Thanks, Everyone!

I've recently taken on a lot more duties on the logistics side of the business, working with our manufacturing partners to make sure the factories receive the files they need to produce our games. Recently, I took a moment to reflect on how many individuals interact with our games along the path from conception to gamers' hands.

There's the part I already knew about from my production artist duties: the illustrators, writers, and playtesters who all do their jobs before I start on the layout. While that's going on, our print buyer works with the factory liaisons to determine the right number of games to order. When the layout is finished and approved, the same liaison works with the manufacturer and our team to ensure the finished product looks as we envisioned. The factory workers will need to set up their massive machines to print paper, fold boxes, and punch counters. Next, it's back to us to approve digital and physical copies and catch any typos we missed or errors that may arise during printing. Then the actual games can start getting made. Many of these steps are mechanical, but some components are still best made by hand. After every box is packed and shrink-wrapped, the boxes are placed into larger cases. These, in turn, will be loaded up into those massive metal shipping containers, which will then have to be loaded onto a boat.

The trip to the destination country can take up to 6 weeks. Once the boat arrives and clears customs, our containers will be delivered to our main warehouse close to Atlanta. There, they will unload the individual cartons and officially count them in. At that point, the games are available for our approved distributors to order! Then, when a retailer orders some for their stores, it's another trip to their penultimate destination. When they arrive, a store employee will need to display it on their shelves before it finally reaches your hands. One last person, the cashier, will need to handle that game before you can finally take it home and play it for the first time.

So to everyone who has a hand (literally) in getting our games into your hands, a big thanks! We couldn't do this without you.

-- Ben Williams