Crowdfunding projects are always tricky this time of year because a lot of folks are starting to think about holiday shopping—do you want to spend money on something that won’t be ready for another year when you’re looking for some gifts to give now? Even so, that doesn’t seem to have slowed down the number of projects launching, probably because there are still some big tabletop gaming conventions happening around this time of year to run demos and build up awareness. Here are a few tabletop game projects that currently have my attention!
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Expect Delays from Offcut Games
Okay, it does seem like tempting fate to name your Kickstarter project Expect Delays but this is a game about public transit. From the same publisher who brought you KÖ-OP, an IKEA-inspired game about assembling flat-pack furniture, Expect Delays has two players competing to deliver passengers to their destinations in the face of short budgets and long lines. I love the look of it, with the box that unfolds to become the train station.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/level99games/bullet-universe/
Bullet Universe from Level 99 Games
I’ve been a fan of the Bullet series from Level 99 Games—it’s a fast-paced puzzle game and I’ve bought myself both of the base sets as well as the first expansion—each one adds more characters to play, and each character has a unique play style. This latest project includes two more expansions—one featuring four cat characters and one featuring art-based heroines—but what really has me excited about the project is Level 99 Games’ commitment to supporting independent artists. They decided this time around not to spend money on ads on social media, and instead to put that money toward commissions of the game characters from different artists. That’s an idea I can get behind!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kidstablebg/wasabi-a-game-of-raw-skill/
Wasabi: A Game of Raw Skill from Kids Table Board Games
This project is a remake of a 2008 game that is kind of like Scrabble with sushi: place and manipulate ingredient tiles to score your recipe cards. This new version has gotten not only a new coat of paint with illustrations by Claire Lin but has also had its gameplay tweaked and refined for a smoother gameplay experience.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/grammesedition/acrylogic-grab-your-pen-wake-your-brain
Acrylogic from Grammes Edition
Grammes Édition had an interesting strategy a few years back, launching Clash of Decks as a free Kickstarter project. You paid a small shipping cost, and they sent you a copy of their small card battler for free. Their latest project is using the same model—free game, about $3 shipping—but this time it’s a Sudoku-inspired puzzle book.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/escapewelt/blackbeards-compass-the-mystery-escape-room-in-your-hands?ref=djzc0s
Blackbeard’s Compass from EscapeWelt
I wrote about EscapeWelt puzzles last year and have since gotten to try a few others. They’re laser-cut wood puzzle boxes with a lot of fun details and some really challenging clues to decipher. The latest is Blackbeard’s Compass, a pirate-themed box that includes a working compass. When you’ve solved the box and opened it, you can hide a small gift inside and reset it as a gift for somebody else to figure out. This project also includes an add-on treasure chest and a stretch goal that will give backers the Blackbeard’s Treasure board game.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/odd-pieces/mystery-puzzles-a-puzzle-game-with-a-surprise-ending
Mystery Puzzles from Odd Pieces
Speaking of puzzles, Odd Pieces is back with another set of Mystery Puzzles! The illustration on the box and the actual puzzle do not quite match, so you make discoveries as you assemble the puzzle, and use those to answer some questions. These three puzzles are all set in the Snack Attack world, one of the three puzzles from their first project.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alderac/undergrove-designed-by-elizabeth-hargrave-and-mark-wootton
Undergrove from AEG
This board game from the designer of Wingspan is all about mycorrhizas, the symbiotic relationship between trees and fungi. It’s a cool concept that scientists are still learning about, but it seems that trees are even able to communicate or share resources through these underground networks. The game has you play as a tree, trying to establish your seedlings and building up the best network.
Heroes of Land, Air & Sea from Gamelyn Games
Heroes of Land, Air & Sea was one of our Game of the Year Finalists in 2018, and now it’s finally getting a reprint—plus some new goodies for those who already have the game. This massive 4X game has a ton of cardboard constructs that give it a great table presence, and each faction has its own tech tree to develop and special abilities to help them explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate. You can read my original review here.
Ahoy: New Horizons from Leder Games
Ahoy is a pirate-themed title from Leder Games that has a bit of the asymmetry of games like Root and Vast but is a little more approachable. Some players are out for conquest and others are just trying to make a living smuggling goods. New Horizons is the first expansion, adding another military faction and a rebel faction, plus the Coral Cap Pirates and the Leviathan.
Food Chain Magnate from Lucky Duck Games
Food Chain Magnate is one of those games that I’ve heard a lot about but have yet to play—it was first published in 2015 and has remained in print since. This is the first new edition of this heavy game about running a fast food chain, featuring new illustrations and colorful miniatures of the buildings. Be warned: this is not for the faint of heart! Aside from the big sticker price, it’s said to be a brain-burner, but in a good way. This special edition is only available through the Gamefound campaign and will not be in retail stores, and is also not expected to have more than one print run.
