A cooperative survival word game for 1-5 players where spelling is only half the battle.
Please visit our store https://gapclosergames.com to order your copies today.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Manufacturing and Assembly are COMPLETE! Now... we wait.
about 1 year ago
– Thu, Jan 26, 2023 at 10:05:30 AM
To our fellow Librarians,
We are proud to report that both manufacturing and assembly are now complete, and our factory has confirmed a "ready" date of February 13th, 2023 - the date when games can leave the factory and get loaded on respective boats and/or trucks. Though we were hopeful to get things out before Chinese New Year, unfortunately the window was too tight to wrap up assembly and secure cargo space as everyone is essentially competing for the same limited space. Thankfully missing the cut-off only added 3 weeks to our timeline, so it's not the worst thing that could have happened. From here on out, "when" you can expect to receive your game will vary by your country, as each region will be under differing timelines.
Regional Hub Fulfilment
As mentioned in previous updates, we follow a hub fulfillment method which basically means goods are freighted in bulk to individual regions and sorted at partner fulfillment centers before making the final journey to your homes.
Here's a graphic that can give you a rough sense of which hub will be fulfilling your orders, though there are some countries that don't exactly line up with the image. The reason we share this is because you may see people getting games at differing times over the next few months, but that's just because some of you are closer to the point of origin. Feel free to skip to the region pertaining to you for more specific information:
Estimated Fulfillment Start Date: Early-to-Mid March 2023
Countries: Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam
Due to sheer proximity to our manufacturer, your region will most likely be the first to start fulfillment. However, depending on which country you're in, your games can still take a few months to arrive. Once VFI receives our stock, they will update their website and list this campaign and details accordingly.
Estimated Fulfillment Start Date: Mid-to-Late March 2023
Countries: Australia and New Zealand
The Estimated Fulfillment Start Date is just that, an estimate. The journey from China to Australia usually takes about 4-5 weeks, and depending on how many games are fulfilling at the time, our campaign may start right away, or it may have to wait a few weeks. Additionally, there can always be unforeseen issues with customs that can't be accounted for by us. The closer we get, the more accurate our estimate will be.
Countries: Austria, Belarus, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Uruguay
The Estimated Fulfillment Start Date is just that, an estimate. The freight from China to the UK usually takes about 6-7 weeks, and depending on how many games are fulfilling at the time, our campaign may start right away, or it may have to wait a few weeks. Additionally, there can always be unforeseen issues with customs that can't be accounted for by us. The closer we get, the more accurate our estimate will be.
Estimated Fulfillment Start Date: Mid-To-Late May 2023
Countries: Brazil, Canada, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, and United States of America
The Estimated Fulfillment Start Date is just that, an estimate. The freight from China to the US (East Coast) usually takes about 8-9 weeks, and depending on how many games are fulfilling at the time, our campaign may start right away, or it may have to wait a few weeks. Additionally, there can always be unforeseen issues with customs that can't be accounted for by us. The closer we get, the more accurate our estimate will be.
"Live" Fulfillment Updates
For those of you who seek up-to-the-minute information, we put together a Fulfillment Status Tracker Tool to help narrow down information for each country. We will update it as information is made available to us and reduce the number of updates we need to send out. We don't expect there to be any movement until mid-February, but wanted to share it with you nonetheless.
Thank you everyone for being so patient and supportive as we do our best to get Illiterati into your hands. We are so excited for how the final product has turned out and can't wait to see your reactions upon arrival. Hang in there team!
As always, If you're not sure whether you completed your survey or not, click here. If you have any trouble accessing it or need to make a change, don't hesitate to reach out to us directly through Kickstarter or through our Contact Form.
Almost there,
Rob, Jon, Gary and Audrey
Quick Reminder: Orders & Addresses LOCK tomorrow!
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Jan 05, 2023 at 07:29:38 AM
Addresses Lock Tomorrow
We'll keep this nice and quick. Orders & Addresses will be LOCKEDDOWN tomorrow (Friday,January 6th), so if you've been waiting to update your order or shipping address, please do so now. If you need to access your survey, click here. Note: If your address change is involves a new state, you'll need to reach out to us directly through Kickstarter or through our Contact Form.
If there are no changes, no action is needed on your part.
We'll otherwise share updates surrounding manufacturing and fulfillment during our regularly scheduled month-end update in a few weeks.
Thank you,
Rob, Jon, Gary, and Audrey
Assembly Underway & Locking Addresses Next Friday
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Dec 29, 2022 at 03:37:29 AM
My fellow Librarians,
2,232,000 tiles have been cut to size, silkscreen printed, and are ready to be bagged. Which means one thing...
Assembly is the final step of mass production before all of the games leave the factory and are loaded onto boats. But before we give PandaGM (ourmanufacturer) the green light, they sent us a final copy (MPC / Mass Production Copy) for us to review and confirm there are no print or packaging errors. We've had the MPC for a few days now and we are happy to report everything is perfect and thus we have initiated the assembly process! Take a look at the Deluxe Components in all their glory:
As mentioned in Update #16 the plan is to get everything out of the factory and onto boats before Chinese New Year is underway to avoid delaying fulfillment. At this point, though everything looks promising, until we have confirmation the games are on boats and the boats are on the water, we can't make any guarantees. One thing to keep in mind, is though the factory itself may not shut down until the week before CNY, their staffing is reduced leading up to it, making assembly a longer task. At the time of writing this update, we are still in the process of booking space on each boat, and should have clarity by next month's update.
Lock In Your Order and Address by January 6th, 2023
Though fulfillment isn't expected to start until April, we anticipate locking orders and addresses nextFriday, January 6th as we need to communicate our shipping plan with each of our fulfillment partners. So if you've been waiting to update your shipping address or adding to your pledge, please do so beforehand! You'll receive an email reminder via BackerKit approximately 48 hours before the deadline and in the event you need to change you address or amend your pledge AFTER that date (we get it, life happens) you'll have to message/email us directly as the change will have to be done manually, with all changes subject to availability.
If you're not sure whether you completed your survey or not, click here. If you have any trouble accessing it or need to make a change, don't hesitate to reach out to us directly through Kickstarter or through our Contact Form.
Happy New Year!
Rob, Jon, Gary, and Audrey
No News IS Good News
over 1 year ago
– Sun, Nov 27, 2022 at 01:27:07 AM
My fellow Librarians,
Once mass production is underway, there really is little to nothing to report until the process is finished. Therefore we'll keep this update brief and check in with you all next month.
Production & Fulfillment Timeline
Turkey Break
Please note our "offices" will be closed the remainder of the week for Thanksgiving. We'll try and respond to your inquiries as they come in, but odds are we'll get to them onor after November 28. Hope you are likewise able to take a break and play some games!
Survey Incomplete? Change of Address?
If you're not sure whether you completed your survey or not, click here. If you have any trouble accessing it or need to make a change, don't hesitate to reach out to us directly through Kickstarter or through our Contact Form.
For those who need to change your address, you can still do that as we do not lock addresses until we are gearing up to begin fulfillment. You can make this change yourselves, or contact us to make the change for you.
Well, that's it for now.
Until next time,
Rob, Jon, Gary, and Audrey
Today is a glorious day.
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Oct 28, 2022 at 09:37:21 PM
My fellow Librarians,
Today is a glorious day. For the past few months, we've been working tirelessly with our manufacturing team to put together what we think is the best final product possible. If you've been keeping up with our updates, you know it's been a labor of love.
From cleaning up the book designs to make them sharper, bringing the box lip in 1mm to improve durability, making the Burn Trackers ever-so-slightly deeper so that the tiles rest in them snugly, testing different materials for the embroidered letter bags, and even experimenting with different dyes for the sand timer to ensure optimal aesthetics and functionality... no tile was left unturned in our quest to bring you a product you can be absolutely proud to bring out at any game night.
Granted, there's always room for improvement--that's part of what drives us crazy! However, we are absolutely excited with how Illiterati has turned out, so much in fact that after many emails, meetings, and several rounds of samples with our manufacturer, we're happy to report that...
MASS PRODUCTION IS FINALLY UNDERWAY!!!
We want to thank you for your continued patience with us as we dotted our i's and crossed our t's these last few weeks. This is by far our largest print-run to date (Illiterati + Rival Restaurants = >20,000 Units), so fingers crossed everything goes smoothly!
We love how the colors came out on each of the components! Although it's not pictured, there will be a clear plastic lid to cover the cards and keep them in place.
Production & Fulfillment Timeline
With production underway we now have a more clear picture of what the next few months should look like. The most recent round of improvements took approximately 2 weeks, so the timeline has been shifted accordingly:
Chinese New Year - The Elephant In The Library
As of right now, Chinese New Year is likely to play the biggest factor in whether or not we meet our estimated April 2023 fulfillment date. For those unfamiliar, though Chinese New Year is technically on Sunday, January 22nd, with most people beginning their holiday the week before (January 15th). And by holiday we mean EVERYTHING shuts down for a week and gets backed up for several more. Which means...in order to avoid a 2-4 week delay our goal is to get all of our games manufactured, assembled and on boatsBEFORE JANUARY 15th. Naturally, at this point things are out of our hands, but our factory is well aware of this deadline and we'll be working with our fulfillment partners over the next few months to try and get boats lined up and secured to make it happen. Given the complexity of arranging freight to 4 separate regions, we may make the deadline for one, while missing another, but it's too early to say anything for now. Either way, we vow to remain transparent throughout this process and will continue to send out monthly updates as things unfold.
The Next Chapter???
Many of you have been asking "What's next for Gap Closer Games? Do you guys have anything in the pipeline?" While our focus first and foremost has been on completing and fulfilling Illiterati, we usually have a few games at various stages of idea/design/development at any given moment. Most of them don't make it too far. That being said, we are currently working on something we feel very strongly about, so hopefully we'll have more to share next year as we continue to develop this idea. If you're not already subscribed, feel free to do so as we'll share more about the game through our newsletter.
One of the perks of having a few games published is all the spareparts we accumulate (no, we are not making a Rival Restaurants X Illiterati crossover 🤪)! Conveniently, this makes building rough prototypes all the easier! Here's a sneak peak at what we're calling "Project Curators" (not the actual title). Care to guess what's going on!?!?
If you're not sure whether you completed your survey or not, click here. If you have any trouble accessing it or need to make a change, don't hesitate to reach out to us directly through Kickstarter or through our Contact Form.
For those who need to change your address, you can still do that as we do not lock addresses until we are gearing up to begin fulfillment. You can make this change yourselves, or contact us to make the change for you.
