The Summit is in Sight! We're 75% Funded!
almost 3 years ago – Fri, Jun 18, 2021 at 08:44:02 AM

We're almost there, Shepherds!

We just passed the 3/4 marker on our path to bringing Grab Your Goat! into the world.  Thank you to each and every one of you for continuing to support this project.  We have been overjoyed to see this flock of goat-chasers growing.  Soon, Grab Your Goat! will be making its way around the world to each and every one of you.  

Between now and our 'half way' post, we announced the update to our stretch goals.  We've received a great response for the inclusion of the wooden meeples, and are very excited to make this design a permanent part of Grab Your Goat!  We have been in touch with our production company, Panda Games, and hope to have an image of the prototype tokens for all to see before the end of the campaign!

None of this could have been possible without all of you.  It's one thing to sit around a campfire introducing friends to a fun thing you created, and it's an entirely next-level thing to have all of you here with us making this game a reality.  Keep spreading the word, shepherds!  With just a few more of you, we'll reach our base goal and hopefully have a copy of the game out to you by the end of the year!

As a continued 'thank you' for your support, I'll offer up another story from my life with goats.  In complete transparency, while I was there for this story, it is, in fact, my father's! I asked for his blessing to tell it here, and it is quite possibly one of my favorite stories to hear him tell.

The Time My Father Sold a Goat

One fact about goats is that they come in a lot of different styles.  There are tall goats and short goats, goats with long hair and goats with long ears! One of the most distinctive features of a goat, however, are the billy goats' horns.  Some breeds have dainty nubbins and some have epic adornments!  Our goat Spot, the billy goat patriarch of our small flock, had two long, sharp, pointy horns.  He was a beautiful, black pygmy goat whose broken coat gave him a grizzled presence on the farm.  He just looked like he was a king of the mountain in the making.

And he thought it, too!  It wasn't more than a week that he was on the farm and he had already knocked his noggin' against anything he could.  Including my father!  My father is a tall man.  Tall enough that a charging billy goat would just about hit him square on the knee.  And those horns?  Well, they were mostly pointing up, if you catch my drift!  

It only took being taken out from behind once for my dad to decide that it might be best if we didn't have a little Napoleon trying to prove that he was the baddest Billy on the playground.  Spot needed to find a new home.

Fortunately, there was a regular animal swap that took place in a nearby town.  Yes, a few times a year, farmers would bring animals and supplies to a parking lot outside of a strip mall and barter for what they could.  On the way down, Spot secured in an extra large dog crate in the back seat, my father made it very clear to us that, despite the name, there would be absolutely no swapping for us!  It was a one-way trip for poor Spot.

We arrived, registered, and my sister and I set out to test this 'no swapping' theory my father had.  He was left sat on the tailgate of our minivan with a goat in a dog crate.  Of course, several people cruised by, cooing at the handsome billy in the pen.  But no takers.  Dad was starting to get worried that this goat was going to stick around.

That's when, as he tells it, "a man who looked like Grizzly Adams on a bad hair day" walked up and stood next to him.  Didn't say anything at first, just stood there, staring out at the crowd and then shooting a glance into the carrier every now and then.

"Pretty nice day for a swap," my father offered to break the silence.

"Yep," said the man.  He let the moment hang in silence. "Told my wife when I came in here today, was only one thing we needed. A billy goat."

My father's eyebrows shot up, "Well, I guess I'm your guy!"

"How much for him?"

"How much do you think he's worth?" my father offered from his vast experience in selling goats.

"Well, hell if I know! He's your damn goat!"

And that's how that damn Spot found a new home to the tune of $50!

Thank you for sticking with us, shepherds!  We'll see you at the top!

Russell and Jon

Updated Stretch Goals!
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Jun 09, 2021 at 04:05:16 AM

Howdy, shepherds!

In our last update, we promised that we were looking in to revising our stretch goals.  This was done at the encouragement of a number of our backers.  In particular, we had requests for an upgrade to our character tokens to use wooden meeples instead of plastic standees with cardstock.  We were grateful to hear from you, and took the request to our production partner.  The numbers we received looked very promising, and we are proud to announce that we have revised the stretch goals!

$15,000 - Campaign is Funded

While this is not a 'stretch' goal, it's important to keep in mind that we are still on the way to meeting our basic funding goal.  With $15,000 of support, we will be able to produce the full run of the game as it appears in the prototype photos on the campaign page.  Included in this milestone are a number of features:

• 2,000 copies of the game will be produced and ready for distribution,
• full safety testing of the game and all its components,
• custom molding of the directional die,
• Grab Your Goat! will be a real thing!

$16,000 - Custom, Marbled Directional Die

We have adjusted the amount at which the marbled texture for the direction die is unlocked.  While it may seem like a 4-direction die would be a standard type of die, it turns out that most directional die use eight cardinal directions (north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, and northwest).  We require only the four cardinal directions: north, east, south and west!  For this reason, we will have to create a custom mold for our die.  While this will be included in the funding, an extra $1,000 will allow us to add a bit of extra design to the final product.

$17,000 - Wooden Meeple Character Tokens

We are very exited to include this new goal, and we are so grateful that we pursued it at your request! These custom wooden character tokens (known as meeples in the board game community) will be unlocked at this milestone.  These meeples stand at approximately 35mm tall and 8mm thick.  What's more, they will eliminate the need for plastic standees.  This eliminates a possible choking hazard for the game, and also holds with our goal to minimize the ecologic impact of producing the game.

The Final Push!

With 25 days left to go on the campaign, we have been busy preparing to get everything in order for our game to enter production as soon as the campaign ends.  We have enjoyed hearing from you as we have navigated this first campaign.  You have taught us so much about what it means to bring this game into the world.  We say it a lot, but we can't wait until you have your own copy!  

In the meantime, if you have someone in your life who loves games, goats or both, please share the page with them!  We will keep doing our best to spread the word about the game, and work to make this dream a reality.  Thank you for being part of the flock!

Well, bust my buttons! We're half way there!
almost 3 years ago – Tue, Jun 01, 2021 at 08:25:24 AM

Hello there, Shepherds!

As of this morning, we officially tipped over the 50% mark on our journey to funding Grab Your Goat!  With just over half of our campaign to go, we hit the magical $7,500 mark and are halfway funded.  50% funded with 50% to go!  We are so grateful for each of you who have contributed to the game, and look forward to the coming weeks as we near the end!

We continue to live under stay-at-home orders here in Toronto, but that doesn't mean we haven't been finding ways to share the game!  Prototypes are (safely) making the rounds where available.  The photo below was taken of a recent play-through of the game at Windswept Hill Farm & Studio in Minnesota!

As weather gets warmer, and (hopefully) stay-at-home orders are lifted here in Canada, we'll be organizing safe preview games with our prototypes.  If you want to be a part of one and are nearby, please let us know with a direct message!

Attack of the Meeple People!

Several of you game-savvy goat-catchers have asked us about the possibility of upgrading our shepherds and goats from cardstock to meeples.  For those new to the word, 'meeple' is the term for a small, wooden game token representing a person or object in the game.  The word's origins are unclear, but its popularity in the game world has made it standard lingo to refer to a more weighty, wooden token. 

We have heard your calls, shepherds!  As avid supporters of yoga, preferably with goats, we believe in flexibility.  With just over a month to go, we are waiting on word from our production company on just how big of a 'stretch' these meeple people (and goats) would be!  Once we know a number, we'll post an update to our stretch goals.  

Thank you for your continued communication with us.  We have learned a lot during the campaign and are always eager to hear from you.

The time I was saved by a goat..

On day one of the campaign, I shared the story of how Cookie, Spot and their kids Lightning and Thunder came into our lives.  From the day they were born, Lightning and Thunder were already playing 'monarch of the mountain' on bags of potting soil, picnic tables, piles of bricks, etc.  Some things are just hard-coded in to a creature, and that's one of them!  Even as young as a few hours old, they were already banging heads.  It became common for us to let them out into the yard in the morning.  They would wander over our farm, eating weeds and playing in my mother's many gardens. Those pygmy goats provided a bounty of stories.   One of them involved the day Cookie saved my life (or at least my limbs!)

Our family farm is a fiber farm, raising sheep whose wool is processed and sold to craftsfolk as raw material for their wool products.  Around the time Cookie & Co. entered our life, our flock was around its largest.   We had upwards of 40 ewes and a single, glorious ram: George.  George was a big, black-and-white ram who was, for the most part, kind and loving.  He had been raised on another farm and loved people.  But, like with our goats, some behaviors are just coded in on a deep level.

One bright and sunny morning, I was out doing chores.  I had fed the chickens, let the goats out, and was headed to the horse barn, where we also kept George.  When I opened his pen to check his water, he barreled past me, shoving me to the floor.  Free, he pranced around, sniffing the feed bags and hay bales, and then turned and looked me in the eye.  Down at his eye level, I was suddenly much smaller than this power house of a ram.  I knew I was in trouble.

He lowered his head to charge, and I scrambled for the door.  I didn't have much hope of out running him, but I hoped I could at least close the gate.  No luck.  He was on my heels as I passed the threshold.  If he caught me, he could leave me seriously bruised, if not break a bone, or worse... My only hope was to try, somehow, to keep ahead of him and make it to the vegetable garden where I could try to put some obstacles between us.  I made it to the edge of the rhubarb patch and chanced a glance over my shoulder.

A few feet behind me, George was stopped in his tracks.  Cookie towered before him, a seeming giant as she teetered on her hind legs.  She cocked her head, turning her oval eye onto the ram that was more than twice her size, and brought her head crashing down on his.  George was stunned, by surprise more than anything else.  Cookie reared up again, as if to say "Want some more big guy?"  He grunted in surprise and trotted away to eat some flowers.

I'll never forget turning back to see Cookie, my savior, selflessly protecting a kid that wasn't even her own, wasn't even a goat!  Some things are coded in on a deeper level, I guess.  I always loved her for that.

100 Backers!
almost 3 years ago – Thu, May 27, 2021 at 08:05:26 AM

Hello, shepherds!

We were very excited this morning to realize that 100 of you have backed Grab Your Goat! so far!  We want to thank you for your generous support and cannot wait to get this game out to you.   In just over two weeks we have managed to get 40% of the way to our goal.  Your encouraging words and help in spreading the news about the game has made it all worth the effort.  Jon has been particularly touched by your response to his art.  We spent many development sessions discussing the feel of the game, and to see that we hit the right note brought us a lot of joy.

Over the next 6 weeks, we promise to continue to advocate on behalf of the game.  As the world opens back up here in Canada, we'll try to find a safe way to offer up playtesting to those of you in and around Toronto.  We acknowledge that while COVID-19 made the game possible from the standpoint of giving us time to develop it, it also continues to be a factor in sharing the game.   For those of you in and around Minnesota, there are also available play test copies.  Please contact us directly for more information!

That's all for this warm, sunny morning! 

Thank you,

Russ

Day One Update: 30 % of the Way!
almost 3 years ago – Thu, May 13, 2021 at 09:30:44 AM

The Goat's are Out!

Hey there, shepherds! 

The day is finally here! Jon and I have been hard at work over the last year to make this dream a reality. Ever since I first floated the idea of the game past him, we knew that Grab Your Goat! was going to be a reality. 

We had no idea when we launched this morning that we would already be just shy of a third of the way to our goal by the end of day one! We have been overwhelmed by your generous support. It means the world for us to share this creation with you all, and it brings us so much joy to envision you playing the game. Soon, you too will be crying out, "Why do those goats do that?!?"

We still have a long way to go!

While we have made a good start, we still have a long way to go. Over the next two months, we are hoping to generate enough to fully produce the first run of the game. If everything stays on schedule, you and your flock will have the game by the holiday season of 2021. We will work to our fullest to make this possible.

You have already done so much in supporting us this far, and we are immensely grateful to you. If you are looking for more ways to help, please share the news about this game. Tell your family, you friends, your goats and their kids. Or your kids? Everyone's kids! The more people who hear about this project, the more that we can all join in the bumbling escapade of chasing down these escaped goats. And, take it from a kid who grew up on a farm, it helps to have a few friends when it comes to convincing them to return home!

Here's What We Hope:

Our campaign began today, Monday, May 3rd, 2021. It is scheduled to go until Saturday, July 3rd, 2021. That gives us 60 days to raise at least the remaining $10,000 CAN that we will need to get this game out to you. After that, we hand over the process to our production partner, Panda Games, for manufacturing. Jon has already been hard at work to prepare the game files for production approval. Along the way, the game will be tested for consumer safety and the final design elements locked in to place. Sometime around October, the game will be shipped to our distributor. At this point in time, we are in talks with Quartermaster Logistics to act as our fulfillment service so that you can receive your game without any wrinkles and with minimal cost to you or us.

Finally, 

we would not be here today if it weren't for goats. There is just something about... goats. Anyone who has spent time with them hast at least some crazy goat stories. I figured I would close today's update with one of my stories and tell you about how my family ended up adopting a pair of wayward pygmy goats.

As all good family adventures begin, it started when the Dakota County sheriff called the house. He was looking for my mother, as she was--naturally-- the first person to spring to mind when he encountered a unique problem. A member of the community had recently reported a woman for being in violation of the city's domestic animal policy. For some reason, she had decided that it would be a fine idea to adopt two pygmy goats as house pets. Unfortunately, goats do not make good house pets. In fact, it's hard to imagine a worse animal to put into a house!

Of course, the goats loved it. They jumped all over her couch, her bed, her cabinets, her tables, and her counters. They ate her houseplants, her groceries, her couch cushions, and her drywall. She had decided that enough was enough and tried to confine them to the garage during the day while they were away at work. Naturally, they ate through the chicken-wire fence that she had built for them and proceeded to chew on everything that they could. Somehow, somehow, they got back into her house where they bumped her stereo system. When the police arrived due to the aforementioned noise complaint, heavy metal was blaring at full volume and the goats were having a ball. So, naturally, the sheriff called my mother.

When she asked for the address, he replied, "Just look for the house with the hole chewed through the aluminum garage door." She hitched up the horse trailer and that was how Cookie and Spot came to live at our farm! A few days later, Cookie gave birth to twins: Lightning and Thunder. I've attached a photo where you can see here my sister, right, and me, left, holding them. 

More stories to come, dear shepherds!

-Russ