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

Project: Attack of the Intergalactic Gherkins Card Game

Designer: Andrew Klinkenberg

Artist: Andrew Klinkenberg

Publisher: Teleporthole Games

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, hand management, party game, science fiction

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Having been sucked through a black hole whilst escaping the terrifying Intergalactic Gherkins, the stranded astronauts must rebuild their ships and return home to their own galaxy. Players draw cards to move around the four planets of the solar system, collecting missing ship parts and rebuilding their spaceships before escaping. Opponents can play a variety of action card combinations in order to win, which can either help them or hinder opponents. These might include such cards as Meteor Showers (stops a player moving), Cosmic Ray (take a card from another player’s hand) or stealing turns by combining cards to create word-matched ‘Conjunctions’ such as Pole + Star. Players must also deal with Gherkin Attacks which slow their progress. This could be by using cards such as Antimatter to make them disappear or a Rocket Pickle Jar to send them to another player to deal with. Card drafting and hand management are crucial in this light-strategy game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $32

All-In (w/shipping): $110

Campaign Ends: 11/17

Game Ships: Mar. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 95% with 29 days to go.

Project: DreamWeavers

Designer: Samuel Vachon

Artist: Alana Fleming

Publisher: Squanga Games

Genre/Mechanisms: fantasy, team-based game, tug of war

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Players form two teams, taking turns influencing a subject’s dream with their actions. During their turn players will do 1 of the following: Draw cards and gain resources, Play a card into the play area, Complete an Objective, or Claim a dream to score points. The game progresses each time players draw a specific card (Suns). When 8 of these Sun cards have been drawn the game ends. DreamWeavers uses a Scoreboard as a point system. Teams need to accumulate two types of points, (Nightmare and Paradise Stars). The Teams’ final score will be the lowest of the two types.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $64

All-In (w/shipping): $81

Campaign Ends: 11/16

Game Ships: Nov. 2022

Funding Status: Currently at 19% with 27 days to go.

Project: Grove

Designer: Mark Tuck (Orchard, Raging Bulls, Snooker Solitaire)

Artist: Mark Tuck (Orchard, Raging Bulls, Snooker Solitaire)

Publisher: Side Room Games (Black Sonata, Maquis, Orchard)

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract strategy, card game, farming, melding and splaying, pattern building, print & play, solo/solitaire game, tile placement

Player Count: 1

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “The citrusy sequel to the award winning Orchard 9 card solitaire game. Its 18 cards feature orange, lemon and lime trees and a new ‘wild card’ element, glades. These open spaces without trees, combined with a new scoring mechanic, offer more ways and opportunities to increase your harvest and create a greater variety of gameplay and strategies compared to Orchard. You’ll also find a cheeky squirrrel, who can either help or hinder your fruit picking, as well as a wheelbarrow – useful if you manage to get an extra large haul. The card backs feature recipe challenges with various scoring conditions and target scores. These provide a win/lose condition (as an alternative to the standard game’s ‘beat your score’) for those that prefer it – and add even more variety to the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $20

All-In (w/shipping): $33

Campaign Ends: 11/17

Game Ships: June 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 740% with 19 days to go.

Project: Lady’s Choice

Designer: Jon Chambers

Artist: Matthew King

Publisher: ChoiceGames

Genre/Mechanisms: betting and bluffing, bluffing, card game, deduction, score-and-reset game, turn order: progressive

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A light bluffing game about the ugly side of romance. Each card has a dandiness value. Some cards stop other cards from scoring. The cards that DO score (positive or negative) are totaled for a dandiness value of the gentleman. This is used to calculate the dandiness ranking (most Dandy, second-most, and so on.) The gentleman gains points according to his rank. 1st– 1 point; 2nd– 2 points; and so on. Also an extra point if he’s the worst. The lady gains points according to the reverse rank. Worst– no points; second worst– 1 point; third-worst– 2 points; and so on. Also an extra point if she’s the best. The worse a man is; the more points he gets – especially if the lady chooses him to marry. Alternately the lady gets the most points when she choose the best (Most Dandy) man to marry. Everyone gets to be the lady once and marry once. Once all players have been the lady, the game ends. Most points at the end wins.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $26

All-In (w/shipping): $26, same as above

Campaign Ends: 11/17

Game Ships: Nov. 2021

Funding Status: Currently at 95% with 28 days to go.