NEW ART + Penguin Winners + Penguin Names: The Final Vote 🐧 🐧🐧
9 months ago
– Wed, Oct 08, 2025 at 12:40:18 PM
The results are in!
After a week of voting, we've tallied all the ballots and declared the winners of our Dungeon Tryouts penguin naming polls. Scroll down for the full list of winners, and to get the details for our FINAL RUNOFF VOTE!
But first...
We do more than penguins
Yes, we've been having fun with our penguin-related shenanigans. But Dungeon Tryouts is first and foremost a fantasy-themed party game, and our team has been hard at work writing new cards and playtesting and tweaking old ones to make Dungeon Tryouts as funny and as much fun as possible.
Meanwhile, AC Stuart has been hard at work drawing the hundreds of Adventurers who will appear in the game - and we can even share a few of them with you now!
This batch includes a treefolk arsonist and an existential zombie:
While the next one includes a dark elf with some questionable fashion choices:
How well will these adventurers perform on their Quests?
That's for you to decide! Stay tuned for more Adventurers, more Quests, and a Pledge Manager update in the weeks ahead.
Art livestream next week
Want to see how an Adventurer gets created? We'll be hosting a live-drawing livestream Thursday, October 16 at 3pm ET on YouTube. Tune in to see AC Stuart bring some new characters to life!
Now, on with the penguins!
A huge thank you to everyone who voted - and an even bigger thanks to SANCCOB for their incredible conservation efforts!
Some of the decisions were romps (Aurora beat Avalanche by, well, an avalanche). Others came right down to the wire (Marshmallow needed a last minute-surge to get past Muffin). Still others were tied, in which case both names went through.
Each one of the names below will be given to one of the 60 real-life penguins we adopt through SANCCOB. You may not have been voting for the Penguin President, but your votes really WILL have a huge impact on penguin welfare!
The winning penguins
- Puffle (Tie)
- Fidget (Tie)
- Nat 20
- Aurora
- Marshmallow
- Pistachio
- Duke
- Tuxedo
- Empoleon
- Snooter
- Fiona (Tie)
- Morgan (Tie)
- Boris
- Pebble
- Puddles
- Pen the Mighty
- Penny
- Karl
- Fairbanks
- Disco Waddler
The final penguin
We couldn't wrap things up without giving you one last chance to name a penguin. Reply in the comments to cast a vote in our runoff election:
- Bubbles
- Petal
- Pixie
- Sparkle
About SANCCOB
SANCCOB is a South African non-profit that works to conserve the local seabird population. Its primary focus is on the rescue and rehabilitation of the critically endangered African penguin (you can adopt and name your own penguin here), in addition to cormorants and other sea birds.
SANCCOB also spearheads broader conservation efforts through a range of education, research, and advocacy programs. Most notably, it teaches people how to adopt more sustainable practices, and raises community preparedness for oil spills and other ecological disasters.
Visit SANCCOB's website to learn more about its efforts to maintain biodiversity and bring balance to the oceans of southern Africa!
Penguin Names: Part 2 🐧 🐧
9 months ago
– Fri, Oct 03, 2025 at 12:31:36 PM
We're back for round two of our penguin naming bonanza!
We still need to name the 60 penguins you adopted through Dungeon Tryouts stretch goals, and we can't get through them without your help!
That's why were heading back to the polls. All of the names below are based on your recommendations. The winning name in each poll will be given to a real penguin adopted through SANCCOB!
Name this penguin!
Today's penguin is particularly daring and adventurous. Reply in the comments to let us know which one of these four D&D-themed names fits best:
Don't forget to vote on social media
This update isn't the only penguin polling station. We're holding votes across all of our social media channels, and there's still plenty of time to weigh in!
For instance, you can visit Bluesky to name this penguin:
Or Facebook to name this penguin who has a fondness for sweet treats:
The full schedule for the rest of the week is below. We'll be back with another update next week to announce the winers!
About SANCCOB
SANCCOB is a South African non-profit that works to conserve the local seabird population. Its primary focus is on the rescue and rehabilitation of the critically endangered African penguin (you can adopt and name your own penguin here), in addition to cormorants and other sea birds.
SANCCOB also spearheads broader conservation efforts through a range of education, research, and advocacy programs. Most notably, it teaches people how to adopt more sustainable practices, and raises community preparedness for oil spills and other ecological disasters.
Visit SANCCOB's website to learn more about its efforts to maintain biodiversity and bring balance to the oceans of southern Africa!
It's time to name these penguins! 🐧
10 months ago
– Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 02:02:57 PM
Penguin naming season is upon us!
We need to name the 60 penguins you adopted through the Dungeon Tryouts campaign. You already gave us lots of great recommendations. We've compiled some of our favorites, and now we're putting it to a vote to finalize our list!
We'll be running polls throughout the week on our various social channels, and right here on Kickstarter. The winning name in each poll will be given to one of the real-life penguins we adopt through SANCCOB!
The polls are open!
Reply in the comments to let us know which one of these four names you want to see on a penguin. The choices for your first vote are:
- Puffle
- Cuddles
- Fidget
- Blitz
We'll be back with another update (and another poll) later this week, so stay tuned for more penguin labeling opportunities!
The social polls are open, too!
The first social media polls also went up on Facebook and Twitter earlier today. Head on over to cast your ballot, and check out the full voting schedule below:
About SANCCOB
SANCCOB is a South African non-profit that works to conserve the local seabird population. Its primary focus is on the rescue and rehabilitation of the critically endangered African penguin (you can adopt and name your own penguin here), in addition to cormorants and other sea birds.
SANCCOB also spearheads broader conservation efforts through a range of education, research, and advocacy programs. Most notably, it teaches people how to adopt more sustainable practices, and raises community preparedness for oil spills and other ecological disasters.
Visit SANCCOB's website to learn more about its efforts to maintain biodiversity and bring balance to the oceans of southern Africa!
WE UNLOCKED MORE STRETCH GOALS + Pledge Manager + Payment Updates
10 months ago
– Fri, Sep 05, 2025 at 10:01:51 AM
Hope you enjoyed the last few weeks of summer!
We've got some important details to share about the next steps for Dungeon Tryouts, including:
- What happens next, Pledge Manager, and the current timeline
- How to resolve payment issues
- Now accepting late pledges
- STRETCH GOALS ARE STILL OPEN
- What do you want to see from us?
Pledge Manager is on the way
We expect Pledge Manager to open sometime around November or December. That's when we’ll send out a backer reward survey that you’ll need to fill out to tell us the exact rewards you want, and where we should send those rewards during fulfillment.
In Pledge Manager, you'll be able to add items to your pledge and see the expected shipping charges and taxes for your region (if any). You'll also be able to update your address and shipping details as often as you need until we lock addresses just before fulfillment. Our current schedule is to deliver digital rewards by August of 2026, and physical rewards by April 2027.
We’ll announce the release of the reward survey and Pledge Manager through through a future Kickstarter update, as well as our social channels (Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram, Twitter). If you lose your survey link, you'll be able to request another one by entering the email associated with your pledge on a special form on BackerKit.
What do I do if I have a payment issue?
Kickstarter has finished charging cards, so your pledge should now be fully paid for.
If your payment didn't get processed for whatever reason, Kickstarter will try again periodically. Make sure you check your statement to see if it goes through.
If you're still experiencing issues, don't fret. You will still receive an invitation to the reward survey and Pledge Manager, where you will have a chance to update your payment info. You don’t need to worry about losing your pledge tier or the rewards that go with it. We'll be able to adjust pledges and address payment issues on a case-by-case basis in Pledge Manager, and we encourage you to reach out at that time.
Late Pledges are open
The official campaign is over - but if your friends have FOMO, they still have a chance to back Dungeon Tryouts. We're currently accepting late pledges, and have even pushed the total number of backers to 2,800+ (and counting)!
The prices for late pledges are higher than the prices for the original campaign, so if you pledged during that first month, you picked up Dungeon Tryouts at the lowest price it will ever be. However, the late pledge prices are still lower than the prices you'll see at retail.
The late pledge window is also your last chance to pick up the limited Gold Box Edition of Dungeon Tryouts. The Kickstarter exclusive won't be available once we shift to Pledge Manager, so it's still great time to grab this collectible.
Let's unlock more stretch goals
Late pledges WILL count toward our stretch goals, which means we still have time to add a few more improvements to the deck!
We've already unlocked the Too Silly to Print PDF expansion and adopted 10 more penguins since the campaign wrapped. Now we're less than $10,000 away from our final guest card (from War and Peas). That stretch goal will bring our guest art booster pack to an even 18 cards.
Go ahead and tell your friends to help us complete the set!
What do you want to see from us?
We'll be releasing regular updates throughout production to keep you up to date on our progress - but we want those updates to be more than just logistics.
Do you want more livestreams, more development diaries, more video content, more art drops, or something else we haven't thought of? Leave a comment to let us know what you want to see. We'll collect the feedback and you'll see the results in future updates!
Thank You!
11 months ago
– Sat, Aug 16, 2025 at 08:16:09 AM
A huge thank you to the 2,717 fantasy and party game enthusiasts who backed Dungeon Tryouts! We raised $208,224 (just shy of 600% of our initial goal) and unlocked almost every stretch goal we set for ourselves along the way!
Thanks to you, the Dungeon Tryouts main deck will have 500 fully illustrated cards. It will also be released alongside a full set of three expansions, three wacky enamel pins, and a 17-card Guest Art Booster Pack with fantastic entries from so many incredible guest artists!
None of this happens without your support, and we can't tell you how much it means to have you in our corner. As far as we're concerned, every single one of you has the heart of a champion!
Speaking of champions...
These penguins need names
Your support allowed us to adopt 50 endangered sea birds through SANCCOB. That's a huge win for penguin conservation.
But there's one problem...
We need names for 50 penguins.
We'll open up formal submissions and voting at some point in the future. But 50 penguins is a LOT of penguins so we might as well start the process now. Sound off in the comments below to give us your best penguin names, and one of them could end up with a real-life penguin when the adoption goes through!
What's Next?
Whatever payment method you submitted will be charged today (and may have already been charged in some cases). Once it’s processed, you’ll receive a confirmation email that lets you know your pledge has gone through. You'll have a chance to update payment info if there are any issues, so you don’t need to worry about losing your pledge tier and the rewards that go with it. We’ll spend the next couple of weeks making sure everyone gets squared away.
Stay tuned for another update in the near future (after our weary Story Engine Adventurer team takes a bit of a rest) for details about when Pledge Manager will open, and how to go about it if it's your first time.
Thanks Again
For now, we’re going to raise a glass and set up camp for a long rest. Tomorrow, we'll venture further into the dungeon. We've still got a big stack of quests that need doing, and we couldn't be more excited to have you with us in our party!
