Update September 15th 9:21AM: Pandasaurus says that it's been able to recover some of its product from the theft. Speaking via Twitter yesterday, the studio said it's been able to convince the eBay sellers who listed the stolen games to take down the listings and return the product. Pandasaurus has been able to recover around half of the missing Dino World Kickstarter copies, and about 25% of the stolen copies of The Loop. Here's hoping they can get the rest back. Original story follows below.
Original story: Austin-based board game studio Pandasaurus has been the victim of a break-in. According to the studio, thieves broke into its warehouse and stole several hundred copies of upcoming projects The Loop and Dinosaur World, which then appeared on eBay.
What's this Pandasaurus break-in about?
Pandasaurus broke this news to its fans via Twitter. In the thread announcing the break-in, the studio said it wasn't hit as badly as it could have been, but that thieves managed to get away with around 200 copies of The Loop and 100 copies of the Kickstarter version of Dinosaur World. The thieves then immediately offloaded the games to an online retailer who began selling them on eBay. Pandasaurus says the police have already been notified and know who the thieves are.
As Pandasaurus points out, if you see copies of either The Loop or Dinosaur World (the Kickstarter edition) appearing on eBay, these are unauthorized goods that have been stolen, so don't buy them. Pandasaurus does say, however, that it has managed to remove the listings after contacting the sellers. Thankfully, Pandasaurus says it has enough copies of both games that this incident shouldn't affect its ability to fulfil Kickstarter backer pledges. If you backed either game and are expecting your copy, don't worry; you'll still receive it. Shipping on both games has begun and will continue throughout Gen Con, which Pandasaurus is currently attending.
Who is Pandasaurus, and what are these games?
Pandasaurus is a Texas-based board game creator. Its previous titles include Sonora (which we rather liked), Ohanami, and That Time You Killed Me. The two games stolen during the break-in, The Loop and Dinosaur World, are Pandasaurus' latest projects. Dinosaur World was successfully Kickstarted earlier this year and will task players with running and maintaining a dinosaur theme park. The Loop, meanwhile, is a cooperative game in which players must work together to defeat the evil Dr. Faux and stop him from destroying time and space.
Both Dinosaur World and The Loop are due to launch this fall. The Loop is hitting the market in September, while Dinosaur World will be available on general release after all of its Kickstarter backer pledges have been fulfilled. We'll bring you more on this theft as soon as we get it.
Are you excited to try out Pandasaurus' new games? Let us know in the comments below!
