After over two years of design and playtesting we are pleased to introduce Virus!

A new and exciting board game from Michele Quondam and produced by Giochix! A 90 minute,1 to 6 players, innovative, and deeply strategic board game.

The game is primarily in English; however, it will be possible to unlock the Language Pack stretch-goal for your language, if there is a sufficient number of backers (for more information see the information towards the bottom of the page). Any translated components will be added to your box set (which will include English + localized content to your language).


 

The project is simultaneously available on two crowdfunding platforms: Giochistarter and Kickstarter. Here on giochistarter you can pay with Paypal or also with bank wire transfer. 

Rewards and SGs are the same on both sites. In order to determine the total reached and the activated stretch-goals, you must take into account the sum of the totals from those sites.

This is the content of the DELUXE box:

The content of STANDARD box is identical to that of the DELUXE rewards, except for miniatures: it includes 2D miniatures instead of 3D miniatures. They will be made in plastic with 3D printing technology. There are:Materials: Miniatures and tokens are made in plastic. Cubes are made of wood.

• 40 monsters, 2D plastic miniatures in 4 types
• 8 Leader monsters, 2D plastic miniatures in 4 types
• 4 characters, 2D plastic miniatures in 4 types

The standard version costs 55 euro. It includes the Heroes Expansion. 

Important note: Our 2D plastic production is a slow process and we will only be able to cover a limited amount of Standard Virus edition orders up to the anticipated November 2016 release date. You may still order the Standard Virus box set; however, this may result in several weeks of delay which will not be covered by our guarantee. If you would like to avoid any potential delays; please considering choosing one of the Deluxe rewards which will not suffer from this issue.

• This game has been made for gamers which are looking for something exciting and new!
• You will help bring this idea to life!
• You will receive the game at lower price than suggested retail price. In addition to that, here you will have included in your game copy ALL unlocked stretch-goals, which after the campaign will be sold separately in Hero Expansion (about 20 euro).
• You have access to the Standard edition and a Deluxe edition version, which will not be made available at any other time.
• You will receive the game earlier than through conventional distribution to retail stores.
• You can contribute substantially to improve the game with exclusive content.
• The game is covered by our Refund Guarantee Policy to insure that on what you are purchasing.
• With the Fidelity Program each purchase made on Giochistarter will earn you a progressive, permanent discount linked to your account.
• You can join to the "Fastest Click" contest and win a copy of the game Bomarzo, if you are the fastest participant to join the campaign.

Building off the feedback and suggestions from our backers (and Rahdo); Michele Quondam (game designer) created two additional game variations:

Life variant. Life variant: This variation will allow players to continue playing even after death. Unless infected, in which case the player is to continue play as a Monster, the player will be able to start again with minor penalties.

Real Time Switch variant. Real-Time Switch variant: With this variation you can play without the time-crunch of the Real Time phase. This can be useful for players that may be new to the game or would prefer a more relaxed flow of play with less pressure. This does result in a very different style of game and we encourage you to try both to see which one you prefer.

Competitive and 5-6 players variant. With this variation you can play in competive play up to 4 Heroes against 1-2 Boss Leader. Enjoy it!

Any and all ideas are welcome! :)

A frightening new virus is rapidly spreading throughout the main cities of the planet. They call it; Virus Q. 

The players will begin the game at the entrance to the laboratory and will have a fixed number of turns to escape the laboratory alive with the antidote. The main objectives are to unlock the exit of the lab and locate the antidote and escape the lab with it in hand. all while avoiding/fighting the monsters within.

Game phases

Each turn is made up of two separate phases; the first being Real-Time and the second being Slow-Time.

During the Real-Time phase: Players will have several different actions available; Move, Search, Place Traps, Activate Devices, Place Doors, Open Breaches, Build Barriers, etc. The main actions involve moving around and exploring new areas of the lab.

During the Slow-Time phase: players will move monsters, add new monsters, collect resources and spend them to acquire new powers and abilities.

Exploration

When exploring new areas; you will place new Lab Room cards. The new Room cards are drawn from your own personal stack. They are not put randomly on the table but are instead you will choose which cards to place and where. Which rooms you place and where is very tactically important; it defines not only the shape of the game board but will also directly influence many other aspects of play. They determine the amount of resources the character will gain during their path, enhance the possibility of finding clues as to the location of the andidote and even the number of monsters that will appear in the lab.

The resources

By placing new rooms and actively searching them players will be able to scavenge resources. You will need to place your cards to create areas of the same color: the more extensive the areas are the more resources you will likely find. Resources are obtained by multiplying the number of rooms in that area by the number of new rooms placed or explored. The resources earned in this way are spent during the Slow-Time phase; by buying elements to either place in the lab (barriers or breaches), use during combat (bullets), or as enhancements to your character (Resistance Adrenaline, Armor, Knowledge, or even Luck). Yes, you can buy luck. Any elements purchased will be used during the Real-Time phase.


Unlocking the exit

As soon as the players enter the laboratory the exit is sealed to prevent further contamination. To unlock the exit and escape the players must reach two specific rooms and activate them at the same time. The players will need to work together to accomplish several objectives simultaneously. This includes players who will act as designated “runners” attempting to reach the rooms and unlock the exit so that the party may escape. If the players are unable to escape the laboratory in the set number of terms the facility will self destruct killing anything still inside.

The clues

If the players are able to complete special rooms within the laboratory they will find clues. Clues are special cards that give details about where the antidote will be found; “In a room with three doors” or “In a room in a series of three blue cards” etc. Combining different clues will eventually lead you to the room where the antidote can be found and placed onto the game board. The players will need to retrieve the antidote from this discovered location and escape from the laboratory with it.

The monsters

The monsters are placed depending on the movements of the players: the more actions they take, the more monsters will appear. Then they will move by following the players and trying to get in their way. Their movement is determined by a simple system of rules; with the monsters moved by the players themselves. As the game progresses more powerful monsters. “bosses”, will begin to appear. Throughout the game all monsters will slowly become stronger. Move carefully as the monsters will be able to see you, hear you and even smell you!

The combat

Combat is handled in a strikingly innovative way and we have named this system; “Rol the Cube”. Players will throw their action cubes, bullets and any other tokens in their possession that they wish to commit on their player board. You will receive a positive result if the cubes fall onto the colored squares. A single exception being any squares in which more than one item occupies. Combining the different play elements between them you will be able to get more or less successful results and special effects. The positive results are then spent to destroy and/or flee from opposing monsters.

An example of “roll the cube”: tokens that fell on the squares are positive results. In this playtest photo, the grey cubes represent actions, the white ones are bullets. The player decides which and how many items from their reserve to roll. In this case, as a result we have 2 positive white cubes and 3 positive grey cubes: 2 x 3 = 6 successes. The other tokens unlock special effects: a positive shield toss allows the player to recover all not-cube elements spent in the roll, while a positive adrenaline toss allows to recover all rolled cubes. The Lucky Clover token (Luck: check if you like the roll, if not re-roll it) and the Book (Knowledge: double the positive bullet results) were not successfully rolled. The successes will be spent to dodge enemies (which requires 1 success for each creature) and/or to attack (which takes 3 successes for each damage point done).

The Spy

This variant throws the game off balance; one of the players could be an enemy lurking in the shadows, working to sabotage the other players. Who should you trust?

The contagion

Don't forget that players can become infected by the Virus themselves. Unfortunately they won't know until the very end of the game; all they will know is that they might have been infected. If an infected Player character dies they will become a Leader creature, through which the player will continue to actively play but for the opposing side!
 

Each SG shows a symbol, explaining how it works:

		This SG is included in all pledges, but it is exclusive for this campaign, and will not be available later.
		This SG is included in all pledges and will be included in all retail game copies.
		This SG is included in all pledges, but will be included in a game expansion Heroes and sold separately after the campaign.

 
All stretch-goals are included with any pledge! A small symbol on each stretch-goal will also explains if after the campaign it will be included in retail game, in a special expansion (Heroes expansion), or will not be available anymore because it is campaign exclusive. So, it's important to say it again, by making a pledge on the Virus project you will receive ALL THE CONTENTS which will be included in the Heroes Expansion for FREE.







You can download rulebook beta version from here.

Note: this is only a beta, it still need a deep proofreading. Some part are still missing as they are under test. Graphic design is not definitive. 

If we reach 1500 followers on the Giochix Twitter account, all campaign backers will receive anew Fire! Event card. 

If we reach at least 500 fans on the boardgamegeek.com page for Virus by the campaign's end; all backers will receive a new Leader card: Pyramid! 

Note: If those SGs will remain locked, they will be available on our Pledge Manager.

Addons will be made available through our pledge system and you will be able to continue to add them even after the campaign has ended.

		SYSTEM WALLS This expansion adds 40 3D printed plastic elements to the game, which can be used instead of normal game tiles. It contains: 4 lab 3D barrier elements + 12 bars 4 lab 3D door elements 8 lab 3D breach elements 12 lab 3D walls elements
		YOU ARE THE HERO! Your copy of the game will include a unique silver hero miniature. This one of a kind custom figure will be based on a picture of you! All pictures will need to be approved beforehand. The picture must be a personal picture and cannot be a famous or public figure.
		RESOLUTION TOKENS Includes 4 tokens for Virus, one for each player, called Resolution tokens. These tokens can be used in combat, and if they are positive, they allow the player to fix the result of any other token, making it positive too! This addon is exclusive and will not be available after the campaign.
GERMAN ITALIAN FRENCH		LANGUAGE PACK Each pack contains approximately 50 cards (as there are also stretch-goals included, so the number is still approximated) + the printed rulebook + x4 stickers that may be applied to the back of the character boards: by this way you can use it as English board (few text there) or flipping it on your own language.  Note: These Language pack will be available only for a limited time (probably only up to Essen Fair).

Virus is the provisional game name. We want all of you to collaborate with us choosing the game name. That is why we have launched a content in which we are asking all of our supporters to suggest a title. We received more than 250 proposals!

Now we started name selections by polls. You may vote for your favorite name on the Poll box above (login required). We will pair the titles two by two so that the final selection will be made before the end of this campaign.

The inventor of the winning game name will win a Virus game copy (including the expansions). 

The author of Virus is “our” Michele Quondam, founder of Giochix and creator of Giochistarter. Married, father of Adriano and Emma, molecular biologist, Michele is also a game author. In eight years of activity he has created many games: One More Barrel, Gladiatori, Bulp, Medievalia, Forgotten Planet, Rio de la Plata and the latest in chronological order, Romolo o Remo? For sure he has a predilection for “gamer” games, but he also likes to change something from game to game, with “reasoning” as a common trait. Here is a message he wrote for this campaign:

Hello! Thank you for being here to read about my latest game.

I hope what you have read, even though it is just a simple preview of a prototype, will have raised your interest.

I’ve been working on Virus for more than 2 years and it hasn’t been an easy path. I changed and tried many different variations of the game, which has evolved in many directions before finding the right one. I must say that I am very satisfied with the results!

In this project I have tried to explore new ways of playing, including real time and a pinch of dexterity.

It is still a game that requires thought and reflection, but this time, you’ll have to think quickly :-) Anyway there still is a “slow” phase to catch your breath and plan how spend resources.
The cooperative aspect of Virus reminds me of the RPG sessions I used to have for many years, but thanks to the real time, the result is more vivid, pacey and enticing.

The variant with the infiltrator, or spy, is the cherry on top. Suspect is present, concrete, and if handled well, deception is great fun.

So, I hope you like the result. 

Shipping to Italy costs 3.73 euro. For other countries, the shipping cost will be shown after clicking the "Proceed to checkout” button on the cart. Some examples:

Retailer shipping cost depends on order size and it's shown on the Shipping cost page.

You can also pick-up your copy free of charge at our pickup point in Rome, at our stand at the Essen fair (Germany) or at the Lucca Comics and Games (Italy).

Games will be shipped from November 2016.

Note: We strongly suggest that you specify a telephone number in your profile. This helps a lot with the game delivery. We will use the address specified in your GS account profile at the moment of shipping: this means you can change it as you wish until that date, as we will use the last address provided.

Michele, Federico, Chiara and Marina: 2 mad girls and 2 crazy guys in love with games! This is Giochix.it: a small, but full of passion, Italian board game publishing company.

We love how board games bring people around the same tangible table, letting each player find their own way to play and try to win. We love to create something new, to bring fun and passion to other people. Developing games is the most interesting part: exploring new ways to play and new ways to think while having fun is fantastic!

In these years we have realized many board games, trying to do better in any new project! We made Bomarzo, The Foreign King, Historia, CO2, Romolo o Remo, De Vulgari Eloquentia  and, for the Italian market, Race for the Galaxy, Fief, Mare Nostrum, Kanban, Tesla vs. Edison, Tiny Epic Kingdoms and many others. Check our web site for more info: www.giochix.it.

We worked with many international partners: Rio Grande Games (US),  Stronghold Games (US), Zman Games (US), Eagle Games (US), Elfinwerks (US), Gamenyl Games (US), Arcana (US), MYBG Co. (CN), Heidelberger Spieleverlag (DE); Lookout Games (DE), Juegamos Games (ES), Black Book Editions (FR), Gigamic (FR), Matagot (FR), Artipia Games (GR), Arclight (JP), BardCentrum Gier (PL), Lacerta (PL), NSKN Games (RO) and Hobby World (RU).

Still unsure? Check our guarantee:

1) You can return your copy (opened or unopened) within 30 days of receiving it for a pledge refund, no questions asked.

2) If any problems should happen in production, you will able to request a full pledge refund after 90 days of delay, no discussion.

Production. A distinction must be made between games that are printed by Giochix directly and those that are printed “indirectly” by another publisher.

In the first case, we have direct control over the entire printing process and we can intervene quickly to adjust for any potential issues where necessary.

In the second case, we may only interact with the publisher that prints the game and without any ability to make immediate changes during the production process.

This means that once the games are printed by us, the shipping date that we have indicated in the project will be a reasonably safe deadline. While we are confident in our abilities to meet the designated timing; unfortunately, delays are always a possibility and this must be taken into account. In the second case, for “indirect” games, the shipping date is purely indicative.

Unfortunately it can happen that the deliveries suffer a delay and this should be considered before making a purchase. Of course we will inform you immediately if something were to happen.

-> Virus is printed by Giochix. It is therefore a “direct” game.

Components. Game specifications and components are to be considered indicative of the final product and may be changed during final production.

Project pages. Sometime there can be small variances between the pages of this project in the different languages. In that case, refer to the project’s English page.

Fairs. It is possible for the game's shipment to be scheduled to occur during a time frame close to a larger game fair, such as; Essen Fair in Germany or Lucca Comics and Games in Italy. It is important to note that we will be showing/selling the game at these fairs independently of campaign participant shipment status. Attending these fair events is vital to the game's chances for success.

Guarantee. If you are not satisfied with this game you can return it. First you have to contact us and obtain a RMA number. Then you have to ship the game back to Rome, Italy at your cost. Returned games must arrive to the designated location within 60 days of the our shipping date and within 30 days from the delivery date.
Game must arrive still in its wrapping or, if opened, they must be in perfect condition (preferably not used) and without any missing pieces. A refund will be given only after our verification of the game and after our unquestionable approbation. If the game is not approved for a refund, it can be shipped back to you, but you will be responsible for this additional shipping cost.
The refunded amount will not include any shipping charges. The refund will be made only via PayPal or as credit on giochistarter platform. We strongly suggest that you package the game carefully to avoid any potential damage and to ship it insured with a tracking number. We will not be responsible lost packages or packages received damaged.

You may also ask for a full refund if there is a delay in shipment of more than 90 days past the announced shipping date. This does not apply to any packages which have already been shipped.

Shipments. We ship by postal service or by supported courier (UPS/GLS/SDA)

We reserve the right to separate the contents of an order into different shipments or to merge the contents of different orders in the same shipment to improve the shipment's delivery speed and any required logistics management. If this happens, there will not be any additional cost for you as a customer (nor right to any refund).

Shipments made by courier or by insured the postal service can be tracked and are considered insured.

Shipments made by the postal service are not insured and cannot be traced. While rare it is also possible that a package may be lost (0.1-1%). Insurance option for potal services costs an additional 3-5 Euro depending on the selected destination.

Courier shipments may take about 3-6 days for EU and US/Canada. Postal service requires about 3-7 weeks for the same locations. Please note that the postal service in the same case can be slow and may suffer several weeks of additional delay. This happens very rarely but it is still a possibility and is out of our control. If you would like a faster deliever or avoid any risk of a long way; pleas use a courier service.

Courier shipment covers against package loss, destruction and package damage. Postal service insurance covers against package loss or destruction. Insurance requires a customer claim when package is delivered, ask to postman.

Please note that we will not reship any game without first having investigated what happened to the first shipment. This can be processed quickly through the courier service option but may require an additional 1-5 weeks through the postal service.

If the game failed to arrive because of your mistake (wrong address, recipient absent, not picking up at courier/postal warehouse, etc.), you will have to pay an additional shipping cost for us to re-send you the game. This cost will also include the return costs of the game. Otherwise, if we made an error, we will send it again to you at our expense. If package is lost or destroyed, we will reship it at our expense only if it was insured.

If you live outside of the European Community; custom's taxes may be added. This usually doesn't happen for boardgames; however, please check your country's legislation as this aspect will not be our responsibility.

We will no longer accept complaints related to this campaign after 12 months from the date of shipment.

If you are a retailer and would be interested in the Virus game; please register here as a Company. We will then be able to evaluate your account and activate your retailer discount.

There also 2 special stretch-goals: 

1) LANGUAGE PACKS

All participants will receive the English game version. The languages of users that will join to the project will determine if the game will be translated in other languages. The amount of money collected by some mayor language groups is shown on left of the page just before the campaign widget. Both KS or GS pledges are counted (KS update is done daily).

There are 3 translation levels:

For example, if 25 Spanish users take part in this campaign for a total sum of 2500 euro, the Spanish Language pack becomes available and the rulebook will be translated to Spanish and put online on the giochix.it website. If these 25 users will be joined by 150 Mexican users (who speak Spanish) and the new total exceeds 15000 euro, the Spanish Language pack will be added to the game box of Spanish users for free.

2) PERSONAL STRETCH GOAL

Login on giochistarter and share this page using buttons above (Facebook, Twitter, G+) or copy widget code (first make login!) and put it in your website, in a game forum, or where you think can be useful. You will gain points for each user which will click your message. At the top of the page you can check how many points you collected. You will able to unlock these stretch-goals:

100 points		New player Skill card: Fortitude. It allows to continue to play also with 0 hit point.
200 points		New Multicolor Room card. This card allows player to consider this room of a color of his choice.
400 points		Exclusive Antidote token. It's possible to use this plastic token instead of normal game tile. This token will not be available or sold on shops after the campaign.

 
Note: If those SGs will remain locked, they will be available on our Pledge Manager.