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

Project: American Bookshop, Cinderella’s Dance

Designer: Taiki Shinzawa (American Bookshop, Ambiente Abissal, Maskmen)

Artists: Crayon Company (American Bookshop), Haruka Hiramoto (Cinderella’s Dance), Hanaka Okamura (Cinderella’s Dance), Keisuke Nakamura (Cinderella’s Dance), Renato Simões (American Book Shop, Piratas!), Misaho Sugawara (Ambiente Abissal, Cinderella’s Dance, luz)

Publisher: Twins Lion Do

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, trick-taking (American Book Shop); 2 players, card game, hand management, trick-taking (Cinderella’s Dance)

Player Count: 3-5 (American Book Shop); 2 (Cinderella’s Dance)

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “American Bookshop Card Game is a trick-taking game originally called Corta!, in which players must follow suit where possible, there is no trump, and the highest card of the lead suit wins the trick. Each card a player takes is worth -1 point. However, the player who takes the most cards in each of the suits earns +1 point per card instead. Tricks may end prematurely as if the sum of the ranks in play exceed a certain value, depending upon player count, the trick ends immediately, and the last player who played a card takes the trick. As such, players may not have even hand sizes. A round ends when one player is out of cards, and the other players then have an opportunity to add some cards to their score pile.

Cinderella’s Dance began as a game called Count Up 21, a two-player only game that premiered, though not for sale, during the January 2019 “Is This a Trick-Taking Game?” exhibition in Japan. It may or may not be a trick-taking game, and is, in a sense, intended to live on the edge. The game consists of a deck of 21 cards and two optional scoring cards. Rather than following suit, the game explores following in a narrow band of the previous card’s rank. A player may only play a card up to 3 more than the previous card, though they may also pass even if they could win the trick. Play alternates until one player is out of cards, and the winner is the player that won the most tricks. The included scoring cards are for a variant where the players participate in a series of games and the first to win 3 games is declared the winner.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $27, Cinderella’s Dance only

All-In (w/shipping): $42, both games

Campaign Ends: 12/19

Game Ships: July 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 117% with 29 days to go.