Backerkit Closing Now
almost 5 years ago – Tue, Jul 02, 2019 at 09:50:29 PM

Hey all! Just wanted to pop on here and give you all a friendly reminder that we are locking down your orders and charging credit cards this month. 

Backerkit Closing July 8th!

As we get ready to send the game to the printer, it is time to lock down backerkit and get the final numbers for who is getting what! 

This means your rewards will be locked down on the 8th and you will be charged around the 10th of July.

If you haven’t filled out your Backerkit, please do so! We need you to fill it out so we know what add-ons you want. If you need to make any last minute changes like updating your shipping address, you’ll be able to do so within the Backerkit system. (If you’ve already filled out your Backerkit, you’re totally set!)

You can find the link to your Backerkit in your email or you can login here: 

https://wizard-kittens.backerkit.com/

If you have any questions or issues filling out your Backerkit, please just send us a message at [email protected]. We’re happy to help sort things out for you!

Our Next Update....

We are very close to having the rulebooks complete and ready to show off! Both the core rulebook and expansion rulebook are almost through editing and we are really excited to show you all the magic.  

Thank you all for your support, and we will be back to update you on some more fun stuff soon! 

Backerkit Now Open, Late Pledges Closing, Pre-orders Available, & Monsters Sneak Peek
almost 5 years ago – Tue, May 28, 2019 at 11:51:31 PM

Many pleasant meows to you, friend kittens! It’s time to talk about how Wizard Kittens is coming along!

Backerkit Launch

We’ve been hard at work on the game, all the kittens we meet have gotten good pets, and we’ve also finished getting Backerkit all set up! Now you have access to the Backerkit pledge manager where you can confirm which pledge level you wanted, and which add-ons you would like with your order! 

Follow this link to your backerkit and open your survey (or follow the link in your email): 

https://wizard-kittens.backerkit.com/

In your survey, you will be able to up your pledge level or add on extra plushies, expansions, and more to your order. When you have confirmed everything you want, just complete your survey. You will be charged when we close Backerkit in July.

Remember that we’ll be handling all of our shipping through our webstore when the games are ready to ship. Backerkit won’t collect any money from you for shipping in May; you’ll pay the shipping bill when the game actually ships to you through our webstore.

Exciting Add-On: Wizard Kitten Card Sleeves

We’ve heard so many people wanting to know how many card sleeves they need for this game. And like you, we also like to sleeve our most-used cards, so we are providing an affordable pack with all the sleeves you’ll need for both the expansion and core game! (Remember that we’ve expanded the core box to hold all of the awesome expansion cards too!)

$10 Wizard Kittens Card Sleeve Pack - enough protective sleeves for the full deck, including the extra cards for the fifth player included in the Magical Monster expansion! We’re still working on these with our printer, but the sleeves will come in one pack of 100 sleeves, including 65 sleeves with the custom back you see above (for the ritual components) and 35 transparent sleeves for cards that use the front and back in play (for the chapter cards and the extra credit cards).

In addition to the card sleeves, remember that you can also add-on any of the following to your order: 

• Cinder Plushie ($30)
• Magical Monsters Expansion ($15)
• Standard Edition of Wizard Kittens ($20)
• Magical Edition of Wizard Kittens & Magical Monsters Expansion ($35)

Late Pledges (CLOSING)

May 31st is the last day for Late Pledges! For those of you who just heard about us—and are still eager to get some of the unlocked Kickstarter exclusive content—we have made Late Pledging available through our webstore: 

https://www.magpiegames.com/product-category/wizard-kittens-late-pledge/

If you late pledge to the project, you will need to check back regularly for updates here on the Kickstarter page. You won’t receive any emails directly from Kickstarter.

Pre-orders Available (NOW)

Know someone who missed out on the Kickstarter (and the Late Pledge phase), but would still like to share in the Wizard Kitten joy? Never fear, pre-orders are now available through Backerkit!

 https://wizard-kittens.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

If you already pledged via Kickstarter or Late Pledge feature, you do not need to pre-order the game. Pre-orders won’t come with Kickstarter exclusive content, but they can still get the game and add-ons as soon as it comes out! 

Magical Monsters Sneak Peek

Want to know what all these adorable monsters have been up to since you let them loose? Take a look at these cuties! 

• The Kraken keeps sliding your ritual components out of place as it plays!
• The Dragon just wants naps. And periodically to burn a card or two.
• The Rock Monster would like to build things... from the garden walls it knocks down.
• The Basilisk will freeze a whole chapter’s worth of ritual components with its paralyzingly cute stare!

Look For Our Next Update in July!

We’re working on getting the full game—expansion and stretch goal material included—out to our printer by July, so you can expect more news from us then! There’s still plenty of work to be done, from layout to playtesting of mechanics, but we’re excited to strive for that July goal. Stay tuned! 

No New Charges from Tariffs

You may have heard that the Trump administration is considering imposing a 25% tariff on games manufactured in China. No worries, folks! We're obviously concerned about the new tariffs, but we've already committed to the costs and charges for this project. There won't be any new charges in the pledges manager to cover tariffs. We've made sure to budget for problems, and we're ready to weather this storm if the tariffs go through in June. 

Thank you all for your support! 

I can’t wait to get you more updates! I love hearing how excited you all are, and I’m excited to get this full game into your paws as soon as possible! 

THANK YOU & Late Pledges
about 5 years ago – Mon, Apr 01, 2019 at 12:05:17 AM

I am pawsitively blown away by all of you! This has been a wonderful campaign and I couldn’t be more excited to learn that so many people connect with these trouble making Wizard Kittens. Ophelia is currently purring in my lap while I write this update. She’s very thankful for all the support!

The Wizard Kittens Kickstarter is Complete! 

•  $165,483 Funded! 
•  4,053 Backers!
•  25 Social Stretch Goals completed!
•  11 Achievements achieved! 
•  ALL 8 Rewards unlocked! 
•  3 of 4 Upgrades unlocked!  

This has been an amazing campaign and we are excited to bring these magical kittens to your table! And thanks to the last minute surge of backers, we had our biggest day today ($16k+) and we finished our 25th social stretch goal. Wow!

Unlocking the 25th goal means that you all unlocked Chaos Mode! Chaos Cat takes center stage in this advanced mode, causing even MORE trouble for the kittens. Stay tuned for more information on this mode when we update the rulebook.

Next Steps: Backerkit Launch

Now that the Kickstarter is closed we will be finalizing the game and getting it all ready for the printer! Kickstarter will process all of your pledges over the next two weeks, so we’ll be hard at work on getting everything in order for the printer while we wait for the funds to clear.

We will be back with a new update in early May! In that update will give you all access to Backerkit where you can confirm which add-ons you would like with your order. Remember that we’ll be handling all of our shipping through our webstore when the games are ready to ship. Backerkit won’t collect any money from you for shipping in May; you’ll pay the shipping bill when the game actually ships to you.

Late Pledges (LIMITED TIME ONLY)

For those of you who just heard about us and are still eager to get some of the unlocked Kickstarter exclusive content we have made Late Pledging available. For a limited time only, you and your friends can still pledge through our website: 

https://www.magpiegames.com/product-category/wizard-kittens-late-pledge/

If you late pledge to the project, you will need to check back regularly for updates here on the Kickstarter page. You won’t receive any emails directly from Kickstarter.

Thank you all for your support in making this game a reality! 

BIG thank you to the Wizard Kittens team for all of their brilliant talents and hard work and a GIGANTIC thank you from all of us on the Wizard Kittens team to all of you amazing backers! This would not be possible without your funding, enthusiasm, and support. 

Big Box Upgrade Unlocked!
about 5 years ago – Sun, Mar 31, 2019 at 12:37:24 AM

Holy cats! You all did it! You unlocked another upgrade!

Upgrade Unlocked!

You reached the achievement of MORE MONEY THAN MAGPIE GAMES HAS EVER RAISED VIA KICKSTARTER! That’s astonishing! And we're still going!

All of us at Magpie Games are thrilled at your outpouring of support and interest, and we’re excited as can be to finish off Wizard Kittens and get it into your paws. Thank you all, so much, for making this such an exceptional ride.

With that out of the way—your upgrade!

We will be making the box bigger, better, and boxier!

Maybe not that last one.

Board game and card game boxes are often fighting for space on your shelf, especially today with so many awesome offerings out there. So we know how useful it can be to be able to minimize your box count and keep everything in one, simple container. Especially when you want to take the extra time and effort to protect your games by sleeving cards, for example—it can be frustrating to then have those sleeved cards not fit in the box! That’s why we’re excited to make sure that Wizard Kittens is the best box it can be. Big enough to hold all the different bits and bobbins, and pretty enough to hold a place of honor on your shelves! :)

New Upgrade Announced!

You still know the very next upgrade you can unlock—adding a Chaos Mode for the game, including all necessary components and new rules. But we’re revealing our final upgrade right now—

If we reach enough achievements to unlock the last upgrade, we will add a magnetic clasp to the box!

We love making Wizard Kittens better and better for you, but honestly, this one is just as much for us as it is for you. WE LOVE MAGNETIC CLASPS ON BOXES. A box with a magnetic clasp feels classy and awesome, so we’re excited to have the possibility of adding one to Wizard Kittens! If we unlock this upgrade, we’ll add the clasp to every box!

A Wizard Kittens Song!

Thanks to the efforts of Kitty S. (lyrics) and Annemarie H. (music/vocals), we have a new Wizard Kittens song! Huge thanks to both of them for making such purr-fect mew-sic for the game! You can listen right here:

https://soundcloud.com/annh-6/wizard-kittens-the-song

On that note...

Last Chance for Social Stretch Goals

We’ve got a little more than 24 hours left in the Wizard Kittens Kickstarter, but there’s still more upgrades to be added! Here’s a few social stretch goals that are within reach:

• Shares on our Twitter and Facebook posts! You all hit the 1000 shares mark, so we only need another 384 to get to the next goal! Time to share!
• 1000 Facebook likes on our Facebook post! We only need about 100 more! So, so close!
• Finally, we need fewer than 100 backers to join the campaign to reach 3,500 backers overall! That's waaaay more backers than we've ever had before! Thank you!

It’s the final sprint! Let’s make this finish absolutely magical!

Van Meowsing of the Magical Monster Expansion & Upgrades Unlocked
about 5 years ago – Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 11:32:10 PM

We’re in the last 48 hours now, and there’s still time left to make Wizard Kittens even better! But first—a quick look at the hero of the Magical Monster Expansion!

The Magical Monster Expansions’ Fearless Van Meowsing! 

Welcome the kitty that comes with the Magical Monster Expansion, Van Meowsing! The Magical Monsters are loose! This expansion adds a 5th player and a heroic kitty to help your courageous crew of kittens defeat these new magical monster cards! 

Van Meowsing is a gritty kitty with a vocation in magical monsters. RAWR! Van Meowsing can build ritual components to defeat monsters and curses.

Van Meowsing is playable right alongside all the other wizard kittens from the core game and the Kickstarter Exclusive pack—all 10 total!

Upgrade Unlocked!

Because you all have achieved THREE MORE SOCIAL STRETCH GOALS, for a total of 21, you unlocked our first upgrade—unique art for the advanced and basic sides of each kitten character mat!

We love how these kitties look, and we were excited at the prospect to show off more of them, so we’re thrilled to be able to add this upgrade! Every kitten will now have two different pieces of art on its mat, differentiating its basic and advanced side and giving you more fun wizard kittens to have at your table. 

New Upgrades Announced!

Time to announce what the next few upgrades will be! For the next upgrade, we will…expand the box to fit all cards, components, and pieces!

Part of why we like games like Wizard Kittens is that they are small and easily portable—which makes it all the more important to be able to fit everything inside of one box. That’s why, if we reach this upgrade, we’re going to make the core box big enough to hold all of the additional cards and mats from the expansion and the Kickstarter Exclusive Pack. What’s more, we’re going to make sure the insert is designed to hold everything neatly, AND we’re going to look into making it large enough to hold sleeved cards—everything you could want out of the box size!

And for the next upgrade after that (since you all are so close to unlocking the MOST MAGPIE GAMES FUNDING EVER achievement), we will… add a new way to play Wizard Kittens: Chaos Mode!

Chaos Cat is a really fun addition to the main game, adding new rules that challenge even the most experienced players. In this new mode, Chaos Cat takes over the whole game, introducing multiple new rules while you play. We’ll add all the rules you need to play this new mode to the core rulebook and all the components you need to every box, including more Chaos Cat cards!

And that leads us to…

Last Chance for Social Stretch Goals

Up until we close the Kickstarter at 3:00pm EST on Sunday we’re still working on unlocking these amazing new upgrades! Here’s a few that are still in reach:

• Shares on our Twitter and Facebook posts! You all hit the 1000 shares mark, so we need another 489 to get to the next goal!
• 1000 Facebook likes on our Facebook post! We only need 189 more! So, so close!
• 1 song about Wizard Kittens—recorded, complete with music and lyrics! All we need is the one song! (Rumor has it that someone posted a bunch of lyrics to our Facebook post, just waiting to be set to music!)

We’ve got fewer than 48 hours left in the Wizard Kittens Kickstarter, but there’s still plenty more awesome to be added. Thank you for your support throughout this whole month, and we hop you help us take Wizard Kittens as far as it can possibly go! 

Lord of the Chords: The Best Music Theory Game!

One last thing! If you like family friendly card games featuring MEWsic… then you might also want to check out Lords of the Chords, a fun and educational card game that just finished raising over $200,000 on Kickstarter. You can still get your copy of the game on IndieGogo, so check out the links below if you’re looking for more surprisingly strategic games that work well with kids.

The card game musicians play when not playing music! Major geekiness! Augmented pun-damentals! CLICK HERE