Created by Seth & Brandt @ Blueprint Gaming Concepts
NOTE: Please scroll to the bottom of this page or click view item to select your product item.
Missed your chance to back this Kickstarter game?! Now's your chance to pre-order and take advantage of the unlocked stretch goals that will be included in your late pledge. A game of backstabbing and thrilling absurdities! Collect evidence and battle each other across a sprawling castle for 2-6 players. The 2nd Story expansion broadens the number of players to 1-7! Read more about the game and campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sethcooper/crimes-in-history-h-h-holmes-murder-castle
More Information:
https://www.blueprintgamingconcepts.com/h-h-holmes-murder-castle
Every game copy will receive a printed rulebook written in the English language. A web based rulebook translation is planned for German and French.
Game copies are currently in route to the US and will be available to ship to customers by late January.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
The 2nd Story How to Play Video, Board Game Geek Award Nomination, Interview, & Shipping Updates (cont.)
over 3 years ago
– Wed, Jan 20, 2021 at 05:09:03 PM
The 2nd Story Expansion How to Play Video: It's finally here! Our official How to Play Video, by The GameBoyGeek, for The 2nd Story Expansion which includes Automa and Play as Holmes versions!
In addition to the link above, this video has also been added to the QR Code on the back of the rulebook as the 2nd video when you scroll down.
Board Game Geek (BGG): We need your help to be nominated for a Geeklist as one of the 20 Most Anticipated Games of 2021 on Board Game Geek!
2. Scroll to the bottom to find the Crimes in History: H. H. Holmes' Murder Castle Board Game and click the green thumbs up on the bottom left.
The top 50 nominations will be entered into the final vote for the top 20.If we are nominated in any of the categories, then the voting would begin tomorrow:
Voting Begins: Thursday, January 21, 2021
Voting Ends: Saturday, January 30, 2021
While you are on BGG, and if you've received and played the game, please feel free to rate and review our game here. A numbered rating 1-10 (10 being high) is quick to do should you not want to write a review (which can be a few words or as long as you'd like) but we would certainly appreciate both!
ESCAPE THE ROOMers Interview: Our next video interview is scheduled for this Friday, January 21st at 4pm ET / 3pm CT. If interested in attending, here's the Facebook invite if you'd like to be reminded.
ShippingUpdates: There are some North American orders that have not yet been delivered. We are working with Quartermaster Logistics to ensure all orders are delivered. When watching the FedEx tracking, we've noticed that once FedEx shows your delivery date has been set, that is the stage your delivery really advances. Some of the tracking prior either appears to be wrong and/or moving extremely slow. However, we've been monitoring some of these types of orders and some of the earlier reports of these instances are now having games start to deliver this week. Regardless of what the FexEx tracking shows (example: inefficient routes around where you live), we ask for your patience and it should be delivered within the next 1.5 weeks. For all other orders, we should have more information within the next 1-1.5 weeks for you.
Last, but not least, don't forget to send us your castle pics on any of our social media channels! It's been really fun for us to see some of the layouts that have been built.
Shipping Update, How to Play Video, Frequently Asked Questions
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Jan 17, 2021 at 08:20:52 PM
The majority of US and Canada games have now shipped and many of you have already started to receive your game(s)! Once Quartermaster Logistics ships games, they will email you your tracking number from a [email protected] email address.
Unfortunately, due to the new law changes in the UK, both UK and non-UK Europe orders will have up to a 2-3 week delay and the timeline to receive your game copies will be targeted for mid-February. All other worldwide orders should be on track for the end of January delivery.
FAQ'S / RULEBOOK CLARIFICATIONS: Click here to access the brand new FAQ's and Rulebook Clarifications. This link has been added to the "Global Rulebook Library" QR Code on the back of the rulebook and is also available on our website. If you have any game questions, please check this list first.
THE GAME BOY GEEK'S HOW TO PLAY VIDEO: Here's a must watch video link (only 22 minutes) to learn how to play the standard multiplayer base game, which we recommend before playing with The 2nd Story. This will definitely help accelerate you into the game using the right rules and in the video description on YouTube there are timestamps should you ever want to jump to a different section. This video is now linked to the How to play video QR code on the back of the rulebook!
The Game Boy Geek will be doing a part 2 video for The 2nd Story gameplay separately and will be available very soon!
HOW TO USE THE GAME INSERT: Here's a video link that shows how to pack the game components in the insert and game box.
2-PLAYER GAMES: The 2-player game plays the same as multiplayer with 2 exceptions that are mentioned in pages 5 and 6 of the rulebook.
You must collect enough evidence for the additional column on the evidence board and not use a pillar.
A round ends after each person completes their actions from their selected 2 action tiles (performed 1 action tile at a time).
Also in case it's helpful, we recorded a 2-player playthrough video on our Facebook page on the videos section in case it helps clarify / provide an understanding of rules.
AUTOMA (Solo Mode): Here's a link to a recorded Automa game in case it helps clarify / provide an understanding of rules.
PRESS UPDATE:
1.) We were recently featured on a 1-hour podcast with the To Die For cast and that podcast episode, Episode 50, is now available here. They were a crazy bunch!
5) Check out the latest Unboxing Video from Love 2 Hate!
REVIEW OUR GAME: For those that use Board Game Geek (BGG), or for those that are new that want to participate, we would certainly appreciate any ratings / reviews on our BGG Page after you've played a few games! The more reviews and ratings will help us determine if there is demand to manufacture an additional print run and help spotlight our game across the community!
We know we've shared a lot of links lately, but if you ever forget where something might be located, check either of the QR Codes / URL Hyperlinks on the back of the rulebook or visit our game's page at https://www.blueprintgamingconcepts.com/h-h-holmes-murder-castle .
Shipping of Games & Final Reminders
over 3 years ago
– Wed, Jan 06, 2021 at 05:28:17 AM
Happy New Year! January 13th will officially mark our 1-year anniversary since we launched on Kickstarter and we have some exciting news to share.
The games have arrived, cleared customs, and are in route to our fulfillment partner's warehouses! As a result, we believe we are on track for end of January delivery. We are using Quartermaster Logistics who will be coordinating the shipping of games to your door. They will be reaching out to you very soon to reconfirm addresses while they wait to receive the games at their warehouse. Please be on the lookout for their email and respond as soon as possible, as it will help ensure games can reach the right address as soon as they are available to ship and received at the warehouse. We would anticipate their email to be going out within the next week.
Scheduled Delays: Delaying packages for individual backers for specific dates is not feasible.
Confirmation of Undelivered Games: If you have not received your game by February 19, 2021 please contact our fulfillment partner at [email protected]. While we are anticipating the majority of all backers will receive their game by the end of January, there are some international orders that can take longer to deliver and are including some extra contingency primarily for those deliveries.
Base Game vs. The 2nd Story Expansion: 98% of all orders include the Base Game and The 2nd Story Expansion. These components are all included in 1 box. You can spot the difference on the box because the The 2nd Story blood splatter will be on lower right hand size on the front of the box top.
ExtraGame Components: There may be slightly extra evidence cubes across the different types of evidence. This is normal with games that have this many cubes because manufacturing does not hand count each of them. In our advance reviewer copies, each of them had more than what the component contents listed (so consider it extra). 5 evidence cubes (plus or minus) for each evidence type will not affect the game and the bag can hold extras without introducing any problems.
In playtests, we often received the question, "What happens when all of the rooms are built?" In 300 playtests, this only occurred a few times and each of those times were with larger player counts and not using The 2nd Story Rooms. As a result, the Explore the Castle Action Tile has a newer backside action called Explore the Room. Should you want this side of the Action Tile to ever come into play, we would recommend playing the game with 5-7 people and/or removing the 2nd Story Rooms or replacing other rooms so you only have a total of 27 rooms.
Damaged Games: If your game arrives damaged, please take a photo of it in the original packaging and send it to along with your name and address to our fulfillment partner at [email protected]. The photo needs to clearly show any packaging and the damage to the game. Some people don’t mind a small dent or two, but we will do our best to replace the damaged component unless it is the game box itself. Boxes can’t be shipped flat, so we don’t have replacement boxes. So far, none of the advance copies we received (including the reviewer copies) were damaged but it does occasionally happen.
Replacement Parts: It’s important to us that you get the full and best version of your game, and we will respond to any requests for replacement parts. That said, we ask for your compassion and understanding if certain types of components are missing or broken. For example, there may be variable or missing evidence or a Holmes' Strikes! cube, but it will not affect the game, and it is quite expensive to send even a small token or cube to backers. On the other hand, you do need all of the room tiles and Holmes' Movement Cards to play the game. Please let us know right away so we can provide or replace replacement parts as needed. Contact us with the missing/damaged part and your address at [email protected] by March 12, 2021.
Learning the Game: The rulebook has been reviewed my multiple people and multiple iterations so you should be good to go but don't hesitate to clarify any questions with us on our website, Facebook, Twitter, or Board Game Geek links below. Rulebook and Event Card Translation has been completed for French and German languages. The digital version of the English, French, and German Rulebook and Event Card Sheets are completed and located here.
We are SO EXCITED to announce that The Game Book Geek will begin filming the official How To Play video for our game next week and will then be featured in his Rules School video series that will be available later this month! On the back of the rulebook, there is a QR Code that will take you to this explanatory video on how to play the game. You will also be able to access that video here! However, the video will be loaded to this link later in January.
We find that it’s helpful for teaching a game if your game-night guests watch a video about the game in advance!
Buying Future Copies of the Game: We are proud to share that this project sold 80% of all game copies manufactured, and because we more than doubled our Kickstarter during the pre-ordering phase, we have limited copies of the game available for order. Because we are a very small company, we have chosen to not initiate another print run of orders (for now). We want to see how much demand there is for future orders once the game is officially released and may consider a future print run if there is enough demand and once the remaining 20% of inventory sells. As you play your games with friends or family members, and if they express interest in buying the game, please direct them to our friendly local game retailer store (FLGS) page located here to contact those stores (or visit their websites) to see if they have any copies left. These retailers supported our game early on and we want to make sure they sell out of their copies! Alternatively, you can help direct people to visit Cool Stuff Inc here. We are not live on Cool Stuff Inc just yet, but should be live soon and will keep you updated. We are very excited to partner with Cool Stuff Inc which is one of the largest online board game retailers, excluding Amazon. In the interim, anyone interested in our game can sign up here and we will notify them once the game is available to purchase on Cool Stuff Inc.
Additionally, one of our first blog posts included our top 10 recommendations for a successful game night when playing our game and you can read those here! If you still can't find a rule or have a question, reach out to us on our website, Facebook, Twitter, or Board Game Geek.
We are so excited for everyone to receive their copy! We absolutely want to continue interacting with each of you and see photos or videos of unboxing, your painted minis, gameplay, fun absurd moments, or some of the 19th Century Murder Castle Tweets (found on the last page of the rulebook). Because each game is unique, it's always fun to see pictures of the final castle and how your group constructed it and how pathways were affected. We will have information to share on our social media channels very soon about a contest to play a game with us remotely and a chance to beat the designers!
Best,
Seth & Brandt
Delivery Update
over 3 years ago
– Wed, Dec 16, 2020 at 09:39:29 PM
Hi, we hope everyone is staying safe out there!
We've received a few requests for an update. Our last update included the following timeline:
Games Depart Manufacturer: By November 12, 2020
Inventory Arrival: By December 21-24, 2020
Games Received at Shipping Warehouse: December 31, 2020
All Backers Received Game Copies / Kickstarter Rewards: By January 28, 2021
All games departed on schedule and are on the boat that's still traveling to a US Customs port. It's about a 6 week process so we would expect the boat to clear customs sometime in the next 1-1.5 weeks. From there, the shipment takes about an extra week to arrive to the Quartermasters fulfillment center.
We are still on track for backers to receive their game copies by the end of January. We will provide another update as soon as Quartermasters confirms they've received the shipment of games and at that time we will provide some additional information as we prepare for your games to ship.
A few additional updates are below:
1.) Rulebook translation for German and French have been completed. All of our digital rulebooks and event card sheets are located here.
2.) All pre-orders have closed. There are instructions on our website located here, for anyone interested in purchasing any of the remaining copies. This includes contacting any of our friendly local game store partners or signing up for an email notification from us once orders are ready. Note: You do not have to do this if you were a Kickstarter backer or a pre-order customer.
3.) Some of the unboxing and reviews are starting to go live (though we suspect the majority will go live in January).
- The Nerz Garage Board Game Review was the featured review in the BoardGameGeek's newsletter on December 10th!
Board Game Geek Weekly Newsletter - Review of the Week!
Happy holidays and best wishes for a happy new year!
Alas, a celebration!
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Nov 07, 2020 at 02:00:48 AM
"This exposition is not the conception of any single mind; It is not theresult of any single effort, but it isthe grandest conception of all theminds and the best obtainable results of all the efforts put forth by allthe people who have in any manner contributed to its consideration." -Fair Director General Davis May 1, 1893 excerpt, fair opening speech-
We've made it through the last few weeks which was a really critical period and have a few exciting updates for everyone.
1.) Our insert was cracked during the shipping process to us and we flagged this as an issue for the manufacturer. They completed some "drop testing" and confirmed this was an issue. As a result, the manufacturer has upgraded the inserts for all game copies and have provided the preview of the new insert which can be seen below. The insert design, manufacturing, and assembly was all completed within the last 1.5 weeks. Despite delays, we are beyond excited that our manufacturer cares so much about the quality of the gaming components. We truly have an amazing team on this project.
New Upgraded Insert
2.) From a timeline perspective, we built in some contingency into our last timeline update in case there was 1-2 more unknown issues that may surface and happy to report that at this time there are no changes to that timeline! We are still tracking the following as our next steps:
Games Depart Manufacturer: By November 12, 2020 (More on this below!)
Inventory Arrival: By December 21-24, 2020
Games Received at Shipping Warehouse: December 31, 2020
All Backers Received Game Copies / Kickstarter Rewards: By January 28, 2021
3.) We received some of the best news this morning! The games have completed the assembly and packaging process and are being transported for overseas shipment now and we have pictures below from behind the scenes - both earlier this week and today.
Preview of Assembly
Preview of Assembly #2
Preview of Assembly #3
Packaged Games
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Locked Doors
Doors are Locked!
4.) Our advance reviewer copies are being shipped by air to us and reviewers will receive their copies in mid to late November. We have an amazing, all star lineup of 25+ reviewers. Articles, videos, and podcasts from those reviews will begin going live in January 2021.
Our company, Blueprint Gaming Concepts, is working with GJJ Games and participating in the 2020 Extra Life Auction to help sick and injured kids in our local communities and benefitting the Children's Miracle Network Hospital that treats thousands of children each year, regardless of their illness, injury or even their family's ability to pay.
We have donated 2 copies of our final production version of the Crimes in History: H. H. Holmes' Murder Castle 2nd Story Expansion Included which can be auctioned and won! These will be our first 2 production copies that will be live in the market since they are being air shipped with the advance reviewer copies. The auction will run for one week, starting TODAY at 7pm CT, Friday, November 6 and ending at 11:59pm CT, Friday, November 13.
Please help share the auction links to help drive visibility to this board game auction for a great cause!
Murder Castle Board Game - 2020 Extra Life Auction
We couldn't have brought this game to life without each and every one of you. We have heard so many stories of first time board game buyers, first time Kickstarter backers, and those just genuinely excited with the theme and/or gameplay. We've had amazing backers and partners to turn this idea into reality and are counting down the days until everyone can open up their box and play. It's been a long journey, but we are so close to the finish line!
