Postal rate hikes and Going Cardboard shipping rates

Hey all,

Just wanted to let you know that this week, postal rates went up by quite a lot for international shipping.  I sent copies of the film to Australia and Spain yesterday, and it cost $12.75 each.  I have raised the International shipping rate on the film at www.boardgamemovie.com to $9 from $7 to help compensate.  That still actually leaves me eating some shipping costs, not only from the post office, but packaging costs too.  However, I am cool with splitting the increase with you guys.  I just don't feel right going past the $10 mark for a product that costs $20.

I'm still working on digital options, but if you are on the fence, I would still recommend going with the physical version.  It's got 90 minutes of bonus clips and the Reiner Knizia game that the digital version will not offer.  I know this is the digital age, but in this case, there are a couple distinct advantages to going old school. :)

Happy board gaming everyone!  Looks like I'll be checking out Netrunner in the coming days.  I've told my husband I will play the role of the Corporation.  Looking forward to it.

- Lorien

Going Cardboard gets its first laurels

A few weeks ago, I reported that Going Cardboard had been accepted into the 2012 Gen Con Indy Film Festival. While that was exciting news to read, there's something about seeing the actual laurels that takes it up a knotch. :)

If you're attending Gen Con Indianapolis this August 16 - 19, look for Going Cardboard on the schedule!

More screenings

First, just wanted to make sure people were aware, I've added ConnectiCon to the screenings list, AAAAAAAND the film was just accepted into the GenCon Indy Film Festival, and will be showing at GenCon in Indianapolis, IN, August 16th - 19th. I'm certainly not done adding screening dates, so if you know of a con that could stand a screening, holler back! ;) Especially overseas cons, I don't have enough of those on the map.


View Going Cardboard Screenings in a larger map

And then there's this:

Catan short films

So suddenly we have not one, but two shorts covering the godfather of designer gateway games, The Settlers of Catan. This is great! 'The Politics of Competitive Board Gaming Amongst Friends,' a short documentary video about The Settlers of Catan. I read about it on slashfilm.com.



Very interesting to compare/contrast with the new Wil Wheaton web series about board games, especially given that the latest episode of that is about the very same Settlers of Catan.



My initial reaction to the Wheaton version was that the dialog felt forced. Others have commented about several rules mistakes in the play session. It's natural to be hyper-critical of something like this, so I'm trying to take it and appreciate the fact that someone with some serious celebrity status is bringing attention to tabletop gaming. That said, I think I like the Cheel effort better in this case. It might not do as smooth a job of recruiting new players, but it just felt more authentic to me.

Rumor has it, the CEO of my own company is a ruthless Catan player. I always wondered if it might be a career-limiting move for me to challenge him to a game...

PAX East

Just wanted to share a couple quick videos from PAX East.  It was a BLAST, though I was only there on Friday.  What a Friday it was, though.  For starters, at a convention with tens of thousands of people milling around, I bumped into Scott Nicholson almost immediately. :)  Board gaming ensued:



10 PM arrived before I knew it, and it was time to screen Going Cardboard!  It was so cool to actually be holding a panel event at this convention. There was a good-sized audience in attendance, and I couldn't help but capture a little of their reaction on my phone.

 

After the screening and a robust Q&A session, I was able to get in a couple games of Jungle Speed and Spot It! with the Geek Nights guys and their splinter cell of board gamers. Both of those were must-have titles!

Boston Globe looks at designer gaming

It's been a crazy few weeks, but I wanted to give you all a heads-up on an article coming out in this Sunday's Boston Globe. It's about designer gaming, and it's a much lengthier treatment than is typically seen by the mainstream press. The author, Leon, really did his homework and spoke with many designers and publishers, both established and indie, as well as watching my documentary.

I was really impressed with the amount of research time he put into this. I would encourage everyone to share this article. Let's send a message that the topic has value and the attention was well-warranted.

Going Cardboard has launched

It's been one hell of a week, but the long-awaited day has arrived.  Going Cardboard is completed, in stock, and available for sale!  You can purchase the film either directly at www.goingcardboard.com, or, if you are putting together a combo gift, you could order a board game along with it via GameSalute.com, our partner distributor.

As Kickstarter backers started to receive their copies this week, I held my breath. Would they like it? What would the feedback be like? The designer board gaming crowd can be quite critical about their hobby, and I was really hoping the film would live up to expectations, and be worth the wait.

It appears that so far, they like it. They really like it!

Here are a couple initial reviews:

A Kickstarter Christmas: Going Cardboard — a documentary about board games

and a video review!



New screenings continue to pop up, and I've just added 3 new dates to the screenings schedule - two in Nashville (one's coming right up, March 9), and one in St. Louis! More to come. :)