Five by Five Board Game

Pledge Manager Closing, Preproduction Copy, Updated Rules, and Solo Mode

Hello backers!

Happy Mother's Day to those celebrating today. Five By Five wouldn't be what it is if I hadn't designed it as something that my mom would love to play. Thanks Mom! ♥

Thanks to everyone for hanging in there in between updates. Things are moving in the right direction and we're almost to the mass production phase! More on that in a bit.

Pledge Manager Closing Soon

I opened the pledge manager about a month ago and it's about to close. If you've already logged in and filled in your details, thank you! If you haven't, now is the time. 

The deadline is May 14! 

Seriously, take a minute now and go fill out the pledge manager if you haven't yet. (I'll wait!)

I will do my best to make sure that everyone gets their game, but I can't get a game to you if you don't fill out the important details and pay for shipping over at the pledge manager. If you only ordered the print and play, we still need to collect information for tax purposes, so please head over there and finalize your information. (Note: I will not use that information for any other purposes.)

If you have any questions, please either reach out via Kickstarter message or through Hive and I'll help as best I can!

Preproduction Copy Has Arrived

I am so excited to share some pictures of the preproduction copy. If you didn't get a chance to join the live stream a couple of weeks ago, here are a few pictures of the PPC. I'm so happy with how this turned out and I think you will be as well.

Here's an album with a handful of pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ANxMatyYeLpwHxRq9

Some highlights:

• The box is gorgeous and the spot UV looks and feels so good
• The game board with the slots for dice is a huge improvement compared to the original
• The dice colors are vivid and even great in low-light situations

If that would have went to production, I would have been really happy, but I decided to make / ask for a few changes.

Here's what I'm changing:

• The wells for the cards are tight and that made it difficult to get them out, so we're adding a finger notch for easier access to the cards.
• The game board was a matte finish, but I'm changing it to glossy to make it shine a bit.
• The box looked amazing, but with the spot UV present, the game board on the box looked a little dull. I've punched up the colors to make it a little more vivid.
• There were a couple of minor grammar tweaks made to the rulebook. Nothing was actually wrong, but I improved some areas to make it more consistent.

These changes and a slight delay on the Panda side while waiting for the updated digital proofs have caused timelines to shift a bit. We should still be ahead of our original schedule, but not as far ahead as we were. This is okay as we have plenty of buffer for the original scheduled delivery window of November. 

Once we get the digital proofs approved and I see the updated box insert's design, we should be able to hit the button to start mass production! I'll update you when that happens!

Updated Rules

One thing that I really liked in the PPC is the updated rulebook. I really like how it turned out. I had originally linked to the rules in the Kickstarter campaign page, but this updated version includes the new cards and the addition of solo mode (more on that in a minute)!

The rulebook is separated into two parts... the front and back pages and the middle pages.

(Note for those who purchased the print and play... I still need to update the files to include the updated cards like '3 or Higher in All Four Corners' and 'Blue Even in a Corner'. That's on my radar, but will take a little time to update.)

Solo Mode

Solo mode is a great addition to the game. Essentially, the game plays in a similar fashion to the 2-5 player version, but with a few tweaks. Here's how it works:

• To start the game, you'll roll 3 of each colored dice and place them anywhere on the board (it's up to you to figure out the best strategy).
• You'll deal out some cards to yourself, including some action and objective cards, and place the special objectives nearby face up as well.
• As you play action cards, you'll complete and score objectives.
• The special objectives, when completed and claimed, allow you to remove the dice used to complete the objective from the board. This extends your gameplay, allowing you more time to complete more objectives.
• The game ends when the last space is filled and no more objectives or actions can be played.

Those are the rules in a nutshell, but they're a little more detailed in the rulebook (see above).

Wrap Up

That's a wrap for now. If you take one thing from this update, it's that I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY need you to make sure you've completed your pledge manager before Tuesday! If you have questions, let me know!

As always, thank you for your support and patience during the production process. I'll always do my best to keep you updated.

Until next time... virtual high fives from...

Tim at Red Mitten Games