The Denver-based Antsy Labs team is no stranger to Kickstarter success.
In August 2016, the company made waves with a viral Kickstarter campaign that yielded the fidget cube. The startup raised $6.5 million from 154,926 backers, far surpassing founders Matthew and Mark McLachlan’s original goals.
Earlier this year, Antsy launched the PIXL: A Magnetic Building System, that garnered $225,000 from 4,018 backers, far surpassing the original $15,000 goal.
The McLachlan brothers are back with a new product, entering the party game arena with an ode to Antsy's first big hit.
Fidget Factory, a fast-paced, co-operative party game, launched on Kickstarter today, seeking to be Antsy's fifth successful crowdfunded project.
The game tells the story of Antsy's journey in producing the Fidget Cube, having players run a small startup as they scramble to make and deliver a product before time runs out.
The team said it originally planned to manufacture and send about 1,000 fidget cubes out out of their house, not realizing the potential of that original 2016 campaign.
"What actually ended up happening (instead of getting several hundred backers, our community grew to become the second largest in crowdfunding, consisting of 155,000 backers) was a dream come true - but that dream ended up coming with a slew of obstacles we had to navigate, such as manufacturing issues, a global wave of counterfeiting and relentless trolls online and within our own community," the Antsy Labs team wrote on Kickstarter. "We set out to capture this rollercoaster of a story in Fidget Factory (without all the non-fun stuff), and we can’t wait for you to experience it!"
The objective of Fidget Factory is to build a full Fidget Cube (all 6 sides) before the shipping deadline. You lose if you run out of time or coffee, the game's power source.
The base edition of the game costs $29 and the deluxe $49 on Kickstarter and is estimated to ship in June 2020. The Antsy Labs team has set a modest $15,000 goal and has already raised half of that at the time of publication.
Check out more on the campaign and game here.
