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I wanted to back this but it would not let me complete the 2 deck $13 pledge plus $3 for shipping to Canada. I was trying to use the Canadian shipping price they stipulated but it kept demanding that $7 international be added to make it $20.

Cobey Pile says:

"Just back it as a domestic backer and add the canadian shipping, others have had to do it that way as well. Thanks!"

Did that and it worked fine. Thank you.

I was just browsing around on Kickstarter and was checking on this project to see if it's changed any. I was surprised to see they're close to $40,000 and even more surprised to see they're up to 3 different Decks and a fourth on the horizon!!! How do they think they'll have enough money to manufacture 4 USPCC Decks, Poker Chips, Coins, countless Sleeves and all the other gizmos they have going in their project?!! With the shipping costs and Amazon and Kickstarter fees they may have over-extended themselves into the red.

Thanks, Randy

Randy

I was just thinking the same thing...and he is making 4 decks 2 of which are 5000 print runs, one that is 3000 and one unlimited deck. Does not seem to add up

So everyone gets dice, tokens, game sleeve and a poker chip... and if they hit $40k everyone gets a free 'platinum deck'. The cost of cards, shipping, tokens, dice, sleeves, poker chips is well over $40k.

STAY AWAY. This is one of the most poorly thought out projects in a long time. I foresee much disappointment in the future.

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It's a shame, I REALLY like the way the heart suits are designed. He should have started with just that one deck and not expanded like he has.

Russell wrote:So everyone gets dice, tokens, game sleeve and a poker chip... and if they hit $40k everyone gets a free 'platinum deck'. The cost of cards, shipping, tokens, dice, sleeves, poker chips is well over $40k.

STAY AWAY. This is one of the most poorly thought out projects in a long time. I foresee much disappointment in the future.

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It's a shame, I REALLY like the way the heart suits are designed. He should have started with just that one deck and not expanded like he has.

Russ what happens when KS projects are unable to fulfill their pledges? Does KS enforce anything? Considering pulling my pledge on this one.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does that mean if you pledge even for 1 deck you will get the following freebies?
1. FREE METAL ARCADE GAME TOKEN FOR EVERY BACKER!
2. FREE FULL GAME SLEEVE FOR EVERY BACKER!
3. FREE COLLECTOR'S POKER CHIP FOR EVERY BACKER!
5. FREE PAIR OF 8-BIT DICE FOR EVERY BACKER!
6. WILL BE A LIMITED PLATINUM HITS DECK FOR EVERY BACKER! (if it hits 40k)
wow that's a lot of freebies.

volantangel wrote:

Russell wrote:So everyone gets dice, tokens, game sleeve and a poker chip... and if they hit $40k everyone gets a free 'platinum deck'. The cost of cards, shipping, tokens, dice, sleeves, poker chips is well over $40k.

STAY AWAY. This is one of the most poorly thought out projects in a long time. I foresee much disappointment in the future.

-------------

It's a shame, I REALLY like the way the heart suits are designed. He should have started with just that one deck and not expanded like he has.

Russ what happens when KS projects are unable to fulfill their pledges? Does KS enforce anything? Considering pulling my pledge on this one.

Nope your on your own. A few examples:

Vortex deck
Streampunk by ReaganM
Spectrum

Just to name a few.....

Thanks!

Mike is correct, KS will not intervene. To put it bluntly, once KS collects their percentage they wash their hands of the situation and the backer is on their own.

Yes, from what I can tell, the $6 pledge gets two decks, dice, tokens, sleeve, poker chip, and shipping.

In the immortal words of my mechanic... 'Sum'tin aint right.'

Hm this is making me worry about my pledge now. Hopefully Michael can say something here to calm some of the fears?

I have not been following this project closely, so I do not really know whether or not there is a problem with this deck. I hope not, as I do like this deck and have contacted the creator about purchasing it after Kickstarter ended.

Has anyone contacted the creator about their concerns?

Thanks!

BMPokerworld wrote:I have not been following this project closely, so I do not really know whether or not there is a problem with this deck. I hope not, as I do like this deck and have contacted the creator about purchasing it after Kickstarter ended.

Has anyone contacted the creator about their concerns?

Thanks!

I've contacted the seller once when he added the Black decks about how he's going to keep track of my prizes since he said NOT to change the pledge level, just the pledge amount. I still don't quite know how he's doing it for several hundred backers who presumably have added or modified their pledge since the original amount.

I PM'd him just now on this forum to see if he can chime in here about our concerns.

doobybrain wrote:

BMPokerworld wrote:I have not been following this project closely, so I do not really know whether or not there is a problem with this deck. I hope not, as I do like this deck and have contacted the creator about purchasing it after Kickstarter ended.

Has anyone contacted the creator about their concerns?

Thanks!

I've contacted the seller once when he added the Black decks about how he's going to keep track of my prizes since he said NOT to change the pledge level, just the pledge amount. I still don't quite know how he's doing it for several hundred backers who presumably have added or modified their pledge since the original amount.

I PM'd him just now on this forum to see if he can chime in here about our concerns.

Great!!! Hopefully he will.

Thanks!

RandyButterfield wrote:I was just browsing around on Kickstarter and was checking on this project to see if it's changed any. I was surprised to see they're close to $40,000 and even more surprised to see they're up to 3 different Decks and a fourth on the horizon!!! How do they think they'll have enough money to manufacture 4 USPCC Decks, Poker Chips, Coins, countless Sleeves and all the other gizmos they have going in their project?!! With the shipping costs and Amazon and Kickstarter fees they may have over-extended themselves into the red.

Thanks, Randy

I'm happy someone commented on this because I've been wondering the SAME THING! I had the same concerns and asked him if he had outside funding to take care of costs because the numbers just don't add up. He reply was "We have worked everything out with the USPCC and we have the funds to take care of the decks". Seems confident but considering this is his first deck, I find it rather unusual and risky. ESPECUALLY since more experienced designers all know the extra, often overseen, costs which would apply. Shipping alone can cripple a campaign, but if you also include KS/amazon deductions, costs of add ons, cost of USPCC extras (metallic ink) and the biggest over look TAXES (most people don't understand a huge chunk of these KS funds get taxed by the IRS, which you have to file on your own), I seriously don't see this ending well unless he has additional outside funds.

What I am worried about as well is that he ran some limited period promotion where you can add decks or dice onto your pledge for a lower price during the 2 days promotion. But how can he track who add what during which time?

Should I pull out? To be honest, I'm pledging just for the 10-Doh! figure and not really for the decks

lordlupus wrote:What I am worried about as well is that he ran some limited period promotion where you can add decks or dice onto your pledge for a lower price during the 2 days promotion. But how can he track who add what during which time?

Should I pull out? To be honest, I'm pledging just for the 10-Doh! figure and not really for the decks

I too am curious as to how he's tracking the extra pledges. This is my conversation with him over email (oldest communication at the bottom):


Herman Yung
Tuesday Dec 18, 5:09pm EST
Thanks so much! Best of luck with the rest of the process!


Cobey Pile
Tuesday Dec 18, 5:05pm EST
Herman that is correct, you have it right. Thanks


Herman Yung
Tuesday Dec 18, 4:12pm EST
Hi Cobey. First off, I really love your 8-bit deck.

Question though...Since my original pledge of $15 for 2 regular decks, I've modified my pledge amount twice (added $22 for 2 gold decks and then added $18 for two black decks). But as far as I can see, there's no way for you to know this in my Kickstarter pledge because I was told to just remain at my original pledge prize level.

I wanted to make sure I was doing this correctly.

As it currently stands, I am pledging $55 for a total of 6 decks -- 2 regular, 2 gold, and 2 black. How do I make sure this doesn't get confusing for you or me when the Kickstarter is completed?

i backed out 3 days ago...sorry but 3 decks and now a 4th deck comming....
seriously i was worried how he will handle all those pledges and then he added a deck and another deck.
some people ( i will not point my finger to anyone,but you know who you are) are not even able to pull of a 1 deck kickstarter project
so how he will do it is questionable no doubt.
anyways this one is funded and once it has hit the shelves i will get the standard edition.

cosmicsecret wrote:i backed out 3 days ago...sorry but 3 decks and now a 4th deck comming....
seriously i was worried how he will handle all those pledges and then he added a deck and another deck.
some people ( i will not point my finger to anyone,but you know who you are) are not even able to pull of a 1 deck kickstarter project
so how he will do it is questionable no doubt.
anyways this one is funded and once it has hit the shelves i will get the standard edition.

The more I read everyone's concerns, the more I feel the need to pull out of this Kickstarter campaign as well. Seems overly inflated now and I can't imagine him pulling this off financially...or logistically since we have no idea how he's keeping track of the additional decks people are adding for every goal reached.

There's 49 hours left and I'm thinking I should pull out as well..

As much as I like the idea and the decks, I don't see how he can do everything for the price he is charging. Even if he gets to $40,000, I don't think it is even enough for him to break even. He has 4 decks and even if he does the minimum amount, which is 2500 decks per design, that would be a minimum of about $25,000 +/- just for the decks. Shipping is probably going to be around $5,000. Kickstarter and amazon each get 5% that would be another $4,000. Then you have all the other trinkets that you get for pledging. I don't think $40,000 is going to be anywhere near enough. I am hope I am wrong and missing something.

Thanks!

i was completely excited to see this deck when it first came up and i quickly backed it, then i started seeing all these extras, and now its up to 4 decks and a ton of chips and tokens, i had to back out. it sucks because i wanted this type of deck for a while now, but i dont think itll be done without hitting the red. if im wrong, youll be seeing me overpaying on ebay if they do come out, but thats a risk im willing to take, rather than seeing my money dissapear for nothing

Man...you guys are really making some thoughtful points right now. I'm considering pulling as well.

Hello Everyone,

Michael Scott again. The artist on the 8-bit deck. I am not the greatest at keeping up on message boards, but I wanted to chime in. I can understand your concerns. We have a running database on the pledges for our project. Kickstarter gives us a notification each time we receive an increase or decrease on pledges. We also have received messages from a great majority of the backers on their exact pledges. We have all of the logistics and manufacturing ready to go on this project. Everyone will get the highest quality products from the cards to the poker chips. The funds are there to cover everything we need to manufacture and ship all of our products. We are thrilled with the backing of our project. We look forward to producing these cards and hearing about the old school feeling everyone gets when they use them.

Thanks for your support,

Michael Scott

TL;DR
Everything is perfectly fine, trust us.

-----------------------------


Thanks for a seemingly automated corporate response with zero reassurance or explanation.

yeaah that doesnt exactly reassure me on anything, it kind of made me feel a lot better for backing out, after supporting the kickstarter for so long...can you give us any figures on how its actually possible for you guys to do this on the funding you have?

That was a weird response from Michael. At this point, I'm willing to pay the extra costs to buy them on eBay (if all goes well) than to go through this Kickstarter fiasco and get the runaround. Why can't either Michael or Cobey give us an answer?

doobybrain wrote:That was a weird response from Michael. At this point, I'm willing to pay the extra costs to buy them on eBay (if all goes well) than to go through this Kickstarter fiasco and get the runaround. Why can't either Michael or Cobey give us an answer?

Agreed. I want something a little more detailed or specific than that. Is there a cutoff to pulling a pledge other than the actual end date of the project? I am unaware if there is a date where pledges can continue to come in, but no pledges can be removed.

elcyciB wrote:

doobybrain wrote:That was a weird response from Michael. At this point, I'm willing to pay the extra costs to buy them on eBay (if all goes well) than to go through this Kickstarter fiasco and get the runaround. Why can't either Michael or Cobey give us an answer?

Agreed. I want something a little more detailed or specific than that. Is there a cutoff to pulling a pledge other than the actual end date of the project? I am unaware if there is a date where pledges can continue to come in, but no pledges can be removed.

I believe you can pull your pledge as long as the project still has days to countdown until fully funded. I, for one, have just canceled my pledge. I'm a bit sad about it since I really wanted these, but in the end, I feel a lot better just buying these when they are real instead of funding something that sounds increasingly like its going to vanish with my money.

doobybrain wrote:

elcyciB wrote:

doobybrain wrote:That was a weird response from Michael. At this point, I'm willing to pay the extra costs to buy them on eBay (if all goes well) than to go through this Kickstarter fiasco and get the runaround. Why can't either Michael or Cobey give us an answer?

Agreed. I want something a little more detailed or specific than that. Is there a cutoff to pulling a pledge other than the actual end date of the project? I am unaware if there is a date where pledges can continue to come in, but no pledges can be removed.

I believe you can pull your pledge as long as the project still has days to countdown until fully funded. I, for one, have just canceled my pledge. I'm a bit sad about it since I really wanted these, but in the end, I feel a lot better just buying these when they are real instead of funding something that sounds increasingly like its going to vanish with my money.

Thanks dooby, I'll see if they post anything on here in response by tomorrow. I really want these too, mostly just the gold edition (I like that design better). I also wish all the court cards were normal design, just pixelated...but whatever.

I'm considering pulling out of this one as well. I'll give it 1 more day to see.

I'm out... as others indicated, the numbers don't add up for me and I don't want to get burned by another Kickstarter project gone wrong...

chess wrote:I'm considering pulling out of this one as well. I'll give it 1 more day to see.

Same here Chess. Still waiting for a response from them on this thread. In the meantime, they just threw out another stretch goal.