arrived in Bridge that afternoon, after closing hours:

Finally, we reached Bridge! I promised you a fourth natural 1, though. Worldbreakers was originally due to arrive in early January and Bridge planned to ship it then. Since we were late, we "lost" our shipping slot. Furthermore, the entire Bridge fulfillment department has relocated to a new warehouse the day after Worldbreakers arrived. At this point I would like to thank the amazing team at Bridge: Alec, Derek, and Matt, who have reserved an open space for us and prioritized the cargo inventory and preparation despite two weeks of non-stop work on their own move.

Even with all of this misfortune, NA backers should start receiving their packages in the next few weeks, still ahead of schedule. That is, assuming no more natural 1s happen.

As always, please contact me at el.ad.david.amir@gmail.com, through a Kickstarter message, or on Discord (Elli#2068) if you have any questions.

-- Elli (they/them) and the Worldbreakers Team

The Long Wait is OVER! (... for Non-NA ...)
about 2 months ago – Thu, Feb 02, 2023 at 08:10:42 AM

For backers outside of North America

I'm super-excited to report that your Worldbreakers package is on its way! You should receive an email with a tracking number from either GamesQuest or Sextant Studios.

If you have not received an email yet, please let me know. Either email me at el.ad.david.amir@gmail.com, send a message through Kickstarter, or find me on Discord (Elli#2068).

If you received your package, I would greatly appreciate it if you make some noise! Here are a few options:

• Post photos of Worldbreakers on Twitter, Facebook, BoardGameGeek, or other social media.
• Go to the Kickstarter campaign and give us a smiley face on "How do you feel about this project so far?"
• Join us on Discord! It's the best place to talk about the game.

I can't wait to hear about your first experience playing Worldbreakers in person!

For backers in the US and Canada

Fear not! We are very close as well. I am waiting for a final confirmation from Bridge Fulfillment, our US fulfillment hub, and then I will post a full update.

-- Elli (they/them) and the Worldbreakers team

The Long Wait, Part 7
2 months ago – Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 12:42:54 PM

Thank you for your patience as we are going through this tedious wait. Coming into self-publishing, I knew that freight is an opaque process. However, that did not prepare me to how frustrating the lack of information can be! As I stated in past updates, I will do my best to keep you posted, but please take everything with a grain of salt until Worldbreakers is in the mail.

United States: We are out of customs! If I understand correctly, the container is still in Savannah and should be loaded on a train that it will take it to the fulfillment center in Georgia any day now.

Europe and Rest of World: I am waiting on GamesQuest to start shipping. They had a backlog due to internal turnover and mail strikes, but we should be close to the top of the queue.

-- Elli (they/them) and the Worldbreakers Team