A Quick Production Check-In 🌍
about 4 years ago – Sun, Oct 23, 2022 at 05:31:23 AM

Hello, everyone!

I hope you’re all having a great October so far, and that the changing of the seasons is beautiful in your part of the world!

Fall is one of my favorite times of year to get outside and experience nature, and I hope you’re all able to enjoy it just as much as I do.🍂

This month’s update won’t be very long since production is ongoing, but I do have a few photos to share!

Production Run Preview 📷

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, but everything is looking great! The stitching on the player mats has been updated, the wooden insert is more secure, the leaf token shape has been improved, and all of the colors are as vibrant as we could have hoped!

If you’d like a closer look at the game, and even more photos, you can look back at our update from last month. ⭐

Pledge Manager Closing Date

Our team would like to keep the pledge manager open for as long as possible, to give everyone plenty of time to finalize their surveys and addresses if needed!

With that in mind, we will be closing the pledge manager on January 31st, 2023. In each update going forward, I’ll include a friendly reminder with the closing date.

Timeline

Production is going well and should be wrapped up by the end of November. (This is by far our biggest manufacturing run of games to date!)

We’ll be receiving MPC (Mass-Produced Copies) of the game in each language to check, and if needed, give feedback before the games leave the factory.

We expect freight and shipping to our fulfillment partner’s hubs to take from December to February (due to the holidays) and for games to start shipping to all of our amazing backers in February/March.

Until next time, a big thank you from the Inside Up Games team and we’ll check in with you again next month! 🌍

Photos of the Pre-Production Sample 🌏
about 4 years ago – Wed, Sep 21, 2022 at 07:12:40 AM

Hello, everyone!

I have SO many awesome and vibrant photos to share with you all of the Earth pre-production sample.

This is such a great milestone in the project, as we’re able to see how the game has progressed since the prototype, and see how e-proofs have translated to physical components.

First, a Reminder! Complete Your Surveys

There are a little over 600 amazing backers who supported the campaign but haven’t filled out their survey in the pledge manager. We’ve sent a reminder email via Backerkit to everyone who hasn’t filled out their survey yet, if you received one of these emails (check your spam/promotions folders) please take a few minutes to complete your survey.

This is super important, we’re so appreciative of your support for Earth but we need to know where to send your games!

If you’ve lost the link to access your survey, you can retrieve it here:

https://earth.backerkit.com/

Now Presenting: The Pre-Production Copy of Earth! 🌍

Queue the “ooohs and ahhs” - and check out the box.

The box itself is beautiful and super colorful, no matter which way you store your games it’s sure to stand out on the shelf.

The growth pieces on the back of the box are to scale, and there’s a great depiction of a player tableau to draw you into the game!

Please note the back of the box depicts all “standard” components, without Kickstarter Goodies such as the wooden soil tokens and wooden first player marker.

Let’s get the box unwrapped and take a closer look inside!

Your Names in the Box! 

As many of you likely remember, backers who supported the campaign on day 1 had the opportunity to have their names printed inside of the box cover! 

It may be a bit hard to tell in this photo, but the names of day 1 backers who opted for this bonus are printed inside the box cover, on top of a scenic photograph. Whether you were a day 1 backer or not, THANK YOU so much for your support of this game!

On the right, you can see the rulebook cover, storing the rulebook on top helps to keep the components in place. 

The Rulebook and Achievement Sheet

The rulebook has a lot of photos, examples, and tips along the way to help you get the game to the table quickly.

The achievement sheet is only included in the first printing, and is a fun way to record your accomplishments. 🤩 (The inner completionist in me knows I’ll be bringing Earth to the table often so I can get all of the accomplishments done!)

Flora & Fauna, Gaia, and Player Boards!

Here are the front sides of the player boards, with the player actions up top, card leaf and soil token storage in the middle, and icon/end-game scoring reminders at the bottom. The flora & fauna board is behind the player boards here.

This photo shows the flora and fauna board on the left, followed by the team mode board, the solo player board, and the Gaia board (also for solo play). 

The two on top of the stack are the backs of two of the player boards, because who didn’t want more amazing photos!

Punchboard Sample and Scoring Sheet

The punchboard sample below is just that, a pre-production sample! Please note that while the token graphics are finalized, the punchboard has been cut manually for the pre-production sample and it isn’t as precise as the final punchboard will be.

We were able to make room on the punchboard to include a (rectangular) active player token in addition to the 1st player (round) token. As a reminder, the rectangular token fits great above the action space on your player board!

The final punchboard thickness is a little over 2mm.

The Standard Cardboard Insert

As we mentioned during the campaign, the standard cardboard insert for the game is pretty simple - but functional.

The cardboard insert helps to protect your game during transit, but if you choose to keep it for organizational purposes as well, the next photo shows how you can store the cards sleeved! Keeping the insert will help keep components and cards in place for vertical storage.

The Wooden Insert Add-On

For anyone who’s opted for the wooden insert add-on, here’s what it looks like in the box with the game’s components sorted into each of the designated sections.

With the wooden insert in place, the scorepad and player boards get stored beneath the insert and the rulebook goes on top. This helps to prevent components from moving around when the game is stored vertically.

We're showing the wooden insert with all cards sleeved, for more information about organizing the insert with sleeved cards check out the last update!

There are icons laser engraved into the wood of the two “trough” inserts so you can sort everything out easily and reference the icons when taking plant cubes or growth pieces.

The rounded trough design keeps pieces from getting stuck in the corners, and makes them easier to scoop out!

The insert on the left is the old design, the “tabs” used for each of the dividers have been reduced and the cuts have been improved so that everything fits together more snugly. If you look at the bottom of the divider on the left, you can see a small gap.

This gap has been eliminated in the new version so that punchboard pieces don’t get stuck in that small space.

The insert has been re-engineered for a tighter and more flush fit. The original insert design on the left shows the side pieces fitting in a bit loosely, and without glue, the insert could become loose as players were grabbing resources.

The new insert on the right shows the pieces fitting together much more snugly, which helps the insert stay together when in use.

The new inserts don’t have the laser-engraved icons in these photos as we were updating the construction of the divider itself. Of course, the final version will have the appropriate engravings!

Timeline

There weren’t any major changes to make after reviewing the pre-production copy so production is underway! Our manufacturer is estimating it will take ~2 months to complete production on all of the games. (This includes both English + translations from our partners!)

Production should be complete in November, and then freight and shipping to our fulfillment hubs will happen in the following 2-3 months. These estimates account for delays we anticipate over the holiday season. ❄️

Again, if you haven’t completed your pledge manager survey please do so! 💚

Until next time, a big THANK YOU from the Inside Up Games team!

The Insert, Sleeves, and Man vs. Meeple's Top 10 Board Games of All-Time! 🌏
about 4 years ago – Fri, Aug 26, 2022 at 12:22:14 AM

Hello, gamers! In this update, we’ll be sharing some digital proofs with you all, talking about translations, manufacturing, and the insert!

But first, we want to give a shout-out to the team over at Man vs. Meeple. They just finished their list of the Top 50 Board Games of All Time and we’re honored that Emily chose Earth as her #2! 🥳

The Insert - Cardboard, Wood, and Sleeves! ✨

The Cardboard Insert

First up, for anyone who didn’t opt for the wooden insert add-on, we’d like to share the standard cardboard insert.

The insert has plenty of place to store and separate the cards and components.

 The Wooden Insert + Sleeves

If you sleeve your games, I’m excited to share this photo with you! As promised, we’ve sleeved the cards and tested them in the insert. The sleeves in this photo are 80 microns.

As you can see, all of the cards, including the 12-card month/seasons pack and solo cards fit with a bit of extra room to spare.

Note that the insert comes with 1 extra divider, and in order to fit all of the cards sleeved, this extra divider will not be used.

And another view from the side, so many cards!

In addition, the trough-style resource trays now have an extra piece that helps to “lock” the divider pieces in place. We’ll share a photo of this improvement soon!

E-Proof Samples

In our last update, we shared a few examples of language translations for cards and the box cover. Here are a few extra e-proofs for you to check out, this time for the rulebook and scoring sheets.

In case you haven’t already taken a look at the rulebook, there are tons of examples and photos to guide you through the game.

Whether you’re optimizing your tableau or racing to complete the objectives on the fauna cards, there are plenty of scoring opportunities. These score sheets will help you tally up points at the end of the game!

What’s Happening Now, and What’s Happening Next?

Happening Now:

As we mentioned in the last update, there was a bit of a delay in receiving e-proofs for some translations.

All of the translations are now complete, and we’re in the final stages of approving the e-proofs. This should be complete by the end of this month!

Happening Next:

With translations and e-proofs approved, we aim to start manufacturing at the beginning of September!

The factory is standing by to start production, and due to the volume of games being produced, as well as the language editions available, they estimate that it will take ~2 months to complete.

Fulfillment Timeline

The fulfillment timeline remains the same as it was in the last update, and we’re projecting fulfillment in February/March.

The Pledge Manager

First of all, thank you to everyone who has completed their Backerkit survey! 93% of backers have confirmed their pledge.

If you have not completed your Backerkit survey, please do so!

Why is the pledge manager so important?

• To confirm your pledge
   
• To confirm your add-ons (Wooden insert, Neoprene playmats, other Inside Up Games products)
   
• To confirm your mailing address
   
• To pay for shipping
   

Unfortunately, if you don’t fill out the pledge manager we won’t know where to send your game! We aren’t closing the pledge manager anytime soon, but want to confirm your pledge sooner rather than later. 💚

If you’ve lost the link to access your pledge, you can retrieve it here:

https://earth.backerkit.com/

Until next time, a big THANK YOU from the Inside Up Games team!

Pre-Press Progress, Samples, and Proofing Language Files 🌎
over 4 years ago – Wed, Aug 10, 2022 at 01:27:47 PM

Hello, everyone!

This month's update contains a lot of fun information (and photos!) about translations of Earth.

Right now, we are working with our language partners to finalize translated files and with the manufacturer to approve component samples to make sure everything for Earth is top-notch!

Leaf it to Us - Improving the Wooden Leaf and Soil Tokens

The first photo shows an updated sample of the leaf and soil tokens, in this iteration the leaf shape was better but the silk screen was incorrect. It may be hard to tell from this photo, but we’ve also increased the size of the soil from 14mm to 16mm (at no increased cost to backers, of course!)

This second photo, and further iteration, shows an improved silk screening on the leaves!

Improvements to the Insert

As we showed in our previous update, there was a minor concern about the dividers in the wooden insert not fitting as snugly as we would have liked.

While the overall design has remained the same, there have been minor adjustments made to the insert so that everything fits together better and tighter.

Bulking Up the Box

To make the box stronger and more sturdy (we know you’ll be pulling Earth off the shelf a lot!) the box thickness has been increased to 2mm.

Minor Rulebook Adjustments

During the past few weeks, there were several updates made to the rulebook including rule clarifications and quality of life updates intended to make it easier for new players to learn the game, and for returning players to enjoy a streamlined set-up no matter what game mode they're playing. 

This photo shows just a few of these changes, including a table that has been added to streamline set-up for the "beginner", "standard", and "advanced" modes. 

Language Localizations

We are also working with our language partners to approve translations and e-proofs so that when these files are handed over to the manufacturer they’re good to go!

There were a few errors that were found, and minor tweaks to be made that have since been implemented. We are continuing to work with our localization partners to proof the cards (there’s a lot of text!), rulebooks, and so on.

Here are a few examples of card translations!

And here are some examples of translated box covers. Shown here are Korean, Spanish, French, and Hungarian. 🌎

At this stage, we are waiting for one more language partner to submit files. Unfortunately, their lead layout designer currently has COVID so we’re wishing them well and hope their health improves soon! The remaining partners are approving e-proofs and/or sending us revised files with any necessary revisions.

Timeline

Thanks to all of you, Earth has become our largest and most translated game to date, with 5x the total print run of our largest previous campaign.

While we have been absolutely amazed and humbled by the demand for Earth in so many languages, it was certainly more than we had anticipated, and the translations have taken longer than we had estimated.

Once all language files have been submitted to our manufacturer, they will be able to provide us with a revised timeline. We won’t know for sure until we hear back from them, but our best guess is that the project has been delayed 1-2 months.

While this isn’t the news we would like to deliver, we feel the delays have been worthwhile as it has led to improvements across the board in terms of presentation, components, and of course usability.

Once we hear back from our manufacturer about the impact on our timeline, we will share this information with all of you!

Thanks for tuning in! We hope that you’re all enjoying the weather wherever you are and that you’re playing lots of fun games. 🎉

Until next time, best from the Inside Up Games team.

Family Update

As a friendly reminder, this section does not include any critical updates to the project and you’re free to skip over it if you’d like. 😊

So this year all 3 of my kids were asked to join the competitive football (soccer ;) club. As a keeper and defenseman myself (decades ago!) I have thoroughly enjoyed watching them train, play and grow. A few weeks ago their team went to the “USA CUP” to play a weekend of games in Minneapolis, so I took Caleb and Dahlia by myself. (Unfortunately, my wife’s grandfather had passed away and the funeral was at the same time so she took our eldest with her to Manitoba.)

The weekend was great, even though the kids didn’t win a single game. I was so proud of their effort and their resilience that I wanted to “treat” them in some way-picking yourself up after a fall or defeat is something I find very important as those defeats are huge learning opportunities. And the kids were amazing. Yes they got frustrated sometimes and no it wasn’t easy for them, but they kept trying and continued to support their teammates and build each other up!

But anyway, this story isn’t about the tournament, but about the day after…. I had “hotwired” an extra night's accommodation with the plans of treating them to the “Mall of America”... but after spending only 5 minutes in the mall that evening I knew I couldn’t spend the entire next day there! So we pivoted and I booked us some tickets for Valley Fair (thanks to some coupons from the USA CUP.)

This would be the first time my kids (and I as an “adult”) had been to a real amusement park and I wanted them to go at their own pace and enjoy themselves! We got there 10 minutes before opening, and they let you in to minimize the crowds outside. As we waited at the next roped-off area my kids pointed at the closest ride “Extreme Swing” and asked if we could start there. A giant swing set? Sure… how bad could that be?

Ooops.

I should have noticed the individual containers for loose belongings. I should have noticed the “thrill rating.” I should have noticed that adults lining up behind us, and the other adults refusing to join them… But after a lifetime of reading “spicy” on menus for non-spicy food, I assumed that the “Extreme” in “Extreme Swing” was just a silly selling feature. It was not.

Dahlia (8), Caleb (11), and I (40) got into our seats and the solid lap harness locked into place (yes, I realize that should have been another clue!) I could tell that made Dahlia a little nervous so I put one arm across her chest, and one across Caleb’s so I could make them feel safer.

Now I am not sure the last time YOU were on a “swing” but I think of the gentle swaying motion as enjoyable and sometimes calming, sometimes even exhilarating when you get the “loose/fall/snap” of the rope or chain… This was none of that. It PUSHED and PULLED in both directions. From a stop to thrust so fast I didn’t have time to realize it would get worse.

The kids and I went from “Weeeeeeeeee” to “whoaaaaaa” to “uuuurrrrggggg” to completely drained of blood in our heads and silently leaking drool from the sides of our mouths. I am not kidding when I say the kids melted into their seats and Dahlia’s eyes seemed to roll back in her head while Caleb appeared to pass out!

And then just as quickly, the ride stopped, the restraints lifted and we stumbled off the ride with our breakfasts ¾ of the way back to our throats.

I shouldn’t be surprised, but the kids bounced back faster than me. Immediately after that, it was Wild Thing, then something and something and eventually it was “Okay kids you guys ride together I’ll take pictures!” AKA-I need to stop before I hurl and ruin everyone’s day.

After a while, we moved on to the water park and we had an awesome day. Next time I see you, ask about the kids and “Breakers Plunge” - the highest water slide in the park!

But for now, here is a slow-mo video of the kids riding one of their favorites-Renegade!

Overall it was a great experience and we can’t wait to share it with Dominique and Kilianne.

Which amusement park ride or water park would you recommend?

And for you thrill seekers out there… Here is a video of the Extreme Swing… it really doesn’t look too bad in the video: https://youtu.be/94TqHLXxZTY

Sample Update 📸 (It’s a BIG one!)
over 4 years ago – Fri, Jul 29, 2022 at 08:16:04 AM

Hello, gamers! We have a BIG update ahead of us and are excited to share lots of fun photos with you all.

We hope you’re safe, healthy, and having fun as the weather starts warming up in some parts of the world! 🌞

Houston, We Have a Sample ✨

I’m sure you can all imagine how exciting it is to get a sample of the game delivered. While prototype copies are great, there’s just something extra special about getting the first “official” sample to the table to check out.

Throughout the update, I’ll be sharing photos of the game and its components, and letting you all know what quality adjustments are being made. The great thing about a sample is that if we are unhappy with something, we have the opportunity to work with our manufacturer to make improvements!

If you have any questions that aren’t covered in the update, please let us know and we’ll respond to your comments as quickly as we can. 🎉

1 Box Containing the Beauty of the Natural World 🌍

Well.. a lot of it anyway! As you can see from the photo above, the box is looking as vibrant and beautiful as ever.

No matter how you store your games, the box art will surely stand out on your shelves.

Here is another photo showing the back of the box, including a sample player board set-up, a full-size depiction of the growth and canopy pieces, and an overview of simultaneous play.

Lotsa Cards

There are SO MANY gorgeous cards in Earth. Seriously, look at those stacks!

After the campaign ended, our team rewrote all of the factoids on each of the cards. Did you know that the average lifespan of an olive tree is between 300 - 500 years? Well, now you do!

With so many available plants to sow, and different climate, island, ecosystem, and fauna cards in play each game, there is plenty for you to explore in Earth.

Plenty of Player Boards

The player boards are also looking great!

There were only 2 minor updates to be made to the player boards where the old soil icon was used.

The boards are thick and sturdy!

The Playmats & Storage

Whether you’re looking to deluxify your gaming experience, organize your play area, or both, the play mats are a great addition to your game!

In this side-by-side photo, the play mat on the right is the original size we had planned for during the campaign, and while functional, we felt that the space between the cards and the edge of the play mat was too tight.

We’ve increased the size of the mats slightly, at no cost to backers. While the size difference may not seem dramatic, it makes the world of difference when placing cards in your tableau.

Another view, the original playmat size meant that cards were placed on the very edge of the mat, while the new version has a border.

While minor, the joint for the stitched edge is currently placed near the top of the mats. We’ve asked for the joint to be moved to the bottom so that it’s not intrusive.

The play mats will fit in the main box, but will not fit with the wooden insert also in the box so if you have opted for both the insert and play mats, this will be a great storage solution for you.

The storage box for the play mats has already been adjusted so that the new, larger mats will fit inside.

Insider Exclusive: A Look at the Insert 👀

We know that storage is important, not just for the longevity of your games but to make it easier to set them up and get to the table more often.

As a friendly reminder, the wooden insert I’ll be sharing with you is an add-on.  If you have decided that you’d like to include the insert in your pledge, it’s available on Backerkit!

The card and resource trays fit comfortably inside the box, without bowing the sides or causing the lid to lift up.

Based on our testing of the insert and resource trays, we recommend storing the rulebook and player boards on top. Conor did the “shake test” and by placing those items on top, the components stayed in their designated slots.

🚨 Now, at this point, you may be looking at the insert and thinking to yourself, “But Jenna, the right side of the card tray looks full! How will I fit my sleeved cards?”

Not to fear, sleevers! I am an avid sleever myself, and I’ve got an answer for you. The dividers within the card tray are removable/reconfigurable. This will allow sleevers to fit in their sleeved cards, and for non-sleevers to use the dividers in whichever way suits their preferences.

The sample is with Conor right now, and he will be purchasing some card sleeves and taking another photo of the tray with sleeved cards for us to share with you all in a future update.

In this close-up photo, you can see where the “tabs” for each divider of the card tray slot in. We are going to try to update the design so that these have a hooked edge, helping them to stay in place better and provide additional stability to the tray. (Conor purposely pulled the dividers away from the side to show the manufacturer what he wants to avoid happening.)

The insert engravings, or icons, have been updated as well. From this angle, you can see that each section of the tray has a rounded bottom, making it easier to grab resources without them getting stuck in any corners. Conor loaded half the components into the tray on the right to show it “full” and removed a good amount from the tray on the left to show how the icons become more visible as the resources dwindle - when it’s full you’ll see the components, as it empties you’ll see the icons!

There is plenty of space for the components, especially if divided evenly between the two trays. As a reminder, we updated the insert to the 2-tray design so that you can place one tray on either end of the table and make sure the resources are within reach of all players. Nifty, eh?

Here is a top-down view of the same trays. They are quite easy to assemble, and it should take less than ~15 minutes to put the entire insert together.

You’ll notice that in these photos, we’re showing you the punchboard soil tokens. More details about the wooden soil tokens are in the next section, so let’s keep going!

The Wooden Soil Tokens

Before I share this next photo, I would like to reassure you all that the fluffy cloud soil shape shown in the bottom row is not the final soil shape you all voted on and will not be the shape included in the game. The soil tokens on the bottom row are just for size comparison. 😊

The updated soil shape translates well to the wooden tokens, and the flat bottom means that you could stand them up if you’d prefer. Depending on the color settings on your monitor, these may look black but in person, they are a very, very dark brown color.

The size of the original tokens (bottom row) was too small, so the size was increased (top row) and of course, the shape was updated.

Remaining Kickstarter Goodies ✨

The 12-card month pack will be a great way to introduce variability and can be easily distinguished from the cards within the base game by the purple border color.

In this photo, you can see that the wooden leaf tokens look like they were cut a little lop-sided. We’re asking our manufacturer to fix this for us. 🍂

Let’s Grow Some Trees 🌳

We have continued to work on the construction behind the growth pieces (trunks) and canopies (tops) to make them more stable.

On the left side of this photo, is the original growth piece and canopy pairing. The right side of the photo shows the new sample we received with a wider growth piece for added support.

Those with a keen eye will notice that while the width of the growth piece in the new sample increased in size, the canopy actually got a bit smaller. We’re unsure why this is, but are asking our manufacturer.

In this photo, you can see the two pieces coupled together and it’s easier to see the wider base as well as the difference in size between the canopies.

Punchin’ Cardboard

Both the Kickstarter and retail edition of the game will come with punchboard components for the leaf tokens, soil tokens, plant cubes, and active player marker.

While the colors and sizing of the punchboard are accurate, we’re working with our manufacturer to improve the cuts.

If you look at the plant cubes near the top of the punchboard, you can see some white spots where the cuts were not as clean as we would like. This should be fairly easy to fix!

Putting it All Together 🌱

WOW! That’s a lot of stuff, let’s see what a full play area actually looks like. These photos show a tableau with plant cubes and growth pieces/canopies at their maximums.

Note that it’s highly unlikely your tableau will be this full, even at the end of the game as you will likely want to include some Terrains for more end-game scoring!

How pretty is that? 🌷 Seeing everything come together is really special.

What’s Next? Timeline and Pledge Manager

As I mentioned above, while we’re quite pleased with everything there are a few component adjustments that we will be working with our manufacturer to fix. We are also working with our global partners to make sure that each language edition is progressing smoothly as well.

At this time, we are on-track for fulfillment in December and if anything changes we will let you know. 🎉

The pledge manager is still open, and we’d like to give a big THANK YOU to the 92% of ya’ll who have completed your surveys. If you haven’t yet, no worries as there’s still plenty of time to do so!

Lost your survey? No problem, locate it here: https://earth.backerkit.com/

Have a friend who missed the campaign and wants to late pledge? Send them here: https://earth.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

We plan to give at least 2 weeks notice before closing the pledge manager, however, that won’t happen for several months.

In the Meantime, Can You Brave the Summit in Sanity? 🏔

During the campaign for Earth, Trey Parker named Summit his #1 game of all time!

Summit was Conor’s first published board game design, crowdfunding campaign, and the project that launched Inside Up Games.

Summit: Sanity is the last of 3 expansions in the Summit universe, challenging players to maintain their sanity while surviving the world’s deadliest mountain. Much like Earth, Summit offers several ways to play - including cooperative, competitive, and solo variants.

Whether you’re a fan of Summit already, or braving the mountain for the first time, we invite you to follow the Summit: Sanity campaign on Gamefound. There will be crowdfunding goodies for backers, reveals throughout the campaign, and a big box storage solution!  ⭐

If you’d like to try out Summit, we’ve published the game on Tabletop Simulator for those of you who are brave enough to climb the mountain.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2812582429

We completely understand if you’d like to explore what Earth has to offer before joining us for another project, but we’d love to see you there!

Family Update

The family update from Conor does not contain any project updates, and you’re free to skip over it if you’d like.😊

I was away at Origins this past week, but before leaving "Crusoe Crew" from Van Ryder Games arrived on our doorstep... and although we haven't finished "Roll Player Adventure" yet, I wanted to have a quick peek inside... and once I did that I couldn't help but show the kids.

For those that don't know, this is a graphic novel adventure game where players each have their own book and see SOME of the same information, but they also see unique things from their character's perspective. We only played it for about 15-20 mins, but the kids asked if we could start it as soon as we finished Roll Player.

I think this photo sums up their engagement pretty nicely.

Which games have you been enjoying with your family/friends lately?