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19 Apr
Posted by Thomas Deeny as Modern Board Games, Other
Game Salute launched a thematic dice Kickstarter campaign inspired by their Alien Frontiers game in March of 2013, eventually cancelling the entire project on April 18, 2016. The rocket-shaped dice campaign was funded in 3.5 hours. The campaign originally was designed to produce six-sided dice with pips in the player colors for Alien Frontiers, eventually expanded into 12 colors of dice covering the typical range of RPG polyhedrals, Fudge (Fate) compatible dice, and numbered six-sided dice.
Citing production difficulties with China-based Panda Game Manufacturing, the original manufacturer, and the cost of recreating molds with a new supplier, the company has cancelled the entire campaign promising a full refund for any products not yet delivered in the campaign. “After the multiple rounds of samples and revisions we had already attempted,” Game Salute writes, “we determined that we could not achieve the quality we would consider acceptable for mass production and delivery with a new supplier.” In June of 2015, the manufacturer cites “the intricate numbering that needs to be done on the RPG dice“, specifically the twenty-sided die as causing production difficulties.
Of the Rocket Dice that shipped, apparently the six-sided dice were shipped out but with significant changes. Dice are normally finished via tumbler polishing, but after 23 iterations, that method wouldn’t give good results. ABS plastic (the plastic that is used to create LEGO pieces) solved production issues, but required hot stamping. “Larger pips did not work with the hot stamping, so the smaller [pip size] was the final fix to all previous problems,” Game Salute wrote in March of 2015. However with the change in pip size, some backers were upset with the resulting dice. Game Salute offered a refund at that point to dissatisfied customers.
Backers of the now-cancelled campaign should request a refund at the “Contact Me” link on Game Salute’s bio page on Kickstarter.
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When discussing miniature-based KS, I’ll often say, “Renders are not miniatures”. Sadly, this looks to apply to dice as well.