Expedited Orders
Golden Spike Games offers direct orders of most of the Deep Thought Games catalog (all games except 1817 and 18MEX).
We are located in Utah (hence the inspiration for the company name).
The games are identical to those that Deep Thought Games has produced in the past, although there have been upgrades such as very nice quad-fold boards. We have been helping DTG fill orders since 2009.
The prices on the Deep Thought Games site have never been adjusted. My prices reflect adjustments for the ever-rising cost of materials, although I haven't changed any prices since I started doing the direct orders in 2014. At some point that might be needed.
All-Aboard Games offers 1817 and 18MEX.
Deep Thought Games is not currently taking new orders. Golden Spike Games does all the fulfillment of the Deep Thought Games orders and we won't get to the games in the DTG queue until my direct, premium orders have all been fulfilled. When that occurs some adjustment of prices will need to occur since the cost of materials keeps rising.
About the Photos
The Engine in the top photo on the left is the replica of the Central Pacific Jupiter that participated in the Golden Spike event in 1869. I took the photo at the Golden Spike site at Promontory Summit, Utah, as it was steaming up the track toward the meeting point.
The photo on the bottom is the replica of the Union Pacific No. 119, taken on the same day.
Recent News
28 Nov 2023 - The queue is now less than one year long! I just invoiced up through 1 Dec 2022, and I have more games ready so the invoicing isn't done yet.
I updated the expected wait time on the website to say 3-6 months. I think that's realistic now that there are fewer than 50 orders in the queue. It feels so good to be catching up.
26 Nov 2023 - Even when the games are ready to go, the invoicing and shipping process still takes a bit of time.
I've invoiced orders placed through Sep 2022, and I'll be invoicing the rest of the 2022 orders in the next couple weeks.
I'm having a higher percentage than usual of no responses, and that slows things down. I realize it's been over a year and plans may change,
but I'd sure appreciate it if anyone I invoice will at least repond with a "No, thanks" if no longer interested.
A few of the maps I print get some blue streaking across the top, usually in the light blue areas representing water, but not on the hex areas. That's a printer software/hardware glitch
that I can't always work around. I discard those that are really bad, but I do have to use some with light streaking. The games where this shows up sometimes are: 1812, 18Ardennes. 18EU, and 18FL.
I'm running low on a couple of the colors for the colored tokens (orange and purple). I've started the process to get more, but I may need to substitute white or natural color for those that I run out of.
I do like the colors, but they are expensive. When my main supply starts to run low I may have to go back to wood-finish tokens. I have a huge supply of them. They are similar to, but nicer than, the ones we used in the past.
1 Nov 2023 - I have 75 games cut and ready to be boxed/labeled/shipped. That's going to take a while, but
I'm getting to them as fast as I can. That's all the games ordered through about Oct 2022. I've printed the games ordered up to 3 Dec 2022
and they will be getting cut in the next few weeks.
Sometimes cutting the games is the backup. Sometimes it's the maps. Right now it's just getting them boxed and shipped--which is the problem most easily solved!
1 Nov 2023 - I'm caught up on emails. If you sent and inquiry or order while I was on sabbatical you should have received a reply from me now.
I've got about 50 games finished (except box labels and some maps) and I'm starting the process of invoicing. Expect to get an invoice
in the next week or so if your order came in on or before Sep 2022. And I'll be getting to Oct 2022 orders pretty quickly too.
20 Oct 2023 - I'm back from my sabbatical trip. We drove about 7800 miles from Utah to Alaska,
then back down the Alaska highway and east through Canada through BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba--picking up two new provinces for me (bringing my total to eight--I'm still two short).
We then went south down through the Dakotas, spent a few days in Theodore Roosevelt National Park (recommended!), then drove home. We saw a lot of amazing things, but it's nice to be home.
We have about 60 games cut and ready to invoice. I need to make about a dozen maps for those games, but otherwise they just need to be boxed and labeled and shipped.
I'll be sending out a LOT of invoices in the next few days. PLEASE REPLY if for some reason you are unable to purchase the games.
Silence wastes a lot of valuable time so I'd rather know quickly if someone is no longer in a position to want the games they ordered.
I'll be invoicing orders up through early October 2022. This means we've caught up on about half the queue (we were almost two years out earlier this year). We hope to catch up the rest of the queue in the next six months.
13 Sep 2023 - I've invoiced orders up to 1 Apr 2022. We're catching up on the queue and hope to get to all 2022 orders by the end of the year.
I'm going to be gone on a work sabbatical for a month. My wife and I will be traveling across North America, driving through the southern Canadian provinces to the east coast (picking up three that I've never visited),
then back to Utah through New England and the northern US. It's going to be an advanture!
GSG will be on hiatus during my sabbatical and I WILL NOT BE CHECKING MY GSG EMAILS. I'll get to them all when I return in late October. If you place an order it will go into the queue
as of the date of your email. Adjustments to current orders are also welcome. And I'll get to other inquiries as well. I'll have an auto-respond with this information
for those that don't see this message on my website.
My daughter is going to continue to cut games so I'll have a bunch to invoice/ship when I return in late October.
We have about 50 games in process (most are cut and need maps/boxes, some are printed and waiting to be laminated and cut.) I have about 190 total games on order so this is a quarter of them.
We are trying very hard to reduce the queue to weeks instead of months/years.
20 May 2022 - For those that have an 1846 game produced by either Golden Spike Games or Deep Thought Games,
I can get you the privates and token needed for v2 of the game. I am going to be running a batch of these toward the end of June.
They will need to be done using the laminate that both GSG and DTG used for the past decade in order for them to match your game.
I cannot buy that laminate any more, but I do still have some left that I kept for purposes such as this.
The cost, including shipping, will be $10 for fulfilment to the US. I don't know yet how much it will cost to ship internationally.
I think it will be about $15, but I'll need to do some reseach on that. I THINK I can send it in a normal first-class envelope,
but the token creates a problem and if I can't make that work then the cost will be higher. I'll post more details when I have them.
If you are interested then please email me at orders@goldenspikegames.com as you would to order a game.
Please put 1846 v2 Order as the title of the email
so I can easily separate these orders from my other emails and keep track of how many are wanted.
And don't forget to include your name and address in the email body. That's all I need. If you want more than one set then indicate that as well.
This will put you on the list and when I'm ready to send these out I'll let you know and you can send the payment.
I'm not going to do individual paypal invoices for these. When instructed you'll send the payment directly to my paypal address.
Pricing & Shipping
Paper money can be added for USD $5 extra per game, while supplies last. Each set is customized for the particular game. Paper money is not available for 18GB at this time, but money from another set can be substituted if desired.
Sales Tax will be added for orders in Utah. The current rate is 7.15%.
All games will be shipped almost RTP (Ready-To-Play). Each game includes a quad-fold map and a custom, labeled game box. All pieces will be laminated and cut. The labels will be provided inside the front cover of the rulebook and will need to be mounted on the tokens. A guide of which token color to use for each company is provided. Paper money is optional.
Shipping will be added to all orders.
Shipping Details >All shipping will be done via USPS Priority Mail (or USPS Priority Mail International). I charge the actual shipping price, rounded up to the next dollar, plus $1 (to cover paypal fees, boxes, packing, etc).
Insurance is optional for U.S. orders, also charged at cost. International orders will automatically have insurance. I generally will insure it for $50/game up to the $200 maximum.
I will ship up to eight games in one box. Experience has shown that larger boxes are more prone to damage so I am going to limit shipments to eight games maximum.
If you would like to estimate your shipping costs, visit the USPS website.
For a US order, a single game will fit in a Medium Flat Rate box and two games can fit in the Large Flat Rate Box. Unless you live on the west coast, Flat Rate will usually be cheaper. For those in the West, or those orders more than two games, you can calculate the shipping from the USPS website. The shipping zip code is 84045. Enter your destination zip code, select Standard Package and enter the weight, then hit Continue. On the next screen look for the price shown under Priority Mail 2-Day™ in the rightmost column labeled Online Price. I will use flat rate instead if it is less expensive.
For a non-US order, select your Country, then choose Standard Package and enter the weight, then hit Continue. On the next screen look for the price shown under Priority Mail International™ in the rightmost column labeled Online Price.
Combining games will generally reduce the cost of shipping. This is especially true for orders outside of the United States. It generally costs as much to ship two games in separate orders as it does to ship four games all together.
Calculating Shipping Weight
Place an Order
To order a copy of one of these titles please send an email to orders@goldenspikegames.com and include the following information:
| Name | |
| Street Address | |
| Street Address Line Two |
If needed for Apartment Number, etc. |
| City | |
| State/Province | |
| Zip/Postal Code | |
| Country | |
| Phone# | Only required If shipping to a PO Box outside of the United States. |
| Email address for Paypal |
The email associated with the Paypal account to be invoiced. |
| Shipping Insurance Yes/No |
This is for U.S. orders. Shipments outside the U.S. will automatically have insurance. |
| Title(s) ordered. |
If you want paper money with the game then please ask for it, otherwise I will assume it is not needed. I think I only shipped two games with paper money in 2021. I still have supplies left for many games, but a few are out of stock. I can substitute money from a different game in most cases since most games have a bank size shared with other titles. I'll keep this available as long as supplies last, but I'm unlikely to cut more (it is a PAIN).
Upon receipt of your email your order will be added to the queue. I will reply with a confirmation of your order, but I only check this email about once a week so please be patient if you do not receive an acknowledgement right away.
You will receive a PayPal invoice when your order is started. The invoice will include shipping charges and insurance if requested. Your order will generally ship within two weeks of your payment of the invoice.
Game |
Cost (USD) |
Shipping Weight (unboxed) |
|---|
* 18Dixie includes the 18GA/18MS Kit which provides all additional components necessary to play both 18GA and 18MS.
Terms
(the nasty legal stuff)Sales are Final. Shipping Insurance is optional. The buyer assumes all risks of damaged or lost packages should insurance be declined.
Customs and Duty charges for international shipments are the responsibility of the buyer.
Insurance for U.S. orders is your choice. I've only ever had two packages go completely missing. One was a big one sent parcel post (with insurance, fortunately), which is one reason I don't use parcel post any more. The other was delivered to a place of business and never found the employee. I've had a box or two dinged in shipping too, but that's mostly cosmetic. These games are pretty sturdy. The choice of insurance is up to you.
Note that orders shipped outside of the U.S. automatically come with up to $200 of insurance. I will insure them for $50/game, generally, which means an order of four games will max out the included insurance at $200. There is often not an option to buy additional insurance (it varies a bit by country).
If there are missing pieces I will of course provide them. It's very rare, but can happen.