Mountain Bike Board Game, SEND IT! Launches on Kickstarter

SEND IT! The Mountain Biking Board Game launched on Kickstarter two weeks ago and has already raised over $38,000 from more than 500 backers from around the world.

The game is the brainchild of professional mountain bike racers Syd Schulz and Macky Franklin.

We set out to create a mountain biking game that acknowledges the inherent risk of our sport but also recognizes that there are ways to decrease that risk. In the game, players are forced to find the delicate balance between over-preparing for a feature and just "sending it." -Macky Franklin

The riders (L to R): Dirt Jump Delilah, Downhill Derek, Enduro Elsa, Cross-Country Carrie, Singletrack Sammy, Trials Terrance

The game riffs on popular mountain bike stereotypes. Riders have names like Cross-Country Carrie who "replaces all the bolts on her bike with titanium ones and refuses to wear a hydration pack" and Downhill Derek who "loves techy rock gardens and jumping but HATES pedaling.” However, the game is designed to appeal to bikers and non-bikers alike.Turns are short so the game moves quickly, and as players tell stories about how they crashed there's lots of laughing and joking, according to Franklin. The rule that "any player caught checking their phone must draw a crash card" encourages players to focus on the game and spending time with one another.

Rider Cards keep track of your skills throughout the game

The movable tiles provide more than 3,000 different game setups

The game features illustrations by Kristina Wayte, who has made a name for herself as a mountain bike artist with her popular Instagram account, @sketchytrails.

The game encourages making up ridiculous stories about how you crashed

The couple, who run the popular mountain bike YouTube channel Syd and Macky, held a livestream launch party on their channel to kick things off.

The response was amazing. We had a big group watching our livestream and a huge number of them supported the project immediately. We raised over $10,000 in the first 30 minutes. -Syd Schulz

The campaign reached its $25,000 funding goal later that night and has now raised over $38,000. The campaign ends in early June and they plan to deliver the games to backers in time for the 2020 holidays. You can reserve your copy here.