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

Project: Ancient World Multi Game System

Designers: Paul Ali (Capere), Arpad Fritsche (The Ants Go Marching, Reef Route), Aaron Haag (Loot Island, Yunnan), Markus Hagenauer (42 Hyperspace Expressway, Cairo Corridor, Topology), Eliot Hochberg (ILIOS), Daniel McKinley, David Stennett (Moral Conflict), Frank Zazanis (King’s Ransom)

Artist: Stefan Kolmsperger (King’s Ransom, Moral Conflict, Quorsum)

Publisher: Playford Games (Cartography, ILIOS, King’s Ransom)

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract, area control, bluffing, cooperative play, dice rolling, grid movement, memory, negotiation, tile placement

Player Count: 1-12

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: high

Summary: This collection of 12 games (23 with the expansion) features a wide selection of abstract games from a variety of designers.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $66

All-In (w/shipping): $146, includes the base game, expansion, plus the Chest storage system

Campaign Ends: 7/19

Game Ships: Dec. 2019

Funding Status: Currently at 13%, with 28 days to go.

Project: Darwinauts

Designer: Chris Bryan (Dragon Ball Z: Perfect Cell, Favelas, Lanterns Dice: Lights in the Sky)

Artist: Vincent Dutrait (Broom Service, Dead Man’s Draw, Diplomacy, Discoveries: The Journals of Lewis and Clark, Elysium, Jaipur, Lewis & Clark, Lost Cities, Lovecraft Letter, Medici, Mythic Battles: Pantheon, New York 1901, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords – Base Set, Raptor, Rise of Augustus, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures of the Cursed Island, When I Dream, Wyatt Earp)

Publisher: Green Couch Games (Best Treehouse Ever, Fidelitas, Rocky Road a la Mode)

Genre/Mechanisms: set collection, tile placement, worker placement

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: Search the Shrine while taking actions to activate Traps and hurt the other players.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $39

All-In (w/shipping): $55

Campaign Ends: 7/14

Game Ships: March 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 94%, with 23 days to go.

Project: Escape New Quests and Traps

Designer: Kristian Amundsen Ostby (Automania, Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Santa Maria)

Artists: Martin Hoffman (Cartgena, Dominion: Intrigue, Jump Drive, Lancaster, New Frontiers, Race for the Galaxy, Roll for the Galaxy, Russian Railroads), Oliver Schlemmer (Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Fresco, Kingdom Builder, Wallenstein Second Edition), Claus Stephan (Amerigo, Blue Moon, Cacao, Cartagena, La Citta, Diamond, Dominion, Dominion: Intrigue, Exit: The Game – Dead Man on the Orient Express, Jump Drive, Kahuna, Karuba, Lancaster, Lost Cities, New Frontiers, Race for the Galaxy, Roll for the Galaxy, Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age, Russian Railroads, Through the Desert)

Publisher: Queen Games (Alhambra, Amerigo, Aton, Chicago Express, Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Fresco, Kingdom Builder, Lancaster, Merlin, Roma, Shogun, Thebes, Wallenstein First Edition, Wallenstein Second Edition)

Genre/Mechanisms: cooperative play, dice rolling, grid movement, modular board, press your luck, real-time, roll & move, tile placement

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: Evidently some of the old traps were problematic; this campaign features redesigned trap tiles, with the ability to also pick up the base game, the Big Box, and several other Big Boxes including Kingdom Builder and Zombie City.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $20

All-In (w/shipping): $170, includes additional games

Campaign Ends: 7/1

Game Ships: Oct. 2019

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1594%, with 9 days to go.

Project: Habitats XL Expansion

Designer: Corne van Moorsel (Factory Fun, Habitats, Powerboats)

Artist: Steven Tu (Factory Funner, Habitats, Roll to the Top!)

Publisher: Cwali (Factory Fun, Habitats, Powerboats)

Genre/Mechanisms: tile placement

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: The new XL expansion adds 16 tiles and 3 player turns to the game. Habitats itself is a medium-light tile laying game themed around building fence-free and cage-free natural animal habitats.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $9, just the new expansion tiles

All-In (w/shipping): $127

Campaign Ends: 7/8

Game Ships: Sep. 2019

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 153%, with 16 days to go.