Dino Dice Get an Upgrade + New Fulfillment Timeline
Hello, everyone!
We've got some exciting news to share: The Dinosaur Dice Set is getting an upgraded look!
A mockup of the new dice faces!
As we looked at how gamers were going to use the dice, we wanted an easy way to identify the specific fossil in each die. To accomplish that, we are investing in brand-new molds so that the highest number on each side will show the dinosaur captured inside. We are absorbing these fees ourselves, at no additional cost to the backers, so this is an awesome free upgrade for everyone getting a dinosaur dice set.
New Fulfillment Timeline
While production has begun, it's become clear that we'll need to make an adjustment to our fulfillment plan. Rather than try to rush this project and sacrifice quality, we'll need to push back the final shipping dates for backers.
The good news? We're only expecting a 2-month difference. According to our new production schedule, we'll have all products in our warehouse by late September, where they'll be ready to ship out immediately. We expect fulfillment to be complete in October, with plenty of time for the holidays for those of you sharing the dice as gifts.
Fulfillment delays are never something we choose lightly, but we believe it will result in a stronger final product and shipping experience. We will keep everyone informed as the production process continues!
Shipping + Add-on Charges
To that end, we are pushing back the charge dates for additional add-ons and shipping. Rather than doing this in July, we plan to do it in September, right before fulfillment begins. Like before, we'll make sure to send out an update in advance of the final charge date so you won't be surprised!
That's all for now. For our Pay Over Time backers, please make sure you complete your surveys as we'll be locking them later this month. We'll see you soon with another update!
Mass Production Begins + Pay Over Time surveys soon!
Hello, everyone!
Summer is beginning, and so is the mass production of dice! We're excited to dive into all the news around that, but first: Pay Over Time surveys are opening this month!
If you're a Pay Over Time backer, here's what to do: Once your pledge is completely paid for, we'll activate your survey. That should be early next week. You'll receive an email for you to fill out the survey as usual. Then, we'll lock the surveys closer to the end of the month! If there's any issue with this process, just let us know at [email protected], and we'll help you out. (This is our first time using Pay Over Time, but it looks like everything should go smoothly.)
Production Update
It's always a fun time shipping hundreds of dinosaur bones, meteorites, and chain mail pieces around the world. There are several possible complications in such a process, from a shipment being lost, to it being held up in customs, to it being damaged on its way to the factory. We've decided to play it safe and send our batches of dice inclusions a couple hundred at a time to avoid any critical shakeups to our production process.
Inclusions safely arrived at the factory!
Fortunately, we haven't run into specimen loss yet, and our partners at the factory have been awesome to work with, too! Everything has arrived safe and secure, just the way we like it. With this week's shipment, we've already sent around 600 of each inclusion, so 6,000 individual specimens. Most of those are fossil pieces—a whole lot of dinosaur dice!
With that amount, we're ready to begin mass production at the factory. We'll have another update on that process after the first batches are complete.
Packaging is almost finalized!
This week, we're putting the finishing touches on the print files for packaging! It's looking great and only needs a few last tweaks before they're good to go.
That's all for now. For our Pay Over Time backers, please keep an eye out for your surveys, and we'll see you soon with another update!
Closing Surveys Soon + First Shipment Is A Success!
Hello, everyone!
Today, we've got a short & sweet update with good news and a quest for you! First, the quest. We are getting ready to close surveys in the next two weeks—if you have not filled out yours yet, please do so soon! We'll need to close surveys before we can go into full production mode so we know how many units we'll need to make.
We're still waiting on about 25% of backers to complete their survey, which includes adding shipping information, selecting cool new add-ons, and managing payment information for shipping costs.
The date to complete your surveys by is May 12 at 12 PM ET.
For those of you who have chosen pay-over-time pledges and do not have your surveys open yet, do not worry! We will reopen your surveys in June once they are available, and you'll be able to finish them then.
Production Update
Exciting news! The first shipment of dice inclusion specimens has passed through customs and been received by the factory! That means, dice manufacturing can begin!
We'll be sending more batches to the factory over the next month. After this initial shipment, we decided it would be best (and more secure) to send specimens in multiple shipments. This will prevent them from being held up in customs for too long.
What's new in the Pledge Manager?
We had some questions about new items in the shop from pay-over-time backers who don't have access to the surveys. We'll share a photo of everything here, and you can visit the preorder shop to get more info on each item!
The Pledge Manager is Here! (Plus, a Preorder Store!)
Hello, everyone!
The pledge manager is ready, the Smoke Test has gone out, and the full send is happening today! Keep an eye on your email for the link to your survey!
In the pledge manager, you'll confirm your add-ons, enter your shipping address, and even see some new items we added post-campaign! As we've noted before, shipping fees will be collected closer to fulfillment, so this will not be part of the survey today.
Production Update
Specimen production for the dice is looking great at the Mini Museum workshop. We'll be sending the first shipment of inclusion samples to the factory shortly, meaning manufacturing is on the way! These surveys will also give us an idea of how many more dice we'll need. The sooner they are filled out the better!
Preorder Store
We've had some fans ask us if there will be a chance to get these dice outside the campaign. We're happy to say… yes! We will be opening a preorder store today alongside the pledge manager. If you missed the campaign, this is your chance. Check it out here!
That's all for now! Please complete your surveys as soon as you are able and we'll see you soon with another production update!
The campaign for the Roll With History Specimen Dice project has come to a close, and let us say from everyone here at Mini Museum and FanRoll: THANK YOU! This has been an extremely successful campaign and we're so grateful to have so many backers from the world of history and the world of tabletop gaming joining us on this new journey!
The Next Steps
It's now time to collect pledges! In the next 48 hours, your pledge will be collected and charged by BackerKit. These funds will enter a 14-day holding period before being released to us. Once they are released, we'll be able to start our manufacturing process!
The Mini Museum workshop team has been hard at work during this campaign to get the specimen inclusions prepared, and we are already ahead of schedule. Several dinosaur specimens have already been counted and completed, and we're nearing the end of Chain Mail prep as well. Once these specimens are all bagged and ready, they will be shipped to the factory for production!
We plan to send our surveys for this campaign soon as well. Once we get closer to fulfillment this summer, we'll collect the shipping costs. At that point, your pledges will be ready to send out!
Along the way, we plan to share updates on specimen production, photos of any exciting new prototypes we get, and, of course, plenty of exciting information on what's going on behind the scenes. It is shaping up to be an exciting few months!
Once again, thank you all so much!
It is fantastic to return to crowdfunding once more and continue sharing amazing specimens and dice with the world. Everything we are able to do is because of backers like you. From the bottom of all our hearts, thank you. ❤️
That's all for now! We'll be back soon with information on the surveys!
Big news to start—we're extending the campaign one more week!
Someone's excited about that news!
We've heard from some fans who still want to be part of the campaign but need a little more time before they can back. Plus, we've had such a great time with this community and we want to keep the fun going. We thought the best way to do that while keeping the campaign open to everyone was to get one more week on the calendar before we end!
This move has not affected our timeline in any way. In fact, we've already begun and are quite far into specimen production!
Hadrosaur D12 material is already ahead of schedule!
That's all for now! We've got one more great weekend ahead of us, and we're excited to talk again next week about the next steps towards fulfillment. See you again soon!
Hello, Everyone! We're excited to announce the collaboration between Mini Museum and FanRoll Dice.
Mini Museum is a team of researchers, artists, and explorers who have been creating incredible collections to share with the world for nearly a decade now.
FanRoll Dice is a leader in crafting high-quality dice and gaming accessories, bringing creativity and craftsmanship to every roll.
Together, we're combining our love of discovery and play to create something truly unique. Roll With History is a limited collection that combines the wonder of our world with the joy of tabletop gaming.
As with past Mini Museum collections, every specimen inclusion will come complete with a Certificate of Authenticity and limited-run numbering!
Introducing the Meteorite d20! This is our first authentic specimen inclusion from the Mini Museum x FanRoll Dice collaboration. Each die contains an authentic fragment from the 4.5-billion-year-old Campo del Cielo meteorite, set inside a standard dice 17mm sharp edge, hand-polished resin d20!
The Campo del Cielo meteorite formed in the early days of the Solar System, an IAB meteoriterich in nickel with trace amounts of cobalt, gallium, germanium, and iridium. What makes it uniquely interesting among other metallic meteorites is the circumstances of its impact. Around 2500 BCE, it came crashing to the Earth and was witnessed by local indigenous groups, who recorded the sight in oral histories as a cosmic event. Meteoritic metals from the strewn field were even used to create strong tools and weapons.
Now you can catch a piece of this shooting star for your dice collection!
Fitting for any fantasy campaign, the Chainmail d20 will contains an authentic piece of chainmail from a hauberk that dates to the 15th century. This period is considered the sunset of chainmail in Europe, once advanced plate armor completely supplanted it.
Valued for flexibility in combat, chain mail was the primary defensive armor in Europe for more than one thousand years. It was flexible and light enough to keep a warrior unencumbered (though not exactly comfortable), but tough enough to fend off blows from enemies.
We're incredibly excited to announce that the collection will also include a set of seven polyhedral dice, each featuring a completely unique dinosaur fossil!
We'll be revealing the rest of this collection as we get closer to the launch of the campaign, so be sure to follow so you can hear about it first! For now, we'll tell you about the crown jewel of this set: the T-Rex d20.
This Tyrannosaurus Rex bone fossil was found in the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota, and is approximately 66 million years old, dating all the way back to the Cretaceous Period. The "King of the Dinosaurs" grew up to 40 feet long and weighed 9 tons, with its largest teeth measuring 12 inches. Most research suggests that the T. rex both hunted and scavenged to meet the requirements for powering such huge bodies.
This is just the beginning. Keep checking in as we reveal even more authentic specimens captured in dice, each one a tiny, tangible piece of history!
