June 2, 2012: Learning New Tricks In China

I made it back home late on May 13 and have been so busy with Ogre that I just haven't had time to tell you guys about my time in Hong Kong and China. After the day in Macau (mentioned here), we jumped right into a series of meetings to review Ogre and Munchkin Apocalypse. The meetings were useful, but it was on the two days we spent in China visiting factories that I really learned new things about how our games are manufactured -- including a few tricks that will let us try new things in the very near future. I got to watch dice manufacturing, and card and box printing, and even had a chance to look at wood component manufacturing and the cutting and assembly of metal tins.

The many hours discussing Ogre directly with the factory reps saved us weeks of back-and-forth email and phone calls. I am already planning to head back next year when we're ready to jump into Car Wars. But before we even think about that, we have to get Ogre out of here and then survive the monumental process of receiving and shipping thousands of copies of the game to the Ogre backers. I still can't believe how the project turned out; have I said "Thank you!" lately?

-- Phil Reed