This 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,
It’s been a busy start to the year, and I’m here to share some progress updates with you all. Take a seat, grab your favorite treat, and let me tell you all the things that happened this month.
👉 Highlight: Several thousand shipments going out in February, including some sets.
🎲 Production: Sets and Singles
This month marks a big milestone for us: the batch of sets are finally ready to go!
This (small) batch is currently sitting at the ‘Final Assembly’ factory, the last step before the fulfillment center. We’re waiting on some battery safety documentation so that the pallet can be transported across the border to the Hong Kong fulfillment center.
We also finished and sent several thousand Singles to the fulfillment center, as I had announced last update.
In fact, we actually hit all the production goals we set for January, including singles and sets, which is great! To be fair, our goals only included a relatively small number of Onyx and Hematite dice because of the ongoing difficulties producing them (more on this further down).
📦 Fulfillment Hurdles
As we prepared the next batch of fulfillments, we ran into an unexpected challenge with our shipping logistics partner. Right as we were ready to create our next batch, our fulfillment partner’s system canceled most of our pending orders. Turns out, their system has a ‘feature’ that automatically deletes incomplete orders after a certain period of time (between 6 and 12 months depending on the situation).
Normally this wouldn’t be a big issue—we would just recreate the orders from the data we have on our website—except that we decided to offer split-shipping and relied on the fulfillment system’s data as our ultimate “source of truth” regarding what was still outstanding vs. what had already shipped.
To make a long, slightly embarrassing story short, we were able to rebuild the data, recreate the orders, and re-upload them to the logistics backend. That was, of course, right before everybody on that side of the world left for the holidays (Chinese New Year) and were no longer available to push the approval through!
Trust me, the irony of the situation is not lost on me. Shipments are delayed because of all the delays to get to the point where we can ship.
Anyway, it’s all ready to go now, so we should have several thousand shipments going out in February!
🛠️ Onyx & Hematite Fixes
Onyx and Hematite dice are still being difficult, I’m afraid to say…
My first fix to modify the inner casting didn’t quite work. In an attempt to minimize tooling cost, I asked the mold factory to modify the existing molds to try and add little ‘fingers’ to hold the circuit board in place.
Left: modified inner mold tooling insert, Middle: resulting silicone inner mold with ‘fingers’ meant to hold circuit board in place, Right: resin inner core (showing one led incorrectly positioned)
A quick reminder that these steel pieces are the critical part of the tooling that makes the molds, that make the dice. The tooling insert is the positive that makes the silicone mold (negative) that in turn makes the dice (positive). It’s perfectly clear, right? 😊
But the results weren’t satisfactory, mainly because the ‘fingers’ would break too easily. (You can also see that I missed a location to add a finger, but that would have been easy to fix anyway).
So I didn’t have a choice and had to try a new inner mold shape, with more surface area to hold the circuit board (and LEDs) down in place while also staying together better (avoiding thin features that would tear off the mold itself). Fortunately, because our tooling is modular, we’re only paying for these small pieces to get CNC’d, not the whole 30kg steel plates.
New D20 Inner Mold tooling insert shape.
And the results are encouraging! Here are a couple test casts (a clear one to check positioning and a translucent white one to check diffusion). Unfortunately, the white samples showed an issue remaining with the LED on Face 18, that we are addressing now. In short, because 18 is a wide number, there isn’t really enough circuit board “meat” to always hold it down correctly. But by making small tweaks to the tooling (and being careful to not encroach on the number area itself) I am confident we will be able to avoid the issue entirely.
Left: Clear inner core showing the improved position of the LEDs, and Translucent white core showing an issue with the LED still floating to the surface. Right: Proposed tooling insert modifications.
Another benefit of this new inner mold is that it gives the LED light some extra room to diffuse. In fact, LEDs can now enjoy a whole 0.42mm extra leg room so the light can spread out before reaching the surface ;). This was achieved by reducing the numbers’ depth from 1.27mm to 0.85mm. A big deal!
Please keep in mind that while we test these solutions, we are doing our best to keep production going on some quantity of Onyx and Hematite dice but that process is slow and costly.
To make sure we’re not creating more dice we’ll need to replace, we’ve had to order thousands more little spacers for the cores, and the workers have had to go really slow to make sure the numbers come out clean and the light shines through correctly. We’re in essence brute-forcing our way through to make sure we can ship something while we continue to hammer at our long-term solution. As much as possible, we’ve shifted production to easier colorways and/or shapes, as I’ve explained in the October and November updates.
Left: A number of Onyx and Hematite dice ready for final polishing. Right: preparing for a large batch of D4s.
D00 and D6
In parallel to improving the position and location of LEDs with better inner molds, we are considering other improvements. Particularly with double digit face numbers, even when we achieve a really good alignment, the light has a hard time diffusing properly. We’re hopeful that the increased inner casting thickness will help, but we didn’t want to leave it at that.
Close up mobile phone picture of a lit-up Hematite D00 showing the uneven light.
The D00 is a particularly difficult die to deal with (and mobile phone pictures do a really good job exacerbating the issue). It looks better in person, and it isn’t as important as with the D20, so we’re not really considering scraping our current batches. Plus who cares about the percentile die anyway? Personally it’s only ever brought me bad luck, so…🤭
But still, for future batches, it would be nice to have a solution, so… the next Onyx and Hematite D00s will most likely have double the LEDs.
Left: Current D10/D00 Circuit board. Right: New D00 Circuit board. Note the additional LEDs.
In fact we are also considering updating the D6 circuit board, considering how popular that shape is and how large the numbers are on its face.
For the D6 we are testing out two ideas: bigger LEDs VS more LEDs!
Left: Current D6 board, Middle: D6 with bigger LEDs, Right: D6 with 4 leds per face.
These boards are just off the press, so we haven’t even had time to do test castings and compare the results. Stay tuned for that!
⏸️ Website & New Pre-Orders
As I’ve shared in the last couple updates, we’re getting ready to roll out some updates to the Pixels website. While most of these changes will be behind the scenes, to improve performance and hosting costs, you’ll notice a much slicker account and order management system, including better tracking of your split shipping items, if applicable.
We will also be closing the pre-order program for a bit while we sort out which items to continue offering for pre-order(and focus on delivering existing pre-orders). Right now some of the SKUs are so unpopular that an actual pre-order would cost us more in final assembly cost than to lose the pre-order sale.
That said, we will continue to release limited stock of immediately available dice as they’re ready.
Why would there be extra stock?
In essence, because of the way our manufacturing batches have to work, some mistakes that were made, and recently because we’ve had to shift dice types and colorways around a bunch in the past months (because of all the various issues)we have more dice in certain colorways than we need to just fulfill rewards.
Our plan is to continue offering complementary split shipping as much as it makes sense so that if you are expecting one of the dice/colorways in question, you would get it as soon as possible.
I’ve had to draw the line somewhere, and so for now the rule is that if we can send you all your Singles, then we would, and send you your sets later.
💰 Common Question: Tariffs
We’ve heard this question from several US-based customers: “What are you planning to do if tariffs are imposed?”
To address this briefly: our product currently falls under the HTS category 9504.90.6000, which—for now—remains exempt from tariffs. Of course, we’re actively monitoring the situation and will keep a close eye on any changes that might affect this status.
In addition, import duties and tariffs in the US are not imposed on individuals (up to an $800 value, I believe), so shipments from Hong Kong directly to you should still be exempt.
🌍 Game Theory Tables
Before I go, I wanted to quickly share that we’re collaborating with Game Theory Tables (GTT), who we met at PAX Unplugged in December. We demoed Pixels working with Foundry VTT on their interactive table at the show. It was really cool. As a result, GTT would like to offer a few Pixels in their upcoming campaign.
It’s a small number of dice and will not affect Pre-Order fulfillment in any way, but I wanted to mention it ahead of time. We have more info in our blog post.
More soon—thank you for sticking with us on this journey.
We’re excited to share that Pixels D20s will be available as an add-on in Game Theory Tables’ (GTT) upcoming Kickstarter, “Crafted for Connection.”
This collaboration (if funded!) will bring together Pixels, Foundry VTT, and Fablecraft to create a first-of-its-kind “TTRPG Digital Bundle.”
We think it will be a great option for players who love traditional tabletop but want the ability to enhance their games with extra tools—whether it’s for stunning visuals (seriously, check out Fablecraft) or making hybrid play easy when only half the campaign can gather in person.
Help Unlock Rewards by Sharing GTT’s Campaign
Game Theory Tables is taking a community-driven approach to their upcoming Kickstarter launch, with an initiative called “Share for Unlocks.” The idea is simple: even if you’re not backing, by sharing their campaign, you’ll help unlock exclusive rewards for everyone in the community.
This is about more than just a campaign—it’s about supporting a shared passion for creating immersive, unforgettable campaigns.
Getting involved: 📣 Share their campaign on your social channels, in gaming groups, or Discord servers. 🔓 GTT will track progress and unlock rewards as the community comes together (including Pixels D20s!)
From day one, Pixels Dice were designed to be “tabletop first”—meaning they look, feel, and roll like high-quality dice, with their digital features as a “nice-to-have” enhancement. Nevertheless, we’re very interested in seeing where this blended era of gaming goes and why we’re happy to be part of this first-of-its-kind offering.
Why This Collaboration?
Pixels is always looking for ways to support open-source gaming, build community, and collaborate with brands that share our passion for inclusive, creative play. This partnership with GTT, Foundry VTT, andFablecraft aligns perfectly with that mission, and we’re excited to see how it takes shape.
If this sounds interesting to you, check out the campaign details and keep an eye out for Pixels as an add-on option (to be unlocked if enough shares are achieved!).
And, as always—thank you for your support!
Disclaimer—this won’t interfere with the remaining Pixels Kickstarter/Pre-Order deliveries in any way. Our involvement is simply to support the campaign and offer Pixels D20s as an optional add-on!
**This 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,
As the year comes to a close, I want to take a moment to share a brief update. Last month, I provided a deep dive into our progress on shipping, support, and community milestones. There was a lot of info so please check it out if you haven’t already! In the few weeks since, the team has been hard at work and so I am happy to share a few more updates.
🎲 Shipping Progress: Singles and Sets
Workers at our partner resin factory have been powering through the difficult fixes to the Onyx and Hematite Singles that I have been talking about for several month (sigh), while we continue to validate our long-term fixes. I am happy to say that we just finished our next batch and that it will be delivered to our fulfillment partner next week! This means we should be able to ship them out to you shortly after.
In addition, we are right now putting together our first batch of Sets, with the intent to have them delivered to the fulfillment center before Chinese New Year (last days of January). Those will in turn start to ship right after the January update goes out, so look for more details next month! (Sets will ship to Kickstarter Backers first, followed by pre-order customers.)
🛠️ Support Tickets
As mentioned in our last update, the influx of support tickets accompanying recent shipments had left us very behind on responses. Over the past few weeks, we’ve worked hard to catch up, and I’m happy to report we are nearly there. If you’re still waiting for a response, I want to express my gratitude for your patience and offer my sincere apologies. You’ll hear from us very soon.
📦 Double-Check Your Mailing Address
A friendly reminder to those waiting on dice: please log in to your account and verify your shipping address under your “ORDERS.” **Updating “addresses” will not update your active order details**
If you are unable to update your address, please email us at luna@gamewithpixels.com
🌟 PAX Unplugged: Highlights
I also want to take a moment to share our experience attending our first show, PAX Unplugged. With nearly 25,000 Kickstarter Backers, a growing pre-order community, and such a long manufacturing journey, it’s natural that we often only hear from those facing challenges and frustrations at this point, which I completely understand (and deeply apologize for). It was genuinely so inspiring to feel the love, support, and understanding from the Backers and Customers who came to visit us at PAX. If you were there, I cannot thank you enough—your show of support was a gift, and we were so glad to share the dice with you in person.
The Accessibility Workshop we participated in was a particularly moving experience, and we were honored to share our story alongside passionate advocates.
It was a joy to exhibit alongside Nomnivore Games and witness their incredible passion for neuro-spicy players and families!
Great job to our teammate, Dustin, who knocked an impromptu “interview” out of the park :)
We enjoyed demoing with our friends at Foundry VTT and Game Theory Tables (see demo below), and we connected with many others in the industry who we hope to collaborate with in the near future. In fact, it was very eye-opening how much easier conversations with potential partners or VTT platforms went in person and with dice in hand :)
Finally, we demoed the new Multi-die Formulas in the Pixel app’s Die Roller, which was a big hit! Thanks to your enthusiasm, Olivier is putting the final touches to it and will have it out in the January app update.
CES 2025
On a related note, our Director of Marketing and Operations, Katie, will be attending CES in Las Vegas next week (Jan 6-9) while I, on the other hand, stay behind to make sure the production and delivery goes off without a hitch, and focus on not feeling envious at all! ;) All kidding aside, if you’re attending CES, you can find her at the show through LinkedIn—she’d be thrilled to connect.
🌐 Forum + Website Updates
We’re excited to announce that a preliminary version of our community forum is now live! While it isn’t linked on our current website yet, you can already check it out at forum.gamewithpixels.com.
Our hope is that a discussion forum will be the best place to:
Request and upvote features and product ideas
Create and share community-led tutorials and guides
Get help troubleshoot problems that are not necessarily support-ticket-worthy
Up until now, much of this communication has been conducted in our Discord community. However, we felt it would be important to create a discussion space that could be accessed by the general public (including those not present on Discord). Discord remains an important place for our technical community and supporters—we still encourage anyone to join us there!
As mentioned in our last update, we’re also working on main website improvements, now scheduled for mid-January. These updates will include improvements to user experience (we know the current site is painfully slow!) and lay the groundwork for an expanded knowledge base to better support you in the future.
🎇 Happy New Year
Bringing Pixels to mass production has been a struggle from the beginning, and this year was no different. We ran into yet more complications and made plenty more mistakes of our own. In truth, at times it was difficult to remain positive. But your support, trust, and justified criticism really helped carry us through the challenges and disappointments. Seeing the joy and excitement at PAX, and hearing directly from many of you, really reinforced that feeling and my determination to deliver the exceptional experience I envisioned at the start.
Thank you for sticking with us. Here’s to a bright and hopeful start to the year ahead.
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:
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
Screenshot of a spreadsheet used during QC – Description in the update body.
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.
Pictures of the In-Circuit-Programming process for Pixels Circuit Boards.
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.
Screenshots of the D8, D10 and D12 FPCs in the CAD software showing the eventual cut-line and how it might cause some of the Top and Bottom copper traces to make contact. Each picture identifies specifically which signals are at risk of short circuit.
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. 🫣
Montage of 4 pictures showing the process of removing cured epoxy using Dichloromethane. You can see that the chemical mostly leaves the circuit board and components intact while causing the resin to chip away. However, not all components are immune. Apparently DCM really like to eat LEDs.
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.
Montage of 2 pictures. The first shows a Schematic of the battery charging circuit, identifying the component that lets us control the Maximum Charge Current. The Second picture shows a mess of wires connecting a dice battery to its protection board and the charge circuitry on the D20 FPC. The test leads allow us to monitor all the voltages and currents involved and troubleshoot the charging issue.
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… ???
Cellphone picture of a hand holding a revived die after letting it recharge in the freezer. An excellent taste in pastries and ice cream can also be deduced from this picture.
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 D20sAvailable 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)…
Artist (?) rendering of Luna taking a batch of Pixels over to America.
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.
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 proceedsto theCookie 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:
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
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 ofWhite Aurora D20sto resolving production challenges, we’re excited, and grateful, to share this journey with you.
If you’re passionate about tabletop roleplaying games, you’re going to love Ember, the newest creation from our friends at Foundry Virtual Tabletop. Ember merges the depth of traditional RPGs with the innovation of online multiplayer games, creating an exciting new experience for GMs and players alike.
Foundry, known for its robust VTT platform, has taken things to the next level with Ember. It’s an imaginative, open-world fantasy setting packed with rich lore, a colossal map, and dynamic gameplay that will keep you and your party immersed for years. Whether you prefer the familiar mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons 5E or the innovative Crucible system built specifically for Foundry, Ember is designed to deliver an unforgettable tabletop experience.
What’s even more exciting? Foundry is fully integrated with Pixels Dice. This means your dice rolls are no longer confined to the table—they can come to life in the virtual space as well. Imagine rolling your Pixels Dice at home and seeing the results immediately appear on-screen, enhancing both the immersion and excitement of every game. You can learn more about how Pixels integrates with Foundry right here.
Why Ember Stands Out:
A massive open world with 25,000 hexes to explore, packed with mysteries, events, and characters.
A rich and imaginative fantasy setting that offers endless opportunities for storytelling.
Support for both D&D 5E and Crucible, giving you flexibility in how you play.
Dynamic events and meaningful choices that shape your adventure over the course of years.
Stunning maps, a comprehensive calendar system, and an immersive audio engine that make every session feel cinematic.
With Foundry’s proven track record of delivering innovative tabletop experiences and the immersive power of Pixels Dice integration, Ember is shaping up to be a must-play for any RPG fan. The Ember Kickstarter campaign is live now, so don’t miss the chance to be part of this groundbreaking project!
Check out Ember on Kickstarter here, and don’t forget to explore how Pixels Dice can bring even more magic to your game. 🎲✨
We’re excited to share that Pixels Dice has teamed up with Gamers.Online, a leading platform dedicated to connecting gamers worldwide. This partnership marks the beginning of a new chapter in community-driven gaming, where technology and tradition meet to enhance your tabletop experiences.
What This Partnership Brings As part of our collaboration, Pixels Dice will be featured in select Gamers.Online’s tournaments. We’re helping to sponsor these events by providing several of our smart D20s as exclusive giveaways. This is your chance to win one of these cutting-edge dice while participating in the exciting events hosted by Gamers.Online.
This partnership is more than just a collaboration—it’s a step toward building a more connected and interactive gaming community. We can’t wait to see how you use Pixels Dice to light up your gaming nights with friends found on Gamers.Online.
Stay tuned for more details on how you can participate in these exciting tournaments and possibly walk away with your very own Pixels D20!
The Journey of Pixels Dice: From Hackaday to a Global Phenomenom
The story of Pixels Dice began on Hackaday, where Jean Simonet, a seasoned video game developer, first shared his innovative idea. What started as a simple project quickly garnered attention from the tabletop gaming community. Enthusiasts began asking, “This Pipped D6 is amazing—why not create the entire set?” Jean accepted the challenge, setting the stage for what would become a groundbreaking venture.
Kickstarter Success and Beyond
On March 9, 2021, the Pixels Kickstarter campaign launched, running for 30 days. The response was overwhelming, with 24,912 backers bringing this dream to life. This incredible support, marked the beginning of a long, rewarding journey for Pixels Dice.
Our team, a small but dedicated international group, collaborated closely with our manufacturing partners in China. Over the next few years, we expanded the Pixels lineup to include all standard dice types—D12, D10, D100, D8, D6, and even the unique Fudge Dice—across various stunning colorways like Midnight Galaxy, Onyx Black, Hematite Grey, and Aurora Sky. Despite the challenges posed by the global pandemic, we persevered, overcoming disruptions in manufacturing and supply chains. This period was also a time of significant innovation; we enhanced the Bluetooth antenna, improved battery life, and optimized the LEDs for better brightness and energy efficiency.
Luna, Our mascot
As we laid the foundation for the future of Pixels, we opened our website to new orders and allowed backers to edit their existing ones, ensuring everyone could tailor their Pixels experience.
At Pixels, we believe in the power of community collaboration. That’s why our dice are open source, inviting you to explore our API, create your own projects, and contribute to the ever-growing Pixels ecosystem. Visit our resource page on the website for tools, guides, and more. Your feedback and suggestions are invaluable as we work to perfect our electronic dice.
Our Community
We are immensely grateful for our vibrant and supportive community. Throughout our development journey, Discord has become our primary social platform, offering a space for gamers, developers, and creators to connect. We invite anyone interested in Pixels or tabletop gaming to join us. Whether you have questions, ideas, or simply want to be part of the conversation, your voice matters. Together, we can continue to push the boundaries of what Pixels Dice can achieve.
We’re excited to announce that the Pixels module is now available for testing on FoundryVTT, thanks to the collaborative efforts of the FoundryVTT team. This integration marks a significant step forward in bringing enhanced interactivity to your tabletop RPG sessions.
Compatibility Details:
If you’re using FoundryVTT version 11, you’ll need to install the Unfulfilled Rolls module for the Pixels module to function correctly. From FoundryVTT version 12 onwards, the Pixels module is fully integrated and works seamlessly within the program itself.
Getting Started
To download and install the Pixels module, visit the official package page here.
Please note that Web Bluetooth compatibility is required when using Pixels. Ensure your browser supports this feature to enjoy the full capabilities of the Pixels module.