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

Project: ADELE

Designer: Albert Reyes

Artist: José Soto

Publisher: DMZ Games (Rent a Hero, Sail to India, Senators)

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, adventure, area movement, cooperative game, dice rolling, events, hand management, horror, one versus many, pick-up and deliver, science fiction, solo/solitaire game, team-based game, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A claustrophobic and stressful one-versus-many board game, where all but one player take on the role of crew members. Each one will choose a character board where a special ability, initial object and stats (spirit and life points) are indicated. The remaining player will control the powerful and vigilant AI of the spaceship: ADELE. On each turn, all crew members have 4 action cubes each, to secretly distribute them among the available actions, using a screen to hide their boards from ADELE. The ADELE player has to guess what actions each crew member plans and try to hinder them as best as possible. Managing a control panel (with its own deck of cards and pool of tokens) with a limited amount of energy per turn, ADELE will create incidents on the ship: originate fires, close floodgates, remove oxygen, shut down computers…. Will the crew be able to carry out a plan to survive?”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $79

All-In (w/shipping): $79, same as above

Campaign Ends: 6/13

Game Ships: Oct. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 272% with 18 days to go.

Project: Enigma: Crime Scene

Designer: Álvaro Gálvez

Artists: Raluca Beldean, Sergio Gallardo, Ioan Viccaci

Publisher: Álvaro Gálvez

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, cooperative game, deduction, murder/mystery, scenario/mission/campaign game, storytelling

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Enigma: Crime Scene is a cooperative, competitive and replayable criminal investigation game. In the main version, you will find 4 fully replayable scenarios with unique components such as a monocle to examine and compare the suspect’s tracks, a crime scene, and different locations in which you can use technology (virtual reality) or not (it is not necessary to use mobile to play). The Deluxe version include an exclusive and numbered box. Inside, you will find various utensils, such as a magnetic pinboard and puzzles in metallic bills, coins (like bitcoin), and a fingerprint kit.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $102

All-In (w/shipping): $174

Campaign Ends: 6/23

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 198% with 28 days to go.

Project: Paris l’Étoile

Designers: Michael Kiesling (Azul, Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra, Azul: Summer Pavilion, Coal Baron, Heaven & Ale, Linko!, Maharaja: The Game of Palace Building in India, Mexica, The Palaces of Carrara, Riverboat, Tikal, Torres, Vikings), Wolfgang Kramer (6 nimmt!, Coal Baron, Colosseum, Downforce, El Grande, Linko!, Maharaja: The Game of Palace Building in India, Mexica, The Palaces of Carrara, The Princes of Florence, Tikal, Torres)

Artist: Andreas Resch (City of the Big Shoulders, Firenze, Great Western Trail, Gùgōng, Hadara, Istanbul, Istanbul: The Dice Game, Lorenzo il Magnifico, Mombasa, Pictomania, The Speicherstadt, Tinners’ Trail)

Publisher: Game Brewer (Chimera Station, Gentes, Gùgōng)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority/influence, city building, economic, expansion, post-napoleonic, set collection, tile placement

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “Paris is a typical medium-weight Kramer and Kiesling Eurostyle-game with straightforward gameplay, short player turns, and an ingenious point salad mechanism. You mainly score points by obtaining the right buildings and collecting the right bonus cards. In Paris, you take on the role of wealthy real estate investors in the Paris of the 1900s. Paris is at the height of its transformation into one of the most beautiful cities in the world. After having successfully organized the World Fair in 1889, topped by the construction of the Eiffel Tower and celebrating the centennial of the Storming of the Bastille, Paris goes through a period known as “la Belle Époque”. The architecture of Paris created during this period ranged from the Beaux-Arts, neo-Byzantine, and neo-Gothic to Art Nouveau and Art Deco. It is your task to purchase some of these magnificent Parisian buildings in order to make a profit and invest in the development and upkeep of some of Paris’ most iconic buildings and landmarks.

Paris: l’Étoile expands gameplay by adding extra bonus tiles that will add a great deal of variability to your game of Paris. l’Étoile also introduce the new strategy tiles, which adds variable player powers to the game. Each player will start with a special ability that they can modify throughout the course of the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $25

All-In (w/shipping): $123

Campaign Ends: 6/18

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 223% with 23 days to go.