The Big Squeeze is a game about your lemonade stand vs. the apocalypse! It's an irreverent engine-builder designed to be your new go-to gateway game thanks to a secret recipe: the game is split into two eras! Splitting the game into 2 parts lets The Big Squeeze gently introduce new players to the tableau-building, while simultaneously challenging experienced players to chart their strategy across two distinct phases. This game is for 1-4 players and takes 60 minutes to play.

The Big Squeeze will be available for online purchase in USA after all backers have received their game. Our goal is for The Big Squeeze to become available in select stores across USA and Canada, and to branch out into as many territories as we can, but distribution to your local game store / state / country is not guaranteed. The Cosmic Ingredients mini-expansion and the Deluxe Wooden Tokens will not be released in stores. They will be promo-only and limited-time, only becoming available at some conventions and some online offers until we run out of stock. The Collector's Edition box sleeve will be printed once and NEVER again. It's specifically to reward campaign supporters and we won't undermine that with a sleeve reprint. This will also be promo-only, only appearing in a few select areas until the prints run out.

Base Edition is the game at its most straightforward, designed to be identical to what you'll find in stores. You will receive your game before The Big Squeeze becomes available in stores. Launch Edition gives you the game in its complete full design, including the promo-exclusive Constellation Cards and Cosmic Ingredients. These additions allow for more customization to your earlygame and more power to your endgame. It's designed specifically for board game hobbyists. Backers get to vote on the art and name of the Constellations during the campaign! Small Batch Collector's Edition is a backer-only, limited-run, pure-dazzle upgrade. This doesn't add new gameplay, but instead makes your game look fancy with 200+ wooden ingredient tokens, a foil-treated box sleeve and a unique Small Batch code. If you're one of the first to pledge at this level, your name will get added to the Founders list on the box sleeve so you can physically show your game group that you were there when it all began.

Base game: Yes! The Big Squeeze has been fully designed and tested extensively across 3 years of refinement, and is considered finished. Cosmic Ingredients & Constellation Cards: Due to the nature of the campaign, we're building out these Constellations together. Our goal is to tweak the Constellation gameplay to match the art. So while we have tested and validated each potential design, there will be a few weeks of final balance changes once the campaign is finished. If you join our Discord, you are free to join us! Stretch Goals: We have character designs under early testing, but we'd like to continue rigorous playtesting to ensure these are just as solid as the original cast. All of these phases will be complete within 1-2 months, concurrently with the finalization of factory files, so we do not expect fulfillment will to be delayed by gameplay polishes.

It's a card game, so there is enough input randomness to ensure that the same character will have very different games based on the hand they're dealt. It is possible to get lucky! But if you've played poker or competitive card games, you'll know that randomness and skill are not mutually exclusive. It's not whether life gives you lemons, but what you do with them! When everyone is new, whoever is first to discover an overpowered combo is likely to win. But once you're experienced, you'll be setting up combos across both eras, picking recipes to out-tempo or outgrow your opponent's strategies, and take tactical plays (ie bounty control) to prevent runaway combos. It takes practice, though!

We've decided to balance each character around gameplay at a high-experience level. This does mean for first-time players, things are more in the chaotic and casual end of the spectrum. Once you begin taking into account cross-era synergies, stashing tempo, bounty blocking, upgrade priorities and action optimization, characters reach an equal level and the more skilled player is more likely to win regardless of who they're playing.

Estimated fulfillment is 8-12 months after the campaign. This is a wider range than in our previous campaigns due to the volatile shipping situation around the world. We will keep you updated on the game's progress as it moves through each of the production stages.

We work with a number of publishing partners to sell our games in a wide range of territories, and those partners have exclusive rights over how games are sold in their area(s). Additionally, the actual warehousing of each game determines where they are allowed to be shipped and sold. Essentially, we can only offer some add-ons to USA residents due to logistics.

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