"Kiwis Against Morality" launched as a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter at midday today and became a fully funded project ready to send into production around 4.30pm.
It took less than five hours for Hamilton-based Eliot Jessep and Ben Hawken to reach their $4,500 goal on Kickstarter and make "Kiwis Against Morality" a reality.
"We launched at midday and genuinely cannot believe the support we've received so far," Jessep told the Herald on the phone around 4.20pm.
"I reckon we'll be fully funded by the time we finish this phone call," he added.
The pledges came thick and fast and, within a couple of minutes of saying that, Jessep had enough backing on Kickstarter to create the first New Zealand party game.
The funding came almost as quickly as the idea itself.
"We did it, we're fully funded," he said the moment it happened.
Within a week of coming up with the design and the crowdfunding campaign, the duo has a card game ready to send to production.
Photo / Supplied
Jessep and Hawken only started working on the project on Monday. They own Game Kings, a games retailer in Hamilton, and often had customers asking for a Kiwi party game. They had to keep telling customers such a game did not exist - until they decided to create their own.
There is clearly a demand for the game, as shown by how quickly it got the funding it needed.
"It was only three days ago we posted on Facebook a mock-up of the box asking if people would be interested," Jessep said. The response was almost overwhelming.
From there, they spoke to a game production company and started working on the actual design of the cards.
"We started working on the design on Monday and did the video late last night on my iPhone. We're living off a Red Bull," he said.
If you're easily offended, this game is not for you. Photo / Supplied
They know it won't be a game for everyone. The box describes it as a "party game for Kiwis and other bastards", so not everyone will feel like the description suits them.
"We aren't out here to be money-whor**g a**holes, we just thought, 'why not finally give the people what they want?' We run a games store that was spawned out of party games and we know just how much potential this game has to bring friends together for a good laugh," he said on his Kickstarter page.
"It's an offensive game. That's the point," he said.
The goal is to finish sentences using some of the finest (as well as the least fine) pieces of Kiwiana events ever heard of. Think Paula's Panini, the Mad Butcher, 1080, David Bain, the Topp Twins and every other Kiwi "classic" you can think of.
In order to have the game ready to ship by Christmas, just in time for Christmas afternoon fun and games with nana, the team will have it printed in New Zealand.
Expansion packs are already on the cards (sorry...) for 2019.
