The makers of a board game that was funded in Abbotsford last year by a Kickstarter campaign have now officially released their product.
Longtime friends Brandon Monahan and Jake Hardin wrapped up production earlier this summer of 500 copies of Zebulon: Galactic Control, a space-themed board game.
They have since held a few demo and game pickup nights, most recently on Aug. 4 at the House of Cards in Abbotsford and on Aug. 9 at the store’s Cloverdale location.
The two, who have known each other since high school and describe themselves as fans of “geek culture,” had always wanted to create a board game.
They developed the game – in which rectangular tiles join together to make a galaxy through which players move around as they battle their opponents – about two years ago.
Monahan and Hardin then held an online Kickstarter campaign to raise $8,500 to bring the game to market, and they surpassed that goal, collecting more than $10,000, in spring 2017.
But they hit a few hurdles along the way in producing Zebulon, most notably a change in policy in China that shut down many factories.
However, Hardin works as procurement and planning specialist, and his knowledge of the Chinese market helped them navigate around any issues.
The pair switched suppliers and went with well-known board-game manufacturer WinGo.
They received samples in January, sent back some changes, and then production began.
Monahan said that although the switch in factories delayed production, it enabled the two to upgrade and reconfigure some of the artwork, resulting in an even better game in the end.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the game we made, and the fact that we can hand this to someone and say, ‘I made that’ is really amazing,” he said.
“The support we have received from the people of Abbotsford and Lower Mainland allowed us to take out idea and get funded. We are still very grateful to have help launching our dream of making board games, and we continue to see support now that we have a finished product.”
Monahan and Hardin have finished shipping out copies of the game to everyone that backed it. More demo nights and pickup game nights are planned in the coming months.
Zebulon: Galactic Control is on sale at their website www.apocto.com, at House of Cards in Abbotsford, and at Warcraft Games in Mission.
They are working on expanding to many stores in Canada.