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Meeples Together: How and Why Cooperative Board Games Work

Created by Jeff Tidball

A new book from the publisher of The White Box for people who play, discuss, critique, design, and love cooperative board games.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

We’re Set to Survey
over 5 years ago – Tue, Dec 11, 2018 at 01:43:43 AM

BackerKit Surveys

Our BackerKit set-up is done and approved. A small number of backers will receive surveys today, in a first wave that tests to make sure there are no issues with our configuration. Once it’s clear that nothing’s wrong, the balance of surveys will go out. If you haven’t received a survey by the end of the week, feel free to send a Kickstarter message or email jeff at gameplaywright dot net.

As soon as you complete your survey and pay any balance for shipping or add-ons, we’ll lock down your order and you’ll have access to any digital downloads in your order. (Except, of course, for the not-yet-finished digital edition of Meeples Together.) We’ll make a lockdown pass at least daily, and probably more often in the first few days of surveying.

There’s no rush to complete your survey, but there is a deadline: Please complete your survey by February 1 to receive your rewards on time and at the anticipated shipping cost. We’ll send physical books to our foreign distribution centers in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom around that time. If you don’t give us your address by then, your shipment may be delayed and we may have to increase your shipping cost to account for the fact that rewards from surveys completed after that date may have to ship from the United States.

Shipping Costs

Our campaign was successful enough (thank you!) that we were able to work with shipping partners in all of the regions we hoped. Shipping costs stayed inside our projected windows except in the UK, where they are substantially lower than our estimates for Europe generally. US shipping prices are in the projected ranges in spite of a rate increase that goes into effect on January 27th.

Pathfinder ACG Case Study

There’s a new case study on the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game at MeeplesTogether.com. Check it out!

Production Update

Our editorial progress on Meeples Together is on track. There’s been a modest four-day slip on the print edition redlines, which is unlikely to have any effect past using up a small amount of the padding built in to our schedule.

Thanks again, Meeples Together backers! We remain grateful for your support.

We Did It!
over 5 years ago – Wed, Nov 21, 2018 at 09:43:56 PM

From everyone on the Meeples Together team, thank you. There’s something fitting and wonderful about crowdfunding a book about cooperation.

Next Steps

Meeples Together is already through primary layout for the print edition. Once proofreading and indexing are done, we’ll send that edition to press and start preparing the digital editions. Adapting a print layout to interactive PDF, Epub, and Kindle formats is not trivial do do well, but we think it’s worth it.

Now that we know how many backers we have, we can sort out which global shipping hubs make sense and finalize shipping costs.

We’re aiming to have BackerKit live on December 4 — about the same time we receive funds from Kickstarter — so you can give us your shipping addresses and choose add-ons. That’s when we’ll issue $2 credits to “Digital Designer” backers.

Long story short: everything’s on track for delivery of digital and physical editions on the timeline we promised.

Contacting Us

If you ever have a question about your Meeples Together pledge, don’t hesitate to email jeff at gameplaywright dot net. We’re always happy to help as best we can.

Thanks Again For Backing!

We’re in the Home Stretch
over 5 years ago – Sun, Nov 18, 2018 at 02:42:59 AM

We’re Three Days Out!

As of this writing, that's just one backer shy of 700. Thanks for joining us, co-op fans!

Interview Companion Updates

The last three days of a campaign often see as much activity as the first three, so we’re still solidly in the running to make our $24,000 stretch goal. It’ll be close, though, so if you’re excited to see our companion volume of co-op interviews come to life, please help us by spreading the word:

https://tinyurl.com/friend-of-meeples

We can now tell you that an interview with Matt Leacock is one of the two we couldn’t yet confirm in update #4.

Sub Terra on the Meeples Together Blog

The latest case study to be released at MeeplesTogether.com is for Sub Terra. Check it out!

Digital Designer Credits

Last week yours truly realized that the “Digital Designer” tier is a bad deal. I’ll explain: The ebook for The White Box Essays normally retails for $8, and the MSRP for the digital editions of Meeples Together is $10. So, at $20, that tier is two dollars above the sensible price for it.

Since there’s no reasonable way to change a tier's details mid-campaign, we’ll fix this by giving every “Digital Designer” a $2 credit in BackerKit, after the campaign ends. You can use it toward add-ons, shipping, or request that they be refunded.

My apologies.

Thanks for backing, co-op fans!

We’re Working Toward Online Case Studies and a Companion Book
over 5 years ago – Thu, Nov 15, 2018 at 04:45:22 PM

Soft-touch Cover Unlocked

Yesterday we reached the $13,000 stretch goal that unlocked a delicious soft-touch cover for Meeples Together. Thank you for spreading the word about this book!

The White Box Essays Audiobook

Today we’re setting at $15,000 the stretch goal to add the audiobook edition of The White Box Essays to the “Digital Designer,” “Print Designer,” and “Everything in Print” backer levels.

Case Study Reveals

Shannon and Christopher have plans to post dozens of co-op case studies to their MeeplesTogether blog over the months to come. Did you read the Dungeons & Dragons "lost" study they posted last week?

We’re going to reveal the games they have planned for their blog case studies, ten at a time, as we unlock a series of social stretch goals. (Otherwise? You'll have to wait until they post them.)

Track these as you help us unlock them on the Meeples Together campaign page.

A Companion Book Stretch Goal

Today we’re adding a new stretch goal. Make it or not, it’s the last one we’ll offer in the Meeples Together campaign.

If we reach $24,000 before the campaign ends, we’ll add a short companion book featuring interviews with noted cooperative game designers. Names we can announce now include Richard Launius, Reiner Knizia, Corey Konieczka, Bruno Cathala & Serge Laget, and Eric B. Vogel. We’re in the process of trying to secure interviews and permission from two additional designers, whose names we’ll announced if we’re successful.

This volume will be digital-only (PDF format), included for backers at all published reward tiers, and is expected to be available for download in the second quarter of 2019.

Now, it’s true: $24,000 is a lot of money, and the distance from our just-set $15,000 stretch goal to this final stretch goal is substantial.

What’s the thinking? We want to make this a stretch goal in the true sense of the term. If the support is there, we’d love to include this. If we don’t make it, we’re ok with that. We think Meeples Together is a great offering for people who love cooperative games, with or without this companion.

Is $24,000 reasonable? We think so. It’s a nice, orderly multiple of our funding goal, and it’s almost exactly twice the pledge level we had at the campaign’s halfway mark. We can do this.

We hope we can make it. If you can help us out by spreading the word, we’d appreciate that.

Thanks again for backing!

We've Made Great Progress
over 5 years ago – Sat, Nov 03, 2018 at 03:05:18 PM

Two More Stretch Goals Down

Since our last update, Meeples Together has grown by a case study (One Night Ultimate Werewolf) and an index. Thank you! (And welcome, new backers!)

At $11,000, we'll add a case study for Forbidden Desert. Past that goal, at $13,000, we'll add soft-touch lamination for the book's cover. 

We’ve added soft-touch lamination to the covers of the last two Gameplaywright releases, Beating the Story by Robin D. Laws and Friendly Local Game Store by Gary L. Ray. It's a finish that gave those editions a wonderful feel, and we hope to continue the tradition with Meeples Together.

Thunderbirds Case Study Online Now

Over on MeeplesTogether.com, Meeples Together authors Shannon and Christopher have posted a case study of Thunderbirds, a 2015 Matt Leacock design published by Modiphius Entertainment. Have a look to get a sense of the depth of these investigations.

We’re in this Together

As we gain backers, the odds that we’ll be able to offer fulfillment from Australia, Canada, and Europe increase. Who do you know that needs a copy of Meeples Together? Point them here to our campaign at this URL:

https://tinyurl.com/friend-of-meeples

Thanks for backing!