Race to Kepler: A Deckbuilding Space Adventure

We Did It. Thank You! 🎉
about 2 months ago – Thu, Feb 26, 2026 at 07:00:33 PM

I'm going to front-load this with a genuine thank you, so if you want the logistics stuff you can skip ahead to the BackerKit section. But I hope you don't.

1,129 of you.

When we launched Race to Kepler, we had a number in our heads that felt like success. The number that would mean this wasn't just a family passion project, but something real. Something that other people cared about too. We didn't share that number publicly. But I'll tell you now that we blew past it.

1,129 backers. $89,553. For a first-time indy publisher with no real background, we hear from folks that know a lot more than us that this is something to be proud of. 

Putting something this personal in front of strangers is genuinely terrifying. We've spent a decade traveling together to Pokemon TCG tournaments and that whole journey was the soil this game grew out of. The competitive instincts, the obsession with balance, the late nights arguing about whether a card was broken or just good. Staring at every piece of art endlessly, running game after game with various players, various combos, it is really just a multi-variate bottomless pit of opportunity and challenge. All of it is in Kepler. So having strangers look at it and decide it's worth their time and money? It's was honestly terrifying.

A moment that really jumped out to us actually came from a reviewer.

Rahdo Runs Through posted his playthrough early in the campaign. To be honest, we weren't nervous about whether he'd like it. We was nervous about whether he'd understand it. Race to Kepler has a lot of design decisions baked into it that are subtle on the surface. Cards going directly to your hand instead of your discard pile, for instance. That one decision is why our auctions work but it might not feel obvious in the first 3 turns or a quick look at the rule book. It's also why the mid-game doesn't drag. Listening to the last few minutes of his review, you could hear in his voice he was surprising himself by how many directions the game hit him at. And watching Shea noticing design decisions we thought maybe no one would pick up on is when you know the time was really worth it.

BackerKit — Coming Soon

We'll be opening our BackerKit pledge manager in the coming weeks. You'll get an email when it's live. Through BackerKit you'll be able to:

• Complete your shipping details
• Add a neoprene playmat to your order if you want one (these are beautiful and we're genuinely excited about them)
• Late pledgers can join here too if you missed the campaign

Timeline

Here's our roadmap:

Now through mid-2026: Final design refinements, manufacturing coordination with our production partners, art completion with Leonard. We've got some feedback on whether there needs to be a second place on auction winners, and a few other notes, and we'll take a look at all that.

Late 2026: Manufacturing and freight.

Early 2027: Fulfillment ships to your door.

We'll keep you updated at every step, there's a chance it is faster than that. But as first timers we are giving ourselves some room to mess up and still get great things to everyone.

Thank you. All 1,129 of you. See you at Kepler :)

— Nabeel, Kaden & Liam

Color Draft of 2nd Community Art Collab, 3rd and Final Collab Information, and Livestream Content Highlight!
about 2 months ago – Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 05:24:07 PM

Results from Second Community Art Collaboration

Above is Léonard Dupond's color draft from the second community art collaboration. This Titan card is called Recursion, one of the 4 extra Titans provided in the deluxe edition. The scale of this image combined with the feeling of movement throughout the image really makes it stand out from the other Titans, and we love it! Shout out the backer who thought to choose a space whale as the mammal for this titan, I think it fits the aesthetic perfectly!

Once again, all of your incredible ideas were greatly appreciated, and I wish we could have had Léonard do them all.

Third and Final Community Art Collaboration with Léonard Dupond

With just a few days left in the Kickstarter campaign, we have got one more thank you to all of our community. This is the third and final community art collaboration, meaning the whole game art will be finished by the end of this one! 

For the third art brief, we have the Deluxe Titan card called Barter from the Miners class. The Miners worship terrestrial and/or burrowing mammals, that represent their tactics as they travel to Kepler: storing and searching for resources while surviving through these harsh conditions. Some Titans in the past for the Miners are: groundhogs, warthogs, beavers, and gophers (so please try not to repeat those ones, as we are trying to do all new animals for each Titan). 

Card Name: Barter
Effect: "+1 Card, +1 Energy, and +$1, repeat for every 7 cards in Deck"

Once again, leave a comment below with your recommendation for the card art idea. Also feel free to leave a comment or likes for ideas you love and they might get chosen for the art brief.

To repeat to help guide your recommendations: 
Keep in mind the art on Titans usually involves the Titan itself, and we've been leaning into some more abstract, almost movie poster style vibes on them. So have some fun with it!

When creating your art brief, make sure to consider both the card Name and its Effect. Describe the scene, the action being taken, and what is the overall feeling or vibe. For example "Transmutation - A mechanical octopus sacrifices a plant/tree (so it turns black, withered, dusty, fallen), harvesting its energy to fill up viles of blasting energy, oozing liquid into a vile."

We can't wait to see what you all come up with for this final Titan!

Content Highlights!!

Below is a live stream from Gaming Rules! on YouTube that airs at 2:30pm Pacific Standard Time on February 24th, in a little under 24 hours!

Please come check it out, both they and we are super excited to have this tutorial & playthrough. Come with all of your questions, concerns or hopes for Race to Kepler! We would love to see you all!

Color Draft of Last Community Art Collab + More Help on Design the Art for Kepler
2 months ago – Wed, Feb 18, 2026 at 07:08:28 PM

Results of First Community Art Collaboration

We loved all of you all's recommendations for the last community art collab that you left in the Kickstarter comments. Above is the results of the Infiltration Titan card from the Smuggler class drawn by Léonard Dupond. 

We got this art brief suggestion from one of our backers in our last update who suggested this sprinting figure clutching onto paper with sweeping peacock wings (that have hints of other departments) in the background. The whole description is beautiful and the finished color draft product by Léonard might be one of our favorites from the whole collection

Second Community Art Collaboration with Léonard Dupond

Once again, with a week remaining on the Kickstarter campaign, we have our second TITAN card in our Deluxe edition that we want the art designed by our community!

For our second art brief, we have the Titan card RECURSION in the Engineers class. These Engineers idolize larger mammals and their power and strength, previous ones including elephants or gorillas.

Card Name: Recursion 
Effect: "+1 Card, Discard any number of cards from your hand, for each: +1 Card"

Once again, leave a comment below with your recommendation for the card art idea. Also feel free to leave a comment or likes for ideas you love and they might get chosen for the art brief.

To repeat to help guide your recommendations: 
Keep in mind the art on Titans usually involves the Titan itself, and we've been leaning into some more abstract, almost movie poster style vibes on them. So have some fun with it!

When creating your art brief, make sure to consider both the card Name and its Effect. Describe the scene, the action being taken, and what is the overall feeling or vibe. For example "Transmutation - A mechanical octopus sacrifices a plant/tree (so it turns black, withered, dusty, fallen), harvesting its energy to fill up viles of blasting energy, oozing liquid into a vile."

We can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

Pokémon European International Championships

As some of you might know, this past weekend we went to the Pokémon European International Championships. It was a blast getting to hear all of the comments, suggestions and love from the Pokémon community on Race to Kepler and we got some wonderful playtesting in. More photos below:

Help Design the Art for Kepler! Plus updates on Neoprene Mat and the Deluxe Box!
2 months ago – Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 02:02:49 PM

Community Art Collaboration with Léonard Dupond

As you might have seen on our socials, we are almost halfway through the campaign. We wanted a thank you to our community who believe in this game, so we've decided to include you in the art design! 

In total, we have 3 TITAN card arts in our Deluxe edition that we want to be designed by our community and drawn (of course) by Léonard Dupond. Over the next week or so, we will reveal each of these cards and show some art updates along the way. We don't really believe in stretch goals or crazy incentives, so this is just automatically happening as a thank you to you all. 

And now for our first art brief! This Titan is in the Smugglers class. The smugglers worship corvids, as they help symbolize their intelligence and crafty natures. So their Titan robots tend to be crows, owls, and ravens.

Card Name: Infiltration 
Effect: "Draw the top card of the Titan Deck and shuffle this card into the Titan Deck. ◎ If held for the bid: Prior to resolving the bid, swap this card with a card in the Titan Supply"

It's a very interesting card that people have been absolutely loving in playtesting. And now we get to see what it will look like thanks to you.

Please leave a comment below with your suggested card art idea and have a chance for your input to be implemented into the game! Make sure to also give likes to your favorites to increase the chances that they are chosen. Keep in mind the art on Titans usually involves the Titan itself, and we've been leaning into some more abstract, almost movie poster style vibes on them. So have some fun with it!

When creating your art brief, make sure to consider both the card Name and its Effect. Describe the scene, the action being taken, and what is the overall feeling or vibe. For example "Transmutation - A mechanical octopus sacrifices a plant/tree (so it turns black, withered, dusty, fallen), harvesting its energy to fill up viles of blasting energy, oozing liquid into a vile."

F.A.Q.s update

Neoprene Mat Add-On?

The interest was loud and clear. We will be offering a neoprene mat as an optional add-on through BackerKit after the campaign closes. We didn't want to complicate the campaign with more tiers, but this way anyone who wants one can grab it without it being bundled into a package you might not need. More details on pricing and design when we get closer to the pledge manager. 

Deluxe Box Art?

Over 75% of you really wanted the red box for the Deluxe edition. But we didn't want to leave out the folks who liked the black and gold. And unfortunately we can't do two separate deluxe versions.

So here's what we're doing: the Deluxe edition will come in the standard red box, with a black and gold embossed sleeve over it. Like the black and gold look? Keep the sleeve on. Prefer the red? Slide it off. And we're also happy to announce both will be getting UV stamping which should give everything that deluxe feel. Either way it looks great on a shelf. 

Community Playtest, Box Art Preferences, and More!!
3 months ago – Wed, Feb 04, 2026 at 12:50:03 PM

Community Playtesting

As many of you know we have partnered with Merchants of Play to offer an online version of the game for backers to try. We have been getting lots of helpful feedback and thoughts from all of you that have already tried out the game. We have put together a Discord server that you can join if you want to find people to play or give feedback on the game. 

F.A.Qs

Neoprene Mat?

Several of you have asked about a neoprene mat add-on. We initially chose not to include it as we wanted to keep the Deluxe Box to a reasonable size and could not fit a mat inside of that box. However we are currently gauging interest in a neoprene mat and if enough people are interested, we will add it as an add-on in the pledge manager. So if you would be interested in a neoprene mat, let us know!

Deluxe Box Art?

We have heard many of you prefer the original red box art to the deluxe black/gold art. We have put together this form to gauge preferences as we discuss the best solution. 

Content Highlights!!

We're thrilled that both The Brothers Murph and BoardGameCo featured Race to Kepler this week! We would love for you to check them out.