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Cat's Gambit and Cat Sudoku: Summer Festival

Created by Ta-Te Wu

Welcome to our Store on Backerkit! We're thrilled to open the preorder store for our two latest crowdfunded games—Cat’s Gambit and Cat Sudoku: Summer Festival—along with a selection of our other beloved titles. 🐾 Cat’s Gambit is a clever solo puzzle game where the elegance of chess meets feline mischief. Arrange chess piece cards to navigate tricky positions, outwit the devious Cat-kens, and avoid checkmate at all costs. Each puzzle is a step toward building your very own legendary cat kingdom. Will your strategy reign supreme? https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/ta-te-wu/cat-s-gambit 🎆 Cat Sudoku: Summer Festival is a fast, satisfying game for 1 to 4 players. Combine the logic of Sudoku with charming, numbered cards as you work to complete a perfect 3x3 grid—no repeats across rows, columns, or colors. It’s a breezy 20-minute experience that’s easy to learn but full of delightful depth. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tatewu/catsudoku-summerfestival If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected]. Thank you for supporting our games and helping bring more cats and creativity into the world! With gratitude, Ta-Te Wu

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Cat’s Gambit Nears the Finish Line!
about 1 year ago – Mon, Aug 11, 2025 at 06:13:54 PM

Dear Backers!

We’re excited to share that we’ve received the pre-production copy of Cat’s Gambit! Everything has been approved except for the rulebook. We’ve resubmitted several revisions, and we believe the latest version will be the final one. Once it’s approved, production will officially begin.


MSRP Update

Due to various factors (mainly tariffs and rising transportation costs), we’re adjusting the MSRP of Cat’s Gambit from $12 to $15. Similarly, Cat Sudoku: Summer Festival will increase from $15 to $18.
This will not affect you or anyone in pre-ordered. We’re announcing it now so that those purchasing after pre-orders will be aware of the change, if they read the update.

Pre-order link: https://cats-gambit.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Fulfillment Plans

This time, our plan is to ship about 99% of orders directly from China. From our experience with Cat Sudoku: Summer Festival, splitting shipments between China and the U.S. helped in some ways, but the delays and logistical stress outweighed the benefits. By consolidating shipments, we expect a smoother and faster delivery process.

What’s New in the Box

We’ve polished both the box design and the cards. Every copy now includes the Queen Umbra expansion card. The paw token is bigger, cuter, and ready to make a statement on your table. We can’t wait for you to see (and play with) it!

Overall, Cat’s Gambit is in great shape, and we’re excited to get it into your hands soon. If you have any question, please make sure to let me know.

Thank you for reading the update!

Ta-Te and the Cat's Gambit team

Getting Ready to Print!
over 1 year ago – Mon, Jul 28, 2025 at 08:46:33 PM


Dear Backers,

We're excited to share that Cat’s Gambit: Queen Aurelia is one big step closer to becoming reality! We’ve submitted nearly all of our graphic files to the printer and have approved them after final checks. Right now, we’re waiting for the pre-production sample, which will give us one last chance to confirm everything looks perfect before the full print run begins.

In fact, we took a little extra time to further polish the card layout and artwork, and we’re thrilled with the results. The cards are looking better than ever. We can’t wait for you to see them!



Over the next few days, we’ll begin processing payments for shipping and add-ons through the pledge manager. If you’ve already completed your survey and confirmed your order, you're all set! If not, please be sure to do so soon to avoid delays.

As always, if you have any questions about your order, shipping, or anything else, feel free to reach out here or email me directly at [email protected].

Thank you again for your continued support, patience, and excitement! We’ll keep you posted once we receive the pre-production sample.

Cheers,
Ta-Te and the Cat’s Gambit Team 🐾👑

Quick Update – Production Timeline, Pledge Manager & Thank You
over 1 year ago – Tue, Jul 01, 2025 at 10:25:11 PM

Dear Backers,

First off, thank you so much for your patience, understanding, and continued support.

We’re sorry to have kept you waiting on this update. The past couple of months have been especially intense with Cat Sudoku: Summer Festival fulfillment and ongoing challenges here in Los Angeles, things have not been easy. But your encouragement keeps us going, and we’re grateful to have you with us on this journey.

🖼️ Production Timeline

We’re currently on track to submit the final graphic files to the manufacturer by mid-July, with printing scheduled to begin in August. We’re still polishing the artwork and layouts to ensure the game looks and feels just right.

✅ Pledge Manager Update

We’re excited to share that 93% of you have already completed your pledge surveys. Thank you! If you haven’t yet, now is the time!

We plan to lock orders in about two weeks, so please make sure your shipping address and add-ons are finalized before then. If you need help or have questions, feel free to message us or email me directly at [email protected].

💌 Thank You

We deeply appreciate your trust and support, especially through these busy and sometimes stressful months. We’ll keep you posted as we move into the next phase of production and bring Cat’s Gambit – Queen Aurelia to life.

With gratitude,
Ta-Te & The Cat’s Gambit Team 🐾♟️

📣 Quick Update: Pledge Manager, Pre-Orders & Tariff News
over 1 year ago – Sun, May 04, 2025 at 10:26:58 PM

Dear Backers!

We wanted to share a quick but important update and offer our sincere apologies for the delay in getting the pledge manager out to you.

🕒 Pledge Manager Delay


In our last update, we mentioned that we had submitted the pledge manager for review before the end of the campaign. While that was true, we’ve since learned that BackerKit only begins the review process a few weeks after the campaign ends, once all project data has been fully synced. Unfortunately, there has also been a delay in the review queue.

That said, we’re actively working to finalize everything this week and expect to send out your surveys very soon. Thank you for your continued patience. We’re almost there!

🛠️ Polishing the Game


Behind the scenes, we're continuing to refine and polish the game, including updates to the box art, cards, and rules. We're working hard to make sure every detail feels thoughtful and beautiful.

🎨 Here is the new box art. We hope you love it as much as we do!
 


🧩 Consolidating Pre-Orders


To streamline everything, we’ve decided to combine our previous crowdfunding campaign, the Cat Sudoku: Summer Festival pre-order store, with the Cat’s Gambit. That means:

  • You’ll be able to add our recent games, like Summer Festival, directly through your Cat’s Gambit survey.
  • We’re aiming to deliver everything as scheduled before the end of the year.

This way, there’s just one store, one process, and more awesome games in your hands!

About U.S. Tariffs


If you’re based in the U.S. and concerned about the current tariff situation, we want to reassure you: we will be covering the extra tariff costs, so there’s no additional burden on you. However, if you’d like to go the extra mile to support us, consider adding items from our catalog as add-ons, whether for yourself or as gifts for friends and family. Every little bit helps us deliver Cat’s Gambit with the care and quality it deserves.

Thank you again for being a part of this journey! We’ll keep you updated as soon as the surveys start rolling out. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

Sincerely,

Ta-Te Wu and the Cat’s Gambit Team 🐾♟️

🎉 Hooray! We Did It! 🎉
over 1 year ago – Thu, Apr 03, 2025 at 01:28:22 PM

Dear Backers,

We made it! Cat’s Gambit – Queen Aurelia is now a reality, thanks to YOU! Your generous support, enthusiasm, and belief in this game have made this campaign a huge success. We couldn't have done it without you!

💜 About Queen Umbra – A Surprise Gift!


We came so close to unlocking the $10K Queen Umbra stretch goal, and we know many of you were excited about it. As a token of our appreciation, we’ve decided to include one Queen Umbra card for every copy of Cat’s Gambit you pledged for! 🎁

Additionally, Queen Umbra will remain available in the pre-order store for $3—but only while supplies last! Once they’re gone, they’re gone!

📦 What’s Next?


Pledge Manager Timeline
We’ve already submitted the pledge manager for review, but Backerkit requires all campaign data to sync before they begin their review process. This means:

✅ Mid-April: We expect to receive the first review.
✅ Late April – Early May: We’ll finalize details and open the pledge manager for you to enter your mailing information and purchase additional add-ons from our other games!

🎨 Pre-Production Timeline
We will spend about six weeks refining the artwork and graphic design to make everything as polished as possible.

✅ By June: We aim to submit all files to our manufacturer for production. Stay tuned for more updates as we move through this process!


💰 The Dreaded "T" Word – Tariffs


We know tariffs aren’t a fun topic, but they are a reality of game import/export. The increased costs will NOT be passed on to you. Our priority is delivering the game on time (or even early!) without compromising on quality.

🙏 Thank You!


This journey has been incredible, and it’s all because of you—our amazing backers! If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments.

We’ll be back with more updates soon. Until then, thank you for your trust and support! 🐾✨

Ta-Te and the Cat’s Gambit team