(or here’s a list of what launched yesterday that might deserve a closer look)

Project: The Nano9Games: Railways, City Planner and Empire

Designers: Todd Sanders (City Planner, Empire, Iunu, The Maiden in the Forest, Mr. Cabbagehead’s Garden), Alban Viard (City Planner, Clinic: Deluxe Edition, Railways, Small City, Tramways)

Artists: Ilya Baranovsky (City Planner, Dune, Dune Express, Empire, Maquis, Railways), Kwanchai Moriya (City Planner, Cryptid, Dinosaur Island, In the Hall of the Mountain King, Railways, Sidereal Confluence, Under Falling Skies), Todd Sanders (City Planner, Empire, Mr. Cabbagehead’s Garden, Railways, Small City, Trick of the Rails)

Publisher: AVStudioGames (Clinic: Deluxe Edition, Small City, Tramways)

Genre/Mechanisms: dice, dice rolling, hand management, set collection, tableau building (City Planner); action points, dice, dice placement, hand management, tableau building (Empire); card drafting, card game, city building, die icon resolution, modular board, network and route building, solo/solitaire game, trains (Railways);

Player Count: 1 (Empire, Railways); 1-2 (City Planner)

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “City Planner is a 9-9-9 version of Town Center mixed with Card City and dice. Your SmallCity is divided into several blocks that contain different boroughs (Residential, Commerce, Industry, Cultural Buildings, City Hall or mixed zoning of Residential and Commerce). It is a dice game where you decide where to place/block/affect the dice to get the most money/VP.

The aim of Empire is to create a manufacturing empire in 30 years (15 turns) by building factories, producing Capital, Materials, Commodities, and Goods, and earning as much Profit as you can. Empire is a worker placement game with dice to track workers, raw materials, and a connection twist in the card adjacencies. You build Factories connected by the railways. They produce Materials, Commodities, Goods and Capital.

Railways is the first game in the Nano9games family. With 9 cards, 9 dice and 9 cubes, build a network and connect the buildings to move passengers. You will use cards and icons to perform actions. It is possible to play Railways with 2 players with a second set of cards, dice, and cubes, but in different color.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $26, any one game

All-In (w/shipping): $64, all three games

Campaign Ends: 11/30

Game Ships: June 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 30% with 28 days to go.

Project: POWER62®DELTA

Designers: Aaron Bond, Ro Chapman, Tyler McHam, Jeremy Norris

Artists: Ro Chapman, Glenn Patterson, Karie Tenney

Publisher: Power62 Games Inc.

Genre/Mechanisms: action drafting, action points, card drafting, dice, different dice movement, hidden movement, miniatures, modular board, push your luck, science fiction, tile placement

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “In the hybrid chess game Power62 Delta, your objective is to capture the opponents’ EPK’s (Eranium Processor Keys) or eliminate the opponents’ Emperors. Players start out on opposing sides of the playing board placing their characters — EPK, PTxCreatures, Black Hole and Terrain Obstacle pieces — in a pre-set position. From there they take turns trying to out-strategize their opponent to win the game. Another innovation for the game play is the added QR code in the cards to help define the movement of the piece, quickly. Even if you play the same deck multiple times, the outcome will differ. ‘Luck of the Draw’ on the Move cards, Power cards, and SPR-8 markers is a huge factor in whether your strategy works or crumbles.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $65

All-In (w/shipping): $373

Campaign Ends: 12/1

Game Ships: Mar. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 2% with 29 days to go.

Project: Totems + Taboos

Designer: Maarten de Schrijver (Frutti di Mare: Veni, Vidi, Antipasti!)

Artist: Maarten de Schrijver (Frutti di Mare: Veni, Vidi, Antipasti!, Itchy Monkey)

Publisher: Monkeyshine Games (Bilder, Deer Lord!)

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract strategy, card play conflict resolution, command cards, deck construction, dice, dice rolling, mythology, solo/solitaire game, stacking and balancing

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “As one of up to 6 divine players, you create a new religion and convert infidels to believe and obey your commandments. Gain more followers to build your totem higher and unlock increasingly powerful cards and miracles. Use every trick in the holy book to become the dominant religion and win the game. During their turn, players can buy and play cards, and build their totem (stacking dice). Their turn ends when they are all out of resources. A player wins by reaching a level 6 totem (6 dice stacked on top of each other), which ends the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $71

All-In (w/shipping): $77

Campaign Ends: 12/1

Game Ships: Oct. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 36% with 29 days to go.

Project: Word Royale

Designer: Edgar Olivares

Artists: not credited

Publisher: Edgar Olivares

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, party game, player elimination, real-time, word game

Player Count: 3-8

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Flip over a category and you have 5 seconds to say a word that is related to the category that starts with any of your letter cards. Last person standing wins the round.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $10

All-In (w/shipping): $10, same as above

Campaign Ends: 11/30

Game Ships: Feb. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 5% with 28 days to go.

Project: World Cup!

Designers: Mark Bates (Sovereign Chess), Shaun Derrick (The World Cup Card Game 2010, The World Cup Game)

Artist: Andy Bates

Publisher: Infinite Pi Games (Sovereign Chess)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, simulation, sports

Player Count: 2-16

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “World Cup! allows players to replay historic soccer tournaments, with control over a number of countries in the competition. The goal is to use strategy, power, and a bit of luck to guide one of your teams to soccer’s ultimate prize. This reprint of The World Cup Game will shift the design to a card-only format, allowing for more portability, but will maintain the original design of the board game. The revised game will also create individual team abilities, allowing players to create their own tournaments (where teams from different eras can face off), and for the first time, allow players to replay the Women’s World Cup.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $41

All-In (w/shipping): $84

Campaign Ends: 12/2

Game Ships: Oct. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 36% with 29 days to go.