We really take pride in the quality of the components of Illimat. Unfolding the cloth mat on the table, hearing the clink and weight of the metal tokens as you select which one you’ll wager this round—it’s all part of the ritual of playing and the vibe we want to help set at your table. Don't worry: none of that is changing. 

In the fall of 2019 I started the process of looking for a new printer for Illimat. I was lucky enough to even tour the factory in November 2019 and meet the people who physically make the games. I even met the factory’s pet chicken. 

For the base game of Illimat the hardest part was not changing things. Things like making sure the luminary finish is exactly the same pattern as in previous printings so new expansions match the old finish; believe it or not, this requires new molds of the finish to be made custom for the game. Here are the two things that are changing in the base game: 

1. The playing card inner material: The playing cards will still be linen coated, but they will have a stronger inner core. You would only actually see this if you literally ripped a card in half, but the stronger inner core helps maintain the integrity of the card longer through use. Casino cards tend to be made of plastic for this reason, but again, that softer paper hand feel is important to us. 
2. We’re putting the boat okus token in drydock: When we looked at all of the components set up on the board, the boat token is the only thing that really stood out as “needs improvement”. We’re replacing it with the bird token from the original Illimat Kickstarter. We like that this little chirp has more detail, sits up right on the Illimat, and follows the other “B”s in the bunch ( Boy, Bathtub, Bear Tooth).  

For the expansions, we’re changing those a little more. With the high costs of sea freight and shipments as well as the environmental impact- we looked at all of our games to see where we could make them smaller or use less packaging and plastic. For the Illimat expansions, we’re packing them in flat boxes with just the luminaries. This allows us to pass on the savings to you while still delivering the core of what they are about- new luminaries! Not including okus tokens also allows us to get new expansions to market more quickly in the future.

-Jenn

Next week: Changes to the rule book including a PDF preview