PRESS RELEASE: SEND IT! The Mountain Biking Board Game
SEND IT! The Mountain Biking Board Game is the brainchild of professional mountain bike racers Syd Schulz and Macky Franklin.
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We set out to create a mountain biking game that acknowledges the inherent risk of our sport but also recognizes that there are ways to decrease that risk. In the game, players are forced to find the delicate balance between over-preparing for a feature and just sending it.—Macky Franklin |
The riders (L to R): Dirt Jump Delilah, Downhill Derek, Enduro Elsa, Cross-Country Carrie, Singletrack Sammy, Trials Terrance
The game riffs on popular mountain bike stereotypes. Riders have names like Cross-Country Carrie who “replaces all the bolts on her bike with titanium ones and refuses to wear a hydration pack” and Downhill Derek who “loves techy rock gardens and jumping but HATES pedaling.” However, the game is designed to appeal to bikers and non-bikers alike.Turns are short so the game moves quickly, and as players tell stories about how they crashed there’s lots of laughing and joking among players, according to Franklin. The rule that “any player caught checking their phone must draw a crash card” encourages players to focus on the game and spend time with one another.
The game features illustrations by Kristina Wayte, who has made a name for herself as a mountain bike artist with her popular Instagram account, sketchytrails.
The couple, who run the popular mountain bike YouTube channel Syd and Macky, held a livestream launch party on their channel to kick things off.
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“The response was amazing. We had a big group watching our livestream and a huge number of them supported the project almost immediately. We raised over $10,000 in the first 30 minutes.”—Syd Schulz |
The campaign reached its $25,000 funding goal later that night and has now raised over $33,000. The campaign ends in early June and they plan to deliver the games to backers in time for the 2020 holidays. You can reserve your copy here.
