I reviewed Flash Point: Fire Rescue back before the campaign ended, because I’d gotten to play a prototype and I thought it was pretty great. It’s a cooperative game, somewhat in the style of Pandemic, in which you all play firefighters rescuing victims from a burning building. I ended up going in at a higher level to get multiple copies, which I figured I could gift or sell later, keeping one for myself. Indie Boards & Cards ended up running into an issue with the 8-sided die, though, because the one that ended up getting packaged with the game doesn’t have the same opposite-side-pairs as their prototype, so they had to ship a separate die with each game. Still, the game came relatively quickly: funded in August and received in November.
I also got the extra double-sided board (with two more buildings using slightly different rules), a promo specialist card, and some firefighter meeples (which may or may not be included with every game). You can still buy the basic game from Indie Boards & Cards, from Amazon, or check for it at your local games store.
I’d heard some great things about other games by Asmadi Games even though I haven’t actually played any yet — but Fealty looked like an interesting concept with a good deal of flexibility. I just chipped in at a level to buy a copy, which comes to just a little less than it would now when you tack on shipping. I funded in August, got it just this past weekend, and haven’t played it yet. The one thing that is a bit disappointing is that it’s one of these big-box small-game deals. The box is literally twice as big as it needed to be: the only thing that’s the size of the box was the original sheets of cardboard to be punched out. Ah, well. I may be making my own smaller box for this one eventually.
Other than that it looks like a decent game and I’m curious to play it soon. Fealty can now be purchased from Asmadi Games.
My kids, rocking the Kammok.
I’d just been camping recently when I saw this one, plus the house we moved into this summer has some hammock hooks on the front porch, and we’d been talking about getting a hammock eventually. The Kammok “Roo” is a camping hammock which packs down into a very small bundle but is quite comfy, and comes with some “Python” straps that allow you to attach it to trees over a wide range of distances. But aside from getting the hammock itself, I also liked Kammok’s promise to donate a small portion of their proceeds to prevent malaria, providing mosquito nets and health education to families in Africa.
I funded it at the end of August, and by the time the Kammok arrived it was Thanksgiving — a bit chilly for hanging out on the porch most days, though not unbearable. I tried it out just to see how it worked, but my kids loved it so much they spent nearly an entire day outside, snuggled up with blankets and pillows and just grinning away little two little joeys. You can still purchase it from Kammok’s website (along with some other gear), though it costs a bit more than it did during the Kickstarter campaign and the Python straps are sold separately.
Creatures isn’t the most creative name for a game, but the game itself is quite charming. Each card is a front, middle, or end of an animal, worth a particular number of strength points and with part of its name and a short descriptor. Put together, you can read each animal’s name and a sentence about it. However, you can also mix things up, so you can make a Oc-mer-on (head of an octopus, body of a hammerhead shark, tail of a scorpion) or any number of other silly things. The goal of the game is to make champion beasts which can defeat all the other player’s beasts in combat.
It’s not a terribly deep game, strategy-wise, but the drawings are pretty awesome and it’s fun to put together ridiculous beasts and read their descriptions. Kickstarter backers got a bonus creature (the Chupacabra), plus a set of refrigerator magnets of some random creature parts. (There were some higher levels with T-shirts and other rewards, but I just wanted the game.) The quality of the game is nice, although the card tuckbox was a little larger than the cards themselves, making it susceptible to squashing. And this was by far the fastest turnaround I’ve had for a Kickstarter project: funded November 4, received November 26. You can still order copies of the game at the Creatures Card Game website.
Well, there you have it.
Backing projects on Kickstarter can be a gamble: you don’t know how long it will take because a lot of people aren’t prepared for delays in manufacturing and shipping that are entirely out of their control. Or else they might get an overwhelming response, and realize that they’re going to spend weeks just packaging and shipping things out of their home by hand. Supporting a project means paying ahead of time, sometimes at a higher expense, for something that is unproven and may turn out to be a disappointment.
But it also means that you get to help make things happen, things that otherwise would just be a cool idea in somebody’s head that never sees the light of day. You get to help people fulfill their dreams and bring some pretty awesome stuff to reality. You might get some nifty exclusive rewards, or your contribution might actually benefit even those who don’t take part in the campaign. Ultimately, it’s about investing in ideas that you think are worth having, to encourage people to keep having cool ideas.
These are just the projects I’ve backed myself — other GeekDad contributors have backed other things, and there’s a host of other cool ideas that are still waiting to be discovered. Be sure to check out our Kickstarter curated page for a few of the current projects we think are awesome!
