72 Hours to Go! Last Two Events to Play and Stretch Goals!!!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Nov 18, 2020 at 01:06:16 PM

72 More Hours to Unlock Stretch Goals

We are now in  the last 72 hours of this 25-day campaign, and I'm very grateful to already be funded. That said, there are only 72 hours to unlock some more stretch goals! The campaign will end at  8:00 AM (Mountain time), and depending on where we land with the social and funding stretch goals, the intent is that the design will be set at that point. That includes the total number and type of cards. I may take some liberties with final counts and upgrades, but the whole point is, the higher the total funding mark, the more I can afford!

Play Test with Me at Sparge

This Thursday evening, I'll be at Sparge Brewery in Wellington, CO again, from 4 - 8 PM. This will be like past play test events where for every person that plays Top Tale, I'll buy them a drink! If you're concerned about bringing kids to a brewery, Sparge is a family-friendly environment, and they brew their own root beer!

The COVID restrictions are getting tighter, but we're still allowed to hold the event and have a great time! Also, the Maty Food Truck will be on site serving some awesome Mexican food!

BGG@Home Virtual Event

As a last hurrah, I'm hosting three games of Top Tale for BGG@Home. Each session will last up to 50 minutes, and they start at 5, 7, and 9 PM Central time. If you have friends that you'd like to play with, invite them as well! A badge for the online event is only $10 to get access to the five-day virtual conference, happening now! We will be playing using Tabletopia, and will have voice chat over Discord. 

Stretch Goals Update

We're still making good progress on those social stretch goals, but we'll need to make a final push to get some of them unlocked! Here's where we're at now:

I think we have a shot at hitting 50 tweets and perhaps even hitting the targets for followers!

Here's the links to make it easy for you to start tacking the remaining social stretch goals:

Also, there's still the funding stretch goals that we are working towards! :)

Thank  You!!!

Peter

Happy Birthday and Stretch Goals!
over 3 years ago – Fri, Nov 13, 2020 at 10:58:07 AM

Happy Birthday Ma!

My mom's birthday is today, and it provides an excellent opportunity for me to credit her for helping create Top Tale. My mother, Beth (shown above), is a retired school teacher and a writer.  When I first started talking to her about the game, she offered to help come up with topics as it's very time consuming and I have a day job. Boy did she come through, as she's provided over 400 topics to be used in Top Tale! I've added in some of my own topics, but by far the bulk of the topics in Volume 1 are from her. Her efforts also made it feasible to get another volume in the queue for next year's release.

My mother has done a lot to help get Top Tale get off the ground, and she has accomplished a lot in her life. She lived most of her life being legally blind, and then lost her vision completely several years ago. That didn't stop her from being able to write all those topics, and her writing by no means stops there. She's published several educational and kids books on Amazon that I encourage folks to check out: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=books+by+beth+seiler&ref=nb_sb_noss

One book she is especially proud of is called, "Give Me A Chance". This book is a collection of eight short stories about kids with various disabilities. The disabled characters explain how they want to be treated and included, just like everyone else. Their dreams, hopes, and desires are the same as those non-disabled. They teach others how to treat them normally, how they want to be included as much as they possibly can be, and how to not pity them. For only $4.99 for the paperback version of the book on Amazon Prime, I highly recommend you consider giving the book a chance:

Stretch Goals

We've got just over a week left in the campaign, and we're making decent progress towards our first funding stretch goal to hit $7,000. We're currently at  $6,237 with 131 backers. It would be awesome to get that first stretch goal by the end of the weekend, so anything you can do to help us get there would be greatly appreciated! I'll be doing what I can to promote and have some ads running to try to get some more folks considering backing the campaign.

As far as Social Stretch Goals,  you've all unlocked three more cards with Twitter shares jumping up! Thank you all so much for helping to spread the word! Since we only have a little over a week left, I've decided to lower the bar a bit for some of the goals to help get some more cards unlocked! As a reminder, the links to each social stretch goal are on the campaign page.

Thank you all for your continued engagement and support!

Cheers,

Peter

WE DID IT!!!!! THANK YOU ALL!!!!
over 3 years ago – Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 06:03:18 PM

TOP TALE HAS FUNDED!!!

With a very generous pledge out of left field, just like that, we hit the $6,000 funding goal!!! This came just over halfway through the campaign, and with over eleven days left in the campaign, there is still plenty of time to start hitting some stretch goals! 

As many of you know, this is the second attempt at crowdfunding Top Tale through Kickstarter, and I learned a ton from the first go. For the second run, I improved all that I could with the time and resources I had at my disposal. It's taken a lot of time (three years!), money (lots...), and effort (I'm not dead yet) to pull this off, and I am humbled to have such interest in making Top Tale a reality! THANK YOU!!! 

I think it's fitting that hitting the funding goal came a day before the 244th Marine Corps birthday (November 10th), where every Marine celebrates the heritage of the Marine Corps, and all  of those that have served in the Marine Corps, past and present. Semper Fidelis! 

I especially owe a huge thank you to my beautiful and supportive wife, Kirren! (Thank you Love!)

What's next?

There are a lot of first-time Kickstarter backers, so I wanted to give you a brief overview of what to expect. For Kickstarter veterans, feel free to skip ahead. Now that the campaign has funded, it's time for me to fulfill my promise of delivering the rewards you all selected as part of the campaign. 

Your credit cards will only be charged once the campaign has ended, and for the amount that you've pledged at the end of the campaign. You should expect your card to be charged within a week of November 21st (usually cards are charged immediately after the campaign ends). Two weeks after that, Kickstarter will deposit the funds into my business account, and I can pay for the full manufacturing run. I plan to put down a deposit to go ahead and speed things up a few weeks. 

In December, I'll be sending surveys to collect shipping information, allow for purchasing additional copies, designating donation recipients, and collecting additional shipping charges for non-US recipients. Manufacturing of the game will start by January if all goes well, and then games will be sent to fulfillment partners around March 2021. I'm hoping to get games delivered by April, but have stated May 2021 to give some buffer. 

After the campaign fulfills, I will be gearing up for another Kickstarter to launch both "Top Tale: The O.G. Volume 2" and "Top Tale: Tall Tale", likely Fall 2021. So backers that elected to get the Lifetime Subscription to Top Tale should expect early copies of those new volumes. 

Stretch Goals

Now that the campaign has funded, it's time to try and hit some stretch goals! Here's the first three stretch goals to get you going. More stretch goals will be added as we unlock each one, and each one is meant to improve the game for everyone, either with more content or material upgrades. Essentially, the more funding I get, the more units I can order, and the lower the cost can go to pay for upgrades!

To help unlock stretch goals, I'll be doing my part to reach a larger audience, but I could really use your help in spreading  the word about the campaign!

Social Stretch Goals

Speaking of helping to spread the word and unlocking more content, you all have been doing an excellent job!!! Here's the latest progress on Social Stretch Goals (goals found on the campaign page).

A total of six new cards are now unlocked, with more getting very close to unlocking! Keep it up!!!

Kickstarter Shout Out

I have developed an incredible relationship with many in the Kickstarter creator community, and without the advice and support of so many others, I wouldn't be in a position of having a funded campaign. To pay it forward a bit,  I wanted to mention another board game Kickstarter campaign that could use some support. The game is called Stories, by James Neville. The game has a similar premise to Top Tale, of sharing stories and building relationships. You can get your own copies of Story for only $10. If James doesn't hit is funding goal, then I'm confident he'll come back stronger, but your consideration can help get him there!

Stay tuned for updates as we unlock stretch goals and share new developments!

THANK YOU!!!!

Peter

8 Days in and Over 90% Funded and 100 Backers!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Nov 04, 2020 at 08:18:26 PM

We're not done yet, but I just wanted to say THANK YOU! 

With being 8 days into the campaign, with 100 backers we've reached just over $5,400 in funding, and are already 90% funded! Thank you all for helping me get this far, and if the trend continues, I hope to get funded by the end of the weekend! Thank you for making that possible!

I hope life is good for you! No matter what your political affiliation, creed, or any other individual trait, I hope everyone is able to find some peace in their lives, despite all that's happening in the world. I look at it all, and choose to focus on the good people in my life, the beautiful part of this world that I live in, and the opportunities I have every day. Some you should actively seek out, and others just fall into your lap...

A Pleasant Surprise...

Out of the blue, one of the backers of Top Tale mentioned that the Kickstarter campaign would be mentioned in a newsletter. I honestly was surprised, as I've had to seek out most press opportunities being a fledgling independent creator. I am honored to have Top Tale selected as the Kickstarter Project of the Month, by Board Gaming with Education!

Some may think it's a just small newsletter and a niche corner of the board game community, but to me  it's a corner that I consider being a target market for Top Tale. I've had several educators and people that work with children play Top Tale, and they often mention how great of a tool it would be to get students/children to open up, or break the ice. Having this unsolicited honor is proof that I've targeted the right market! 

On that note, if you know of any educators, childcare givers, social workers, therapists, or anyone else that might work with children, I would be grateful for you to mention this game to them, and perhaps send them a link to the campaign.

Social Stretch Goal Progress

You all have been busy on Facebook! We are so close to unlocking some more cards! Here's the latest tally of the Social Stretch Goals (links on the main campaign page):

Sparge Play Test Events

This coming Sunday (11/8), I'll be at Sparge Brewing Company in Wellington, CO from 2-6 PM. I'll have several copies of Top Tale for folks to try, and for playing the game, your first pint is on me! If you're in the area, I welcome you to stop by. There will be one more event at Sparge on November 21st from 4-8 PM. At both events, I hope to get some play test mileage on some "Top Tale: Tall Tale" cards for the upcoming expansion. Also, Sparge will have a food truck (My Big Fat Greek Gyro) on site!

Here's to hoping the next update will be to announce the project as funded!!!

THANK YOU!!!

Peter

Funding Stretch Goal, Social Stretch Goals, and Local Paper Article
over 3 years ago – Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 08:06:01 AM

Missed the Funding Stretch Goal

I set a fairly ambitious funding stretch goal of reaching $6,000 in the first 72 hours. We didn't make it, but  still made significant progress, with now being at 64% funding in just 72 hours! This coming from 80 of you generous backers! With 22 days left in the campaign, I'm certain we'll hit the funding goal, and I hope to unlock the 10-card promo pack of Top Tale: Tall Tale as a stretch goal later in the campaign.

Social Stretch Goals

You guys certainly showed up with making significant progress on the Social Stretch Goals! So much so that you've already unlocked three more cards with Facebook shares! So now the base game will come with 128 cards. Keep it up, and we can unlock as many as 27 total new cards with social stretch goals! More cards can also be added by unlocking funding stretch goals later in the campaign. Here's the progress so far (I also made some target adjustments that I'm rolling out, with lowering the Facebook and Twitter Follower targets): 

Article in Local Paper, Thee North Forty News

I'm also pleased to announce that Top Tale has been featured in a local (Northern Colorado) news paper, North Forty News. The article should reach tens of thousands of subscribers, and it will be available in print at over 400 news stands across Northern Colorado in the next week or two! 

Just click on the below image to read the article (forgive the wrong Cal Poly being referenced):

Keep up the great work on those Social Stretch goals, and hopefully next time you see an update,  it'll be to announce that we've funded!!!

Thanks!!!

Peter