Designer:  Edmund McMillen (The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls)

Artist:  Krystal Fleming (The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls)

Publisher:  Studio71 (The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls, Half Truth)

Genre/Mechanisms:  abstract strategy, hand management, pattern building, tile placement

Funding Status:  At the time of this posting, Tapeworm is already fully-funded. In fact, pledges currently total more than 30x the initial funding goal with 6 days left to go on the campaign!

Player Count:  2-4

Solo Mode:  no

Complexity:  light

Risk:  medium-high

What It’s About:  “A spacial card game where players take turns creating and cutting apart their tapeworms, from the creator/designer of video games Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac and card game The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls.”

How It Works:  “Place the start tile down in the middle of the table between all players. Shuffle the deck and deal out 5 cards to each player; players take turns clockwise.”

“During a player’s turn, that player first draws a card off the top of the Tapeworm deck. They may play a card from their hand that attaches to any open segment on the table. If the card they attached color to doesn’t end or change color, then that player may attach another card of the same color and continue to do this until they place a card that ends the color sequence, or until they no longer have any cards of that color to play on the sequence.”

“The first player to have no cards in hand at the end of their turn wins the game.”

Comparisons:  To truly capture the feel of an Edmund McMillen game, one probably needs to look at his video game work– namely Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac. Luckily, there’s also the board game adaptation, The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls. Dreamwell is another very indie tile placement game with singular art; a few other simple, tile placement games include the likes of Arboretum, Among the Stars, Kingdomino and Queendomino, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Quadropolis, and Qwirkle.

What Should I Pledge?:
$15 The Base Game: includes a copy of the Tapeworm base game, the Print ‘ N Play, and the Digital Soundtrack.
$25 Pink Box Edition: includes everything in The Base Game pledge, plus the Kickstarter Exclusive Pink Gold Foil Box and the Kickstarter Exclusive Holographic Four Souls Bonus Cards.
$35 Double Trouble: includes everything in the Pink Box Edition pledge, plus an extra copy of the Tapeworm base game that can either be gifted or used to bring the max player count up to 6.
$55 Combo Saver Tier: includes everything in the Pink Box Edition pledge, plus a copy of the Standard Binding of Isaac Retail Game.
$69 NSFW Tier: includes everything in the Pink Box Edition pledge, plus the NFSW Black and Gold Game with the Kickstarter Exclusive NSFW Bonus Cards and Items.
$100 Signed Edition: includes everything in the Pink Box Edition pledge, with a signature from Edmund McMillen on the Pink Box.
$200 You As a Worm?: includes everything in the Signed Edition pledge, plus a custom sketch of you as a Worm by Edmund McMillen.
$450 Completionist Tier: includes the Kickstarter Exclusive Pink Gold Foil Box, the Kickstarter Exclusive Holographic Four Souls Bonus Cards, a signed copy of The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls Kickstarter Exclusive Gold Game, the Binding of Isaac 4-Player Mat, the Binding of Isaac Cathedral Play Mat, the Binding of Isaac 4-Pack Figures – Series 1 and Series 2, the Binding of Isaac 3-Pack Figures, the Binding of Isaac Expansion Pack, the Binding of Isaac Holographic Expansion Pack, and the Binding of Isaac Coins.

Add-Ons:
$15 Tapeworm Base Game
$25 Tapeworm Pink Box Edition
$34 Tapeworm NSFW Edition
$40 Binding of Isaac: Four Souls Retail Game
$20 Binding of Isaac: Four Souls Expansion Pack
$10 Binding of Isaac Coins
$12 Binding of Isaac Keychain

KS Exclusives
The Pink Box Edition and the Holographic Four Souls Bonus Cards are KS Exclusives, as are the bonus items included in the Kickstarter copies of the NSFW Edition.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. (assuming you’re not interested in Binding of Isaac or vanity items), you’re looking at $25 for Pink Box Edition pledge, plus a copy of the NSFW Edition for $34 in the Add-Ons, plus an estimated $8 in shipping for a total of $67.

Tapeworm completes its Kickstarter on Thurday, May 28th and tentatively ships in October 2020.