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

Project: 2 Minutes to Midnight

Designer: Stuart Tonge (Blue Water Navy: The War at Sea)

Artist: Carl Huber

Publisher: Plague Island Games

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, chit-pull system, dice rolling, modern warfare, political, simulation, sudden death ending, tech trees/tech tracks

Player Count: 1-2

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “2 Minutes to Midnight is a fresh design using a chit-pull system to explore the cold war in 5-year turns starting in 1946 and running for 9 turns to 1990. The game is highly asymmetrical – the US has presidential elections & national debt to worry about, while the Soviets must try to achieve their 5-year plan and navigate freedom (or lack thereof) within the Soviet Union itself, with the risk of the whole Communist system coming crashing down if you reform too quickly. The deck also contains around a dozen events per turn which, when pulled, may trigger – or may not – some of those that do not trigger go back into the deck for next turn and some are gone forever. This means that you aren’t quite sure what’s going to happen in each game – you can’t load a particular country because you know something is going to happen, because there are very few fixed events. The point of the events is to add friction – you’re never in complete control and will have to react to changing events.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $77

All-In (w/shipping): $77, same as above

Campaign Ends: 7/8

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 273% with 23 days to go.

Project: Mitsudomoe-Cluster

Designer: Mitsuo Yamamoto (King’s Valley)

Artist: Mitsuo Yamamoto (King’s Valley)

Publisher: Logy Games (King’s Valley)

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract strategy

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Lay stepping stones (rings) for your trio (balls) to walk and vault their way to the opposite corner. Inconvenience your opponents by covering their rings with yours, and by relocating their balls as you spring over them. Get all 3 of your balls to your goal spaces opposite your starting corner, or be the last player remaining in the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $35

All-In (w/shipping): $56

Campaign Ends: 6/30

Game Ships: Aug. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 253% with 15 days to go.

Project: Tea, Scones and Arsenic

Designer: Pascal Boucher (Officinalis, TRUT)

Artist: Pascal Boucher (Chunky Fighters, Hanfuda, TRUT)

Publisher: Robin Red Games (Chunky Fighters, Hanfuda, TRUT)

Genre/Mechanisms: betting and bluffing, deduction, humor, murder/mystery, party game, player elimination, push your luck, turn order: stat-based

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “You are members of an old English aristocratic family. Your uncle from America had the excellent idea of ​​passing away bequeathing you his immense fortune. To celebrate the event, you decide to go for tea and enjoy some scones. However, each being equally greedy, each of the heirs decides to poison the cookies with Arsenic (a safe bet) in order to increase their share of their inheritance. Digestion promises to be difficult.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $34

All-In (w/shipping): $34, same as above

Campaign Ends: 6/29

Game Ships: Feb. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 71% with 14 days to go.