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The Great Chase: a Co-op tabletop game (for solo-6)

Created by M. L. "Matt" Buchman

Bringing to life the card game invented ->by the characters<- in the bestselling Miranda Chase novels.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Game in Alaska
about 2 years ago – Fri, Mar 25, 2022 at 01:18:59 PM

I hope you're enjoying these positional updates of the Ever Summit because I'm certainly having fun following the ship. Here's where we are on the map and why I'm glad I'm not aboard for the next 24-48 hours.

Where are we now?

The Ever Summit is under the loop of the compass.

The boat has followed a common route across the north Pacific. It has ducked just south of Attu Island. 

Now Attu is a very fun island. A former US Coast Guard station, it was finally abandoned in 2010, making it the largest unpopulated island in the country. It is also the westernmost point of the US, except it peeks over into the Eastern Hemisphere, also making it the easternmost point (well, almost, one other small island lies to the east without crossing the hemispherical line).

Attu is now a wildlife sanctuary, particularly known for its amazing birding (for those able to get there). This is featured in The Good Year comedy with Jack Black, Steve Martin, and Owen Wilson. I'll also just happen to mention that it is featured in my book Night Stalkers #9, Target Lock on Love.

Past Attu Island the Ever Summit will pass north of the Aleutian Island chain and into the Bering Sea, running as far as it can behind the protection of the islands, not reentering the North Pacific until reaching Unimak Island.

Why avoiding the North Pacific?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's the picture:

The little white splotches are the Aleutian Islands. Those little symbols are called "wind barbs." The way you read them is each little tick mark equals 10 knots (11.5 mph / 18.5 kmph). Those 4-1/2 tick marks on the magenta flags are showing 45 knot winds (52 mph / 83 kmph). The wind is blowing from the tick marks toward the point of the staff. And it looks as if another weather system is developing in the lower left corner of tomorrow's map. I'm guessing that their goal is to use the winds of the passing front to ride fast out of the way of the approaching one.

That's all the news today.

Timing Is Everything?
about 2 years ago – Mon, Mar 21, 2022 at 03:25:26 PM

At Present

First, our ship, the Ever Summit, after a brief stop in South Korea, is now headed for Tacoma, Washington. This is very close to the fulfillment mailing house in Portland, Oregon, which will save at least a week when compared to the original arrival port of Long Beach, CA. International shipping is quirky that way, loads always shuffling to balance the best and most available routes with the loading demands of the moment.

The ship is presently passing through the Tsugaru Strait between Honshu and Hokkaido, Japan. It will follow the North Pacific current close by the Aleutian Islands. It presently has favorable tail winds of about 20 knots (23 mph) over to Tacoma. As the boat itself is motoring at 21.2 knots, this is a significant push. 

There is a storm currently approaching the Gulf of Alaska from the south, but it's 40-45 knot headwinds should have moved on before the Ever Summit enters those waters.

Ship's last report under the compass' eye loop.

What this means...

It means that the delivery to the fulfillment house will probably happen 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule. That we hadn't planned on. There are a few other pieces that we need to get in place. They'd have been ready by the planned delivery date. But getting them there 3 weeks early...? Well, we're scrambling! How ironic that after 7 months of delay in China, we may now have a 1-2 week delay here. ;)

More news as it floats in.

Matt

It's not our ship that's grounded.
about 2 years ago – Thu, Mar 17, 2022 at 12:43:32 PM

A quick update.

Several astute fans have picked up that the game is on an Evergreen ship and that an Evergreen ship just ran aground in Maryland.

Fear not!

The Ever Forward did indeed run aground on March 17th in Chesapeake Bay.

However, Evergreen shipping is the fifth largest in the world and runs 3-400 cargo ships.

The Ever Summit (with The Great Chase aboard) is presently northwest of Taiwan, enroute to its next stop in South Korea tomorrow.

All is well...so far.

Matt

We're on the Ship! Nerds Unite!
about 2 years ago – Thu, Mar 17, 2022 at 07:39:26 AM

Yes, we're on the cargo ship and The Great Chase is finally underway!

Which ship? I never thought you'd ask! 

Meet the good ship Ever Summit

(c) Karen Rose (2009)

300m long x 42.9m wide x 13.2m (current draught)

She is Taiwan-owned, Singapore-flagged and can carry 7,024 TEU (Twenty-foot container Equivalent Units). Forty-footers are mostly the standard (as in the photo above), so she can carry 3,512 "forties." Our game takes up a tiny corner of one container (it fits on 2 small pallets).

She arrived in Yantian Harbor two nights ago, was unloaded then reloaded yesterday, and left this morning. Next stop on her wandering route is KRKJE (Geoje, South Korea), with eventual destination, Long Beach, CA in mid-April.


A Map View

Position on our Game Map at 2022-03-17 (00:32 local time) (under the eye of the compass rose)

A Nerd's View

Now, ready to really waste some time with us? Cool, go to: MarineTraffic.com (if you don't like to click links, search on the Ever Summit once you get there). Then Click "LiveMap" (and ignore the next port of call information that hasn't fully updated yet).

You'll see something like this, the grayish circle in the middle will be blinking (and probably underneath the ship description, just drag it aside). That's the most recent reported position of the Evergreen Ever Summit.

Now, and this is CRITICAL! Do NOT look at anything else on the site, you may never escape. It's fascinating. And a free account lets you see even more!

Sorry to do 2 messages back to back
about 2 years ago – Tue, Mar 08, 2022 at 06:12:38 PM

But I'm too happy. I just replaced the master "tracking" banner on the Kickstarter site, and was able to check off and change two (2!) of the tracking fields to green at once. Happy days!

 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mlbuchman/the-great-chase