Pledge Manager Reminder, Matte Sleeves, and Production Updates!
about 5 years ago – Thu, Apr 18, 2019 at 03:10:08 AM

Hello foodies!

We just wanted to give you a quick update on what we've been up to at Gap Closer Games.

85% of backers have completed the Pledge Manager (aka BackerKit survey)!

That's right! A whopping 3,579 awesome individuals have completed their BackerKit surveys. (Thank you!) The rest of you still have time to do so, but don't wait too long! 

THE PLEDGE MANAGER WILL CLOSER ON MAY 15!

Remember, unless you fill out the pledge manager we cannot fulfill your order/send you your game. So please fill out the Pledge Manager ASAP!  If you lost your survey email, just click here to retrieve it.

Once You Go Matte, You Don't Go Back

Can we just take a moment and give a shout out to all you sleevers out there? When we decided to offer sleeves as an optional add-on, we thought we'd get a hundred hardcore sleevers...maybe 200 at most. But we are now at 750 sleeve orders...and counting! Way to go sleeve nation! Just to confirm (and because many of you have been asking), the sleeves will be:

•  Matte! We were originally going to do glossy, but after hearing from many of you about matte's benefits (easier to shuffle, easier to read) we decided to go all in!
•  100 microns (.1mm) thick
• Compatible with the plastic insert 
• Compatible with the Bento Box 

Production Updates

The Rule Book is locked, loaded, and fully updated! Be sure to especially check out the new 2 player mode: Kitchen Squad!

 Also, we are very excited to share that all of our art files have been submitted to Panda Games! Right now, we are waiting for Panda to create our FIRST pre-production copy! The pre-production copy is basically a trial print run from the manufacturing side. 

Once we receive the pre-production copy, we'll make the necessary edits/adjustments and send it back to Panda Games for another round of printing. We'll continue this process until we are 100% satisfied with the quality/look of the components. 

What we've been learning is that making a game is NOT an easy task...but at the same time, IT IS SO MUCH FUN!!! We are so excited to be able to go through this process thanks to backers like you. Thank you again for all of your support and stay tuned for more updates sometime next month!

- Team Gap Closer

The Pledge Manager is Open!
about 5 years ago – Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 02:11:13 AM

Hello to all of our aspiring chefs and gourmands!

We have some exciting news to share in this update! Read on to see what's in store!

If you're new to Kickstarter or don't know what a Pledge Manager is...

Read this! Basically, a Pledge Manager is a tool that's used to help you get your stuff! We are using BackerKit as our Pledge Manager. Through the BackerKit survey, you'll be able to:

•  tell us where to ship your game 
•  upgrade your pledge (e.g. from Appetizer to Deluxe, Retail to Deluxe)
•  purchase additional copies (both Retail and Deluxe)
•  buy add-ons such as the Bento Box and CUSTOM SLEEVES (more on that below)

***** You must fill out the BackerKit survey by May 15!*****

Check your inbox for  with the subject line "Response Needed - Get your reward for Rival Restaurants." Your email will include a unique link to the BackerKit survey. Follow the instructions on each page to complete your order. You can make changes to your order until May 15, 2019. If you misplace the email, you can use the following link to access the pledge manager as well.

Important Dates

•  March 20: BackerKit (Pledge Manager) surveys were sent out to everyone who pledged on Kickstarter. 
•  May 15: The BackerKit Pledge Manager will be closed. All orders will be locked and credit cards will be charged.
•  September 1*: Your shipping address will be locked and can no longer be updated. We are still targeting October 31, 2019 as our fulfillment goal. (*This date is subject to change according to our production schedule.)

Custom Sleeves *NEW ADD-ON* (Pack of 350 for $15)

During the campaign, there were a number of questions about the size of our cards and whether or not they could be sleeved. 

In particular, there were several questions about our ingredient cards since they are not standard mini-size cards. Although you can technically still use standard US mini sleeves 1 5/8 inches x 2.5 inches (41mm x 63mm), our ingredient cards actually measure slightly smaller at 1.5 inches x 2.25 inches (38mm x 57mm). This means that there would be a thin, clear border around the edges of the cards once they are sleeved. There's also a slight chance that cards sleeved with standard US mini sleeves will not fit into the vacuum-formed insert/organizer since standard sleeves are roughly the same size as the slots in the insert. Taking all this into consideration, we made it a priority to look into making custom sleeves for all of our sleevers.

Initially, we didn't think it'd be feasible to fit custom sleeves into our original timeline. However, after talking extensively with our manufacturer and making special arrangements, we are excited to share that custom sleeves are a go! This means that your cards will fit perfectly not only into the sleeves but also into vacuum-formed plastic insert (discard tray) as well as the box organizer. They will fit perfectly into the Bento Box as well.

For those of you who don't sleeve, you don't have to do anything since the custom sleeves are completely optional add-ons. However, for those of you who do sleeve, we hope this is welcome news! Included in the add-on are 350 sleeves: 200 custom mini-card sleeves (for all ingredients) and 150 poker-size sleeves (for all recipes, action cards, and chef cards). Rival Restaurants comes with 174 mini cards and 108 poker-size cards (102 for Retail); this means that you'll have extras of both (hopefully for future expansions)!

Questions?

Message us on Kickstarter! And as always, thanks again for being a backer!

Always cooking,

Gap Closer Games

New Art, Dice Tower West, and Pledge Manager Updates
about 5 years ago – Mon, Mar 11, 2019 at 07:04:01 PM

It's been two and a half weeks since our Kickstarter ended but boy have we been busy! We want to thank each and every one of our backers for being so patient as we finalize details and prepare to open the pledge manager. Here are some of the things we've been up to behind the scenes!

Component/Art updates

We've been working hard with our manufacturer, Panda Games, to finalize all art as well as game components. We're just about finished and wanted to share some of the updates with you all.

First up is our new Cost Guide. 

• Added full-color, bold backgrounds to the upgrades, garbage, action cards, and markets. This should help new players navigate the game more fluidly and intuitively.
• Rearranged the order in which Mystery Mart ingredients are listed as well as added our newest and most anticipated ingredient: WINE! 
• Revised "Action Cards" box to reflect rules clarification (pausing the timer and being able to use certain action cards during Cook and Counter).

Next, we made some minor tweaks to the market board. 

• Swapped Chop Shop and Vegetable Land markets so that the $100 and $200 markets could be grouped together.
• Enlarged all market prices by 200% for easier viewing, especially across the board.
• Redesigned The Island so that there's only 1 place to put your chef. 
• Added color-coded prices for the upgrades so that players are reminded of where they can buy upgrades as well as how much they cost.
• Created outlines for the discard tray for easier organization/setup.

• Redesigned the movement wheel because the red arrow was starting to scratch the location dial after continued use.
• Replaced it with 2 overlapping circular dials with a red border at the top to show which location you've chosen.
• Cut out a notch at the bottom to make it easier to turn the wheel with your thumb.

All in all, we are very happy with how the art updates turned out and are sure that you'll find them to be helpful changes as well.

What happens in Vegas...

...gets reported in Kickstarter updates! For the past 4 days, we've been here in Las Vegas at Dice Tower West and wow, have we had a blast! From playing with fellow gamers from all over the country, to meeting (and thanking) some of our amazing backers in person, Dice Tower West has definitely reminded us of why we got into game designing in the first place.  

For everyone that stopped to play with us, thank you!! We can't wait to get Rival Restaurants into your hands! Speaking of which...

BackerKit/Pledge Manager

We are still on schedule to send out the BackerKit (pledge manager) surveys within the next 2 weeks (hopefully sooner)! Through the pledge manager, you'll be able to upgrade from the Retail to Deluxe Edition, add the Bento Box wooden organizer, as well as purchase additional copies of Rival Restaurants. We thank you for your continued patience and we are really looking forward to opening the pledge manager soon, so please stay tuned for more details!

Thanks again!

Team Gap Closer Games

We did it!
about 5 years ago – Tue, Feb 19, 2019 at 01:39:13 AM

 What else can we say besides...

When we first set out to create Rival Restaurants, it existed only as an idea--a random collection of handwritten "recipes" on the back of college lecture notes. The idea was simple: create a game about food, make it fun, and design it so that everyone (from hardcore tabletoppers to casual board gamers) could enjoy it.

Fast forward 7 years, dozens of revisions, and now 4,191 backers later, and all we can say is...thank you. 

Thank you for making Rival Restaurants a reality.

Thank you for believing in us and our vision.

Thank you for allowing us to fulfill our dreams.

Each and every one of you have played an important part in making this game one that will be played in thousands of homes all over the world. That feeling is just something that we can't quite put into words. So all we can say for now is thank you. 

Pledge Manager

We will be using BackerKit as our pledge manager. For those of you who are new to Kickstarter, a pledge manager is a way for you to upgrade your pledge after the campaign is over. We anticipate opening the pledge manager in 3-4 weeks, so be on the lookout for that announcement. Your shipping information (i.e. your address) will be collected at that time. We are still targeting the end of October 2019 as our fulfillment date.

Again, on behalf of all of us at Gap Closer Games, thank you so much. We are so honored that you chose to back Rival Restaurants and we can't wait to start cooking!

Orccon Days 1 and 2, Meet the Chefs, Custom Restaurant UNLOCKED, NEW Stretch Goal, and 36 hours to go!
about 5 years ago – Sun, Feb 17, 2019 at 10:15:51 PM

Orccon 2019 Days 1 and 2

We're here at Orccon in Los Angeles and boy has it been fun!

It still amazes us when people come up to our table and say "Hey! You're the guys from Kickstarter!" It's been an absolute whirlwind of a journey as first time creators and we are so humbled by how enthusiastically Rival Restaurants has been received by all of you. Thank you so much for welcoming us into your community. :)

For those of you in the LA area today, please feel free to stop by and say hello! We'll be at the LAX Hilton in both the vendor and open play areas starting from the afternoon.

Also, because many of you have been asking...

Here are the chefs (and their POWERS) in all their glory!

One of the best parts about playing Rival Restaurants is having 12 chefs to choose from, each with his/her own unique power! Even though they're listed in the rule book, we realize that some of you haven't seen all the cool things your chefs can do, so here they are for you to see!

Which chef are you most excited to use?

Welcome to the Restaurant Business!

Now that every backer is going to receive their very own blank restaurant, we can't wait to see what kinds of unique eateries you all will come up with!

And finally...

New Stretch Goal: No need to whine, we have WINE!

Even though we were already fully stretched, as a special thank you to all of our backers, we have added one final stretch goal--something that should really lift your spirits: WINE!

How do you make a Gourmet Recipe even more gourmet? With a little wine of course! Add this newest Mystery Mart ingredient to your Gourmet Recipe and earn 1 extra popularity point when you cook. Now that's what we call a wine pairing!

Thank you again for being the best backers around! We are so excited for how far we've come and cannot thank you enough for your support. Let's have a great final few days!

- Team Gap Closer