This is literally an update . . . we are in the middle of a bad situation here, not at its end. As of now we’ve got something worth passing along, but there will be more.

This is also a big apology. As I assume everybody knows already, some Big Box got into the distribution chain before all the backers were even shipped. Not just W23. And we didn’t have an immediate answer for what was going on! Our rep at the fulfillment house went on vacation and . . . you see where this is going, right? It’s been a week since our last update, because we had no data. We knew we had a mess but we couldn’t even get a return call about its size or shape. 

How did the early shipment even happen? It was a right hand/left hand thing. The fulfillment house didn’t come close to meeting its original projection for shipping to backers, or let us know how behind they were, but they shipped to distributors on the original schedule. And we put it on W23 when they shipped to us, which was purely our own failure. Arrrrgh!

At least further shipments to distributors have stopped, so we have quit making the problem worse.

As of yesterday afternoon, our fulfillment rep is back in the office, and he returned my call. Hallelujah. He says that 82% of the domestic backers have been shipped. This makes it sound better than it really is. They did the easy ones first. The remaining 18% unfulfilled are the more complex orders (so the more you backed us, the farther back in their queue you are - which is nuts - and one thing I’m going to expect, on further projects, is that that be fixed). I am expecting a call from higher up in their organization to tell me what they are doing to speed things up, and when we can REALLY expect the last domestic order to go out.

Even more aggravating, he told me that the pallets of overseas orders are still sitting on the warehouse dock because the (domestic) fulfillment house “cannot get a reply” from their overseas counterparts. I don’t know how hard they have tried, and I’m not sure why they can’t ship until they get that reply. I asked them today, in pretty direct terms, to try a lot harder, and WE have started calling, as well.

. . . You will have noticed that I’m not naming names. I won’t do so until or unless I feel that someone has been literally fraudulent, unspeakably lazy, or just plain dumb about fulfilling our order, which is YOUR order. If you’re going to be forgiving, thank you very much, and if you’re going to be mad, be mad at us, because we chose these companies.

So what are we going to do?

- We’re going to be checking fulfillment progress daily. I am sure this will be an aggravation to the contractors. Sorry about that, contractors. Y’all made us do it.
- We’re going to go back and look at why we chose these contractors, what the alternatives were, and what guarantees we’d need if we used them again. There are alternatives. (There are about a million companies competing for fulfillment contracts. It seems that perhaps a dozen of them have actual experience. I typed another sentence here and then deleted it; you’ll never know what I made myself not say out loud.)
- We will not resume shipments to distributors or Amazon until (at least) the North American orders have been shipped and those for the rest of the world are on the water.
- W23 shows as “sold out” because we came to a screeching halt with sales there, not because we have none to ship.
- As of today, I intend to ship Big Box to Gen Con. There is a future in which fulfillment continues to go so badly that we don’t feel we can even sell it there. I hope that future does not come.
- We’re going to TRY to learn the lesson “don’t put so many extras in a project.” It’s hard to be restrained when everybody is BEGGING for those extras! But all those extras led to extra time for fulfillment, which worsened the mess.

Some people have suggested that we do some sort of extra gift for the aggrieved backers. Been thinking about that one. I’m not going to try to judge who is justly aggrieved, or send out some little tchotchke and say “We good now, right?” If a meaningful idea presents itself, I’m all ears.

I expect better communication now from our contractors, every day. And if we don’t get it, we can come on here and say so. That will give you better communication too.

Again, I’m sorry. Angry and sorry. We are doing what we can to sort this out.

– Steve Jackson

Hello,

As you may have read in the update from SJ yesterday, we will be more diligent in providing updates on our fulfillment progress for the remaining pledges. Please note that the updates may not contain new information; however, we will continue to update the information on a more regular basis. 

=============

Date: 7/11/2025

United States: 82% Complete

United Kingdom & European Union: 0% Complete.

Australia & New Zealand: 81% complete

Canada: 0% complete

Rest of World:100% Complete

=============

Future updates will be found below as a reply to this update. We will pin the most recent update to make the newest information easy to find, without losing access to past updates. We’ll be back on Monday with fresh info!

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below or contact us on our help site. 

Thank you,

- Darryll

We want to address the backers we've heard from regarding Big Box being available on Warehouse 23 before all of you have received your pledges. We do understand that this is beyond frustrating, especially since our original promise was not to release this title until all the pledges were fulfilled.

We clearly miscalculated how long it would take to fulfill this project. And we aren’t doing it all from Austin; this project was much too big for us to handle here in our little office. Some of the parts and pieces were subcontracted to a couple of other entities, and we didn’t receive the follow-through that we had hoped for. Our intention is not to throw anyone under the proverbial bus here. Most of us have worked incredibly hard to get your pledges out to you as soon as possible.

Please remember, and I hope it is some consolation, that the Big Boxes available in retail are only the Big Box; the exclusive Loot Box is not included for anyone who did not pledge for the project. Those are reserved for you, our backers.

We sincerely apologize to those of you who are upset about this development; we assure you that we are working as quickly as possible, and are continuing to poke our outside contractors to do the same. 

Thank you,
Susan Bueno
Chief Operating Officer

Hello, everyone!

We know many of you are eager for an update on your Munchkin Big Box pledges, and we appreciate your continued patience. We're committed to keeping you informed as we work through our largest crowdfunding project to date.

For over 40 years, Steve Jackson Games has been dedicated to bringing great games to life. We're proud to have successfully delivered over 80 crowdfunding projects to our backers, and that commitment remains as strong as ever. While this project is taking longer than we initially anticipated, we want to assure you that our team is working incredibly hard to get your Munchkin Big Box pledges into your hands. We've encountered some unavoidable global hurdles related to trade and tariffs, however, which have particularly impacted the large-scale shipments. These factors, unfortunately, have created some bumps in the road, but we're actively navigating them.

Munchkin fans comprise a vast community; many of you selected extensive add-ons (Thank you!), which add complexity to the shipping process. This means that if your pledge includes a significant number of add-ons, your shipment might be among the later waves. We understand that this can be frustrating, but please know that we're steadily making progress on every single pledge. 

Here's a regional breakdown:

We appreciate your incredible support and understanding as we navigate this massive undertaking. We will continue to provide updates as fulfillment milestones are reached. Thank you for being such an integral part of the Munchkin community.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below or contact us directly through our help site.

Thank you!

Hello, Backers!

We know you're eagerly awaiting your Big Box, and that clear communication is paramount. If our last update left you with unanswered questions, we want to address that now with additional information about the Munchkin Big Box fulfillment.

First, we want to provide some context regarding our fulfillment strategy. The recent volatility in global trade, including significant tariffs on our initial shipments, has reiterated the need for a responsible approach to ensure we can fulfill all international orders sustainably and effectively. This is why we are prioritizing a phased rollout, starting with the US and then moving to other regions with careful planning.

United States: We're making good progress on US fulfillment and are currently about 50% complete. You should continue to see shipping notifications as we work through the remaining orders.

United Kingdom & European Union: We have some positive news here! We're on track to begin fulfilling approximately 75% of UK/EU orders in the near future. The remaining 25% involve orders with more intricate combinations or specific requirements that will take extra time to prepare. We're addressing these separately to ensure accuracy.

Canada, Australia/New Zealand, and Rest of World: Fulfillment in these regions will begin once most of the US shipments are out the door. 

Thank you for your incredible support. We're committed to getting your rewards to you and will continue to provide updates as we have them.

If you have any questions, please comment below or leave us a help request.