Last week, I got a call from a big (1.5 million addresses) annual catalog for educational toys and games. They had convinced me to buy space in the catalog this year after declining last year, and we agreed to a small display of The Climbers. They were calling because I’d missed the first payment, and I told them that investors had been hesitant to commit and so it was possible production of the second run of the game (it’s out of stock now) would be delayed. I asked if I could withdraw our participation, because we might not have games to ship, and I was told that they were too far along in production for that, and that in fact, they were considering putting The Climbers on the cover of the catalog this year, because it was so unique.
I tried to pick my jaw up off the floor, while they explained that they would have to rethink their cover if the game wouldn’t be available by the date they ship catalogs, September 15.
I went into high gear contacting every bank, broker, and investor who had ever registered interest in Strategic Space, and on the basis of this news about the catalog cover, I was able to get immediate funding of the new production run for The Climbers, confirm that the factory could get them to us by September 1, and receive invitations from two banks to apply for $50,000 lines of credit that could make it possible for us to finally release Samsara and Star Hopper, and maybe even the expansion of 4th Corner, Hedge.
In the meantime, though I don’t know when we’ll have funds to produce it, I’ve been doing a lot more playtesting of Master Spy. Ostensibly, I was just testing out the terrain maps that slide under the pegboards, but I ended up getting a better sense of the mechanics and the need to add a third option to each spy’s movement announcements: MOVING INTO, MOVING OUT OF, and STAYING AT. One of the most analytical minds I’ve ever met happens to be a member of the New York City Board Game Designers Play Test Group, and he pointed out that without the option to stay in place, it was possible that a spy could be prevented from capturing a certain percentage of the enemy spies. Thanks, Michael.
Mark Salzwedel