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

Project: Dig Your Way Out: Dig In

Designer: David Simide (Dig Your Way Out)

Artist: Mihajlo Dimitrievski (Architects of the West Kingdom, Endless Winter: Paleoamericans, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Raiders of the North Sea, Viscounts of the West Kingdom)

Publisher: Borderline Editions (Dig Your Way Out, Kluster, Krom: Evolution)

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, area movement, bluffing, deduction, dice rolling, jail & prison, mafia, memory, standees

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “In Dig Your Way Out, play the role of an inmate trying to escape from prison. Be the first prisoner to dig your hole. Craft tools with salvaged materials, buy them with cigarettes, or extort them from other players, the end justifies the means. The main goal is to reach the required tunnel points (which can change according to the number of player) representing the progress of your tunnel.

The expansion Dig In introduces the Prison Warden and new locations. The non-playable Prison Warden walks around the board and sends bad-mannered inmates to solitary confinement. On the other hand, you can go to her office and bribe her in advance with cigarettes so she can help you get an edge over other inmates later. New locations such as Gambling Cells, the Gym, Library, Laundry, Psychiatric Ward, and Workship can be used as alternatives to existing locations on the board, changingbl available actions and adding many more options to dig your way out. Each of these new places is optional and independent from one another, allowing you to build a different and unique prison layout every time you play.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $30

All-In (w/shipping): $62, also includes base game

Campaign Ends: 3/3

Game Ships: December 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 114% with 9 days to go.

Project: Kuiperium

Designers: Steve Cassell, Mat Cousineau

Artists: Elias Stern (Lander, Solar Sphere, Solar Storm), Alexander Vasilyev

Publisher: White Water Castle

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 player only games, card game, hand management, push your luck, science fiction, take that, tech trees / tech tracks, worker placement

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A two player sci-fi themed game where you’ll take the role of a corporation building a space station along the kuiper asteroid belt with the goal of mining Kuiperium, a newly discovered element and incredibly valuable. Race against your opponent to gain control of the space station, mine the most kuiperium, and ultimately launch towards new frontiers. Play cards into your tableau, gaining abilities and rewards, but be careful– every card you play has a worker placement location that ONLY your opponent can use. Place workers, gain rewards, and climb the discovery track. Also featuring push-your-luck, hand management, and resource management.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $64

All-In (w/shipping): $93, includes exclusive cards & vanity rewards

Campaign Ends: 3/22

Game Ships: October 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 220% with 28 days to go.

Project: Prelude to Revolution

Designer: Mike Willner (Jack the Ripper)

Artist: Knut Grünitz (Enemy Action: Ardennes, Manoeuvre, Pericles: The Peloponnesian Wars)

Publisher: Compass Games (Crusade and Revolution: The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939; Enemy Action: Ardennes; The Russian Campaign)

Genre/Mechanisms: 2 player only games, action points, area majority, dice rolling, events, political, russian civil war, world war I

Player Count: 2

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “Prelude to Revolution lets players experience the drama and chaos of the years leading up to the Russian Revolutions in February and October 1917. This 2-player card-driven game allows players to take the role of Revolutionary or Government and attempt to address the urgent and competing social, political and military issues of the time. Play proceeds through historical eras: The Years of Turmoil (1905-1913), The Great War (1914-1916), and The Collapse (1917). The game builds upon and expands the system introduced in Prelude to Rebellion, adding a multi-party Duma (parliament), Key Personalities, the influence of the Tsar, and more.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $84

All-In (w/shipping): $136

Campaign Ends: 3/1

Game Ships: April 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 231% with 7 days to go.

Project: Reviving Kathmandu

Designers: Krisztina Felmery (Chili Mafia), Tamas Leidal (Chili Mafia)

Artist: Lívia Varga

Publisher: Lemery Games (Bagh Chal, Chili Mafia)

Genre/Mechanisms: auction / bidding, betting & bluffing, bluffing, card game, deck building, drawing, city building, market, party game, set collection, travel

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “A bidding and set collection game where players are builders who travel to Nepal. They’ll compete to earn the title of Most Respected Architect in Kathmandu. Bid on construction materials (cards). Then collect those cards and use them to build the most prestigious Buddhas, Shrines, Stupas and Pagodas (Monuments). Score points for monuments, achieving special objectives, and for paying special attention to color. Reviving Kathmandu is the second game in the Lemery Games Globetrotter Game Series, after Chili Mafia.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $7, print & play only

All-In (w/shipping): $71

Campaign Ends: 3/24

Game Ships: December 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 352% with 30 days to go.

Project: Stefan Feld City Collection – Vienna & Cuzco

Designer: Stefan Feld (Bonfire, Bora Bora, Bruges, The Castles of Burgundy, Trajan)

Artists: Marek Bláha (Bohnanza, Cuzco, Escape From the Hidden Castle, Heul doch! Mau Mau, What the Heck?, Zen Master), Lukas Siegmon (Hallertau, Nova Luna, The Princes of Florence, Vienna)

Publisher: Queen Games (Alhambra, Amerigo, Fresco, Lancaster, Shogun)

Genre/Mechanisms: dice, dice rolling, set collection, worker placement, worker placement with dice workers (Cuzco); action queue, animals, commodity speculation, enclosure, hand management, modular board, multi-use cards, set collection, simultaneous action selection (Vienna)

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light (Vienna); heavy (Cuzco)

Risk: low

Summary: “Cuzco is a re-imagining of Bora Bora, where players use dice to perform a variety of actions using careful insight and tactical planning. The heart of the game is its action resolution system in which 5-7 actions are available each round, the exact number depending on the number of players. Each player rolls three dice at the start of the round, then they take turns placing one die at a time on one action. Place a high number on an action, and you’ll generally get a better version of that action: more places to build, more choices of people to take, better positioning on the temple track, and so on. Place a low number and you’ll get a worse action – but you’ll possibly block other players from taking the action at all as in order to take an action you must place a die on it with a lower number than any die already on the action. Three task tiles on a player’s individual game board provide some direction as to what they might want to do, while god tiles allow for special actions and rule-breaking, as gods are wont to do. The player who best watches how the game develops and uses the most effective strategy will prevail.

Vienna is a re-imagining of 2014’s La Isla in which players search to discover spies hidden around the city. On a turn, a player has three cards they place face-down in the A, B and D spaces on their card display. All players reveal their A cards at the same time, then place them in one of the three slots at the top of their display; the image depicted on the top of this card shows the special power that the owner of this card has available. Once a player has filled all three slots on their display, future cards placed with the A action cover an existing card. After revealing the cards in their B slots simultaneously, players collect the goods depicted in the lower-left corner of their individual card. Each player in turn places one of their scientists on a camp, first paying two resources of the type matching that camp. If the player now has a scientist on each camp surrounding an animal space, they take that animal tile, scoring points for it. Finally, the card in the D slot increases the value of one animal. When the sum of the increased values for all animals equals seven, nine or eleven (depending on the number of players), the game ends at the conclusion of the round.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $100, classic edition of either Cuzco or Vienna

All-In (w/shipping): $970, all 6 deluxe versions in the Collection to-date, plus all coin sets and extras

Campaign Ends: 3/6

Game Ships: December 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1,583% with 12 days to go.