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

Project: CoraQuest: Keep on Questing Expansion

Designers: Cora Hughes (CoraQuest), Dan Hughes (CoraQuest)

Artists: Cora Hughes (CoraQuest), Gary King (CoraQuest)

Publisher: Bright Eye Games (CoraQuest, Savannah Park)

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, children’s game, cooperative game, dice rolling, exploration, fantasy, line of sight, modular board, print & play, square grid, variable player powers

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “CoraQuest is an accessible co-operative dungeon crawling game where players work together to guide four adventurers, exploring a dungeon, avoiding traps, finding treasure, fighting monsters, and sometimes rescuing a gnome called Kevin. CoraQuest is a game that kids and grown-ups can play together and get equal amounts of fun from. It’s also a game that sparks creativity – providing encouragement and guidance on how to create heroes, monsters and adventures to make CoraQuest your own. All the artwork in CoraQuest is based on kids’ drawings, much of it sent in to us from all over the world by the wonderful CoraQuest community. The art has been brought together by our ‘chief-colourer-in,’ Gary King, to make a unique and charming-looking game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $45

All-In (w/shipping): $80

Campaign Ends: 11/10

Game Ships: Oct. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 353% with 15 days to go.

Project: Tabriz

Designer: Randy Flynn (Cascadia)

Artist: Syd Fini

Publisher: Crafty Games (Abstract Academy, Dollars to Donuts, Mistborn: House War)

Genre/Mechanisms: area movement, contracts, dice rolling, economic, income, industry / manufacturing, iran, market, modular board, sewing / knitting / clothing making, solo / solitaire game, worker placement,

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “Weave and sell luxurious carpets in the bustling Persian market city of Tabriz. Fill commissions for the commoners and before long the merchants and royals will take notice as well. Earn the most prestige from completed commissions to win the game and become known as the undisputed master of your craft. On your turn, you move one of 3 assistant meeples through the Grand Bazaar and take the action where it lands. Actions include buying, trading, and rolling dice for wool, camel hair, silk, plant dye, and carmine dye. Each assistant has limited range, but with careful planning you can set up a quick and efficient series of actions to net you all the materials you need for your commissions before another player completes theirs. At the end of each turn, if you have the necessary materials, you may complete 1 commission you have in hand. Resources are limited and the market fluctuates every round. Watch for opportunities to grab more for less, and be careful to avoid moments when the resource you need is out of stock everywhere. Gain skill to attract better commissions, move your assistants further in each round, claim and complete multiple commissions at once, and earn bonus prestige. Optionally, play with the Advanced Workshop Mode so every weaver has their own unique ability taken at the start of the game and at the end of every round. When any player completes 9 or more commissions, or gains the maximum of 14 skill, the current round is finished and the player with the most prestige wins.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $80

All-In (w/shipping): $105

Campaign Ends: 11/21

Game Ships: Nov. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 330% with 26 days to go.

Project: Varmints!

Designer: David Rose

Artist: Jessica Lowry

Publisher: Grubfellow Games

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 player only games, animals, area majority / influence, card game, card play conflict resolution, hand management, take that

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A head-to-head contest between two crowds of critters as they race to devour all the trash in the neighborhood. Populate three alleys with fluffy, adorable pests and use them to raid the bins on the other side of the block. Defend your own bins with precise critter placement and tricky abilities. Call for backup and boost your plucky pests to outmaneuver the competition. Swoop, sneak, and scurry your way to dumpster-diving dominance, and may the fullest belly win. A game of Varmints is organized into a series of shared turns, each consisting of a Day Phase and a Night Phase. During the Day Phase, players trade actions back-and-forth, playing one Varmint card from hand at a time. Varmint cards are placed in lanes called ‘alleys’ in order to defend their own Trash Bins while attempting to swipe Scraps from the opponent. During the Night Phase, the strategically positioned Varmint cards face off in individual alleys, and the quicker critter wins, removing one Scrap from the defending Trash Bin. The game continues through cycles of Day and Night as alleys swarm with critters and scraps start to disappear from Trash Bins throughout the neighborhood. Empty all of your opponent’s Trash Bins before they empty yours, and you win the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $30

All-In (w/shipping): $110

Campaign Ends: 11/28

Game Ships: Feb. 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 125% with 34 days to go.