End of First Run Puzzle Strike
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 11:38AM Orders for the current version of Puzzle Strike will end around October 31st, and then I'll transition to taking pre-orders for the second printing (and for Yomi, by the way).
A few things about the current and second printing. Both versions have the same game data on the chips. The latest sets from the current run switched to a different printing method after hearing many complaints about blurry chips or wrong-colored chips. Now, large sheets of wood are covered with a white label sheet , and printing is on THAT, so that it turns out brighter and less blurry. Then whole thing is cut into circular chips so that the image is exactly edge-to-edge with nothing hanging off the edge or anything like that.
Also, every single chip back is now laser engraved! This upgrade is partly to avoid using the printing hardware that had such variation in quality, but actually the original plan was to laser engrave them anyway as a perk. The regular version has a fancy "PS" engraved while the bigger chips of the deluxe have the Puzzle Strike logo engraved.
Orders for the current version of Puzzle Strike will end up shipping in the first, second, and third week of November, depending on when the order was placed and where you happen to live.
The second printing will be on chipboard, not on wood like the current sets. It's pretty thick chipboard though, 1/8th of an inch, and still very sturdy. It will be $59.99, which is $15 cheaper than the current regular version, and also have free shipping in the US, so that's actually more than $25 cheaper for most people in total. International shipping will be more expensive than before for several countries (sorry), but the game will also finally be available to retailers through standard channels, so if you tell your local hobby shops (in any country) to carry it, they'll be able to stock it like any product. sirlin.net/contact to get info on ordering as a retailer or distributor.
The ship date has kept slipping due to the specs being being refined and iterated several times. At first the Yomi cards were going to be printed on very thick cards, but after consulting with players, I changed the spec to a thinner card with a sturdy core (similar thickness to playing cards), and with playing card coating. Playing cards are they way they are for a reason, and it makes them easy to shuffle and more durable than the standard uncoated, less bendy CCG cards.
There was also some iteration on getting just the right material for Yomi playmats, for aligning the box art just right on Puzzle Strike, getting the internal storage tray for Puzzle Strike to go exactly to the top of the box so that you can turn it upside down without making the chips go everywhere inside, for revising the rulebook of Puzzle Strike at the last moment to match www.sirlin.net/ps/rules (with a change to a FAQ entry for Lum's Poker Winnings), and like 100 other details that all needed approving. It was honestly long and grueling.
Because of all that, the ship date might end up being January. I think December is still doable, and it might be before Christmas if we're lucky, but it would be safer to just claim January and then be pleasantly surprised if it turns out to be early. Whenever it is, all orders of Puzzle Strike and Yomi will ship at the same time though, it won't be a trickling out of orders over time as the current Puzzle Strike has been. It will be so great to have lots of inventory and reasonable shipping times once this new stuff is ready.
So again, you have until around October 31st for orders of the current version of Puzzle Strike, then you can expect pre-orders for the second printing to replace that. And Yomi pre-orders at about that same time.
Reader Comments (29)
I don't play boardgames, but I found your site when looking for info about HD Remix (which I love btw) about a year ago. It's been really fun following you and your games all this time. Really cool that you are going at this alone and having such incredibly high standards for yourself. It seems to be paying off with excellent reviews of your products. I hope everything goes well!
Thanks IJ.Reilly. It will be a relief once this new stock is finally available. I haven't even had enough to SEND to reviewers yet, but the reviews there have been so far are super positive. Let's hope that high standards do well in the marketplace, or else it would encourage lower standards. ;)
Question: You describe what sounds like some really much better quality chips for the wooden (deluxe) version. I'm awaiting replacements and I was wondering if they would be the higher quality ones? If so it doesn't sound like they would match, would I get a full set?
That is a good question. The stuff you'll receive as a replacement will be made with the method I described. And yeah, you'll get an entire new set to make sure it will all match.
This is probably the post I've been looking for for a few months - a solid date for when we can pre-order Yomi. ^_^
While Puzzle Strike intrigues me greatly, it's been on the expensive side for me to pick up, being that I already have Dominion well-vested in and my friends are quite content with it as-is. I see and appreciate the differences, but I have to hold off for the time being. The refined method you have going now sounds very, very nice though. You could make me regret missing this some day ...
Anyway, cheers to progress, Sirlin. We should be so lucky to have designers like you out there.
Congrats on getting it all done. I can't imagine how much work it was.
I introduced a couple people at a local game shop to puzzle strike tonight. They had fun... And beat me easily, proving that I *really* suck at it. :)
Anyway, I'll see if I can get the owner in on a game next time, and direct him to your site if he likes it as much as the others did.
Sirlin:Great news. I'm really looking forward to the new set.
Nikkin:Feel free to wait for the parts quality to stabilize, and feel free to hold off until the price settles down, but please do not discount the game on account of being into Dominion already: while experience with Dominion will make learning this game much easier, know that from the very first turn, gameplay feels absolutely nothing like Dominion.
Dominion is a very relaxed game where you generally do your thing and nobody bothers you very much - if you know a few decent buys you can play it with your brain pretty much turned off and still put up a fight. Puzzle Strike is a game where every decision matters in a compound way, and ignoring others players will lead to sudden and explosive death. The feeling you get the first time you actually manage to get a character to flow (described roughly as staying in the game longer than ante would normally take to kill you) is incredible. The type of game may not appeal to you (although, on this blog, I doubt it), but don't make the mistake we all made until we played it; trust Sirlin on that - this game isn't Dominion with proto Street Fighter characters.
this is great! I'm happy to hear that things are moving forward and I'm even happier to hear about a potential Yomi pre-order date. Can't wait!
@Archon Shiva:
I never did *discount* the game because it's 'like Dominion.' As I mentioned, I do understand the differences between the two. I would love to get Puzzle Strike, but simply enough, I don't have the money to pick it up right now, and as I said, the people I play with enjoy the game we have already. After all, there's nothing wrong with it being relaxed, right? ;)
So I actually ordered Puzzle Strike (the deluxe) over a month ago and was starting to wonder when it would get here. From reading this article, my understanding is that it will ship out and I should get it before the end of November? I'm assuming my order counts as part of the current run and not the second run?
Thanks
Adam, if you want me to check on your particular order I can, but here's the situation. Right now, replacement stuff is being made and sent to anyone who had problems, then the rest of the new orders (like yours) will be filled. They are scheduled for November, yes. It's way late, and I know that. I bet you can see why I spent so many months setting up a mass-production run that will yield plenty of inventory for everyone.
Yours set will be made with the method described in my post above (white label sheets on sheets of wood, then cut to make edge-to-edge graphics). Your order would not be part of the thing I"m calling the actual "second printing" or "second edition" though. That is the cheaper non-wood version that you can't even pre-order quite yet.
If you ever want to check on something, or change anything about your order, just let me know.
Thanks for the quick reply, dude. I didn't realize there was a delay in printing and so didn't know not to expect it until November. Now I do, so cool. I'm not a dissatisfied customer, so I hope my question didn't come across as me sounding upset or bitching or anything. I just wanted to make sure I understood the post correctly and knew what the deal was. I'm pretty excited about getting the game. I'm already enjoying Flash Duel.
So thanks for the update, I appreciate the info.
I'm thinking seriously about ordering all three Sirlin Games games at the same time. Is there any danger of running out of Flash Duel before Yomi preorders begin?
I don't think Flash Duel will run out by then. There's still a fair amount of stock left. There is actually not much point in trying to combine the order though. Assuming you are in the US, Amazon would handle getting Yomi and Puzzle Strike 2nd printing to you, even when you order from my site (and please do order from my site, cuts out more middle men). But Flash Duel is still handled by a different company, shipped separately. So I mean yeah you could wait, but it doesn't actually help to combine orders.
One thing that does save on shipping though is combining orders of flash duel, flash duel deluxe, and the *current* version of puzzle strike. Those are handled by the same place so it actually does reduce shipping to order that stuff together.
I'll get it all handled under one roof eventually.
Any updates about the cargo of games that should come to Europe?
Did I miss something?
Because European shipping fees would be awesome for, well, Europeans like me XD
Sirlin, is there anyway you could create a mailing list for people interested in errata to your games? I read your site regularly, but I easily could have missed what was described as "a change to a FAQ entry for Lum's Poker Winnings." It's more than a change to the entry, it's a change to how the game works, and I'm glad I discovered it (just got wrecked by Lum in my last game and this change is certainly a blessing -- just please advertise such things!)
Yeah ok, though you probably have all the latest data on the chips (you can see them at sirlingames.com), and the only functional changes in the rulebook were the Lum thing (yes, it's a major balance change) and that you check the lose-the-game condition just before the buy phase. So now you're up to date. ;)
Hanamigi: Flash duel regular and deluxe are in stock right now in Europe. You can order them right now from sirlingames.com with reasonable shipping. It seems I shipped too many there because no one even buys them in Europe. You should be able to order the current version of puzzle strike with kind of reasonable shipping too. Once the next printing of puzzle strike is out, and yomi, there will be different shipping rules for Europe. It will probably be a flat fee of like $30. Not sure if that's the real number yet. Yes it's high but your local retailers (or distributors) will be able to buy in bulk at standard industry discounts. Tell them to. ;)
Ok I'll tell them :D
Will local retailers be able to get yomi the complete first edition or that's a sirlin games online store exclusive?
Plus, did I dream the announcement of an eu-based stock of ps and yomi or was it written somewhere? Just want to know if I'm getting crazy @_@
Any retailers or distributors anywhere in the world can order Yomi or the second printing of Puzzle Strike. I'll post the contact info for that in a decent place at some point, but for now contact me at sirlin.net/contact and I can put retailers/distributors in touch with the right place to handle their orders. So wherever you live, you could tell them that you wish they would stock my stuff, and then maybe they will! ;)
Did you get to your quota for Christmas postings on amazon.com? You posted a blog entry on it, so wondered how it panned out. I couldn't help with the amazon.com situation. I ordered and received Flash Duel about a month ago through sirlin store - very happy with delivery to Canada and my purchase...
Honestly, that whole amazon.com/.ca situation is a debacle - they shouldn't even share a company name, the way they act do business.