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Koltin Thompson took a sick day from teaching fourth grade to launch his Kickstarter. It did $300,000 in the first 24 hours. He went back to work the next morning anyway โ state testing was coming โ and his co-workers wanted to know what on earth he was doing there. That game was ๐ GALACTIC CRUISE, and it just won Dice Tower Game of the Year. T.K. King, Dennis Northcott and Koltin of Kinson Key Games came on to tell the whole story.
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๐๏ธ IN THIS EPISODE:
๐ Three Dice Tower awards in one night โ and why Game of the Year was the one T.K. was watching for
๐ญ Turning in a resignation, tears in the school bathroom, and going full-time into board games
๐ค The sick day that launched a $300,000 Kickstarter โ and the co-workers who asked why he came in
๐ "I'm calling it Galactic Cruise for now" โ the placeholder name that never went away
๐ง The Frankenstein prototype, and a first version that was wider and shallower than the game you know
๐ Who actually made that player aid โ the one people call the best they've ever seen
๐จ Getting to Ian O'Toole: "you have to meet 20 people before you meet Ian"
๐ธ EXCURSIONS โ why it's a whole new game and not an expansion
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๐ LINKS
๐ธ Excursions โ a Galactic Cruise Game (launching soon on Kickstarter)
โถ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kinsonkeygames/excursions-a-galactic-cruise-game
๐ Galactic Cruise
โถ https://kinsonkeygames.com/galactic-cruise
๐ฎ Kinson Key Games
โถ https://www.kinsonkeygames.com/
๐ฌ Kinson Key Games on Discord
โถ https://discord.gg/ZSCRGYJfUC
๐บ Kinson Key Games on YouTube
โถ https://www.youtube.com/@kinsonkeygames3478
โค๏ธ Support My Work โ Join Cardboard
โถ https://crdbrd.app/
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๐ง TOO LONG TO WATCH? THIS IS NOW A PODCAST!
๐ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-board-game-secret-show/id6785378165
๐ข Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033GRnTDINaxqcoJksaCl4
๐ต Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/01414914-23bd-4f4c-a29f-50daa231f364
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โฑ๏ธ CHAPTERS
00:00 - Cold open
00:43 - Who are Kinson Key Games?
04:39 - Three Dice Tower awards in one night
07:10 - How two friends started making games
14:32 - Dennis finds them at Proto ATL
22:30 - Going all in on the first day of 2023
27:22 - Doing the math on quitting a salary
28:51 - The resignation, and a $300,000 launch
32:42 - "I am calling it Galactic Cruise for now"
34:38 - The first version was wider and shallower
35:18 - The Frankenstein prototype
45:09 - Why T.K. loves worker placement
48:32 - Where Developments came from
56:37 - Building the Progress Track
58:25 - Teaching people how it scores
1:01:40 - Achievements and Advancements
1:08:59 - The top-ranked player in the world
1:14:25 - The player aid everyone remembers
1:22:43 - Landing the art on a debut game
1:34:10 - Pitching the Achievements expansion
1:40:18 - Excursions - and why it is not an expansion
1:56:45 - Publishing other designers
2:01:59 - Weight, box size and delivery dates
#cardboard #bgss #galacticcruise
