Hi folks,

I got a copy of Qwirkle about 4 1/2 months ago, and it has been a big hit with friends and family, so much so that a lot of people we know were looking for it for Christmas and having no luck - it was a surprise hit and sold out everywhere. Well it just got back in stock so we got a few more copies to give as gifts, and we've been getting comments from recipients of these gifts that the game "just doesn't look right." So I had one of them bring their copy over and did a side by side comparison:



in each set of colors, the old print is on the left and the new print is on the right. The consensus is that it is a lower quality job, with less paint and more imperfections. For some the differences were trivial but at least one person was trying earnestly to get me to exchange copies with her...

So for anyone else that has seen an "old" and "new" Qwirkle side by side, are you seeing the same differences, or is this possibly isolated to the specific shipment my FLOGS received?

Dear Fellow Geeks,
All of us at MindWare read your report of the muted color of the new Qwirkle tiles with concern. Even though it does not affect game play we sympathize with your disappointment that the color is different in the new batch of the game.
From time to time, MindWare searches for opportunities to improve upon the manufacturing process of its games. Obviously the final result for this print run of Qwirkle does not reflect the quality we are accustomed to providing our customers.
We would be more than happy to provide you with an updated version of Qwirkle with the brighter colors, compliments of MindWare, when they become available in late Spring.
Please email us at custserv@mindwareonline.com or call MindWare Customer Service at 1-800-274-6123 between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm CST, Monday – Friday.
Martin Smith
CEO, MindWare

Thank you to rathstar for pointing out this issue. I hadn't looked at the most recent batch of Qwirkle, so I wasn't aware of the color differences.

As the designer of Qwirkle, I could not be more pleased with MindWare's response.

MindWare are really awesome people. A while ago I complained because newer editions of Qwirkle included a draw bag while the initial edition didn't, and so they up and mailed me a draw bag!

Companies just don't behave like this anymore these days -- you know, like they care about their customers.

Hmm, I actually prefer the more muted colors because (at least in this image) the purple and blue are more distinct, as are the orange and red. Under certain lights, those pairs of colors can look similar which causes a bit of confusion. (Not that it's stopped me from playing a few times...)

Eric
Editor, http://www.BoardgameNews.com

Wow, this far exceeds my expectations (and I'm sure it will exceed the expectations of friends and family.) Thanks so much for going out of your way to register here just so you could reply with the great news. I bet you've just found multiple customers for life!

Hey, I want a draw bag, too

There is difinitely a difference in the print run. I had to send back some tiles for replacement. Mindware is very nice and send out replacements right away. The problem is the ones they send me are from different print run, and the color and texture of the tiles from the replacement is very different, especially the blue and the purple ones.
SO yes now I got replacement tiles, which si good, but the color and shade is different from the rest of the game, just feels weird with the mix and match. I guess there isn't much else I can do.

Update: Mindware will give me a replacement copy of the game. I am very impressed with their customer service!