Spring is just around the corner, and soon, many of our favorite birds will be migrating back for summer! With the changing seasons comes an exciting milestone for this project—we're thrilled to announce that development is nearly complete, and it's time to start locking orders in the Pledge Manager.
Development Update: Almost Ready for Takeoff!
Over the past few months, we’ve been hard at work finalizing all the files for the various Bird games and accessories. At this stage, everything is nearly complete, with the only remaining pieces being the Goose and Mr. Darcy Stuffies. We’re happy to report that we’re 100% on track with our estimated timeline and plan to kick off manufacturing in June.
As we receive samples of the final products, we’ll be sure to share updates and sneak peeks with you—so stay tuned!
Green Squirrel has confirmed her order. Have you?!
Pledge Manager Closing Soon
With manufacturing just a few months away, it’s time to start locking in orders through the Pledge Manager. This step helps us confirm the exact quantities we need to produce and ensures a smooth shipping process.
If you haven’t finalized your order yet, now is the time! We’ll be sending out Completion Reminders and Final Notices next week, so you’ll have a heads-up before your order is locked and your payment method is charged.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].
The More You Know!
Tariff Talk – How It Affects Us (and You!)
Some of you have asked how the new tariffs are impacting us, so we wanted to take a moment to break it down and explain why it matters.
The short version? These tariffs hit small publishers like us hard. Unlike what some might assume, tariffs aren’t paid by the country they target—they’re paid by businesses importing goods. That means every time we bring a product into the U.S., we’re charged a percentage of the manufacturing cost. In some cases, we even get hit with the tariff twice—once when it enters the U.S. and again when we ship it to a fulfillment center in Canada.
A predictable tariff isn’t the problem—we typically account for a tariff of less than 10% when pricing our games, adjusting factors like art and production costs to keep the MSRP reasonable. The real problem arises when tariffs suddenly change or spike dramatically. Overnight increases can throw off all of our carefully planned budgets, making games unexpectedly expensive to produce and even unprofitable once they’ve already been manufactured and shipped.
Some might suggest manufacturing in the U.S. as a solution, but unfortunately, that’s not an option—there simply aren’t factories here capable of producing board games at the same level of quality. Even if such facilities were built, they’d likely be booked solid by larger publishers, leaving little room for smaller companies like ours.
What does this mean for us? For now, we’re absorbing the extra costs, sacrificing profit margins to keep our games from increasing in price. But there may come a point where we need to raise prices in order to continue investing in future art, game development, and our team. If you're one of our backers, there's not much to worry about—your prices are locked in. But we’re sharing this because we want you to know that these policy changes have very real consequences for small businesses like ours. If this resonates with you, feel free to share our story as an example of how trade policies impact independent publishers.
And to those who’ve reached out with concern—thank you. Your support means everything to us!
That’s it for now! Thanks for being part of this journey with us and get excited for the next stage of the project!
