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

Project: Aqua Garden – Beach Combing Expansion

Designer: Totsuca Chuo (Aqua Garden, Ostia, Perfumery)

Artist: Tatsuki Asano (Ostia)

Publisher: uchibacoya (Amalfi, Aqua Garden, Tank Chess)

Genre/Mechanisms: animal meeples / animeeples, animals, coral / jellyfish / anemones, expansion, fish / fishes, nature, puzzle, rondel, sharks, set collection, time track, variable set-up

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “You’re the owner of an aquarium and want to stock its six tanks with a variety of sea life, but you have a limited amount of funds and only one employee on hand to place the fish in the tanks. Do your best to outshine the other aquariums in town. A game lasts 3-4 rounds depending on the number of players. You have your own aquarium board with six tanks, and a shared player board has sea creatures placed at random on its perimeter. Seaweed and coral tokens are placed on the separate sea board, along with five random sea creatures. If during your turn, the contents of one or more of your tanks matches one of the four randomized milestones on display, you mark the highest empty space on that milestone with a token. The first player to achieve each milestone receives a related creature that they can place in any tank. Includes manta rays, remoras, and flapjack octopuses that can be added to play to create new scoring opportunities.

The Beach Combing Expansion is an expansion set for Aqua Garden with picking up items on the beach, or simply ‘Beach Combing Activities,’ as its theme. Players place fishes and beachcombing tokens on the gallery board at the start of each round. Players will gain not only the fishes, but also the beach combing tokens that are placed in the same space. Compete for set collection and majority with what you have picked up.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $55

All-In (w/shipping): $163

Campaign Ends: 11/16

Game Ships: Apr. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1,085% with 29 days to go.

Project: Delta

Designer: Franz Couderc (Moon-bots)

Artist: Nastya Lehn (Gates of Mara, Last Basion, Quetzal)

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

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, animals, area movement, auction: turn order until pass, contracts, exploration, hand management, steampunk

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “It’s been over 150 years since the inventor of the Perpetual Steam Engine (or PSE), Louise Delargue, wrote her last diary entry before her disappearance. That someone could create an invention to seemingly power cities and other technologies forever, without publishing any findings, remains the biggest scientific folly in the era of PSE. We took the crystals for granted. The supply seemed endless and their energy seemed unending, but we underestimated the growth of populations and the greed for crystal power. As PSE’s across the world try to keep up with the demand, the crystals are breaking. In Delta, players set out on an adventure through the Delta region of Kamargo, to try and gather more information about the crystals that power up the PSEs. as players observe the mechanimals such as the tortoise, flamingo, horses, and bulls. Send your crew to the different sections of the board to try and maximize your actions, and later on add new crew members to your team and even set out on special missions. Manage your hand well, gather enough knowledge, and emerge as the victor in this exciting steampunk adventure.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $89

All-In (w/shipping): $127

Campaign Ends: 11/11

Game Ships: Oct. 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 75% with 23 days to go.

Project: Hitodama

Designer: Alonso Adrian Luzarreta Salinas (Doxa: The Card Game)

Artist: Miguel Valenzuela Beltrán

Publisher: Lighthouse Games (Doxa: The Card Game)

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, adventure, animals, area movement, fantasy, hand management, worker placement

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A fantasy-themed strategy game with a watercolor style. It tells the story of guardians of the forest and their actions to take care of it. In each game, the board is changing, favoring, or disfavoring the cardinal points activating effects of the activated areas. The resources distributed on the board are obtained by the system of worker placement. During your turn, choose between playing cards you have in your hand or interacting with other players. Get your own resources to get your victory points, but you must not forget that the players must work as a team to advance through the seasons.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $83

All-In (w/shipping): $98

Campaign Ends: 11/18

Game Ships: May 2024

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 171% with 30 days to go.

Project: Spies!

Designer: Chris Backe

Artist: Kristian Fosh (Catapult Feud, Escape from Flat Earth)

Publisher: No Box Games

Genre/Mechanisms: deduction, hidden movement, print & play, spies / secret agents

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “You are all spies who have infiltrated an ambassador’s mansion, each working for different countries. Accomplish missions and try to sabotage your target’s missions to score points. Each player gets a map printed off on a single sheet of paper, then hides it behind a shield, clipboard, etc. Identify your target – the player to their left. As you play, you’ll be trying to figure out where they go while avoiding the player on the right that’s tracking you. Each round, you’ll move from one room to another, completing or sabotaging missions, then asking your target a specific question. Your target must tell you the truth, but each question can only be asked once per game. Some questions reveal more information than others, but picking the right time to ask them can be really helpful. At the end of the game, reveal your sheets. You’ll score points from completing missions, sabotaging the missions your targets completed, and bonus points if you identified where your target went. Most points wins.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $4

All-In (w/shipping): $100

Campaign Ends: 11/1

Game Ships: Nov. 2022

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1,188% with 13 days to go.