A bear in every house!
10 months ago – Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 09:30:47 PM

Hey Runners,

Wow June, WHAT. A. MONTH! 😀

Last month I mentioned that we had started fulfilling overseas, and by now almost all of you should have your copy of Outrun the Bear. It's been awesome to see the enthusiasm that you've all shown for the game. Thank you so much, this couldn't have happened without you! 

Quality assurance

It's my goal to deliver the best possible game I can, so please reach out to me if your game arrived with any damage  by emailing me at [email protected] (please put "Quality Assurance" in the subject line). If something has happened and you haven't received your game, please use the subject line "Missing Game." I'll be doing all I can to resolve any issues.

Do your friends want to get their paws on Outrun the Bear?

With the game delivered, it's time for me to shift focus to making the game available for purchase by other means– but that won't happen until I receive all of the copies from the fulfillment center. In the meantime if your friends would like to get the game, please send them over to Outrunthebeargame.com where they can sign up for our newsletter and be the first to know when they can buy a copy.

Speaking of encouraging ones to buy the game, I want to plug our BGG page once again. It would really help us out if after you've played the game, you'd hop over and give your honest review and rating. 

Thank you again for all the support you've given us,

Sam Barmettler

Around the Stump Games LLC

The beginning of fulfillment
11 months ago – Sun, May 28, 2023 at 08:04:14 PM

Hi Runners,

I hope you've all had a great May! When I wrote last month's newsletter, I had no idea how exciting a month May would be.

Fulfillment Started

In our last update I mentioned that every copy of Outrun the Bear had been loaded up for freight and sent on its way to the various fulfillment centers. I'm happy to say that early this month, three of the four fulfillment centers received their copies and have begun shipping!

If you're one of the 70 backers not in the US or Canada, be on the lookout for a bear on your porch. And once it shows up, make sure to check out our Board Game Geek Page where you can participate in forum inquiries, provide feedback, and rate Outrun the Bear.

So what about those of us who are in the US and Canada? I've got good news for you too! The boat carrying your copies of Outrun the Bear is scheduled to arrive in port on June 2nd. That means your games should arrive between June 30th and July 14th. If anything comes up that delays that, I'll let you know right away. But with how great Gamesquest has been to work with on the fulfillment process, I'm not too worried about any delays from this point forward.

Speaking of how great Gamesquest is...

Award Nomination

So one of the awesome parts about working with Gamesquest is their association with the UKGE. Because of that association, I was able to submit Outrun the Bear for the 2023 UKGE awards- and it was nominated for UKGE's 2023 best family game! Even though we didn't win the judges' pick (that honor went to Next Station London, which is also up for the Spiel Des Jaris) it was a huge honor to be nominated. I hope that you too can take some pride in having made this game become a reality.

One other bit of news...

Podcast Episode

At Gencon 2022 I met PJ, one of the voices behind the MEEPLE2MEEPLE podcast; he's a great guy and a helpful play-tester. Back in March, he and his co-host Gareth did an episode on racing games in which they talked about Outrun the Bear. You can check it out here. 

That's all the news I've got for May. I can't wait for us to finish the fulfillment process and for you to have your game. I hope you love it as much as I do!

Race you sooner than expected,

Samuel Barmettler

Sea Bears!
12 months ago – Sun, Apr 30, 2023 at 06:32:32 AM

Hi Runners,

Just a brief update after a busy month. In March, we were excited to inform you that you should be receiving your copies of Outrun the Bear a month earlier than we originally estimated. And now this month of April, I'm happy to say that your copy of Outrun the Bear has hit the high seas (i.e., it's on the boat headed to the USA). 

Right now the US and Canada copies are scheduled to be the last ones to arrive in port which should be around the first week of June.

In order to prep for their arrival, the backerkit will be charging for the shipping and taxes on May 1st. This will give transactions enough time to clear so that our fulfillment partner will be paid up and ready to send you your game with minimal delay.

There won't be much in the way of delivery news to share between now and the June update. But that doesn't mean May will be void of anything for us to share with you, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, here's to hoping bears sail as fast as they run.

Race you soon,

Sam

Our new delivery date
about 1 year ago – Sun, Mar 26, 2023 at 09:43:40 PM

Hi Runners,

Wow is it really the end of March already? This is my first opportunity to write you, as we had an internet outage last week. Sorry about that!

SO WHERE’S THE BEAR?

Last month I shared that there were a few small changes that needed to be made after we received the preproduction copies of Outrun the Bear, and then we’d be greenlighting the full production process to start. GREAT NEWS! The changes were addressed and production was approved to start on March 7th.

Now that production is underway, when can we expect the games to be finished? Based on Gameland’s most recent estimate, the games should be printed, sorted, packed, and palletized between April 10th and 15th. While this is later than the original target of late March, I hope that not having a bear that falls over anytime a player sets a drink on the table is worth an extra 2-3 week wait. 😅

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER APRIL 15?

Our next major step is going to be getting the games to our fulfillment partner Gamesquest, this will take roughly 2 months to complete - possibly three if there are any customs slowdowns. From there we expect about a month of sorting and 2-5 weeks for shipping.

What does this mean for you as a backer? The new fulfillment date for Outrun the Bear is sooner– it was October 2023 , but now it’s set for September 2023. 😁

ONE MORE DATE TO REMEMBER

You might have noticed the pledge manager closed last week. This was because we reached the point of no return on making any changes to the order quantity. But you might have noticed that the shipping/VAT funds have not been collected yet, that’s because it’s your money and I want to hold it for as little time as possible. So your cards won’t be charged until Monday May 1st. This will give me enough time to prepay the shipping and get you your game ASAP.

Well that's all the news for this month. I’ll be in touch on April 23rd with another update that will hopefully mention a bunch of bears setting off on the high seas.

Race you soon,

Sam Barmettler

Game Designer, Outrun the Bear

Moving into Production
about 1 year ago – Sun, Feb 19, 2023 at 07:11:41 PM

Hi Runners,

We’ve got some exciting news for you this month! Outrun the Bear’s preproduction phase is starting to wrap up and we’ll soon be green lighting the production process. There could still be some delays, so we’re not changing the timeline just yet, but we are ready to add the closing of the pledge manager to it.

PREPRODUCTION

Last month I shared that Gameland would be sending me the pictures of the physical proofs as well as sending them my way. I’m happy to report that both of these goals were completed ahead of schedule. We now have the physical proofs, and they’ve been thoroughly reviewed. There are very few changes that we need to address before production starts.

Here is a peek at what you’ll have coming your way.

Now you might have noticed the deluxe version’s acrylic standees were missing from those images, but don’t worry. I chose to exclude them because I’m currently working with Gameland to improve upon the samples they sent me, and as soon as that is done we’ll be ready to tell them to push that print button.

PLEDGE MANAGER CLOSING

Now that we’re so close to the print stage, it’s time to turn off the pledge manager. Closing the pledge manager ensures that no one accidentally orders a game we can’t send them.

That said, we still have 9% of our backers who have not yet filled out the pledge manager. This is a crucial step for us to get you your copy of the game, so please fill it out as soon as possible if you haven’t already.

How do you know if you haven’t filled it out? Thankfully Backerkit has the ability to send you an email notification, so please check your inbox, spam, and promotions tabs to see if you have an email from them. You’ll have until March 20th to fill it out. After that I will have to try to personally collect your information, and you could see a delay in getting your copy of Outrun the Bear delivered.

Well that's all the news for this month. I’ll be in touch on March 19th with another update on production and hopefully an updated delivery schedule!

Race you soon,

Sam Barmettler

Game Designer, Outrun the Bear