Board games with pieces that respond to your touch, react to one another, and think for themselves. They won't take over the world, but they might try :)
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Make Your Own Games, Dev-Kits Shipping & New Games in Development
about 4 years ago
– Wed, Jan 22, 2020 at 11:44:56 PM
Hey Backers,
The survey responses so far have been incredibly helpful, keep filling them out if you haven't already. We're delighted to see just how excited you all are about playing Blinks games, but we are even more excited to see just how many of you want to make your own games. This update was initially set to go to Developer backers only, but it felt appropriate to share with anyone interested in making games.
Get Excited to Make Games
We are so excited to have finally shipped the first sets of Blinks out to our backers. What this means for you is there are thousands of sets of Blinks in the world and a quickly growing audience for games that you develop in the future. If you haven’t had the chance lately, drop by the forum.
New Stuff on the Forum
Move38 keeps a long running list of games that we want to make for Blinks, and now that we are shipping, we are prototyping them as quickly as we can. One such game is inspired by Light’s Out a puzzle game with a very simple ruleset, and quickly complex gameplay. The code is posted here on the forum. Let us know if you try it out or have some ideas. Still very alpha with things to work out.
Note: the red/blue lighting is debug information, let's us know that communication is happening correctly :)
Shipping Schedule for Dev Kits with Blanks
With the Chinese New Year celebrations taking place, we’ll be receiving our next batch of Blinks in February. This next shipment includes Commercial sets as well as lots of Blanks for your new games. We’re also putting together new developer tools, please note that the early developer tools work with the new and improved Blinks, so no need to get a new developer kit if you already have one. If you want to get your hands on the new Blinks, we recommend getting one of our Blinks: Core Sets or the Blinks: Combo Sets. Note that Blinks: Core Sets are shipping now and Combos will follow in February. The build quality is night and day from the first developer kits, we think you’ll really love them.
Global Game Jam 1/29 - 2/2
Big News!!! We are excited to partner with Playcrafting + Microsoft here in NYC to participate in this years Global Game Jam. We will be running a special session for teams who use Blinks. Not in NYC? No Prob. Find a local Global Game Jam site or join us remotely. During the Jam we’ll be online at BlinksJams.slack.com for real-time sharing and troubleshooting if you want to join devs that weekend.
In more exciting news, We are now listed as a platform for development, so when you submit games from any Global Game Jam site you can list Blinks as your platform. How cool is that?🥳
Keep sharing all of the amazing photos of gameplay, this one is a current favorite #weloveourblinks, we look forward to bringing your games to Blinks players around the world and making Blinks games with you.
all our best,
Jonathan + the Move38 team
CES 2020, Shipping Update, Upcoming Events and Our First Survey!
over 4 years ago
– Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 07:16:28 PM
Hey Backers!
First of all, Happy New Year! The year is off to a great start for Move38 with 1000+ packages shipped and lots more on their way. I wanted to give a couple of updates on shipping, events, and getting your feedback (btw, unsolicited feedback has been incredibly flattering).
World’s First Smart Tabletop Game System @ CES 2020
With help from our friends Valerie Vacante and Peter Jenkinson, we arrived at CES to show off the 12 launch title games and meet the Kids and Family tech community in Las Vegas. While Blinks were not designed strictly for kids, it is undeniable that kids love them and we had a blast sharing them with top names in the industry.
Blinks Shipping Update
You know that feeling when your first chocolate chip cookies come out of the oven and you eat them all up, and then you have to wait for a whole other batch? Well, we hit that point with Blinks (except there is no cookie dough to keep us satisfied in the mean time).
We’re moving fast. Our manufacturer has acquired the ingredients… err parts, and is scheduling assembly. The only hiccup in this process is that we are quickly approaching Chinese New Year (CNY), which is observed by just about everyone for 2 weeks. This effects our production schedule and delivery. The bright side of this is that the hard workers making Blinks a reality are taking a moment to reflect as well as celebrate the coming year.
The next shipments will be going out in mid-February, and we’ll be working quickly to get through them all. A note on customs, a couple of you have received Blinks and unfortunately had to pay noticeable duties. We do our best to keep those costs down, but understand shipping around the world comes with its own hurdles. We welcome suggestions regarding international shipping, especially if you’ve had a better experience with another campaign.
Developer Kits
We are thrilled that more than 1 in 5 Blinks backers are excited to make their own games. We’ve turned our attention to getting the new developer kits assembled and ready. We have begun shipping dev kits which include Blinks ready for your own games, called “Blanks”. The demand for Blanks was greater than we had on hand, so many of the developer kits will ship with the second batch as well.
Blinks: Bare Bones Dev-Kits are shipping
Tell Us What You Think!
We’re just getting started and your feedback is invaluable for making Blinks the best experience possible! If you can take a moment to fill out this survey, we appreciate it dearly.
It’s 2020 and what better way to start the year than to gather to make new games! We're delighted to be sponsoring the biggest Global Game Jam site in the United States. Did you know that, 4 of the 12 launch title games were made at Game Jams? This is the perfect opportunity to learn to code and/or make the next hit game (no pressure :). Check out the Global Game Jam info here. If you are in NYC, register here.
...in the mean time, keep enjoying your Blinks and be sure to share them with us on Social :)
#playblinks #getblinks #madewithblinks
all my best,
Jonathan and the Move38 team
🎄🏓🎉 Happy New Year, Road to 100K subs!
over 4 years ago
– Mon, Dec 30, 2019 at 06:48:59 PM
Hi Backers,
This will be short and sweet. First of all, lots of you have received your Blinks, and we are having a blast reacting to your posts, reading your emails, seeing your photos and videos, and making sure you have the best Blinks experience possible.
🏓 Road to 100K Subscribers
A fun fact, my brother, Adam Bobrow, is "The Voice of Table Tennis." He commentates the biggest matches around the world, and even plays against the top players in the world (it is mind numbing to see just how incredible these athletes are). Beyond this, he is a YouTube personality who shares his love of Table Tennis (or Ping Pong if you must), traveling the world, meeting new people, and learning about other cultures. I enjoy watching his videos every week and think you will too. He is rapidly approaching over 100K subscribers, and perhaps you can be the one to push him past his 100K goal for 2019. Subscribe here
Blinks on YouTube
If you haven't yet subscribed to the Blinks YouTube Channel, subscribe here. We've posted tutorials for all of the shipping games, and will be posting new content in 2020. Tutorials have all been posted at https://blinks.games/ along with their PDF counter parts.
Sending all our best for the new year, we'll have lots more to share soon.
- Jonathan + the Move38 team
p.s. If you'll be at CES, reach out as Blinks will make an appearance in Vegas
Blinks Are Shipping! First Look! Packing Party and Box Opening!
over 4 years ago
– Mon, Dec 23, 2019 at 11:20:55 PM
Hey Backers!
Last week is a week to remember. Move38 received the first 1900 sets of Blinks, and the following 24 hours were one wonderful moment after another. Some of you are beginning to receive your Blinks. We worked incredibly hard last week to make sure that the first units would be arriving for the Holidays; however, we still have lots more to ship, and we’re sending more out every day.
If you are reading this and have your Blinks in hand, let us know in the comments, share your unboxing on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and be sure to tag it #getblinks (we’ll meet you where you love to share these kinds of things). Don’t care to make it public but want to share with us? Send us an email or dm, we can’t wait to hear what you think.
Returning the Favor
You’ve supported Blinks this entire journey and now the tables have turned😁. We want you to have the best experience possible, so we’ve created lots of support materials.
Receiving the first 1900 units of Blinks, Thanks to Jay for driving Blinks safely from JFK to Move38
Passing Final Quality Control
Once the Blinks arrived in NYC, we needed to make sure they met our standards. The most important technical check is to make sure the Blinks sleep correctly when not in use. We tested. They passed. And then we sounded our horns to gather the packing party. 🎉
"0.2µA when not in use" = Ready to Ship! 🛫
🎉Packing Party🎉
The most amazing excuse to meet people, get hands dirty, and build community. Besides being thrilled that we could pack >1000 packages of Blinks in a single evening, the best part of a packing party is that our friends get to meet our other friends, and ideally, become friends.
Why didn’t we outsource our shipping? For a few great reasons.
To make sure Blinks would arrive for some of you by the holidays.
We get to make sure every detail of the unboxing experience is just how we intended.
Packing Parties are are magical see below:
Old friends, new friends, at the end of the night, all friends
Two excited new owners of Blinks. Can you tell which one saved their birthday money?
The gum tape machine provided assembly line rhythm
It’s kind of like sending your first-born off to college. Am I rite empty nesters?!
NY Hardware Meetup - A community of makers (who annually let me share my experiences :)
Spencer Wright - For being our first backer and first packer → ThePrepared.org
Now this is what we call Social Media :)
Happy Holidays and New Year to All!
Looking forward to more in the new year.
all our best,
Jon Bobrow + the Move38 team
Holiday Shipping Party & PAX Unplugged
over 4 years ago
– Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 11:00:49 PM
Hey Backers!
Tonight is the night. Blinks are moving. Our manufacturer has placed the first 1900 sets of Blinks on a plane and have been sending photo updates each and every day. Once they arrive on Monday, we’ll be doing a final inspection to make sure your Blinks arrived safe and sound.
Contents of the Blinks: Expansion Set before being packed by our manufacturer
Blinks Packing Party
Wednesday, December 18th (yes, 5 days from this update) from 5pm - 9pm, the entire Move38 team (sounds like a lot, actually isn’t) and friends will be hand packing your Blinks.
If you are in the area (NYC) and want to pickup your Blinks in person, let us know in the comments section. We’ll set it aside, save the postage, and have a warm hug awaiting you. If you want to pickup your Blinks at the office and can’t make it on Wednesday, we can hold onto them for you, we’d love to have you swing by. Lastly, if you are so inclined, you are welcome to join the party. We always appreciate your support.
Note: Blinks are already packed in their final boxes, those boxes simply need to be placed into their mailers, get some more swag and be to be safely shipped to you. 😉
Some of the crowds at the Blinks Arcade | PAX Unplugged 2019
PAX Unplugged 2019
While the best thing about PAX Unplugged is the community that shows up, it felt amazing to be the buzz of the convention as the worlds first smart tabletop game system. TouchArcade wrote a glowing article, calling Blinks one of PAX Unplugged 2019 Most Innovative Games.
We setup a Blinks Arcade to share 6 of the 12 games you’ll be receiving (3 from the Blinks: Core Set and 3 from the Blinks: Expansion Set). We gave away nearly 1000 Blinks stickers, made lots of friends, met incredibly talented game designers (excited to make their own games for Blinks) and met some of you as well!
Cosplay not mandatory, but preferred :)
The event felt like a kickoff for Blinks shipping and the growing community of supporters that are bringing Blinks into their circles. We thank you for your incredible support, we couldn’t have gotten to this point without you and look forward to sending Blinks next week. If you’d like to see us live packing on Wednesday, be sure to follow @move38inc on Instagram and join the We ❤️ Blinks group on facebook.
One more thing...
Jonathan will be speaking at the NY Hardware Meetup on Monday, December 16th at 6pm if you'd like to hear even more details on the long journey to making Blinks a reality. It's a great community and a good excuse to meet other interesting people.
