THE STORY BEHIND OPERATION CUCKOO
At Spiel 2022, we launched Operation Cuckoo, a delightful two-player game that we saw a lot of potential in.Yet it has taken until today that we can actually start offering the retail version, with lots of bumps and considerations.
We would like to take you through our process. After a long wait, the second edition of Operation Cuckoo has finally arrived at our office.
Everyone is relieved, no unpleasant surprises this time.
Almost a year ago, the first edition of Operation Cuckoo was developed.
Where normally we always have our games produced at the ecological Fabryka Kart factory, this time we decided to have the wooden pieces produced at an FSC factory in China, and offset the extra emissions.
This was because we wanted the artwork of the cuckoo and lesser warblers printed on the pieces and this was not possible at Fabryka Kart without increasing the retail cost by almost 10 euros.
It seemed simple, the pieces would be sent from China to Fabryka Kart, where the game board, rules and box were produced.
Here they would be assembled and then sent to our office.
Everything seemed to be going well until we received the first pieces at the office.
It was a similar morning to today.
Everyone was working nicely when the package with the test pieces arrived.
Of course that work was all shut down, everyone was curious to see the printed pieces.
The print looked beautiful.
However, to our great surprise, the pieces were a lot smaller than we had imagined.
We had previously received a video with the test pieces in it, and here they really seemed a lot larger.
After measuring and asking a lot of questions, it turned out to be the size we had requested.
No problem you might think.
Then you just ask to have the pieces made a little bigger, right?
But that is easier thought than done.
Because the test pieces had been in transit for some time, production had already started in the meantime and the size could no longer be adjusted.
We now had two options:
1) Have all the pieces discarded and have new larger pieces printed or
2) Sell the game with the smaller pieces.
The first option was not a real option for us.
One of our basic values is that every game we publish should be fun for you as well as for the environment.
Having the pieces just thrown away was really impossible for us.
However, for the fun of play, we still wanted larger pieces.
And this was how a third option came to light.
What if we did have larger pieces printed, but also used the smaller pieces for another version?
One where it is actually an advantage that the pieces are smaller.
And so the idea of the Operation Cuckoo travel edition was born.
So while it was not our first intention to develop a travel edition of Operation Cuckoo, it felt logical.
Operation Cuckoo is a two-player game that plays nice and fast, making it ideal for couples to take on vacation.
To make it travel-friendly, the game board and box had to be made smaller, of course.
So we asked Fabryka Kart to fill a limited number of Operation Cuckoo’s with the smaller pieces and use the rest for the travel edition.
That way people at trade shows could try out and buy Operation Cuckoo with the smaller pieces anyway, while we waited for the larger pieces.
The board and box were modified for the travel edition and the Operation Cuckoo travel edition is now available in a nice compact box the size of our card games.
Making the travel edition was actually so easy.
However, the larger pieces proved a bit more challenging.
The production of the pieces was much delayed by a new outbreak of Covid-19 in China at the end of 2022 and by the Chinese New Year.
Meanwhile, we had also changed the color “red” to a brighter red, but this turned out to be almost fluorescent pink in production.
Fortunately, this time the test pieces were received by us on time and we were able to make several adjustments before production began this time.
And after a long wait, today was finally the day; the second edition of Operation Cuckoo is now in our office.
And how happy we are with the end result!
Sometimes it takes a while, but then you have something!
The second edition and travel edition of Operation Cuckoo are available for purchase in our webshop and for pre-order at your local game store from today!