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

Project: Birdwatcher

Designer: Zakir Jafry

Artist: Lauren Helton

Publisher: Oni Games (Gudetama: The Tricky Egg Card Game, Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Card Game, The Tea Dragon Society Card Game)

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, animals, card game, educational, end game bonuses, environmental, hand management, push your luck, set collection, tableau building

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A fast, competitive game where players are rival wildlife photographers on a hunt to snap photos of the elusive and illustrious birds of paradise. Players will lure birds to their tree from the jungle, take photos of the birds in their tree, and publish their findings. The photographer with the most citation points at the end of the game is awarded the Global Geographic Photographer of the Year, and is the winner. Each player has three actions on their turn. These actions may be spent calling birds to their Tree from the central Clearing and Jungle, snapping photos of birds in their Tree, or running into the Jungle to flush new birds to the Clearing. Players can also use their actions to set up a zoom lens to capture a bird from another player’s tree, or to Publish a paper. Photos and Publications will be assembled from left to right in the player’s photo journal, where they will score points at the end of the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $51

All-In (w/shipping): $70

Campaign Ends: 10/29

Game Ships: Oct. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 142% with 16 days to go.

Project: Blokk!

Designers: Carmen Chanel Frisholm, Kim-Erik Frisholm

Artist: Erwin Bosman

Publisher: Blokk! Games

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract strategy, children’s game, cooperative game, hand management, highest-lowest scoring, party game, pattern building, pattern recognition, roll/spin and move, stacking and balancing, team-based game, tile placement, video game theme

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “You are the Architect and must build the perfect cube. Test your logic and problem-solving skills by using the game’s 360° rotating stand, and construct The Cube based on the stencil in play – this is a process known as The Build. The game has 36 unique 3D coloured blocks where Architects can select only one block on their turn. Players must choose one out of three construct modes per game: Free Blokk! – Architects choose a block of their choice on each turn; Dice Blokk! – Architects roll a six-sided dice and play the color rolled per turn; Card Blokk! – Architects draw from the deck and play the block on their card each turn. These modes can be played either solo, or with friends and family in a co-op or versus game. Architects can also complete various difficulty challenges and unlock mystery blocks. A game is completed once the Architects have come as close to a perfect cube as possible based on the stencil in play. The Architect with the fewest imperfections wins.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $70

All-In (w/shipping): $93

Campaign Ends: 11/9

Game Ships: Jan. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 34% with 26 days to go.

Project: Card-Z

Designer: Gerald Kielpinski

Artist: Gerald Kielpinski

Publisher: Teleporthole Games

Genre/Mechanisms: cooperative game, critical hits and failures, dice rolling, hexagon grid, horror, memory, movement points, once-per-game abilities, simulation, zombies, zone of control

Player Count: 1-2

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A Solo-Duo gritty, realistic zombie survival card game set in a suburban neighborhood. Your characters start with a heroic action, loot, pawn, & a backpack organized using the player mat. You deal the neighborhood map in 1 of 4 patterns depending on the scenario. A game turn is one “day.” It has 3 action phases– dawn, day, night– and 1 reckoning phase when survivors must eat food or starve. Players scout locations by rolling for encounters & battle them on a hex-based universal battlefield. Battles won win rewards, clear the location (flipping the card), and end your turn. If you retreat from a battle, you must clear the location you retreat to or die trying. The game ends when you meet the end condition of the scenario, or if your survivors die.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $58

All-In (w/shipping): $58, same as above

Campaign Ends: 11/11

Game Ships: Mar. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 2% with 29 days to go.

Project: Coyote Peterson’s Wild Adventure

Designer: Mike Richie (Dwarven Miner, Element, Element: Silver)

Artists: not credited

Publisher: Rather Dashing Games (Dwarven Miner, Element, Element: Silver)

Genre/Mechanisms: animals, card game, educational, environmental, hand management, set collection

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Join me, Coyote Peterson as I explore six different biomes and learn all about the animals that inhabit them in this fun, fast, and strategic game. Offering a host of interesting and educational animal facts alongside intuitive game play, it’s competitive but light-hearted, and will take you on your own Wild Adventure. Claim the highest score by secretly laying down animals from different biomes. The only problem is the values of the biomes are constantly changing. Strategically use Coyote’s signature Hat and Backpack, infamous Bites & Stings, and the Animals themselves to alter the game to your own advantage, but watch out for the Snapping Turtle.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $32

All-In (w/shipping): $32, same as above

Campaign Ends: 11/2

Game Ships: Jan. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 40% with 19 days to go.

Project: Dandelions and Psychic Pizza Deliverers Go to the Ghost Town

Designers: Hayato Kisaragi (Grimoire, Lost Legacy: Flying Garden, Lost Legacy: The Starship, Psychic Pizza Deliverers Go to the Ghost Town), Takashi Sakaue (Art of War: The Card Game, Birth, Dandelions, Twelve Heroes)

Artists: Anca Gavril (Bites, Dandelions, On Tour, Q.E.), Ryo Nyamo, Daniel Profiri (Dandelions, Loot of Lima, Mountain Goats, Sequoia)

Publisher: BoardGameTables.com (Factory Funner, On Tour, Q.E.)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority/influence, area movement, dice, dice rolling, environmental, king of the hill, roll/spin and move (Dandelions); deduction, exploration, maze, modular board, paper-and-pencil, pick-up and deliver, puzzle, race (Psychic Pizza Deliverers Go to the Ghost Town)

Player Count: 2-3 (Dandelions); 3-4 (Psychic Pizza Deliverers Go to the Ghost Town)

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Dandelions, a redesign of Takashi Sakaue’s own Birth, has players transforming into dandelions and floating through clear blue skies on pleasant breezes in a dice-rolling area-majority game with a little direct-competition edge. Find the best spots for your seeds to grow across a variety of vibrant, beautiful, and cozy gardens. Roll a group of dice and choose one to move to a beautiful garden. Along the way, harness the power of the wind with three special actions – Float, Puff, and Gust – to get the most points. The game ends after all the dice are used, and the winner receives the most victory points as combined from two different scoring methods.

Psychic Pizza Deliverers Go to the Ghost Town begins with the mayor building a unique town map, to include the starting location for each player, pizza, and house. On a player’s turn they may choose to move one space in any of the four cardinal directions, attack in any of the four cardinal directions in hope of banishing a ghost, or use a psychic power. The mayor then resolves the action, tells the player the location of any barriers adjacent to the player, and whether or not the player senses any ghosts/pizzas/houses in any of the eight spaces surrounding the player. Attacking removes ghosts from the board and lets players draw one psychic card. Psychic cards allow players to make special movements on the board such as diagonal, hop step, or warp back to start. The players have only twenty turns to locate a pizza and deliver it to the matching house. The players have a gridded sheet of paper and a pencil to draw and record information about the town. The mayor has a special log sheet to track all the players moves and results. The game also includes several variant tiles that can be added to the town to vary gameplay.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $1, then pledge for 1 game in the pledge manager as an add-on

All-In (w/shipping): $50, both games

Campaign Ends: 11/4

Game Ships: July 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 728% with 22 days to go.

Project: Drunken Adventures

Designer: Sean Cloonan

Artist: Sean Cloonan

Publisher: Sean Cloonan

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, medieval, party game, race

Player Count: 3-12

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Each turn players will roll the die and move their bottle cap piece to the corresponding square. There are 36 squares in the game. The squares may have you draw a card, play a mini-game, or require action. Each square will either decrease the number of drinks in your glass or increase your lifespan, so to speak (i.e. giving drinks increases your glasses capacity while taking drinks lowers it). Be among the first three players to make it to the finish line without finishing your three drinks. The game is a race to the finish with a gold medal (1st). silver (2nd), and bronze (3rd). After a player gets sent back to the start or finishes their three drinks and is forced back to the start, they are not required to follow the “lifeline” rule but must follow the drinking rules. The game ends when three players have reached the finish, achieving gold, silver, and bronze. Once a player has reached the finish, they are exempt from mini-games or drinking aspects of the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $47

All-In (w/shipping): $120

Campaign Ends: 11/11

Game Ships: Jan. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 123% with 28 days to go.

Project: Enjoy 3 Tabletop Games With Playte’s Game Rack

Designers: Alex Randolph (Code 777, Dragon Stripes, Inkognito, Ricochet Robots), Amanda Greenvoss (Ada’s Library, Phoenix), Zach Greenvoss (Ada’s Library, Phoenix), Manfred Reindl (Captain Silver, Mino Dice, Push a Monster, Skull King: Das Würfelspiel)

Artist: Wanjin Gill

Publisher: Playte

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, card game, hand management, tile placement (Ada’s Library); push your luck, set collection (Dragon Stripes); dice, dice rolling (Mino Dice)

Player Count: 2 (Ada’s Library); 2-6 (Dragon Stripes); 3-6 (Mino Dice)

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “In Ada’s Library, following the rules of the cards, arrange the order of the books. However, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Ada’s Library utilizes coding-inspired strategy play. Each pile of books should be arranged strategically, using the cards’ movement rules. Use your action cards wisely to match your pawns to the color sequence before your opponent does.

In Dragon Stripes, the fierce dragon loves jewels, so it wraps its entire body around it. You decide to slay the dragon by sneaking up to the dragon’s head, but there are so may jewels to trip you up. The key is knowing the right timing to keep collecting the jewels or to stop your turn. See what happens when you push your luck. Slay the dragon or collect as many treasures as you can to win.

In Mino Dice, The Minotaur, a giant with a bull’s head, decide whether to roll the dice to save or kill prey in the maze. Luck will only get you so far in this game. Depending on the dice you choose, you will bet on whether you can beat Minotaur or not. You have to compete psychologically with the other person contemplating various probabilities. Play it smart and you may even be able to knock the Minotaur down.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $43

All-In (w/shipping): $72

Campaign Ends: 11/11

Game Ships: Mar. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 70% with 29 days to go.

Project: Forgotten Treasure

Designers: Alex Farrington, Caleb Morton

Artist: Philipp Ach (Medieval Realms, Taxi Derby, Wishland)

Publisher: Wicked Magic Games

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, hand management

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Each turn you have two action points that can be used to draw cards, play Items, or claim Treasures. There are five card types in the game: Treasures, Keys, Items, Defenses, and Events. Treasures are the main goal of the game and provide you with helpful effects when claimed. Keys are used to claim Treasures. Items have a variety of effects that assist you in claiming Treasures or hinder other players. Events are crazy, game-changing cards that are played immediately when drawn. So Events may cause to you keep your hand exposed to all players, while other might force you to trade hands with other players. Defenses are used to protect yourself from Events or stop other players from playing Item cards.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $29

All-In (w/shipping): $48

Campaign Ends: 11/11

Game Ships: Sep. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 77% with 29 days to go.

Project: Heroes & Villains: The Superpower Deck Battle Game

Designer: Evan Hunt

Artists: not credited

Publisher: Neddy Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, card game, comic book/strip, deck construction, fighting, once-per-game abilities, superheroes, take that

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A superhero/villain-themed deck battle game, players use either preconstructed or their own customer battle deck of ability cards. The battle deck is both your strength and your life. Deplete all of the cards in your opponent’s battle deck before exhausting your own and win the battle for ultimate supremacy. To begin play, each player chooses one of the six powers types to play. Each power has a corresponding Destiny Card that gives you the option to play as a Hero or Villain. Your choice empowers you with a unique bonus skill that can be used once per game) to give you a unique advantage in battle. Players can either use the pre-separated/pre shuffled Power Deck for their character or assemble their own customize deck containing a unique blend of attacks and defense. At the beginning of your turn, draw a card and use your 4 Energy Points to Deploy Power Cards onto the BattleField, or to Activate the Power of an already deployed card. Use a balance of Tactics, Minions, Weapons, and Assaults to deplete your opponent’s deck and to restore your own.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $42

All-In (w/shipping): $113

Campaign Ends: 11/9

Game Ships: May 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 112% with 26 days to go.

Project: Kooky Cats

Designer: Jean Jullien (Dodgy Dogs)

Artist: Jean Jullien (Dodgy Dogs)

Publisher: Yolky Games (Dodgy Dogs)

Genre/Mechanisms: animals, card game, hand management, lose a turn, set collection, take that

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A cat-collecting game featuring over 50 quirky and close-knit cats. It’s a bit like Happy Families meets Go Fish, where all the fish have been eaten by cats, and instead of being happy, the families are all a bit bonkers.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $51

All-In (w/shipping): $112, also includes Dodgy Dogs and a Dodgy Dogs jigsaw puzzle

Campaign Ends: 11/11

Game Ships: Feb. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 158% with 28 days to go.

Project: Micro Medusa

Designer: Floyd Lu (Noises at Night, The Refuge: A Race for Survival, The Refuge: Terror From the Deep)

Artist: John de Campos

Publisher: B & B Games Studio

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, abstract strategy, action drafting, force commitment, hand management, horror, humor, memory, mythology, solo/solitaire game, tile placement

Player Count: 1-2

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A competitive drafting, tile building and tile-revealing game. Players can be The Mighty Medusa, trying to extend their serpentine tress and defeat the intruding Champion. Or be the Champion, who is charged with using their equipment and cunning wit to anticipate Medusa’s next move without being turned into stone. Players play a tile from their drafted hand onto the field. Medusa plays tiles in face down, hidden from the champion, and the champion places a responding tile face up adjacent to that tile. Medusa will then reveal the tile in order to resolve what happens. The outcome could tip the scale.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $13

All-In (w/shipping): $13, same as above

Campaign Ends: 10/31

Game Ships: Dec. 2021

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 590% with 18 days to go.

Project: Paint the Roses

Designer: Ben Goldman (Oceans)

Artist: Jacqui Davis (Colosseum, Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia, Stockpile, Viticulture, Viticulture Essential Edition)

Publisher: North Star Games (Evolution, Evolution: Climate, Oceans, The Quacks of Quedlinburg, The Taverns of Tiefenthal)

Genre/Mechanisms: cooperative game, deduction, fantasy, novel-based, puzzle, tile placement

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “A cooperative logic deduction game that automatically adapts to your skill during play. Set in the puzzling world of Alice in Wonderland, you and your friends are the newly appointed Royal Gardeners. You are working together to finish the palace grounds according to the whims of the Queen of Hearts. Use strategy, logic, and teamwork to finish the garden whilst staying one step ahead of the Queen. The Queen’s whims are shared via cards, secret instructions each player is given into how the garden should be arranged. Her whims are always changing, so as soon as you solve one, a new one is in your hand. Every turn, together as a team you must guess at least one of these secret whim cards. You can’t say what your card shows, but by carefully placing a new shrub tile into the garden (taken from those available in the Greenhouse) you are able to reveal clues, tokens that will show any matches between the arrangement in the garden and the secret whims each player holds in their hands. Although you can’t discuss your own secret whim card, you can openly discuss other players’ cards. Share your theories at the table and then make a guess. Correctly guessing a whim will move you forward on the score track, but the Queen is always following and her speed automatically adjusts based on your current score. Guess incorrectly and the Queen moves twice as fast, her axe ever closer to your neck.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $43

All-In (w/shipping): $75

Campaign Ends: 11/11

Game Ships: Apr. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 913% with 29 days to go.

Project: Stonelight – The Crazy Magic Tournament

Designer: Freddy Then

Artist: Luria Hirai

Publisher: Churro Games

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, fantasy, hand management, party game, take that

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Up to 6 participants simultaneously collect resources and cast spells on each other, trying to sabotage each other’s plans to collect 6 Magic Stones and win the game. Everyone plays with unique Characters and Magic Familiars with the objective of collecting 6 Magic Stones before anyone else. Stealing resources and Magic Stones, change the target of other people’s spells, or create big hurricanes to mess with everyone’s Magic Stones.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $51

All-In (w/shipping): $92

Campaign Ends: 11/12

Game Ships: July 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 48% with 29 days to go.

Project: Taverns & Dragons (on Gamefound)

Designer: Quentin Vernet (The Last Bottle of Rum)

Artists: Nastya Lehn (Gates of Mara, Last Bastion, Quetzal), Baptiste Michard (The Last Bottle of Rum)

Publisher: Lord Raccoon Games (The Last Bottle of Rum)

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, card game, dice, dice rolling, different dice movement, fantasy, medieval, movement points, pick-up and deliver, push your luck, roll/spin and move, take that, turn order: auction, worker placement with dice workers

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Taverns & Dragons combines dice placement mechanics with worker movement, in an adventure game full of heroes and dragons. At the beginning of each round, players roll their dice. Then, each player will play one dice, either to activate one of their workers or to collect gold and energy. Your workers can also engage in risky but rewarding dragon hunts, or visit locations to get bonus actions. You can also attract Heroes to your tavern, who will help you to slow down your opponents or perform powerful combos. Players earn points for recipes cooked, Heroes attracted to their tavern and trophies brought back from Dragon hunts. At the end of the 7 rounds, the player with the most points wins the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $61

All-In (w/shipping): $61, same as above

Campaign Ends: 11/3

Game Ships: Sep. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 95% with 21 days to go.

Project: Travis D. Hill’s Union Station

Designer: Travis D. Hill (Card Rails, Penny Rails, Tokyo Jidohanbaiki)

Artist: Daniel Newman

Publisher: New Mill Industries

Genre/Mechanisms: auction/bidding, comodity speculation, cube rails, economic, network and route building, ownership, print & play, stock holding, trains, transportation,

Player Count: 3-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A quick-playing cube rails game, focusing more on share purchasing and stock manipulation than route building. On your turn you may either buy stock and increase its value, sell all of your stock to get quick cash while also lowering the company’s value, or lay track. While the shares might come out randomly, it’s all about careful timing and the willingness to drop something good for something even better. The game ends immediately when all of the Shares have been bought or sold off, 20 dividends have been paid, or railroad companies cannot lay any additional track. The players add together their cash in hand to the value of each of their shares, and the player with the most money wins.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $39

All-In (w/shipping): $39, same as above

Campaign Ends: 10/31

Game Ships: Feb. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 342% with 18 days to go.

Project: Turning Tides

Designers: Jasper Wille, Pepijn van den Bosch, Rick Brune

Artists: Lotte de Groot, Roset Pieper

Publisher: Never Be Boardgames

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 players, advantage token, area movement, card game, command cards, modular board, nautical, pirates, programmed movement, slide/push

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A naval battle between two players. Each player takes control of a ship that they will have to manage. During rounds the ships will sail past each other zone for zone in a modular style. During each step of sailing, players will be able to draw and play an action card which will either help them place new sailors and cannons on their ship, utilize movement of units or the ships themselves, or attack the enemy ship. Play happens simultaniously throughout the game, which means the game has little idle time. In between rounds players have the option of swapping cards from– and into their playing deck, which changes the capabilities of each player for the next round. You win a game by either destroying three zones on the enemy ship to sink them, or get rid of the entire enemy crew as to set them adrift into the rocks. You will have to position your crewmen and cannons tactically to do as much damage to the enemy boat as possible, all the while trying to avoid your opponent from doing the same to you. Aside from that, you have your captain to think about. Losing them is a costly mistake and will give opponent the upperhand. A game focused on patience, tactics and outwitting your opponent.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $58

All-In (w/shipping): $320, includes vanity rewards

Campaign Ends: 11/11

Game Ships: June 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 27% with 28 days to go.

Project: Winds of Baltoro – Race to Baltoro Glacier

Designers: Imran Azhar, Jeremy Wade Baker

Artists: Sean Hill, Karl Waller (Greyhawk Adventures: Wars, Heresy)

Publisher: AzCorp Entertainment

Genre/Mechanisms: dice, dice rolling, events, hand management, miniatures, race, storytelling

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Set in a world both familiar and strange, The Winds of Baltoro follows the adventures of heroes and villains across the land as they learn the truth of what happened and try to stop it from happening again. From the ancient ruins of Mohenjo-Daro, where Djinn now walk to the mutant-haunted wastelands and corpse cities, this is an epic story of sorcery and science, of madness and magic, where allies become enemies and nothing and no one is quite what they appear to be. Timeless classics such as One Thousand and One Nights and The Adventures of Amir Hamza have inspired generations around the world. Winds of Baltoro is influenced by these stories and other epics from this Region.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $57

All-In (w/shipping): $82

Campaign Ends: 11/11

Game Ships: Mar. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 110% with 28 days to go.