Last week seemed like a great launch week for a lot of tabletop projects — of course, there are always a lot of projects but this time there were a few games that I’ve been waiting on or have gotten to try, plus a few fun accessories I happened to notice. As always, most of these are ones that I just think look interesting and wanted to highlight.
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Taiki Sinzawa’s Charms and Inflation!
This one ends tomorrow, so if you’re curious, check it out quickly! This project is for two trick-taking games from Taiki Sinzawa, published by New Mill Industries. I got to try a copy of Charms at a local game day recently and it’s pretty wacky: the cards have either a number or a suit, so it takes two cards to show what you’re playing. However, in future turns, you only replace one of the two, so you’re stuck with either the number or the suit you played last time. Inflation! has you add your card each turn to the left of your existing cards, so your first turn could be a 3, and then your next turn is 63, and then your third turn is 763. The numbers will get absurdly high. New Mill Industries is a small indie publisher that does small print runs, so the games will not be available in stores later; do check the international shipping costs if applicable because they are a little higher due to the smaller volume.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/atlasgames/infunity-tiles
InFUNity Tiles
Earlier this year, mathematicians celebrated the discovery of an “einstein” shape, a single shape that could tile a plane aperiodically. (I know, math people are weird, but you can read an explanation here.) This new shape kind of looks like a wonky hat or a T-shirt, and can also be tweaked to create an infinite variety of einstein shapes. Atlas Games is making chunky tiles from recycled plastic (available in two sizes), so you can play around with the shape to see how it works. (Note: an infinite number will be required if you want to tile an infinite plane.)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/unique-dice/the-dice-you-play-like-the-roulette-special-for-christmas
Roulette Dice 2.0
These are metal spinners that function as several different dice, with 3 read-outs on each side: D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, and D20. This version has Christmas-themed designs (one option is Santa’s sleigh pulled by a dragon), which isn’t quite as all-purpose as their original (which had a steampunk look), but the new design is supposed to be more robust. While I’m not sure I’ll get this particular version, I’m going to keep my eye on this company to see what other fun dice they make in the future.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/unrolly/unrolly-dragon-mechanical-dice-for-ttrpgs
Unrolly Dragon Mechanical Dice
Speaking of fun dice gizmos, here’s another one: the Unrolly Dragon, a phone-shaped tablet that has six buttons on the sides. Each one activates a spinner, locking in place when you release the button, functioning as your polyhedral dice set. It also has a 3-digit counter near the bottom that can be used as a health tracker or score counter. Now, I know rolling handfuls of dice is part of the fun so for most people these gadgets won’t replace dice — they’ll just be a fun supplement. The Unrolly Dragon isn’t cheap, though, so it’s a bit of a splurge!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wallzap/wallzap-magnetic-kit-to-display-your-board-games-like-art
WALLZAP
Okay, one more accessory before we get back to the games themselves. Although the name and the video are really pushing the wall display aspect here, I’m really more intrigued by the simpler function: holding your game lids shut! These include thin magnets, along with some protective stickers, that you add to your box lids and bottoms so that they click shut and stay shut. If you store any of your games vertically, you know that it often results in the lids slipping a bit, and then the components inside get all jumbled up, which then shoves the lids open even more. These little magnets will prevent that from happening, allowing you to display your games on that Kallax shelf while keeping them organized. But, yes, if you also want to stick your games to the wall using powerful magnets, that’s also an option!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/orangenebula/spirit-fire
Spirit Fire
Orange Nebula is known for their gorgeous, packed-to-the-gills games like Vindication and Unsettled. Their latest is a solo open-world game that’s more about wonder and growth than battling and conquering. In fact, there is no combat in this game at all — it’s a journey of self-discovery as your character explores various realms. While they haven’t revealed a lot of the specific gameplay details, it’s certainly intriguing; there is supposed to be a way to bring your own character box and join a friend in their realm. The other thing Orange Nebula is known for is their community-oriented Kickstarter campaigns: throughout the course of the campaign, they let backers make decisions in an ongoing story, which then results in some community-designed add-ons for the game.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boardgametables/through-the-desert-a-message-from-the-stars-switchbacks
A Message From the Stars, Switchbacks, and Through the Desert
Allplay (formerly known as BoardGameTables.com) has had pretty good success with their multi-game campaigns — they’ve run 7 or 8 of them in the past three years, while continuing to produce board game tables, game bags, and other accessories. I know a lot of folks are excited for this reprint of Through the Desert (including some really cute camel-riding figurines), but what caught my attention was A Message From the Stars, a game about figuring out a cipher with an alien-communication setting. I’m excited to play this one with my puzzle-loving gaming group!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/postcurious/the-morrison-game-factory-a-puzzletale
The Morrison Game Factory
Speaking of puzzles, here’s another title from PostCurious, which makes narrative puzzle adventures like The Emerald Flame and The Light in the Mist. They’re like those escape room games — solve puzzles, advance the story — but the artwork and presentation on these is really remarkable. The story in this one involves an abandoned game factory, so all the materials are things that look like they’ve been recovered from there, with board game bits and various notes. I love the idea of a puzzle story involving old board games, so I’m backing this one for myself!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/badcomet/wondrous-creatures
Wondrous Creatures
I got a chance to try a prototype of this once because a friend was working on some video coverage of it, and it’s an intriguing game about exploring a mysterious island and collecting the various fantastical creatures. The creatures themselves are a lot of fun and sort of Pokemon-esque (often with punny names), and the game also makes use of some very fun magnetic meeples so the various captains can mix and match with the player animals that they ride.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eerieidolgames/the-old-kings-crown-a-tale-of-royalty-rebels-and-ruses
The Old King’s Crown
I haven’t played this one but I saw a lot of folks in my social media feeds talking about it, and the striking cover art was the first thing that caught my attention. It’s a lane-battler game, where you play cards to various “lanes” to fight, but where most lane battlers I’ve played have been 2-player games, this one goes up to 4. That’s a draw for me, because I don’t play 2-player-only games quite as much and therefore have often missed out a bit on this genre. Eerie Idol Games is relatively new and this is their first game, but it has definitely caught some attention, as it is already well over its initial funding goal after its first week. I’ll be keeping my eye on this one too!
