Waiting (room comparison)
over 4 years ago – Tue, Nov 09, 2021 at 09:35:42 PM

Everything is off at the manufacturer, and we are still waiting for our MPC (mass production copy) to verify that everything is in place. That won't happen for several weeks still, so this is yet another non-update update to let you know we're as impatient as all of you for the games to show up.

Meanwhile, since we're on the subject of waiting, here's a comparison of the Waiting Room from the Secrets expansion (2016) and the Collector's Edition (2022):

Besides the obvious artwork improvements, look a little closer and you'll see a bunch of other, more subtle changes to the collector's edition tiles:

• The edges at the doorways are flattened. This allows for better connectivity between rooms, keeps rooms oriented to a 90˚ angle, and also helps to keep castles together better.
• There's a thin white outline around the castle shape which allows it to pop out of the background better.
• The rectangle behind the center icons has been removed.
• The Living Room icon in the lower left has been adjusted slightly.
• The numbers, letters, and icons have been given a slight drop shadow, further enhancing readability.
• The swan icon has been removed; this is part of the overhaul of how swans works: swan icons are now on ALL of the middle sized rooms, and not on the smaller and larger rooms. Now there's no more shuffling in of "Secrets" (swan) tiles before a game when playing with the Swans expansion. More details can be found in the rules in the Swans Expansion section.
• The text for both the room size and the name of the room has been increased slightly, making it easier to read across the table.

All of these changes work together to make the tiles a huge improvement over the original ones, and make the game experience that much richer. A lot of thought went into all of these changes to ensure that the gameplay experience is as rich as possible!

Read some Rules!
over 4 years ago – Mon, Oct 25, 2021 at 05:04:18 AM

As we enter the weird "wait for the MPC (mass production copy)" time period, not much is happening. All the files and proofs have been approved, and now it's just about waiting until we get the MPC and then hopefully give the green light to the manufacturer to start assembling games.

Until then, here are some rules to read:

PPC pics of Rooms and Boxes
over 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 10:10:20 PM

The latest PPC (pre-production copy) of Castles has arrived, and finally we're looking great! The previous PPC had some color issues that have now all been resolved, and we've given the go-ahead to manufacturing to start mass production of the boxes and punchboards!!!

Room comparisons to previous PPCs

Here's a look at how we compared the some of the rooms (the previous, too-light versions are punched and above the new PPC punchboards which are the correct brightness and saturation):

We had to do the same thing with all of the colossal rooms (the stacks of room are punchboards, while the stack of square punchboards are the newest PPC):

 Note that Colossal boxes will come pre-punched and sorted into their GameTrayz (the punchboards shown here are how we supplied them to the manufacturer, but they are doing all the punching for you!).

Boxes are complete!

All four boxes are now final. An interesting note here is that the regular Collector's Edition, Royal Collector's Edition, and Colossal Moats and Barbicans are exactly the same size. If you got Colossal without Moats and Barbicans, your box is a wee bit thinner. Here are all four boxes when placed side by side:

Here's what the Royal and Colossal Moats and Barbicans look like from the front (the blue painter's tape is for us to track which version of the box it is...you won't get that):

And from the back:

According to our manufacturer, we're looking at getting our first MPC (Mass Production Copy) at the end of November, and then shipping from China at the end of the year, which would mean February 2022 delivery. We will keep you posted on those dates (please keep in mind that shipping issues can cause additional delays).

Production Pseudo-Update
over 4 years ago – Fri, Oct 01, 2021 at 06:57:05 PM

We were waiting to post an update to give everyone some great, concrete information, but it’s been longer than we’d like, and we know what it's like to have radio silence, so here's an "update without a lot of content" update for you.

There has been a lot of back and forth with the manufacturer, as we get revisions of the PPC, provide feedback and make changes, and get yet another revision. Making sure that all elements are perfect has been a huge undertaking for everyone involved, including our entire staff, who painstakingly have gone over each printed component making sure everything is just right.

The good news is that the non-printed components are all in production right now, and those are the items that tend to take the longest. Once we have approved all of the print pieces, we’ll have a better idea of where we are with the actual shipping date, but right now we’re conservatively looking at shipping rewards out to backers in February.

Meanwhile, Gen Con attendees had a chance to try out one of those Colossal PPC revisions:

As soon as dates are more concrete, we’ll post more....thank you for your patience!

Staff Favorite Public Favors!
over 4 years ago – Sat, Aug 28, 2021 at 04:25:20 AM

Favor drafting is tricky business when you are in charge of game setup, everyone will judge your selection even though it is random! Here are some of the favorites our staff likes to see hit the board! What is your personal favorite?!?

Longest Path - 

This favor is extremely gratifying, but definitely can be a challenge! Have you ever built a castle where you could touch every room once in one continuous path?! OH the satisfaction!!!

Most Courtyards -

This favor is so puzzley and makes you view your castle through a different lens, it sounds easy but can be harder than you think! Our Social Media Manager is the master of this - she is rarely beat!

Most Completed Rooms -

With this favor, it is a race to grab up all those food rooms! Extra turns are crucial on your way to this victory, and forfeiting any turns to get money instead feels like a non option in this pursuit! Utility rooms are also a huge help here since they are automatically complete upon placement!

Corridor Square Footage -  

Anyone who knows our internal team will tell you to buy up your stairs and hallways early before they are all gone! COO Toni Alspach is the corridor queen and she will clean them out before you know it. When this favor lands on the board, all bets are off!

Happy Friday Builders :)