Gloom Update

We've gotten a number of phone calls about Gloom recently, so I thought it might be a good time to provide the world at large with an update.

First of all, if your local store doesn't have the game, it's not their fault! We sold out to distributors this past spring. Many distributors stocked up to have a supply that would last a few months, when we told them we were running low, but I think just about everyone is now sold out. So as much as your local store may want to get the game for you...it's just not available right now.

We ordered a reprinting of Gloom back in April, even before it had sold out, and at the same time we contracted for the printing of Unhappy Homes, the expansion set. However, as with the original printing of the game (the one we'd expected last October, but was delivered in January), the time it takes to make this unique game is a lot longer than is typical for our card games. Our printer, halfway around the globe, gave us the word just last week that the printing was finally complete. Then we wired them the balance of payment for the whole project (ouch! my bank account hurts!), so this week the process of ocean freight shipping gets underway.

We have arranged for a limited quantity of the reprint and expansion (200 copies of each) to get delivered by air, so we'll have it to show off at Gen Con. We'll be running demos, and selling the games as long as those copies last.

You probably won't see them on the shelves of your local store until mid to late September. It all depends on the unknown factors of sea freight, which are far beyond my control. Last year, for example, we were held up by a dockworkers' strike in Bombay, missed container ships, and a special Homeland Security inspection of the shipping container our games were in. In theory, if everything went well, we might see the games in our warehouse before the end of August. In reality -- well, I hear it's monsoon season in Bombay right now, so who knows what might happen? We'll just have to cross our fingers and hope nobody at the big game table up in the sky is planning to play the "Was Laid Low by Logistics" card on us.

Watch this space for further updates, which we'll post whenever we have news.