About
Lord of the Chords: The Punniest Music Theory Card Game!
S$ 313,494
3,800
Lord of the Chords is the punniest, geekiest, most secretly educational music theory card game in the world! The card game that musicians play when they're not playing music!
SGD $55 Minor Edition
Initially, we laser-cut a keyboard-shaped box from thick cardboard to store our cards, just for fun. To our surprise, people went crazy over the box! There were actually some people who bought our early test version of the game just for the box, without even trying the game! We knew we had something special on our hands.
However, it was definitely not feasible to handcraft all the boxes! And the cardboard version wasn't durable enough. Most people told us to just go with a normal cardboard box since it would be easier but we wanted our backers to feel the same sense of amazement we did so we're glad to announce we've found a great manufacturer in China who's working with us to design the box!
There's a small mistake in the video - can you spot it? ;)
Check out our rulebook here, it's currently a work in progress hosted on Google Docs. Feel free to comment and offer feedback :)
Gameplay video with Kirsten Long and Wanning Wong (full time musicians and music teachers)!
Listen to our interview with Shelly Davis from PianoParentPodcast!
Video interview with The Cardboard Stacker:
We are just 3 Musically-inclined(hence the theme), Engineering-trained(hence the box) and Game-addicted(hence the game) guys from Singapore(hence the asian parents forcing us to learn music).
We had a horrible experience learning music theory when we were younger. We created this game because we want to transform that terrible experience into a terrific experience, and we believe we can - with your help!
While this is our first Kickstarter, all 3 of us have backed Kickstarter projects before and we each bring strong complementary skills to form a great team. From video filming to digital marketing to game design to publicity outreach, the three of us have been hard at work daily to chase our dreams. We've tried to do as much of it by ourselves as possible so that we can ensure that every part of this campaign and journey retains the style, humor and quality that we've promised with the game.
If you’re into geeky Musical references and epic Composer puns, Pliszt Bach us and help us to make this game a reality.
Check out Jonathan's Medium Article for the detailed composition of our bach story, filled with lots of be-haydn-the-scenes action and accounts of our crazy sustained hustling.
Why support us on Kickstarter
We need your help to fund the production of Lord of the Chords and make it the best music card game ever. As a backer, you'll also help us unlock stretch goals that will improve key components of the game for everyone.
In return, we're offering major discounts for both the Minor and Major tiers from the MSRP and we'll make sure that all backers get their copies before retail release.
Work together with us! Music theory can be complicated and downright different between countries and cultures. We love hearing your feedback and advice and we've already been receiving lots of advice from supporters pre-campaign that has helped us made many useful changes to the game.
Translations and Musical Variations
All of the below options will be available as choices on the backer survey we will send out at the end of the campaign. Select the options you want and we will make sure you get the best version of the game for you!
Language options available:
- English (default)
- Spanish
- German
Game content options available:
- Default version (with crotchets and Bflat)
- EU version (Bflat becomes B and B becomes H)
- American version (Differences in rhythm terminology - "crotchets" become "quarter notes")
If you know of other differences or things we should take into account, please let us know! Here is a Google Sheet with descriptions and translations for the Minor Edition. Feel free to add translations in your own language!
Manufacturing, Shipping and Pledge Manager
Manufacturing
We are currently working together with WhatzGames (King of Tokyo, Krosmaster Quest, Antidote) to produce our game components and IdealHard (Robo3D, Body Boss) to manufacture our box - both in China. Both companies have great records of working with Kickstarter campaigns and we have been in close communication with the companies pre-launch.
Shipping
Shipping will not be charged during the campaign. It will be charged through the pledge manager after the campaign based on the actual costs incurred to ship. This is so we can be fair to all our backers as shipping is rarely one size fits all, and also give you more stretch goodies and possibly a choice of carrier options.
We will be working with various experienced fulfillment centers. We are offering tax-friendly options for US, EU, Canada, Australia and Mexico.
The shipping rates below are an estimate but they will be the maximum possible value charged to the pledge manager at the end of the campaign. We have slightly overestimated some of the rates so as to give ourselves some leeway to work with unforeseen circumstances.
Delivery is expected to be in October 2019.
Pledge Manager
We will be working togther with CrowdOx. For those who are new to Kickstarter, a pledge manager will help us to manage the orders and information more effectively. About a week after the campaign ends, all backers will receive an email with a survey to confirm shipping address, shipping costs and any additional add-ons or purchases that they'll like to make.
Retailers
Please email us at hello@lordofthechords.com. Thank you!
Our Estimated Timeline
This project is promoted by Jellop, the ad tech power behind the best Kickstarters with 650+ successful Kickstarter projects with over $300MM raised between them.
Risks and challenges
Lord of the Chords LLP was founded in 2018, by Jonathan, Jun Yu and Keith. All three of us engineering majors at university. We are proud to say that the three of us have taken a year's leave of absence to ensure that fulfilment goes smoothly. There's nothing more that we want than for Lord of the Chords to be in your hands, wow-ing your friends, making you laugh, and showing you that music theory can in fact be fun!
At Lord of the Chords, we strive to make products that are beautiful, hilarious, and enlightening, and we think we've done that with this game.
The money raised by this campaign will be used to fund the first round of production for Lord of the Chords. This includes injection molding for the box, manufacturing costs for the cards, rulebook and tokens, and shipping.
We have done our best to accurately gauge our costs by building relationships with our future manufacturers and suppliers.
While printing, shipping, and processing delays are always a possibility, we have set a reasonable delivery date based on our experience.
Fun Guaranteed!
We want you to love your experience with Lord of the Chords. If you don't enjoy the game after you've received and played it, just send it back to our headquarters and we'll issue you a full refund, no questions asked.
Refunds – Kickstarter
If you'd like a refund before your item ships, you have until one week before the scheduled ship date to request one. We can offer you a 90% refund since Kickstarter retains about 10% of your pledge for various fees. If there is something wrong with your item, we appreciate the opportunity to replace or exchange it. If a refund is preferred and there is no defect with the product, you'll be responsible for shipping it back to us. Upon receipt of the returned item, we'll issue you a 90% refund. Refund requests must be made within 30 days of the date the item was delivered to you.
Replacements
We are always happy to replace defective or damaged tokens, cards, or other components. Just send us photos of the damage, and we will ship a replacement at no additional cost to you. If your item needs to be returned, we will cover the cost of the return shipping. We provide replacement pieces while titles are active in our catalog, which is typically at least a year after their initial printing. Replacement requests must be made within 30 days of the date the item was delivered to you.
Support
Funding period
- (36 days)