End of the Trail - Find fortune in the California Gold Rush
Created by Brent Dickman (Elf Creek Games)
End of the Trail is a game for 2 to 4 prospectors searching for gold during the California Gold Rush.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Our Playmat, a Poll, Tabletopia, and our Wooden Box
over 6 years ago
– Wed, Oct 25, 2017 at 09:09:48 PM
Well, here we are—the final week for the End of the Trail Kickstarter campaign! It’s been an amazing journey so far and we can’t thank you all enough for joining us on this adventure. Now we've got some exciting updates for you!
Playmat
Our playmat will measure 20x20 inches, and will be screen-printed on a thick canvas cloth. Please note: in keeping with the theme and feeling of End of the Trail, this playmat will *not* be neoprene. It’s a 100% cloth canvas. Here’s a look at our prototype. Peter is still making a few graphic design tweaks and adding in a little more detail in the landscape:
A cloth playmat has a couple advantages beyond fitting our theme. Neoprene playmats need to be stored flat or rolled. Our canvas playmat can be gingerly folded and placed in your game box. This makes it easier for you to store and for us to ship! So it's a win-win-win situation!
A small sample of the cloth, with 2 End of the Trail tiles.
You can add the playmat to your pledge by adding $15 to your pledge amount. Please message me or comment below with any questions.
Playing Card Add-on?
A few backers have asked us about the possibility of a deck of a standard 52-deck of End of the Trail playing cards. This deck would only be playing cards with End of the Trail illustrations. So there would be no cash value, titles, game text, or special action illustrations.
Because this would mean added graphic design and manufacturing cost, we would like to gauge your interest in this as an add on. Would you be willing to take this very brief (anonymous) survey:
End of the Trail is now on Tabletopia (regular edition components). So grab some friends and try out our game! Mike and I will also set up some times in the End of the Trail Facebook group to play the game with all y'all!
We're thrilled to be working with Cedar Valley Box Company for our limited edition wood box. The box is completely hand-built out of birch and cedar. I cannot wait to get my hands on one!
Tiles go in the left compartment, cards in the top right, with components in the lower right. We've worked with Cedar Valley to ensure that the box should continue to work with our hopes and dreams for End of the Trail expansions! I'll share more photos to the Facebook group as they become available.
Until next time...
We've got some exciting new stretch goals for the final push that we will reveal before the final 48 hours. Until then, please continue to think of a friend or two to share the campaign with, and make use of Kickstarter's "share project" buttons to help us get the word out so that we can unlock even more fantastic stuff.
We continue to make steady progress with our social media goals, as well. So if you haven't liked us on Facebook or BGG yet, please consider doing so!
I'll leave you with a look at our screen-printed animeeples and a reminder that I'm always available should you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Best wishes, Brent (on behalf of team Elf Creek).
Jokers, Outlaws & New Stretch Goals on the Horizon
over 6 years ago
– Sun, Oct 22, 2017 at 10:57:35 PM
Hello there fellow gold prospectors!
We've had another great week together on our campaign. Since our last update we've unlocked two stretch goals and our first social achievement. We're closing in on screen-printing the covered wagons and once we do we'll reveal our next several stretch goals. But here's one sneak peak:
Jokers & Outlaws
We've been busy over in our Facebook group. Fans and backers voted and selected the Snake Oil Salesman as the subject for our Joker illustration. Peter got right to work on the illustrations so that, without further ado, I can present to you our End of the Trail Jokers:
Next up, it's time for us to choose the 4 subjects of our Outlaw cards! We've got a fantastic group of candidates:
Do you want to vote for the real life inspiration for Zorro? But which one? There's two! Or how about Frank & Jesse James as children or the first outlaw to ever dream up robbing a stage coach? There's another outlaw who robbed almost 30 coaches without loading his gun and who left poems behind at the scene of the crime. There's another whose gold---worth over a million US dollars today---may still be buried out in the mountains of California. And some say his ghost is still out looking for it! And then, of course, there's Eleanor Dumont. Well, I'll let you read all about her.
We've had a lot of folks join us since day 1 of the campaign and we couldn't be more thrilled to welcome you to our little corner of the Gold Rush! Folks have been talking about what we're doing here and we couldn't be happier. We wanted to share the news with you.
Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower included us as one of the current Kickstarter projects he finds interesting:
Suzanne Sheldon featured us as the lead Kickstarter project highlighted in this past week's Board Game Breakfast:
Jimmy Hudson of Board Game Closet sat down with our own Mike Hinson to talk about End of the Trail. You can find that here.
The UK-based reviewers at Board Game Exposure named us their #3 board game currently on Kickstarter [Facebook link].
Keith Matejka of Thunderworks Games is one of our backers, and he shared about our campaign in his recent update, check it out!
The same is also true of the folks at Doomsday Robots, who also shared about our campaign in their recent update, take a look here.
That's a lot! We're very thankful, and a bit speechless, over all of the support we've been given by others in the board game community. And Mike and I are hard at work doing what we can to get the game in front of new folks. Will you join us in that? Consider sharing the campaign with a friend and let them know why you're excited about backing.
We've also got our social achievement goals. We've already fulfilled 5 of our 9 and are well on our way to unlocking moving wheels on our Kickstarter-exclusive covered-wagon sleeve. We'll reveal the unlocked Joker in our next update, early this coming week. In the meantime, take a look at the remaining goals. Consider liking us on Facebook and BGG and sharing a selfie with something gold. Be sure to tag @ElfCreekGames in your post. My son and I got us started last week, so consider joining in on the fun. :)
That's all for now. I know many of you are waiting to hear about the play mat add on. I promise that just as soon as we get the final word from our manufacturer that we'll update you all about the play mat. Until then, as always Mike and I are here and ready to respond to any questions, messages, or comments you might have.
Until next time. Best wishes and happy gaming, Brent, on behalf of Elf Creek
P.S. If you want to take part in our outlaw poll, but aren't on Facebook and don't want to be, that's just fine. Please comment below or message me and I'll be more than happy to share the information about the outlaws and record your vote as a part of the selection process. We're all in this together, Facebook or not. :)
Approaching 200%, new stretch goals, & voting for Jokers
over 6 years ago
– Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 11:44:48 AM
Howdy folks!
We're excited by the daily progress we're making in our campaign, and I hope you all are too! We're closing in on some new stretch goals and have an exciting new goal to reveal. But first, let's look at what we've unlocked since the last update:
We've had a couple of suggestions for Gold-Rush era Jokers. We'll be opening a poll later today in our Facebook group, where you can vote for a Snake Oil Salesman, a Card shark/cheater, or something like a traditional jester/clown. Or write in your own entry and campaign for it! So please head on over there and take part. If you don't use Facebook, that's ok, you can enter your vote by commenting below or sending me a message. :)
Up next are two small goals for printing the inside cover of the box, as well as adding some spot UV to the underside of the tiles that show the gold value, so that there's a little bit of thematic shine to them. After that comes one of the stretch goals I've been most looking forward to, screen-printing the covered wagons for the deluxe game:
Because if we're going to include some bling to sit there and look nice while we're playing the game, we might as well go all out, right?
Seasoned Kickstarter backers know that this is the slow part of a campaign. So now is a great time for us to work on the social achievements to help get the word out. We've already unlocked our first and are close to unlocking Instagram followers and total backers (we need 12 more of both). And I know that with your help we can unlock more soon! So if you're on Facebook, like our page, or if you're on BoardGameGeek, become a fan of our page and thumb some of our images.
Before we go, if you want to hear more folks talk about the fun they had playing End of the Trail, be sure to check out the latest podcast from The Cardboard Jungle. We're in the middle of their Essen Spiel coverage, starting around the 44 minute mark. So check it out!
We can't thank you all enough for supporting our dream and backing End of the Trail. We have more stretch goals planned and can't wait to see how far this campaign goes! Until next time, please don't hesitate to reach out to Mike or myself (Brent), either here or through social media.
Best wishes and happy gaming, Team Elf Creek
PS, Almost forgot, you can also check out this mini-review from new channel, Rome Knows Nothing, about End of the Trail!
Time to reveal more stretch goals
over 6 years ago
– Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 10:31:39 AM
Woo-hoo! Another awesome day in front of us in the campaign (or evening for those of you in Europe!) We’ve got a lot to cover in this update, so let’s get right to it!
In the last day we’ve unlocked our first two Jokers, a custom-made poker chip dealer marker that will be included in both the base and deluxe versions of the game, and our custom prospector meeples! And as I type this we’re closing in on some foil stamping on the box cover, to give the End of the Trail logo a gold shine!
Now we have three things to reveal this morning. First up is our next big stretch goal: the Outlaw mini-expansion, which unlocks at $13,500. Everyone who backs for the game will receive this expansion as a part of their pledge. It adds a new face card, the Outlaw (ranking below Jack) and a custom Outlaw meeple. After the campaign, it will be available for separate purchase.
You’ll notice that, like the Jokers, we don’t have illustrations for the outlaws yet. We thought it would be fun to run a sort of “tournament of Old West outlaws” and put depictions of the final four on the card for illustrations. We’ll run the contest on our new Facebook group for the game.
"Place the Outlaw on any tile. At the end of the game, the tile with Outlaw scores half of its value."
New Facebook group, you ask? Yessiree! Next up, I’m about to add some fun social achievements to the campaign page. We hope we can have some fun with these! If we unlock 4 of the 9 achievements, we’ll add a fifth Joker to the game! Every Joker has their own unique power, so this way you can customize your game a little if you like.
When we unlock nine, we have something fun in mind. Today we’re also revealing our covered wagon box sleeve, exclusive for Kickstarter backers. At nine achievements, we give every deluxe backer an extra little punch board and snap-together plastic rivets to put some moving wheels on their wagon! In the spirit of the deluxe edition, some fun extra bling for your game. We hope you like it! I know I can’t wait. :)
That's all for now!
Best wishes, Brent & Mike
PS We'll also be doing a live play of a game tonight through Kickstarter live at 8 pm CDT!
We've funded! Who's ready for some stretch goals!?
over 6 years ago
– Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 10:31:28 AM
Y'all are amazing! Today has been such a busy day for tabletop games here on Kickstarter, and Mike and I are blown away at the wonderful reception that End of the Trail has received. Funded in less than 10 hours---and through out first stretch goal faster than I gave type this update---we can hardly believe it! Thank you all so much for your support. I know everyone says it in Kickstarter campaigns, but they say it because it's so true: we couldn't do it without you!
So let's talk about our first stretch goal, shall we?
End of the Trail's multi-use cards are also a 52-card deck of hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades. But every 52-card deck needs its complementary set of Jokers, right?
In early playtests of End of the Trail we used Jokers in their traditional role of wild cards. They made the game a little crazy---5 of a kind and straight flushes everywhere. So the official use of Jokers in End of the Trail is a little different.
When you put a Joker into your set of poker cards, they act as a place holder. At the end of the game, when everyone reveals their final 5-card poker hand to win the final claim on the board, any player with a Joker can swap out the Joker with another card in your hand. Didn't get that full house? If you've got a Joker among your final 6 or 7 cards, you might be able to swap it out and create a straight.
Like every card in End of the Trail, Jokers also have a use beyond their contribution to your poker set. We hope to unlock several Jokers over the course of the campaign, but here are the first two:
$0 value? In End of the Trail, $0 is a valid bid for cards in the auction. Normally this means that you get the cards without discarding anything. But if you have a Joker in your hand, and you win with a $0 bid, you will need to discard the Joker to pay.
As you can see from the cards, we haven't decided what sort of image to use for the Joker and we'd love some feedback from you, our backers. What do you think a Gold Rush joker looks like? An historical, early American clown? Some variation on a jester? Do you have some other idea? Let us know what you think! We'll select two and have Peter mock them up, and then decide on which one we like best as a group.
Until tomorrow and our next update, when we'll hopefully look at a whole bunch of stretch goals!
