This update just kept growing... Shipping... Some fun... a contest...
over 7 years ago – Thu, Aug 16, 2018 at 09:13:58 PM

 I have been super busy following GenCon and USA fulfillment. But here is a quick update on where we stand. (after I finished writing it out it turned out to be not so quick)

USA

All USA shipments have been sent. It was awesome to personally place each label on the packages to all of our US supporters. I am astounded once again by the number of supporters for Palm Island and I only got to do the US ones which are only about half of our supporters. The whole family was incredible in helping out int he process and I am so thankful for their support as well working all day and late nights to make this happen. Even the kids helped out for a bit (some of them lasted longer than others) which was fun as well. (I did a facebook live for part of it. Click here to watch.) By now all USA backers should have their games. If you have damaged items, missing components or have not gotten yours by now please contact me ([email protected]).

EU 

This is for those who selected the EU friendly pledges. The shipments began earlier this week. Spiral Galaxy is doing a great job getting these out. Dependant on your location and what you ordered you may or may not get tracking info. Also dependant on your location it may take longer for your shipment to arrive. If you have damaged items, missing components please contact me ([email protected]).

Rest of the World 

If you do not fit into either of the above sections then this one is for you. We have had many of the all-weather boxes damaged before or in transit to the USA and the EU. Following this report to the manufacturer, they held the shipment to do a quality control check. The inspection will finish tomorrow. They are also wrapping all the blue boxes in bubble wrap so they don’t get damaged in transit. I am sorry for these delays but we are doing all that we can to ensure you will get your items safe and sound. These are being shipped through Post Air 1st class / EMS Small Parcel which is tracked and will arrive 2-3 weeks after they are shipped.

GenCon report 

This year was our first year with a booth at GenCon we had over 75 GenCon pickups scheduled and many more stopped by to say "hi". We were so busy I wasn't able to meet all of you in person, but that is a good problem to have in this situation. We were packed on the way to set up the booth and with people in the booth during the con. I also had tons of reviewers, manufactures and other meetings stop by so it made it hard to even slip away to the bathroom. Again, good problems to have.

Following the con we jumped right into fulfillment which I talked a bit about in the USA section above. Then I got to spend 2 days in Tenessee just enjoying ourselves as a family.

Next up is GrandCon in Michigan and then PAX Unplugged in Pennsylvania. If you will be at either of those shows stop by and see us.

Now for some fun! 

I have seen some reports about the plastic cards. Some may have seen my abuse of the cards, but now more unofficial test have been taking place. One of our backers, Derek and Lizzy Funkhouser, commissioned an unofficial stress tester, Seb Funkhouser, to submit the plastic cards to the mortal enemy of paper cards, the infamous splash pad. I would love to see where you take the game. There are tons of posts about the game on social media. If you haven't yet, please add your photos on your favorite social media (tagging theportaldragon) or bgg we would love to see them.

I have loved reading your comments and thoughts on the game. Please keep them coming and add them to our BGG page as well.

Another Contest 

Let's give away some more water bottles. I learned my lesson last time. Though the above review and image submissions would be great, they are in no way to related to this contest. Sign up here (http://eepurl.com/dEiZGv) for our launch updates and you will be entered to win one of 2 water bottles. This list sends just one email prior to launch with the kickstarter preview page of each new Portal Dragon project. As I stated before all those who commented on the last little contest will get a bonus entry into this contest. Lets set the closing of this one for August 24th.

Sorry for the somewhat lengthy update, lots of links in this one. Thank you all so much for your support and your patience through this project.
Jon Mietling
Portal Dragon

Boxes, labels and bubble wrap. Its all happening.
over 7 years ago – Wed, Aug 08, 2018 at 11:37:39 PM

USA Orders

We are currently in the thick of packing everything up here in the USA. Yesterday we got all of the unique orders completed and today we tackle the bulk of the orders. If you are in the US your shipment will be on its way soon. 

I stepped away to respond to some messages and post this so I will make it quick so I can get back to it. It is a family affair here, even some of the kids are helping. I am going to do a facebook live video later today once we get rolling on the bulk of these orders. It will be posted on the portal dragon facebook page.  

EU friendly orders

All pre-orders from the EU were charged the EU friendly shipping prices. So if you pre-ordered and are from the EU or did an EU friendly pledge this section, however brief it, is for you. Spiral Galaxy will be shipping the games for the EU. They have received the shipment, completed inventory and everything is in good order. They are processing the addresses and should start shipping this week.  

The rest of the world

If you are not in the USA or did not order with EU friendly shipping your shipment will come from China through VFI. They have all the info and are preparing for the shipments but they have not yet received the units from the manufacturer. I have been bugging the manufacturer a lot. I paid for the shipment for over a week now. Needless to say this is another frustration, but I am working on it. 

A Fun Video

On a more positive note I have really been abusing my plastic cards and they are holding up great. Check this video if you want to see how resilient they are. 

Gencon Results 

The response to Palm Island and other Portal Dragon games at GenCon was overwhelming. Our small booth was packed all day everyday. I had a hard time squeezing through people to make it to meetings. We have already had a bunch of reviewers and fans posting about games they played on the plane, a big chain store is interested and tons of publishers are opening talks about localization. 

I am so excited for the future of Palm Island and Portal Dragon. All of you have made this possible. From the bottom of my heart I cannot thank you enough. 

OK, so this wasn't all that brief. I am sure I will have more info coming soon. 

Thank you so much,
Jon Mietling
Portal Dragon

It's here! Well 50.7% of "it".
over 7 years ago – Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 11:45:21 PM

The US shipment has arrived. With lots of headaches and delays, the US games are on the ground and in our hands. We have been prepping everything for shipment so when we get back from GenCon we can jump right into fulfillment. I will provide updates and take some video as well through that process. 

We are not out of the woods yet though since the other 2 shipments to the fulfillment centers have not arrived yet.

They did have not given me the details on the delays but this is what I do know. As of this morning, the EU shipment is in Beijing and scheduled to depart tonight for Heathrow Airport. It is scheduled to arrive on Monday the 6th. Sprial galaxy does another round of address checks and then they will be shipping. The shipment for the fulfillment house in China that will be shipping the non-eu friendly rest of the world shipments should be leaving this week. 

Contest Winners

So it was great while it lasted but sadly this contest was in violation of BGG's rules. So the vote counter was reset to 0. It makes sense. I am super thankful though to all of you because before that we reached over 380 votes. Which is more than the 256 entries here. So we reached some new people! But bummers aside let's get to the prizes. The winners are Bart de Vos and Daniel Leonard! Again I cannot thank you all enough for all of your support. I will be getting together a few, more legal, giveaways soon.

I will try to post stuff to our facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/theportaldragon/) during GenGon. If we can I will do a facebook live right after we get the booth set up to take a look around and a look at planetoid as well.  I stayed up to late last night working on updating the prototype.

I am so excited that we are closer to getting all of you your games. 
Thank you all again,
Jon Mietling
Portal Dragon

Loan me your thumbs
over 7 years ago – Thu, Jul 26, 2018 at 01:31:38 AM

I posted a comment about the shipment status but figured I should let everyone know here as well. The USA shipment is currently on its way to Nashville. So that is exciting. I am sorry to say, there was a bit of a confusion in the communications with the manufacturer and the shipper. The EU and all other international shipments were not ready when the USA shipment was picked up. They said that they will be going out this week and I just got confirmation that the EU shipment is ready to be picked by our shipper. With all that has happened, it looks like we will not be able to start fulfillment for the USA before GenCon. The EU and the rest of the world will begin fulfilling as soon as the cargo arrives. So it is looking like all shipments should be going out around the same times. I am continuing to pester them for details and to move this along as best as I can.

Another little contest

I loved your enthusiasm from the last contest so let's do it again. I have a new prize to give that will only be available through contests and giveaways.

This is a Palm Island collapsable water bottle. What a great thing to take with you to the beach along with your copy of Palm Island! I will be giving away 2 of these. All you have to do is thumbs up Palm Island on the BGG GenCon Preview Tool (https://boardgamegeek.com/geekpreview/7/gen-con-2018-preview?parentitem=3825) and then come back here and comment that you voted. If you would like to vote for planetoid as well that would be helpful but not required. I will have more news on that upcoming game soon. 

I will announce the winner on Monday the 30th so vote before then. I am planning on running a couple more contests like this and I will combine entries from each subsequent contest. So the more you participate in the more chances to win.

Once again thank you all for your support,
Jon Mietling
Portal Dragon LLC

Shipment Scheduled
over 7 years ago – Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 01:55:42 AM

Through the manufacturing process, I expected to have all sorts of production updates with photos and videos. But I suppose better than pictures is the news of the shipment has been scheduled. As of today, my shipper has informed me that the details for the shipment have been received and available for pickup on July 19th. All three shipments will be sent at that time and fulfillment will begin once they are received. We are doing air freight for the USA and EU bulk shipment to the fulfillment facilities which should be 7-10 days. This does make for some interesting timing with the USA deliveries. I will personally be involved with the US fulfillment and dependant on the arrival time of the shipment with my GenCon schedule I may be shipping before or after the con. Possibly I may be sending some before and some after. All that to say I will get games shipped out as soon as physically possible.  More updates on the shipments as they take to the air and move into fulfillment.

I did say I expected more photos from the production, however, I do have some. Here they are:  

This is the last call for GenCon pickup. I need to lock down the shipping documents for our fulfillment houses. If you are interested please email me at [email protected].

I am excited that the games will be moving soon. We are getting that much closer to having it in your hands. 

Thanks again,
Jon Mietling
Portal Dragon