A Big One: Shipping, Deep Dive, Website, Support, Accessibility & More
**This in-depth update, directly from founder, Jean Simonet, has been adapted from the communication shared with our Kickstarter Backers and contains transparent, detailed information about Pixels production. Some details have been adjusted to focus on Pre-order info vs Backer Rewards. These updates are published at the end of each month and will continue to be re-published on the Pixels Blog with information relevant to Pre-order customers.**
Dear Pre-Order Customers,
This update dives into our ongoing fulfillment efforts, key challenges, and what’s next as we balance Backer rewards, Pre-orders, and growing as a company. Thank you for your patience and support.
We’re grateful for all the feedback from the Pixels community. If you are a Pre-order customer who has already received your order, thanks for continuing to follow our journey!
What’s in this update:
🎲 Singles and Sets Shipping Progress
🌌 Aurora Sky, Midnight Galaxy, and Clear D20 Updates
🛠️ Technical Deep Dive: Manufacturing Challenges and Fixes
🌐 Website Updates and Referral Program Changes
📩 Support Desk Backlog
♿ PAX Unplugged and Accessibility Focus
🎲 Shipping Progress
Singles Fulfillment
I am happy to say that there are, as of today, about 20,000 pixels in the wild (13,700 shipments delivered), including Kickstarter Backers and Pre-orders. Because of Onyx Black and Hematite Grey D20 challenges (these colorways have proved more difficult to make) there are still 12,500 singles outstanding. More specifically:
- There are 12,500 Singles yet to be delivered
- 7,800 Hematite Grey (HG) and Onyx Black (OB)
- 4,700 Aurora Sky (AS), Midnight Galaxy (MG), Clear (CL)
- Of which 6,600 (53%) are ready to be sent to the fulfillment center:
- 1,900 Hematite Grey (HG) and Onyx Black (OB)
- 4,700 Aurora Sky (AS), Midnight Galaxy (MG), Clear (CL)
The remaining 5,900 HG and OB dice are still being fixed/reworked by the factory and when they’re done, we’ll be able to make another delivery to the fulfillment center.
Are You Still Waiting on Your Aurora Sky, Midnight Galaxy, or Clear D20?
We understand some Backers/Pre-orders are wondering why their Aurora Sky (AS), Midnight Galaxy (MG), or Clear (CL) D20s haven’t shipped yet as the majority of customers have received theirs — or will receive them with in a few weeks if the order was put in recently.
There are about 3,500 orders containing AS/MG/CL D20s that have not shipped. The overwhelming majority have not shipped **because they’re awaiting a HG or OB dice to complete the order.** (There are a few dozen orders that have carrier issues we are sorting out with our fulfillment partner and should be able to clear shortly).
Why are we waiting?
🥇 We’ve already split shipping for most orders containing singles vs. sets.
🥈 However, we cannot do an additional split for orders containing HG/OB vs. AS/MG/CL.
The good news is, we have many of these specific dice in stock, ready to ship as soon as their HG/OB partners are available!
In fact we have a few too many right now! (See more below)
Sets Fulfillment
No specific update on sets fulfillment yet, as production is still ongoing and I’ve learned it’s best to not over promise. **The 6-10+ month estimate for Pre-order sets, posted here, is my closest estimate and we will continue to keep that page updated, and publish monthly updates here.**
As is usual, each time we scale a product (like sets) we’re still finding issues and solving them as we go (more on that below). Thankfully, there is daily progress. Here are the latest numbers I can share as of December:
- We’ve finished about 20,000 more dice to make sets with
- 33,000 dice are in various stages of painting, polishing, QC and reworking
- 44,000 cores waiting to be cast
The number one reason for the sets delay is that the dice factory is spending a significant amount of time fixing existing dice (Onyx Black and Hematite Grey mentioned above).
The second reason is that as of today, even though we have about 20,000 dice sitting on shelves, we are only able to compile a few hundred RPG sets.
- We are short almost all necessary Onyx and Hematite D20s that we’ve been struggling with and therefore giving priority to packaging as singles.
- We have also been noticing an unusually high scrap rate on D8, D10 and D12 and so put a number of those batches on hold. (I share more details and insane stories in the Manufacturing section).
Finally, sourcing the batteries for the sets charging cases has been an issue, but we should be able to catch up to when the dice will be ready.
👋 Read on if you’re interested in a technical deep dive, otherwise feel free to SKIP THE NEXT TWO SECTIONS as there is more important information further down. 👋
🛠️ Mass Production Challenges with D8/D10/D12 Dice
This is one of the many spreadsheets generated by our QC lead and we use to spot production issues at-scale. This one is focused on a batch of circuit boards. In the first six (6) rows you can see that the main problem with circuit board production is the hand soldering of the batteries, but that’s one of the easiest issues to fix and not what really worried us.
What we are interested in are the three (3) rows highlighted in red. What these are telling us is that for D8, D10 and D12, the number of boards that stop working after being folded around their caddy is 2 to 4 times higher than average.
After some investigation we found what I could only describe as an intermittent “almost” short between some of the signals; not a strong enough connection to be an actual short we could track down, but enough to cause some of the signals to be incorrect and prevent the die from functioning. The worst part was that the problem would often go away or come back with absolutely zero consistency. Sometime de-soldering a component would fix it, sometimes attaching test leads would make it come back, it was the craziest thing.
Fast forward several weeks of testing and head scratching, and we finally found the issue. Let me tell you, it is dumb and fascinating at the same time!
So, the electronics of the dice use a flexible circuit board (FPC). This FPC has a bunch of components on it and gets folded around a caddy to position all the LEDs in the center of the die faces. In order to program the micro controller (MCU) on this board, we need to have some programming pads that we can connect to with an external device. This is called In-Circuit-Programming.
Our dice are so small that the programing pads can’t really fit anywhere on any of the exposed faces (the pads are too big and/or the space is used by important signal traces). So what we did is add a “tail” to the FPC and place the programming contacts there. It’s easy to access and we can cut it off before folding the FPC around the caddy.
This cut goes right through copper traces that connect the programming pads to the micro-controller, and in most cases that is not an issue. But this is where, unfortunately, a small oversight when I designed the boards almost two years ago is biting us in the rear now.
When I laid out the traces for the D8, D10 and D12, I put some traces on both side of the circuit board, across that cut line. The space is pretty tight so I routed the traces in a way that was the easiest at the time.
Unfortunately, when workers cut off the tail and then fold the FPC, there is a significant chance that they end up “pinching” the flexible material and bringing the top and bottom traces really close to one another. At that point, it is just a matter of luck whether the strain of folding, handling or heating up the FPC will cause those top and bottom traces to touch of not, which is exactly what we had been observing.
The long-term fix is easy: re-route the signals going across the cut to only be on the same side (and spread apart as much as possible). However, I am also happy to say that have found a good workaround for existing boards involving applying some lacquer to the cut edge to prevent any further motion/contact. In fact I just received the result of our trial this week and we didn’t get a single defect in 200 boards we tested our workaround on.
❄️ Another Weird One: Freezing Dice FTW
This is just crazy! We found a significant number of dice that had been sitting in storage for a while that would no-longer turn on. These dice just refused to take a charge. They had been tested working previously so we weren’t sure what was going on. Was it a battery issue? Was it a problem with the circuitry? Did the coil or a wire break? What is something we should have caught during assembly?
🕵️ It was time to investigate.
The first big problem though, was that in order to answer any of these questions, we had to be able to get back to the electronics. We had to find a way to remove the cured epoxy without damaging the delicate circuit board or components so we could poke and prod the circuit…
With mechanical removal methods out of the question (we’d sand or laser right through the FPC) the only solution had to be chemical in nature. Sadly, Epoxy is incredibly strong; there is a reason it is used as a floor coating and in fiberglass boats: it is resistant to so much stuff. Ethers, Alcohols, Acetones, Spirits, nothing touches it… In fact I have ordered and tried so many chemicals by now I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m on a watch list somewhere. 🫣
But, eventually I did find a reference to something called Dichloromethane online and was able to order some. It had encouraging results: after soaking in DCM for a few hours the epoxy started to chip and break off pretty easily. Giving me access to the electronics, mostly.
Even though this is a pretty technical deep dive, I’ll still skip a few steps and cut to the chase: once I was able to look at the various signals and voltages involved in the wireless charging and battery protection circuits, I found my answer.
The entire wireless charging circuit has two (2) sections. The first one takes the magnetic field created by the external charger and outputs a stable 5V supply. The second section takes that 5V and generates the right voltage and/or current to recharge the battery using an all-in-one charge controller. This charge controller is “smart” and will monitor the battery so it can apply the correct voltage at the correct time and induce the optimal current through the electrodes and keep the battery happy while it is recharging.
As the circuit designer, there is really only one parameter that you control: the maximum recharge current. Everything else is derived internally from this. In our case, we set this to 45mA, a value we purposely picked to be low to maximize the battery’s lifespan.
Among the few *things* that are derived from this 45mA maximum recharge current is the 0V recharge current. This is a technical term for dealing with a LiPo battery that has completely discharged. Even with protection circuits this will still happen: a Lipo will eventually self-discharge if you wait long enough. It’s fine, and in fact our smart controller knows how to handle it: it will limit the current to 10% of the maximum recharge current, or 4.5mA. It will do this by applying a really low voltage at first (<1V), measure the current draw from the battery, and increasing the voltage slowly until it sees a 4.5mA current draw. As the battery is getting recharged, the controller adjusts the voltage, constantly monitoring the battery in order to control the amount of current it pushes through.
Anyway, the long and short of it is that in our situation, with this batch of batteries, 4.5mA was not enough to kick-start the battery recharge cycle. The system would just sit idle at 4.5mA without the battery’s voltage itself ever rising. If I manually forced the controller to push a little bit more current, then the battery would come back to life immediately and the charge cycle would then resume normally.
From there it was pretty easy to find the long-term solution to this problem: increase the maximum charging current (in order to increase the 0V recharge current). Indeed, after several tests, I found that switching to 55mA was just enough while still staying below the recommended value from the battery manufacturer for best lifespan.
But what of the currently broken dice, what if Backer/Customers have the same issue? Could we do anything to save them? Well, this is where it gets even crazier!
Throughout my testing, and poking, and soldering, de-soldering things, I noticed that the voltage being applied to the battery to try and reform it in this 0V state would go down right after I had soldered or de-soldered something. It took me a minute (and by ‘minute’ I mean several grueling days) to figure out that this was somehow temperature-related. When the circuit was warm, the voltage would drop.
So… maybe if I kept the circuit cold while its charging… ???
And so, on a hunch, I grabbed a dead die, put it in a charger, and shoved the whole thing in my freezer. Thirty minutes later, I had a working die again. 🥳
I’ll be completely honest; I don’t entirely understand what happens internally. There is probably a complex interplay of multiple factors involving physics and chemistry and semiconductors… who knows. Most likely I just happened to be lucky, but hey! It worked. Since then, I have had our team in China try this on all the non-functional dice, and more than half came back to life. We haven’t taken the time to investigate the remaining couple hundred dice, but I suspect their issue is somewhere else.
👋 End of technical deep dive! 👋
📦 Some Aurora Sky, Midnight Galaxy, and Clear D20s Available to Ship Immediately
As our Backers are aware, Pixels production has not gone without a hitch, which is why we’ve tried to be clear that “pre-orders” should be expected to have delayed shipping on our site, but we take the small consolations where we can!
Many months ago, in the chaos of trying to deal with the Onyx Black and Hematite D20, and doing our best to either salvage them, pause or convert others from one colorway into another, and all the communication and bookkeeping that go along with this, we made a mistake, and the final assembly factory ended up packaging a number of AS, CL and MG D20s as singles.
It seemed silly to scrap that work and pay even more to unpack these dice, so we figured we’d keep them and would eventually sell them. Since these weren’t needed at the HK fulfillment center, we put them on a boat to America instead (my cat, Luna, was not harmed on the voyage)…
Now that we’ve sent nearly all orders for these three models (D20 in AS/MG/CL) to Backers and Pre-orders (*unless the order is waiting on a HM/OB die), we discussed putting the extra dice up for sale before the year ends.
This was a very nerve-wracking decision, I have to admit… our Backers are our first supporters and responsibility, and we simply won’t be successful as a growing startup without happy Pre-order customers! The last thing I want is to upset someone still waiting on their Set or Onyx D20 by putting other dice for sale and making them feel like people can cut in line.
On the flip side, even though we’re a really small team (4 full-time people) and have been able to be frugal all this time during Kickstarter fulfillment, production delays and mistakes do still add up, and so we are getting to the point where it wouldn’t hurt to sell a few more Pixels.
We also have a ton of questions regarding where and how to sell Pixels. Does knowing that your dice will ship immediately make a huge difference? Should we try to put Pixels in physical stores, or on other shopping platforms? What will give future customers more confidence or make them more likely to buy Pixels? As a result, you may see a few Pixels for sale here or there, as we’re going to try a few things with this small batch of AS/CL/MG D20s.
We’ll make sure to keep you all informed. 📦 First, we’re going to start by putting a small number of the surplus of D20s (AS/MG/CL) on Amazon, of all places (gasp).📦I’m really curious to see what kind of response we get from that.
I think next, along with a few other website updates (see below) we’ll make some available via our shop. his hasn’t happened yet because of the complexities of hooking up multiple fulfillment systems to the same shop, but please bear with us, it’ll be working soon.
Rest assured that all remaining Backer Rewards & Pre-Order sets are being prioritized with the same focus on quality and we are making sure to ship your AS/CL/MG Singles before selling them via other platforms.
🌐 Upcoming Website Updates
We will also be making some notable updates to the website next month. To make a long story short, we are moving to a new platform in an effort to resolve some serious website performance and hosting cost issues. We hope this will improve your experience on our site (it will help us work faster on the back end, for sure!)
As a result, please be aware that some portions of the website will look different, and more importantly, we will be retiring the current Referral Program. We will replace it with a more standard affiliate program later in the coming months.
If you have accrued Referral Coupons, they will be automatically converted to store credit when we make the transition.
Again, this migration should be mostly unnoticeable. We will make sure to communicate any important changes.
📩 Support Desk
Our small but mighty team is balancing a big surge in tickets following recent shipments, and responses are a few weeks delayed at this point while we work to scale support. This is not the customer experience we aspire to and I personally apologize to anyone who is waiting on us.😞
💡 Quick tips to help us help you:
- Shipping inquiries: The most up-to-date information is in this update.
- Priority tickets: Address updates, shipping errors, and product issues.
We’re working hard to respond to all requests and appreciate your understanding! If your general inquiry is not related to a specific shipping error, address update or product support, please understand you may not receive a detailed response at this time.
♿ Limited Edition with a Purpose:
White Aurora D20s at PAX Unplugged
Sometimes mistakes lead to something special. I mentioned in our Kickstarter Update #66 that we ended up creating a new colorway called White Aurora. This was an effort to salvage some would-be Onyx Black dice for which we had already cast white cores, but we weren’t confident they would come out with acceptably lit numbers once we made the second (opaque) casting.
So instead of taking the risk of scrapping a high percentage of those dice, we cast them in a white version of the Aurora translucent colorway and gave them a new name and figured we would find a use for them.
I’m super proud to announce that Pixels will be exhibiting at Booth #3834 at PAX Unplugged in partnership with Nomnivore Games, an indie game studio dedicated to creating accessible, neurodivergent-friendly games. This collaboration is part of our ongoing effort to support and build on the accessibility aspect of Pixels.
We have decided to make a few hundred of these White Aurora D20s available for sale at the show, and will be donating 10% of the proceeds to the Cookie Brigade, a volunteer-run organization that distributes cookies at gaming events to raise funds for charity.
The Pixels team will also participate in an accessibility workshop, “Universally Unplugged,” during PAX Unplugged on Friday, Dec 6, at 9 PM in the Crab God Theater. Learn more about the workshop here.
💙 For more information on our accessibility initiatives, including Pixel’s Accessibility Feedback Network, please visit our Accessibility blog post.
If you’re attending PAX, we’d love for you to stop by booth #3834, say hello, and “roll-to-win” one of the “limited editions.” Or, demo Pixels with one of our growing partners at:
- Foundry VTT, Booth #4310
- Game Theory Tables, Booth #3327
- Dodecadonuts, Booth #2806
📋 Important Reminders
Firmware Updates
When you receive your dice, ensure your dice are up-to-date:
- Download and open the Pixels Dice app.
- Connect your die and tap the yellow alert icon.
- Select “Update Firmware” and then “Reset Die Settings.”
Verify Your Shipping Address
- Log in at gamewithpixels.com.
- Update your shipping address under the “Orders” section (not the “Addresses” tab). *this is for our current website and may change when we make the platform update in a few weeks
Warranty Claims
Email luna@gamewithpixels.com with:
- Subject: Warranty Claim
- Your name, order number, description, and photos/videos of the issue.
❤️ Thank You for Your Support
We deeply appreciate your patience as we fulfill your orders while building a sustainable future for Pixels. From the debut of White Aurora D20s to resolving production challenges, we’re excited, and grateful, to share this journey with you.
Warm regards,
Jean Simonet
Founder, Pixels
