Freight Inbound + Cards Charged & Errored Cards + Timeline
15 days ago
– Thu, Oct 08, 2026 at 11:53:25 AM
Hey rock stars!
A quick update here with just a few bullet points to make sure everyone sees it:
Games arrival schedule
- I can confirm that our US freight is inbound and scheduled to arrive 10/11. This is for pledges within the US, Canada, and Mexico.
- We will likely be sending non-US pledges to the UK via air freight. This is significantly more expensive than sea freight, but due to the sea freight nightmare that is currently happening, I want to ensure games arrive in a timely manner.
- Asia pledges will be dropped off with a fulfillment center in a couple of weeks once assembly is completed.
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If you ordered a custom card or poster, I am about to place the order for those this week. They will then arrive within a couple of weeks. I will be shipping the custom card & poster orders to you directly, same with the full catalog bundles. So please be patient as I get those sent during the fulfillment process.
Cards charged & fixing errors
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Cards have been charged. This charge was for shipping costs and any add ons from your pledges.
- We have around 15 backers cards that have an error. If your card payment failed, you received an email from BackerKit to update your card details. Please note: We will be unable to fulfill your pledge until your card is successfully charged. Please check your emails for the confirmation or notice of a failed charge.
Incomplete Pledge Managers
There are still 32 backers who have not completed the Pledge Manager. Unless you complete the PM by providing your email address and paying for shipping costs, I will not be able to fulfill your pledge. I am sending out reminder emails weekly for this group of people.
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If you've lost your PM invite, click this link and follow the instructions to access it.
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PAX Unplugged Preview
If you're a BGG user, the PAX Unplugged preview list is live! It would mean a lot if you could hit "like" on our games to help us get more eyes on our new releases and upcoming titles.
You can view all of our games here.---
This is my first time to use BackerKit's pledge manager, a new freight & logistics partner, and a new fulfillment partner, so I appreciate your patience and understanding as I navigate a lot of moving parts. I promise I'm working hard to get all of your pledges sorted out and our fulfillment team will also be working diligently to get orders sent out in a timely manner.
I will continue to update everyone as steps proceed, so expect another update soon with a fulfillment timeline once I confirm the games have cleared customs and are in the hands of our fulfillment partner. Fingers crossed for clear skies here on the home stretch!
-Chris P.
Freight & Fulfillment Update + Charging Cards + New Halloween Promo
23 days ago
– Wed, Sep 30, 2026 at 03:46:13 PM
Hey rock stars!
TLDR:
- Assembly is complete!
- US/Canada/Mexico games arriving mid-October
- All other games are being scheduled and I will update accordingly
- Fun Content & More!
Headliner has completed assembly and *should be* on a boat headed to the US! All other games are being scheduled now for freight and then fulfillment. Headliner (hopefully) will be arrive starting in October instead of November, a bit ahead of schedule!
I sent out a couple of pre-production copies of the game and promos to filmmakers to work on our official how to play videos and more. So stay tuned for some exciting videos coming soon.
🚢 Sea Freight Partner Change & Games are OTW
If you are a backer for Garden Club, then you got a longer version of this story, but here's the quick rundown. My original sea freight partner for the US games failed miserably at getting our Garden Club freight on a boat. Thankfully, Headliner finished assembly right around this time. So, I shifted gears and changed my sea freight partner so that both Headliner and Garden Club could make their way to the US at the same time.
The boat that is carrying Headliner was scheduled to depart on 9/30 (in China, so yesterday). I am awaiting confirmation of departure, but many workers in China are on a week-long holiday so communication might be delayed. That boat is scheduled to hit port on October 11th, fingers crossed.
Now, MOCO Logistics will be conducting fulfillment for the US, Canada, and Mexico. GamesQuest will conduct fulfillment for all other regions. The games allocated for GamesQuest are being scheduled. I hope to ship those games by air instead of by sea so everything can fulfill together. I will update you accordingly.
Charging Cards
Once I have confirmation of the boat's departure with my new freight partner, I will charge cards within the pledge manager.
The current plan is to charge cards next Thursday, October 8. If you've lost your PM invite, click this
link and follow the instructions to access it.
🎸 Custom Cards
Most of the custom cards have been completed and they look incredible! I can't wait for y'all to have them. If you ordered a custom card and have not completed the survey, please refer to your email with the link I sent to you to access the survey. These surveys must be completed so we can get your custom card drawn, printed, and shipped to us in time for fulfillment. If you cannot find your email, and you have not heard from me regarding your custom card, please email me (Chris) at
[email protected].
Looking for something new? -> Rainbow BLVD
My industry colleague and good friend Scott Morris has started his own publishing company,
Steelwing Games. Together with a talented team, they’re preparing to bring
Rainbow Blvd. to Kickstarter!
Rainbow Blvd. is a vibrant strategy game about drawing cards, building stunning 3D rainbows, and scoring points as you compete to become the town’s new Head Architect. It’s a colorful game with plenty of strategic decisions, and I'm excited to see what Scott and his team are building.
I'm glad to help a longtime friend and fellow publisher spread the word of his new venture! Learn more and
follow the campaign here. Launch day is October 13th.
Jingle Bell Roll's Halloween Promo
I'm so thrilled to announce we have a
Halloween-themed promo for
Jingle Bell Roll. If you're a fan of the game, this adds a new mechanic of trick or treat cards that you will be forced to give other players. If you're on the fence about, now's a great time to check it out! The promo is $5.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD THIS PROMO TO YOUR PLEDGE SEE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW:
I realize that backers who own Jingle Bell Roll might want to add this promo to their pledge they are currently receiving. If that is the case, please comment on this update with the word "SPOOKY". If you comment, I will locate your pledge and reopen it so you can add the item to your pledge in BackerKit. This will be the easiest way for me to track each item without completely reopening all pledges.
I know I can accommodate this for pledges located in the US, Canada, Mexico. I plan to accommodate this for pledges in the UK, EU (Europe in general), New Zealand and Australia. I will mail a batch of these promos to the fulfillment hubs in California and in the UK so they can add it to your pledge. The deadline for this is one week, October 7.
If you've already purchased the promo and are a backer, I appreciate you! I will look to credit your pledge with a little discount before I charge cards next week. But, every bit counts when you're a small biz so I am extremely grateful.
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I also got to participate in SM's
Design Day where we did testing of our new game
Magic Tricks from designer Luke Williams. It was a hit and scored a whopping 5/6!
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That's all for now. I will send another update once I can confirm units have arrived at various ports and fulfillment is underway.
Update #5: Manufacturing is complete + Awaiting MPC + Pledge Manager
about 2 months ago
– Tue, Sep 01, 2026 at 03:33:50 PM
Hey rock stars!
Chris here with the monthly update. It's a short, but positive one!
🤘 Manufacturing is complete!
All games, expansions, and promos have been printed by our manufacturer. I'm now awaiting the MPC (mass production copy) of the game. This is the final chance for me to examine a final edition of the game. I'll read through all the rulebooks, cards, and components to confirm the game is as it should be. If I find anything amiss, it's the last chance to make a change. Now, making a change at this point would mean reprinting something and extra cost, so ideally that will not be the case!
I should receive the MPC later this week. Once I have that, I will record a video unboxing the components and send it out for y'all to watch. I can't wait!
🔔 Pledge Manager Status
Orders have been locked as we are now done with manufacturing. Cards have not been charged for the shipping or any additional items you included. I will charge cards closer to when fulfillment happens, likely in October. There are still 37 backers who have yet to complete their pledge. Please do so, as without a completed pledge manager I will not have your shipping address to send you your games!
🚢 Fulfillment Schedule
I hope that the games will be en route to the fulfillment hubs within the next 2-3 weeks. Once I approve the MPC, final assembly will occur which usually takes one week. Then, games will be off to their fulfillment hubs in the US, UK, and Asia. I anticipate being on schedule for fulfillment to begin in November 2026.
If you've lost your PM invite, click this
link and follow the instructions to access it.
🎸 Custom Cards
If you ordered a custom card and have not completed the survey, please refer to your email with the link I sent to you to access the survey. These surveys must be completed so we can get your custom card drawn, printed, and shipped to us in time for fulfillment. If you cannot find your email, and you have not heard from me regarding your custom card, please email me (Chris) at
[email protected].
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That's all for this update! In terms of future games, here is a list of everything we're working on now and beyond! If you are on BGG, you can find all of our listed games
here. I created listings for Headliner and it's expansions in case you want to log them into your account. Please leave a like or follow if you feel so inclined :)
- Garden Club, 2026
- Petal, 2026
- Vector, 2027
- Tug of Words, 2027
- Magic Tricks, 2027
- Perfect Pairs, 2027
-
Menu of the Day, 2027-2028 (Officially signed as part of the CCG lineup! Yet to be added to our BGG catalog.)
- Haunted Hills, 2028
- Hackers, 2028
- Unannounced mini-expansion, October 2026
- Unannounced Game #1, 2028
- Unannounced Game #2, 2028
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Until next time, Kick Back and Play!
- Chris P.
Update #4: Printing is underway + PM Update + Gen Con!
3 months ago
– Mon, Jul 27, 2026 at 05:15:58 PM
Hey rock stars!
Lots of positive news in today's update. July has been CRAZY to say the least. I'm currently printing 14 total SKUs (individual products) at the same time 😵💫. Plus preparing for Gen Con that starts this week! But, let's dive in.
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Manufacturing is underway!
Boda has all of the final print files and our deposit has been paid for all of the units. The games will take roughly 45 days to complete the printing process, then final assembly will take around one week, then they'll be put on boats and headed your way :)
If you want to see what the final components look like,
watch this video!
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Custom Card Forms
If you ordered a custom card, please be sure to
complete this Google Form so we can get your art sketched out and have plenty of time to order the card. Time moves fast, and Blake is always juggling projects. It'll only take about 5 minutes, and then you'll be done-zo!
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Pledge Manager
So far,
80% of you have completed the pledge manager! THANK YOU! For the remaining
72 backers, please please go ahead and complete that as soon as possible. The quicker they are done, the quicker I can plan for how many units need to be sent to different fulfillment centers, get quotes, and budget accordingly. I plan to close the PM towards the end of August.
Note: You are required to complete the pledge manager so that I can have your address to ship your game to you. Without it, fulfillment will not possible.
If you've lost your PM invite, click
this link and follow the instructions to access it.
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Gen Con!
If you haven't already heard, Chris Couch Games has been selected for the
Gen Con 2026 Marketing Fellowship. We'll have our first booth at Gen Con this Thursday through Sunday! It's an extremely exciting opportunity that we thrilled to take advantage of. This means we'll have a 10x20 booth where you can come visit to see the new games and even some future releases.
Gen Con is the
biggest convention in the US, and thanks to y'all, Headliner, Garden Club, Petal, Holiday Hills and Jingle Bell Roll are super high up on the
BGG list of hot games to see at the convention. Please drop a few more likes if you haven't already, it really helps out!
I'm really thrilled to be at Gen Con. It's a huge opportunity. If you're there, please come by the booth and get a
name badge ribbon for FREE! This is just for you backers. Others can get a name badge with a purchase.
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More Fun + Future Games
Oh! One more thing. In a previous update, you voted to learn more about
Magic Tricks. Well, you can see the early BGG page up now! You can also find the early BGG page for
Tug of Words as well. I have signed another game called
Hackers, and I'm exploring bringing the game
Menu del Dia within our catalog to get it published because I think it would be an amazing 1-2 player campaign about running your own restaurant.
Additionally, Vector will be available for demo at Gen Con, Haunted Hills is still under development, and we have two-three more games in the hopper that I can't speak on just yet.
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Thank you again. If you made it this far, please leave a comment or a like! And if you come to Gen Con, there's nothing more that I would love to do than see you there, shake your hand, tell you thanks, and give you a hug.
It's my birthday on July 29th (booth set up day!) and I'm also going to see the new Spider-Man movie while in Indy. Is anyone else excited about that? I also recently saw The Odyssey and absolutely loved the film!
Much love. I can't wait for y'all to get these games.
Until next time, Kick Back and Play!
Update #3: Successful Encore Campaign + Pledge Manager next week
4 months ago
– Wed, Jul 01, 2026 at 02:03:14 PM
Hey rock stars!
Our
Encore Campaign for Headliner on Kickstarter was a smash hit! We added 172 more band members and raised an additional $6,500!
If you missed out on both campaigns, you can late pledge now on Kickstarter by following the link above.
Content we unlocked during the campaign that all of y'all will receive for FREE:
- 7 new Headliner cards with alternate art
- 4 new Musician cards
- 4 new Heartbreaker cards
- 1 new Promo Venue card
- 1 new Roadie based on DCC (Crawlin' Carl)
- 6 new additional Roadies
- 3 new Perk cards
We just missed out on the deluxe wooden guitar picks, but with so much more content, I'm thrilled!
If you'd like to see the game components in their nearly final form, check out this video below where I walk through all of the content for Headliner. I am very pleased with the production and we should be able to hit "print" pretty soon once I get the final digital proofs next week.
(below is an image of all the bonus content we unlocked on Kickstarter)
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Pledge Manager Update
I am planning to get the Pledge Manager up and running next week for both this campaign and the Encore Campaign. Understanding the BackerKit PM was a learning curve, but I've got a handle on it now. I will send you an update next week with the latest.
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Gen Con is in less than 30 days! You can give our games a "like" on BGG at this link. I will be located at booth #2753.
That's all for now! I will be in touch again soon. Kick back and play!
- Chris P.
