I’ve been covering a lot of crowdfunding campaigns lately (and have several more queued up between now and April), but as always there are more projects out there that I won’t be able to do full reviews. Here are a few current projects that have caught my attention lately!
New to Kickstarter? Check out our crowdfunding primer.
https://youtu.be/rh-ClF3L47Y
Bullet: Cubed from Level 99 Games
I’ve backed all of the Bullet series from Level 99 Games so far — it’s a fast-paced puzzly game where you’re pulling “bullets” (colored discs) out of a bag and putting them onto your own board. You use powers to manipulate the bullets to form patterns, which clears them from your board and sends them to the next player — but if you don’t clear them in time, you’ll take a hit. There are a whole bunch of different characters to play (I think they’re up to 38 now), and each one has a unique set of patterns and special abilities; some of the heroines have wildly different rules. This latest Gamefound campaign includes two new expansions (Fan and Orange+) with more characters, but the centerpiece is the big storage box that will hold it all — I’m looking forward to having all of my Bullet components in one place!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/opensesamegames/northgard-expansion
Northgard: Uncharted Horizons from Open Sesame Games
Northgard: Uncharted Lands was one of our Game of the Year finalists back in 2022; it’s a 4X Vikings game that includes a little bit of deck-building as you explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate. This new expansion will add more clans and more creatures, but also introduces some new game modes (including a solo mode). Each clan has its own unique abilities (further distinguished in the Warchiefs expansion), so I like the idea of having even more of those to choose from. I should be getting a prototype of this to try out soon, so hopefully you’ll hear more about this one before the campaign ends.
Drunk Jousting from Roger J. Porter
Last year my friend Roger Kickstarted a little game called Drunk Cowboy: it’s a miniatures shoot-out game where the orientation and value of the dice determine the direction and distance you move, so everyone is kind of rambling about in random directions, hoping to get close enough to take a shot at the opponents. The game rules are just a little zine and you provide your own dice and miniatures. Drunk Jousting is the sequel and requires some d6 and d12 dice — there are also optional STL files of some miniatures designed by Jaycee Fairclough, though again you can use your own minis. I don’t play a lot of miniatures games, but these little goofy rulesets feel like an easy entry into the genre.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thomthegamedesigner/pizza-roles
Pizza Roles from Thomas Mathews
Here’s one that we got a pitch for at GeekDad but it didn’t quite fit into our review schedule — but I thought it looked like a fun hidden role game for families. You’re all trying to order a pizza, and everyone has specific toppings they like and dislike — just like real life! Players will use cards to move toppings on or off the order, and eventually the order is placed and you find out who’s happy and who gets stuck with pineapple. There are even some roles who don’t care about specific toppings but just want everyone else to be happy … or unhappy! And, of course, the winner gets to wear the mustache.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/threesailsstudios/mappa-mundi-an-exploration-ecology-rpg
Mappa Mundi from Three Sails Studios
This role-playing game is all about exploration and world-building, with no combat. You play as Chroniclers, out to record the changes after a century-long climate catastrophe, and the game lets players add to the story in a collaborative way with the GM. I don’t have a lot of experience with RPGs but I like the approach this one is taking.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owendavey/fame-and-fable
Fame and Fable from Owen Davey
In this card game, you’ll build a team of heroes, gather up equipment, and face off against monsters, hoping to earn the most fame. You’ll have to manage a limited number of actions and look for good combos to make the most of your cards, and you can earn bonus fame by completing contracts. There’s also a dedicated solo mode that uses the flip side of the board — reach the end of the fame track before monsters overrun the land. I did get to try out a prototype of this one earlier this year; the artwork is really stunning and the combos allow players to build up for a huge turn, but it also felt sometimes like a lot was dependent on the luck of the draw, whether the cards you needed for your combos were in the market during your turn. It’s a gorgeous game and I’m curious to see how the final ruleset shakes out.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/insideupgames/crits-and-tricks-tug-of-roar-and-thieves-of-eldris
Twisted Realms Trio from Inside Up Games
This campaign is for a trio of games set in the Twisted Realms — you can back for each game independently or get the whole set. Crits & Tricks is a trick-taking game that uses polyhedral dice, and the different suits change the win condition of the trick. Tug of Roar is a two-player battle game: bid on new recruit cards to build up your army, and then resolve battles in various locations. Thieves of Eldris is a hidden-movement game where you’re manipulating character cards in a grid and trying to steal enough gold without getting caught. The game boxes have a cool design that makes them look like books, and the Kickstarter versions have a lot of deluxe component options too.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ludocene/ludocene-game-discovery-from-people-you-trust
Ludocene from Andy Robertson
If you’re a long-time GeekDad reader, you may remember Andy Robertson — he was one of our contributors back in the day, primarily covering videogames, and he’s now editor of the Family Gaming Database, based on his book Taming Gaming. He’s launching an app, Ludocene, that helps match you to videogames you may enjoy. The app is built on recommendations from a panel of experts (including some folks I know!), and you can even drill down to specific experts if you find you really like their tastes in games, plus you can sort by platform and other criteria. The app looks pretty slick — not that I really need to add more unplayed games to my Steam library, right? Next I need Andy to build something like this for tabletop games!
