A family game inspired by Mario Party from the creators of Dodos Riding Dinos | Miniatures | Meeples | Coins | Dexterity | Memory | Fun
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Freight shipping status
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Nov 27, 2024 at 02:04:34 PM
Ahoy there, panda crewmates!
Today I bring good news. I'm sorry it took me a couple of extra time to post this update and I apologize for it, between waiting for status updates from the different hubs and a major family event, I struggled a bit.
Some of you joined us in 2022 during the Dodos Riding Dinos: Dodo Dash Kickstarter campaign and followed the project and pregnancy updates from Pam and I when our firstborn was born. We kept it a bit more low-key this time around, but baby #2 is at home with a proper panda blanket (a very special gift from our friends at Panda GM when our firstborn was born).
So that's part of the good news! But there is more, regarding shipping of your rewards. We are close to start fulfillment. Not quite there yet but at least it is not a major delay.
In short, the games are almostready to start last mile shipping in most regions, but here's the full breakdown:
🇺🇸 United States of America (fulfilled by Gamerati)
🚢 Container is booked to depart from China in December 7th and arrive by the end of the year to Gamerati. While this means that the game won't arrive on time for Christmas (by just a few weeks), the wait is getting shorter. We expect games to arrive during January to backers.
So what has happened these past weeks? Knowing that ocean traffic and port unloading is very high (and expensive) during this season, plus fulfillment queues can increase wait time, we worked with the great team at VFI Asia to start pick and packing the orders that include just Party Panda Pirates items. They are assembled in cartons and ready to go out the door to the shipping courier as soon as they arrive to Gamerati. Orders that include games and promos from other titles, will be picked & packed at Gamerati. Estimated date of arrival in US is January.
🇨🇦 Canada (fulfilled by Pick & Pack Logistics, forwarded from Gamerati)
🚢 Similar to the update for the USA above, some orders were already pick & packed at VFI but the container will depart on December 7th. From there, Gamerati will receive by the end of December and will forward to pick and pack. While packages could arrive in January, it is best to assume that they will arrive to your door in February.
🇲🇽 México (fulfilled by Detestable Games)
📦 Games are at hub! Fulfillment of wave 1 starting soon (full details in Spanish). Nos complace anunciar que los juegos llegaron al puerto de Manzanillo, fueron liberados de aduana y ya se encuentran con nosotros en el almacén.
Aclaración importante: Debido a que de momento solo podemos importar desde China juegos didácticos y no textiles, las compras opcionales de peluche, bolsa de tela y sombrero no las incluimos en este contenedor y llegarán en una segunda oleada una vez que importemos desde Estados Unidos.
Dicho lo anterior, hemos decidido iniciar con el proceso de entregas y enviar en una segunda entrega los artículos mencionados que hacen falta así como las copias de los juegos en inglés que también vendrán desde Estados Unidos.
El equipo logístico estará en comunicación para confirmar domicilio y unos detalles adicionales, es importante contestar a la brevedad después de haber sido contactado.
El orden de envíos será el siguiente 1. Envíos a domicilio 2. Envíos a tiendas que ofrecieron facilitar "Local Pickup" 3. Envíos a tiendas que participaron en el Kickstarter.
Los productos remanentes (peluche, bolsa de tela, sombrero, copias en inglés) tienen fecha estimada de llegada para febrero (es posible que en enero pero al haber varias dependencias, es prudente considerar un poco de tiempo adicional).
🇨🇱 Chile (fulfilled by Circoctel)
🚢 Freight shipping in progress (full details in Spanish) La fecha estimada de llegada del barco a puerto es 2 de diciembre. Aproximadamente 2 semanas después se liberaría de aduana hacia Circoctel. Los envíos sucederán después de eso por lo que es posible que lleguen antes de Navidad pero es prudente considerar que quizá demore un par de semanas más.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom (fulfilled by Zatu Fulfilment)
🛃 We are awaiting exact status confirmation on this one but according to previous shipping documents, the container should have already arrived to port and it is likely that it is currently at customs. Fulfillment is likely to begin in a couple of weeks but we will keep you posted once we hear an update.
🇪🇺 Rest of Europe (fulfilled by Happyshops)
🛃 Games have arrived to Hamburg in Germany. We are in the process of customs clearance and Happyshops is working hard to have the game dispatched before the holidays. While it is possible that games might not arrive until January, we will keep you posted.
Spain (full details in Spanish) Para España nos apoyará PIF Games en la entrega, quienes manejarán la distribución del juego. Ellos deben recibir primero la carga por parte de Happyshops por lo que es más prudente considerar fecha de llegada en enero.
🇦🇺 Australia (fulfilled by VR Distribution)
🚢 Freight shipping in progress. The vessel with the container is expected to arrive by mid December. Estimated delivery to door would be January. We will provide more updates once we hear more.
🇨🇳 China and Asia (fulfilled by VFI Asia)
VFI has the games and have picked and packed the respective part for North America. They will ship out the rewards soon to China and will start coordinating with their hubs to the rest of Asia. This usually takes extra time, sometimes months, but it is reliable for games to arrive to their final destination.
🌍 Rest of the World – Africa, Rest of America (fulfilled by Happyshops)
These will be dispatched by Happyshops so please read the "Rest of Europe" section for full details. Shipments to this category usually take extra time and you must follow your tracking number to avoid returns and extra fees. Happyshops sends an email with tracking number so please keep an eye to your inbox and Spam folders in mid December and January. We will let you know once parcels have been dispatched.
——
That's all for now, we are in the last stretch of the project to fulfill rewards! I know I mentioned more frequent updates in the last ones so I will make an extra effort to post more regular updates. Be aware that some regions might not see great change in status with more frequent updates.
Thanks again for all your patience and support! I can't wait to hear once rewards arrive.
Production has finished!
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Sep 26, 2024 at 11:51:50 AM
Ahoy there Panda crewmates!!
These past months were a bit silent on our end with mass manufacture in progress and convention season, I apologize for it but we have great news to share today!
Mass production and assembly has finished!
Our friends at Panda GM made a fantastic job and really exceeded our expectations. Communication, service levels, speed and quality were fantastic.
We are sure that you will be delighted with your rewards once you get them!
Freight shipping starting soon!
We are now working with Logistics partners to get the games into containers and have these Panda Pirates start their seafaring journey across the ocean!
The will arrive to different fulfillment hubs where they will be prepared for last-mile shipping in November—we are still on track with our original estimated date of delivery!
As a reminder, here's everyone we are working with for each region:
US: Gamerati
CA: Pick & Pack Logistics (forwarded first from Gamerati)
MX: Detestable Games
CL: Circoctel
UK: Zatu Fulfilment
ES: PIF Games (forwarded first from Happyshops)
Rest of Europe (Happyshops)
Australia: VR Distribution
Asia: VFI Asia
Rest of the World: Happyshops
Look back to Party Panda Pirates Prelaunch Party
During Gen Con, we hosted a prelaunch party for Party Panda Pirates with some advance copies that were prepared by Panda GM.
Over 30 players joined and had a ton of fun. Here are some comments we received during the event:
"This has to be one of the best games I have ever played”
“I don’t usually like party games but this is one I would definitely like to have!”
"Can I buy this demo copy now?"
We got that last question 4 or 5 times and our answer was: "We are very sorry, but no. We are not selling the game before backers get their rewards. You can still join preorders and receive them later". So we still have those advance copies and will be using them for marketing purposes.
Here's a 30-sec video with some shorts of the gameplay experience:
Tutorial videos in progress
We are still working on the tutorial videos for the minigames so that you can also learn by scanning the QR code and watching a very short video. We expect to have them uploaded by the end of the year. This is taking more time because we will have the videos available in English and Spanish.
We'll be at Essen Spiel!
Next week, Pepe, Alina and I (Will) will be flying to Germany to attend the largest tabletop convention, Essen Spiel!
While we will be mostly attending to meetings, we will have some booth presence thanks to our partner in Spain, PIF Games, so if you are around, please stop by and say hi in Hall 3 Booth 3U112.
Our objective is to get Party Panda Pirates (and our other titles) localized in other languages. We know we had many backers who would like to see this game in their main language so you can help us by spreading the word with a publisher in your country who might be interested in localizing fun family games like ours! They can send an email to book a meeting at Spiel here: [email protected]
More updates coming soon
Unlike the mass manufacture stage when files have been approved and we are just waiting for production and assembly to finish, the logistics stage gets more updates every few weeks, so you can now expect more updates from us during this last quarter of the year!
Earlier this year, we partnered with our friends from Chile, Fractal Juegos, to bring Sea Dragons into the USA, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
We are partnering again to bring another fantastic game—that glows in the dark!*—from Simone Luciani and Andrea Mainini.
*As stretch goals are unlocked, more components will glow in the dark, but the game box will have that treatment upon funding!
Here's the Preview link for early access, in case you want to learn more and leave some feedback about the campaign. Don't forget to click "Notify me on launch" at the top of the page if you are interested in joining this Kickstarter.
— Thanks again for your incredible support!! We are excited for you to receive your copies of Party Panda Pirates in November!
Starting mass production!
almost 2 years ago
– Mon, Jul 15, 2024 at 05:50:37 PM
Ahoy there Panda crewmates!!
It is time for a project update and we cover many relevant topics:
Mass production has started
Play at Gen Con at "Party Panda Pirates Prelaunch Party"
Plastic trays progress
Pledge manager closing soon (limited items left)
Baby dinos coming soon on Kickstarter
Let's get started!
Mass production start
We are delighted to inform you that mass production started a few weeks ago! All samples, digital proofs and Pre-Production Copies have been approved.
This is an important milestone because it means we have successfully wrapped all work on our end and the next months is mostly waiting for produciton to finish, coordinating logistics, and waiting for rewards to show up at your door!
Estimated delivery time looks favorable but we will keep you posted about any changes.
Prelaunch party at Gen Con
We will be back this year at Gen Con and you can find us very near the central entrance to the exhibit hall in booth #905! While we won't have Party Panda Pirates yet, we will have limited copies of Sea Dragons, Dodo Dash, War for Chicken Island, and more titles!
You can see the full list here and give some thumbs up to all of them while you are there (thanks in advance for that!) Note that some are available just for demo while others have listed price and you can get a copy at the show.
For Party Panda Pirates we are doing something special at Gen Con, we have a whole room to host a prelaunch party with up to 120 players!
This is possible thanks to our amazing manufacturer partner Panda GM who is preparing 20 advance copies of the game and to our friends at Double Exposure!
Where: Indianapolis Convention Center: Wabash Ballroom 1
Experienceneeded: None! (you will be taught how to play)
You can come with your family & friends or on your own! (Click on the link above and register all players)
Plastic trays samples
Storage is important! Even more for a game that has several components and miniexpansions on the way. And fitting sleeved cards is also important too. We have worked with our manufacturing partner Panda GM to optimize the trays and we are delighted with the result! Here are some pictures of the plastic tray for the deluxe version of the game:
Enough room to store future minigame expansions or accessories such as the eyepatches!
The miniatures come in their own custom plastic tray that fits in the main one!
Sleeved cards fit in the game too!
And we have great news for backers who got the standard version of the game. We are including a plastic tray as well rather than a cardboard one. In this version the Turtle Boat fits unassembled (it is easily assembled with press fit).
Pledge manager closing soon
Now that we have started mass production we must set item limits and close surveys soon (with some buffer in case of contingencies during fulfillment). This is an important step for us to complete so that we don't oversell an item.
Unfortunately, there are still 17% of you who have not completed their survey (or maybe you have but forgot to press the green button to finalize your survey). If you are unsure, you can always check your survey or retrieve it via email here: https://party-panda-pirates.backerkit.com
Now that we have finished work on Party Panda Pirates and just waiting for manufacture to finish, we are eager to come back to Kickstarter for another party and adventure!
We are releasing a new spin-off for our most popular game: Dodos Riding Dinos, with new (very young) characters, all new cute art, game dynamics, even a new projectile!
We were waiting to complete fulfillment for its predecessor (Dodo Dash) and now that it has been completed some months ago, we are ready to launch Dodos Riding Dinos: First Race
If you are familiar with the game or already own any of its predecessors, you will be delighted to know that as a returning backer you get a free mini expansion with the star projectile, the cards to play it in case you want to incorporate it to the previous titles.
While the game includes printed wooden tokens for the characters, on the Kickstarter you will also find miniatures for them —while this won't be Kickstarter exclusive, it will be a limited print run and only available through us.
That's all for now! We hope to see you soon at Gen Con, or maybe on the new Kickstarter, or at the comments of this update.
Preproduction copies and updated samples
almost 2 years ago
– Wed, May 15, 2024 at 10:17:27 AM
Ahoy there, Panda Crewmates!
We have been very busy for the past couple of months! Mainly with two things: fulfillment of our past project Dodos Riding Dinos: Dodo Dash (still with some regions fulfilling now) AND with revisions and editing rounds of Party Panda Pirates.
With so many minigames, we kept polishing the rules writing and layout of components.
Then, our manufacturing parnter, Panda Game Manufacturing, provided very helpful prepress reports for us to refine the print files.
We also received the Pre-Production Copy of the paper and cardboard components, we were able to correct color and improvements as well.
It has been a month of making changes on files to strive for perfection when mass production starts. As a fun fact, we had 14 file updates for the mini games rules and 22 iterations of the base game rules.
Panda GM has also provided revised samples of non-printed components.
Let us show you pictures and a couple surprises toward the end of this update!
Pre-Production Copy and second round of samples received!
Pre-Production Copy and second round of samples received! Deluxe and standard version of the game, along with the add-ons: Plushie, Captain Hat & Eyepatches, Tidal Tiles mini expansion, Avian Trilogy Party cards, and the final unlock, the cloth bag.
Here are the revised samples for the items that make the deluxe version of the game even more immersive and epic!
The cloth bag has a very nice feel and is great to store the coins, like a true panda pirate!
The new Pirate hat sample has an updated Crab plushie. It has velcro so you can move its position or detach it for other purposes. The sample had red velcro but we requested a change and the hats will have black velcro instead.
Upon opening the Pre-Production Copy boxes, we found all the paper and cardboard components so that we could review color and other attributes.
We also got Pre-Production Copy of the add-ons. It is great to see so many minigames already with all the Party cards.
And we couldn't resist adding the samples for the metal coins, wooden tokens, marbled dice, custom sandtimer and miniatures to the Pre-Production Copy of the deluxe version.
Surprise #1
We already received the colored miniatures and they look AWESOME!!!
This is particularly exciting for us because in the past, this step has taken longer in production due to the mold making and complexity in revisions where we had to adjust size or other aspects from the sculpts overall... but we have learned from our past experiences and this time they were ready and approved very swiftly. Panda GM (our manufacturer) has provided excellent service and quality in the preproduction stage!
Preproduction stage is almost done, we are just waiting for the digital proofs of the print files but after so many revisions, we expect everything to be ready to move to mass production!
That means we are on track to deliver on time according to our original timeline in the campaign description (November 2024), we even have some buffer time in case we meet some bumps in the next stages of the project.
Surprise #2
Expedite shipping started in April for some regions. Some of you have already received your add-ons. Other regions are in progress and should receive within May!
Ok, this is not exactly a surprise but it still makes us very happy.
As a friendly reminder, expedite shipping was an optional add-on in the Pledge Manager with extra cost so that you could receive our past titles ahead of time instead of waiting until Party Panda Pirates fulfillment.
If you haven't received tracking or the package, please allow a couple of weeks more while our fulfillment partners make progress, particularly in the UK, Asia and Canada, where expedite shipping is starting this month.
Surprise #3: Baby dinosaurs coming soon...
Now that Party Panda Pirates is on the hands of our manufacturer and we are in the last stretch of fulfillment with Dodo Dash, we are getting ready for our next release:
Dodos Riding Dinos: First Race
A new spin on our most popular title, more portable than ever, leaner rules and no language dependency so that even the smaller ones can join into the fun with this family game.
You will still find hilarious art—this time with baby dinosaurs!
Our Kickstarter offering includes a limited print run of the baby dinosaurs miniatures.
A new projectile and twist on the game. And if you already have any of its predecessors, there will be an add-ons to bring the new projectile and cards to Dodo Dash or the original Dodos Riding Dinos, free for returning backers as a loyalty reward!
If you are not familiar with Dodos Riding Dinos, it is a dexterity racing game with great praise. Tom Vasel from The Dice Tower has described the original game of Dodos Riding Dinos as the best game of its genre (board games inspired on kart-racing video games).
While we still don't have an exact launch date, you can join us to be notified on launch and get a free dodo dice tray (limited edition). We are also starting a group to be more in touch with you all before launch.
That's all news for now! With mass production starting, we expect to have news about progress in two months but we will keep you posted if we hear back any updates before then.
Thanks again for all your outstanding support and shared enthusiasm!
Proofreading (English & Spanish)
about 2 years ago
– Wed, Mar 13, 2024 at 04:09:19 PM
Ahoy Panda Crewmates!
This is a very quick update to inform that Spanish rulebooks are now available too for proofreading. English rulebooks were shared a while ago.
Your help in proofreading the rules is truly helpful! After publishing dozens of games and RPG books, we have found that the more eyes, the better. It also gives you, our dear backers, a special early access to learn more about the game!
Components samples
We just received some pictures of the dice from Panda GM, our manufacturing partner.
We didn't want these to be plain-colored with white or black pips so we are giving a special treatment and colors to them!
Special extra gift!!
We just can't hold back when it comes to delivering an outstanding game for our amazing supporters... so here's another free upgrade added to the game:
A sand timer!
Some minigames are played in real-time, and while most phones have a timer these days, it is always pleasing to have analog components. And in this case, we are giving a Panda-look to this 30-second sand timer with black and white colors.
Thanks again for all your support!
Remember that if you have any issues with the pledge manager, just send an email to [email protected] with the subject "PPP Backer support" and we will get back to you. As a friendly reminder, it is important for you to finalize your survey (click the green button). You can find more important info in the previous update.
