It's August Already? Locking in the blue dice September 1
over 5 years ago – Sat, Aug 11, 2018 at 01:20:07 AM

Hi everyone! I hope you've been enjoying your summer - it was great to meet a few of you at Gen Con last week, which was a ball as usual (though I was just wandering the halls as an attendee this year).

Blue Dice on Lock Down

(That sounds ominous, doesn't it?)

This is just a quick message to let you know things are moving along swimmingly with the manufacturing, contracts and all. On September 1 I'm going to lock down the option to add-on more blue sets in BackerKit, so if you want them, make sure you've gone in and made your selections.

This is necessary since I'm only doing a limited run of the blue sets, and I want to make sure I can satisfy everyone from this campaign who wants them.

I'll also run the credit cards in BackerKit then, so that's when that should show up.

I won't take up more of your time right now, but hopefully I can get a few photos from the factory for an update soon...

It's Time for BackerKit!
almost 6 years ago – Wed, Jul 11, 2018 at 12:52:12 AM

Hi! I hope you've enjoyed the past couple of weeks. I spent them in talks with the manufacturers, setting everything up in BackerKit, working on the rulebook illustrations, and taking a little breather.

The next step for Knot Dice Squared is for everyone to get set up in BackerKit.

BackerKit

In the next day or so, you'll receive an invitation to manage your pledge in BackerKit. When you receive it, please go ahead and make your selections. The sooner you can do this the better (though I won't cut off changes until sometime in mid to late August).

In BackerKit you get to choose the color(s) you want and select any items you want to add-on to your pledge level. It's very simple to do in their system.

Most importantly, if you want to select some of your sets to be blue, please do that as soon as possible. Since I'll only be making a limited quantity of those, I want to get a count soon to be sure I order enough.

Retailers

If you are a retailer, I'll manage your pledge personally (without using BackerKit), so you'll receive a direct message from me.

Questions

If you have a question and you think the answer will be useful to everyone, please go ahead and ask it in the comments, either on this update or in the main comments for the Kickstarter. However, if you have a question specifically about your situation (your backer level, your address, etc), please send me a direct message through Kickstarter so that I can respond to you personally, and so that I can keep those notes associated with your account.

Let's get those selections made, and I'll be back in touch in a couple of weeks with an update on manufacturing.

Amazing!
almost 6 years ago – Fri, Jun 22, 2018 at 10:43:36 PM

Not only did we surpass the original Knot Dice Kickstarter campaign, but we also cracked $100,000! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I had no idea this campaign would do so well, and I am incredibly excited. I'll go into a little bit of the schedule below, but here's a sneak peek at the expansion box logo (the horizontal layout):

Many Many Thanks!

I want to send some quick thanks out - first to you, of course! And to my family, who've supported this crazy project from the beginning. Thanks to all the Knot Dice game and puzzle designers: Elizabeth Hargrave, Josh Tempkin, Morten Monrad Pedersen, Jay Treat, Doug Levandowski, Bonnie Neubauer, Cardboard Edison (Chris and Suzanne Zinsli), Ian Reed, and Cameron Browne. Thanks to Matt Grosso for the photography, and Terry Buck for the logo. Thanks to Dan Isdell and his Celtic Knot Font - check it out! And thanks to all the reviewers and fans of Knot Dice who spread the word about them.

What's Next?

For You:
In the next week or two, Kickstarter will charge the credit cards for the campaign. Once that's all finalized, I'll send an update to you and open up the pledge manager (BackerKit) so that you can select your colors and make your add-on choices. We should finish that up in a month or two, so I have firm numbers for those items that have a limited quantity (like the wooden boxes).

We'll keep the community running here in the Kickstarter comments, but also come on over to the Knot Dice Facebook group and join in there! We share photos of our designs, and announce new puzzles, games, or supplementary materials that are put online (like large puzzles for 36 original dice, and a high score sheet for games and puzzles).

And if you have any questions at any time, just drop me a message here on Kickstarter. I try to respond pretty quickly.

For Me:
Most everything is lined up, it's just a question of getting things to the right people at the right time. The fulfillment company is set, the pledge manager is set, the manufacturers are set.

The dice manufacturer is already working on the metal molds for the new dice, and they've already started manufacturing the reprint of the original dice, since they had that mold. While they are working on the dice, I'll do the necessary work on the files for the print materials (box and books) so that we can be as efficient as possible with scheduling the print run alongside the dice delivery to the print manufacturer.

As things progress, I'll keep you up-to-date on the schedule, hopefully share a few photos of the manufacturing process, and generally try to keep you aware of what's going on (hopefully with just the right number of updates).

Thanks again for a fantastic campaign! I'll be in touch again soon.
-Matthew

Wooden Boxes (and Details on Blue Dice)
almost 6 years ago – Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 12:27:08 AM

Well, we got to the blue dice! I've decided to use a pledge manager so you'll be able to get the right combination of dice more easily. At the bottom of this update I'm also including a little explainer.

But first, I've gotten the details all confirmed for a wooden Knot Dice box from Dog Might.

The Dog Might Knot Dice Chest

There is a smaller version which easily holds 44 dice (up to 66 if you remove the insert) and a larger version which easily holds 88 dice (up to 98 if you remove the insert).

The Dog Might Knot Dice Chest: Hand crafted out of premium American Black Walnut, these dice chests beautifully hold all of your Knot Dice and double as a rolling tray for your games. Each is hand built in their wood shop in Ann Arbor, MI, and comes with Knot Dice engraved lid, black felt, a removable wooden insert for separating tokens and dice, and nickel pedestal feet. As with every Dog Might product, the Knot Dice Chests come with a lifetime guarantee.

Regular Size: Premium Black Walnut Hardwood. Black felt, metal nickel pedestal corners. Removable insert in Black Walnut. 9.75" x 5.75" x 2" with an interior depth of 1.5". Easily holds over 44 Knot Dice, tokens, and rule books. Add-on for $89 (+$10 outside the US)

Large Size: Premium Black Walnut Hardwood. Black felt, metal nickel pedestal corners. Removable insert in Black Walnut. 11.75" x 6.75" x 2" with an interior depth of 1.5". Easily holds over 88 Knot Dice, tokens, and rule books. Add-on for $119 (+$10 outside the US)

These prices are the best I can imagine for this kind of work. I am sorry that I need to charge extra for international, but since I will ship them customs-friendly within Canada, the EU, Australia, and China, I will be paying VAT and customs charges there, and higher shipping charges elsewhere.

Details on the Blue Dice

You'll be able to choose the color of each box, even if you have a bundled reward. And for the reward that includes the Knot Dice Deluxe Box, you can swap that out for two regular boxes and a cloth bag if you wish (for example, if you want one blue and one green).

You can add-on any boxed set that you'd like, or an entire pledge level if you want additional copies or want to give some as a gift.

It should be easy to add items in the pledge manager, so just make sure to back at a level that includes what you want, and you can add-on more when the time comes.

An Introduction to the Puzzles
almost 6 years ago – Thu, Jun 14, 2018 at 11:54:27 PM

Hello again, and thank you for all of the fantastic support for the new Knot Dice! We've surpassed the second game stretch goal, and are closing in on blue dice...

There were so many great suggestions for the name of the second game, and the winner is..."Hedgerow," proposed by Samantha! The theme fits the organic growth of the wall of dice between the players, so it feels like the name matches the game mechanics well. There were plenty of other great names, many that used the word "knot" in creative ways, which I will definitely keep in mind for the future.

Knot Dice Squared Puzzles

There are five different puzzle types in Knot Dice Squared. 

Creation puzzles present you with specific dice with a specific side face-up, and your challenge is to take them and move them around until you have created a symmetrical design out of them. Here is an example:

In the puzzle book, it doesn't show you the solution on the right, of course. And while the puzzles with only 4 or 5 or 9 dice are pretty simple, they can get pretty tricky when more dice are included. Some of the earlier creation puzzles are also great to introduce to kids.

Completion puzzles show you a set arrangement of dice and challenge you to complete the design in as few moves as possible. Each move you can either swap two dice from the outside edges of the puzzle (without changing their orientation) or move an entire row or column of dice to the other side of the puzzle.

Again, in the puzzle book you only get the left-hand image. There are two more difficult variations of these puzzles as well, one in which you can also rotate dice, and one in which you can also change which face is upright. These are completion puzzles 2 and transformation puzzles.

Lastly, we have building puzzles. These present you with a three-dimensional shape and challenge you to create completed, connected designs on the top and sides of the shape. The designs can wrap around the edges, but cannot go down into the table.

And I'm not showing you the solution to this one. You'll have to work for it as hard as I did.

Do you have other ideas for types of puzzles to play with Knot Dice?