SKEPTICS is a cooperative, dice rolling game, where players explore potentially haunted locations to prove the existence of ghosts. 1-4 players take on the role of Investigators gathering evidence of the paranormal.
Investigators race against the clock exploring rooms and rolling dice to match icon sets to Search, Reveal, and Solve Clues. Each Clue will lead Investigators one step closer to revealing the Ghost. Environment Cards are drawn every hour, which may have hazards and conditions that will impede the Investigators’ progress. Investigators win if the existence of the Ghost can be proven in time, but Investigators fail if time runs out.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
SKEPTICS Shipping Status - Complete?
over 3 years ago
– Tue, Aug 09, 2022 at 06:51:16 PM
Hello Everyone,
We hope you are enjoying SKEPTICS. Based on the sampling of tracking numbers I have gone through and feedback from you all, I believe we have probably delivered all the games that were shipping in the first wave. The only games that are currently in the packaging or shipping status are those games for backers who recently reached out to pay for their shipping.
There are still 24 backers who have credit with us from the Kickstarter but have not paid for their shipping or had their credit cards fail payment. As stated in a previous update, the games are still on hand for those backers and will be quickly shipped out once we get those final payments, which a few people have already reached out and resolved. We definitely understand emails get lost or hardships come up; reach out to us in either case to let us know how you would like to proceed with you order.
If you haven't received your game yet, please reach out to us so we can determine if it is still in route to you or if you happen to be in the not shipped list. We have only had 1-2 people reach out to us in the last two weeks about entirely missing game, and in both cases, they were found with either a relative or neighbor.
We have had about 10 replacement requests for either missing promo cards, noticeably damaged token, or a male/male rivet. All but three of these replacements have shipped out; those three will be going out tomorrow.
We are very pleased on our end with how the campaign has been wrapping up, and the feedback has been overall very positive. We fully expect there will be a few people who end up not enjoying the game as much as expected, but that is certainly the case with all games. We hope you are enjoying the game, and we want to hear what you like, don't like, and any feedback you would like to give.
Social Media Tags
If you take pictures or videos of your copy of SKEPTICS, please tag the SKEPTICS pages:
Facebook: @skepticsgame
Instagram: @usiakart
Youtube: Usiak Games and Designs (not sure you can tag on there, but that is the SKEPTICS Youtube page name)
Brian Moats and Jon Usiak
Usiak Games and Designs
SKEPTICS Weekend Update
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Jul 10, 2022 at 04:28:20 AM
Hello everyone,
We just have a few things to share today. We hope you all are having a great weekend.
Current Orders
I believe at this point, over 85% of US/CA/MX backers have received their games from QML and probably about that same percentage around the rest of the world from SQ. I know some orders got stalled in the US last week due to the July 4th holiday, but from what I can tell, those orders have finally moved on and will be delivered early this week.
If you are having any issues with your orders, please reach out. I would expect we should be near 100% delivered by the end of next week (July 15th).
Replacements Parts
For those who have specifically reached out for replacement parts, I have the parts for US/CA customers all packed up and ready to ship out this week. For International Backers needing something larger than a token or wooden bit, I am working with ShipQuest to get those parts shipped from there because it will be much cheaper; a pack of the dice to AU was going to be $18 from the US. The SQ tickets are in; I am just waiting for the SQ customer service agent to reply. So I hope for those to go out sometime next week.
I will be sending out emails on Monday once those are handed over to USPS. If you don’t receive an email from me by Tuesday morning about your replacement part, reach out as I may have missed it. There have only been six part requests so far (all fairly minor except one very damaged clock) and two requests for replacements (two damaged box from one FLGS and one game that FedEx lost). Hopefully that means everyone is very happy with their games.
As we said in the last update, the clock and rivets are looser than what we expected, but they still play how we intended. This means, unless the rivet is damaged, missing, or incorrect, a rivet replacement will not address the looseness. Check the last update for a suggestion I have if you want a tighter clock hand for cheap.
New Orders
For those who may stumble upon this update or are friends of current backers, we are taking new orders now that all of the backer orders are shipped out. We are still working on the store front on our website, but we are currently taking orders via email and will send out formal estimates via PayPal and then formal invoices for final payment. We do know that Quartermaster will be on a short ordering break from July 18-21st while they are doing some inventorying and warehouse bookkeeping. New orders around that time will be delayed a few days.
While we are unable to make it to the larger conventions due to costs at this time, I am planning to show off SKEPTICS at a few conventions that are local to me. If you happen to be in any of these areas and want to stop by and say hello, here is where SKEPTICS will be over the next 4 weeks:
I will be setup as a vendor and will be running short demos at the booth.
I am constantly on the look out for other small weekend conventions within a couple hours of Morgantown, West Virginia; I will announce additional events as I sign up for them. Feel free to share any that you know around that distance, and I will see if it is something I can attend.
Unboxing and Reviews
We have seen a few nice unboxing videos and read some good reviews about SKEPTICS. I wanted to share the ones I am aware of so far:
If you have made any content for SKEPTICS, feel free to share it with us, and we will check it out and promote it.
Have a great weekend,
Brian Moats and Jon Usiak
Usiak Games and Designs
Jon on a Mini-Vacation, Replacement Parts, and Loose Clocks
over 3 years ago
– Wed, Jul 06, 2022 at 10:43:06 PM
Hello everyone,
We have been so happy seeing so many wonderful posts about SKEPTICS within the Kickstarter comments, Facebook, Instagram, and on Board Game Geek. Keep them coming :)
Jon Reduced Availability This Week
Jon is going to be online a little less this week/weekend as he is going to be spending time with his daughters and will be traveling some. He may not be responding as quickly as usual. If you need something a bit quicker, you can either post it here in the comments or send us a message on the Skeptics Facebook page (facebook.com/skepticsgame). I (Brian) get the notifications for public comments here and the Facebook page posts/direct messages and tend to respond pretty fast when I am awake.
Replacement Parts
I received the boxes of spare parts and the few damaged copies of SKEPTICS on Saturday. I will be reaching out to the 4~5 people who reported having a manufacturing defect with a part within their copy of SKEPTICS and will be assisting with the replacement parts.
Loose Clocks
One report we have heard from a few people is the clock/clock hand being loose on the clock. I have confirmed this with one of the copies I received. I did some measuring of the cardboard used in the final production vs our pre-final production are different thicknesses. The pre-production was 2.65mm per punchboard and the final everyone received was 2.25mm. When you put the clock and hand together, you end up with a .8mm difference, which is why the rivets feel loose when compared to our pre-production samples. The pre-production was supposed to be using the same materials as the final production copies, but something must have been swapped for some reason. We apologize that this change in manufacturing occurred, and it wasn't what we expected.
However, we feel the clock is still entirely useable in the way we intended for it to be used: lying flat on the table. We never intended for it to be raised up, which is where we believe the issue would be most obvious. We do apologize for those who are less than satisfied with this issue. I have found a solution that hopefully those who want a tighter clock hand may be willing to accept.
You can pick up small washers from any hardware store for less than $.50. If you get a .8~1mm plastic washer and place it on the of the clock between the rivet and back of the clock, it provides a tight connection and feels just like our pre-production copy. You can often get them in black so they won't even look out of place on the clock. We would simply send out washers to everyone to address this issue, but to be entirely honest, it is just not financially feasible to mail out that many small washers due to the shipping costs alone.
We will absolutely send out replacement rivets that are the wrong size with a very noticeable gap where the rivet slides a large distance in the clock (those who may have accidently received a 6mm by mistake), rivets that are cracked, or rivets with wrong connectors (2 male pieces instead of 1 male/1 female). The replacement rivets we have will not address the loose clock issue unfortunately.
Wrapping Things Up
Again, we hoping you are enjoying SKEPTICS as much as we enjoyed making it. Please keep telling us about your experiences and letting us know all of the questions you have. We are building out the FAQ section of the Usiak Games website.
Thank you again for helping us make this dream a reality. We can't wait to tell you about our future projects later this year.
Brian Moats and Jon Usiak
Usiak Games and Designs
Tray Questions Update (reiterated)
almost 4 years ago
– Sat, Jul 02, 2022 at 10:47:32 AM
Tray Questions
We received a comment about the tray and storing the wooden pieces. After we had the tray printed for our manufacturer copy (which included all stretch goal components), we decided to tweak the depth of a few of the sections of the tray and that meant where we intended on putting the wooden pieces, no longer really worked.
We recommend using the section under the clock (where we originally had the wooden bits labeled "5" on the Improved Tray Stretch Goal) for expansions tokens instead. There are plenty of other trays (labeled "2a-2f" on the graphic below) that will hold the wooden pieces.
We had mentioned somewhere in an update or video that we had to slightly tweak the depth of the tray (I think by about 2mm), but think we simply forgot to provide an updated graphic for that Stretch Goal image.
Here is an updated image of one (of many) possible configurations.
Insert Tray Suggested Configuration
Copies of SKEPTICS are finding their way to YOUR homes!!
almost 4 years ago
– Thu, Jun 30, 2022 at 07:39:14 PM
As the title suggests, we are getting a lot of reports of you all receiving copies of your games. Keep sharing those pictures; we love seeing them! I saw our first post in the Board Game Revolution Community page early, which made us really proud of game. Feel free to add content to BGG of your games as well, and once you have played it plenty, we would love your honest review of the game.
We still have plenty of games in transit so please be patient as they make their way to you.
US Shipments in Florida
It seems some of the ghosts in your games are enjoying the Florida beaches and weather so much, they don't want to leave.
We are seeing some odd tracking data on some of the US shipments. It appears FedEx in Florida (FL) is having a tough time keeping up with all of their shipments (beyond our game, of course). I personally have a non-SKEPTICS package that shipped from FL last Wednesday and didn't leave FL until this morning. It was scheduled for last Friday delivery and now it simply has no estimated delivery time. I have heard similar reports from a few of you.
Games are slowly escaping so please give it until Tuesday (July 5th) before getting too worried about your games.
Delivered Packages Lost?
If there is a report that your game was delivered but you didn't receive it, check around with neighbors (if possible) and then please report the lost packages directly to us. We will handle the discussion with FedEx and Quartermaster, and if the game is determined to be indeed lost, we will issue a new copy ASAP.
This means, we (Usiak Games and Designs) will also be handling all of the claims with FedEx so you don't have to wait as long on your game since you aren't fighting the claims process.
Tray Questions
We received a comment about the tray and storing the wooden pieces. After we had the tray printed for our manufacturer copy (which included all stretch goal components), we decided to tweak the depth of a few of the sections of the tray and that meant where we intended on putting the wooden pieces, no longer really worked.
We recommend using the section under the clock (where we originally had the wooden bits labeled "5" on the Improved Tray Stretch Goal) for expansions tokens instead. There are plenty of other trays (labeled "2" on the graphic) that will hold the wooden pieces.
We had mentioned somewhere in an update or video that we had to slightly tweak the depth of the tray (I think by about 2mm), but I think we simply forgot to provide an updated graphic for that Stretch Goal image.
Wrapping Things Up
Jon and I are still waiting for our bulk orders of SKEPTICS to arrive at our houses. That means local pick up orders, you just need to wait a little longer.
We are continuing to see our game in its final form thanks to all of your comments and pictures. We can't wait to get our hands on our copies of SKEPTICS; we know many of you are eagerly awaiting for them to arrive as well.
Thank you again for being a part of this project and helping to encourage us along the way. It means so much to us!!
