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

Project: Águeda, Color Field, and Donut Shop

Designers: Jeffrey D. Allers (Alea lacts Est, Citrus, Donut Shop, New York Slice), Mondo Davis (Color Field, Mansplaining), Dustin Dobson (Águeda, Battlecrest: Fellwoods Base Game, ROVE: Results-Oriented Versatile Explorer, Skulls of Sedlec), Milan Zivkovic (Águeda, Battlecrest: Fellwoods Base Game, ROVE: Results-Oriented Versatile Explorer, Wildtails: A Pirate Legacy)

Artists: Priscilla Benitez (Color Field), James Churchill (Donut Shop, Feed the Kraken, Legacies, Public Market), Matt Paquette & Co. (Águeda, Merchants of the Dark Road, Mystic Vale, Thunderstone Quest), Nick John Whittle (Donut Shop)

Publisher: 25th Century Games (Ra, Resist!, Three Sisters)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, pattern building, tile placement, worker placement (Águeda: City of Umbrellas); abstract strategy, map deformation, puzzle, tile placement, variable player powers (Color Field); abstract strategy, donuts, set collection, tile placement (Donut Shop)

Player Count: 1-5 (Águeda: City of Umbrellas), 2-4 (Color Field, Donut Shop)

Solo Mode: yes (Águeda: City of Umbrellas), no (Color Field, Donut Shop)

Complexity: light (Color Field, Donut Shop), medium-light (Águeda: City of Umbrellas)

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “In Águeda: City of Umbrellas, players take on the role of festival artists decorating the city streets with their own colorful umbrellas to attract the most tourists to their streets. They will need to balance the requests of the city, shops, and tourists to create the most stunning arrangement of umbrellas. Players draft tiles from a central board, placing them in a row on their player street board. After placing your umbrellas, they select one or two tourists and move them into one of your three rows of umbrellas to score that row. Careful placement of their umbrellas will unlock sections of their tourist map, which will add more tourists into their pool to place out on your board. Once a player has filled up their board, scoring of their arrangement of umbrellas is based on both the standard board scoring placement rules plus communal Shop cards with varying scoring objectives.

In Color Field, players take the role of an abstract painter and try to create three works of art. Players draw and place tiles on their canvases, and score VP for matching colored sides with other tiles or with the canvas edge. Players can also acquire Tools that allow them to enhance their gameplay abilities.

In Donut Shop, players take turns placing Donut Tiles in the Display Case, earning points based on how many donuts of the same type are connected. Players then have the opportunity to box groupings of donuts in the Display Case in order to fulfill customer requests from their Order Cards and earn extra money. Bonuses can also be earned from special orders for coffee donuts with sprinkles.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $42, Color Field only

All-In (w/shipping): $122, all three games

Campaign Ends: 3/9

Game Ships: November 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 84% with 15 days to go.

Project: Ascension Tactics Inferno

Designers: Gary Arant (Ascension: Return of the Fallen, Ascension X: War of Shadows, Shards of Infinity), Justin Gary (Ascension: Deckbuilding Game, Ascension: Return of the Fallen, Ascension: Storm of Souls, Shards of Infinity)

Artists: not credited

Publisher: Stone Blade Entertainment (Ascension: Deckbuilding Game, Ascension: Return of the Fallen, Ascension: Storm of Souls, Shards of Infinity)

Genre/Mechanisms: cooperative game, deck building, expansion, fantasy, miniatures, scenario / mission / campaign game, solo / solitaire game

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A stand-alone expansion to Ascension Tactics, including new features like 4 player co-op, the new faction The Fallen, transforming Champions, Quests, and dual-faction Champions.

Ascension Tactics combines tactical miniatures gaming with the fast-paced strategy of deck-building games, bringing the most iconic characters from the award-winning deck-building game to life as highly-detailed paint-able 3D miniatures.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $85

All-In (w/shipping): $395, higher pledge levels include retailer pledges and vanity rewards with custom character art & sculpts

Campaign Ends: 3/9

Game Ships: April 2024

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1,300% with 15 days to go.

Project: Claw of Sauria

Designer: Maximillian Dennis (Sauria)

Artist: Nadia Potapov (Sauria)

Publisher: Millian Games (Sauria)

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, adventure, animals, cooperative game, dice with icons, dice rolling, dinosaurs, events, exploration, expansion, hexagon grid, hidden victory points, map deformation, player elimination, push your luck, roles with asymmetric information, semi-cooperative game, standees, variable player powers, video game theme

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “An expansion for Sauria that adds an all new cooperative mode. In this mode, players work together to complete group objectives before time runs out. There’s a catch though– the Hybrid is on the loose. The Hybrid introduces new mechanics that make completing your team’s objectives incredibly difficult. Because of this, players have two ways to win the game: complete your team’s objectives or simply kill the Hybrid. Easier said than done. This expansion also introduces 4 new characters that add in new mechanics like healing dinosaurs, attacking other players, or having the help of companions that will fight alongside you. It also adds new items, encounters, events, and of course, many new dinosaur species.

Sauria is a game where players are vying to complete as many of their individual goals as possible to gain Victory Points and then successfully reach safety before time runs out. While this is happening, they must also survive various dangerous dinosaurs that are out to get them. Players take on the role of 1 of 8 unique characters, from the ruthless Hunter, to the friendly Ranger or the no-good Saboteur. Each character has a specific set of goals that no other player knows. The player who gets the most Victory Points by completing goals and escapes the island wins. Players take turns performing actions, engaging in unique encounters, and interacting with the park’s locations. Meanwhile, dinosaurs reveal themselves, hunt, attack, and defend themselves against the players and other dinosaurs.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $54, just the new expansion

All-In (w/shipping): $211, also includes the base game, standees, miniatures, and extras

Campaign Ends: 3/23

Game Ships: October 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 247% with 28 days to go.

Project: Dire Dinner

Designer: Danny DeCillis

Artist: Danny DeCillis

Publisher: Big Bad Ideas

Genre/Mechanisms: cooperative game, drawing, fantasy, food / cooking, humor, modular board, monsters, turn order: progessive

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “In Dire Dinner, players take on the roles of randomly selected minions forced to prepare a six-course feast for their monstrous overlord, Gurth the Odious. It’s a cooperative tile-laying game where players have to assemble color-coordinated dishes each round, made with ingredients that often have a multi-step preparation process. There are a hundred unique, bizarre ingredients, unique skills and abilities for each player character, and a kitchen where anything may happen to amuse Gurth – or make him angrier. The goal is to keep Gurth’s mood score high enough by the end of the game so he doesn’t eat the players.”

Base Pledge: $42 + shipping (with no shipping estimates provided)

All-In: $99 + shipping (with no shipping estimates provided); also includes a signed, hand-painted figure

Campaign Ends: 3/23

Game Ships: October 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 17% with 28 days to go.

Project: The Last Summit – Board Game

Designer: John Hague

Artist: Benjamin Wright Coleman

Publisher: Quill Gaming

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, hand management, political, post-apocalyptic, team-based game, traitor game

Player Count: 3-8

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Humanity has survived the apocalypse and settled into tribes across the landscape. Can the leaders of the tribes find a way to compromise and make room for a new nation, or descend back into chaos? In The Last Summit, you’ll either work with the other players, or work against them to make your own new world. This is a diplomacy puzzle game with a traitor mechanic, but no traitor card, except the one in your heart.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $48

All-In (w/shipping): $48, same as above; additional pledge levels do exist, but in very limited quantities

Campaign Ends: 3/23

Game Ships: November 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 126% with 28 days to go.

Project: Lords of Vegas

Designers: James Ernest (Lords of Vegas, Tak, Trogdor!!: The Board Game), Mike Selinker (Betrayal at House on the Hill, Lords of Vegas, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords – Base Set)

Artists: James Ernest (Kill Doctor Lucky, Magic: The Gathering, Pairs), Steve Fastner (Lords of Vegas, XXXenophile), Rich Larson (Lords of Vegas, XXXenophile), Alex Mayo (Thornwatch), Nate Taylor (Apocrypha Adventure Card Game: Box One – The World, Button Men: Beat People Up, Pairs), Franz Vohwinkel (Beyond the Sun, Clank! In! Space!: A Deck-Building Adventure, Dominion: Intrigue, Puerto Rico, Targi)

Publisher: Lone Shark Games (Apocrypha Adventure Card Game: Box One – The World, The Ninth World: A Skillbuilding Game for Numenera, Thornwatch)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority / influence, catch the leader, city building, dice, dice rolling, economic, layering, random production, tile placement, trading

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “The Lords of Vegas 6-player base set is a new printing of the classic board game, expanded to support 2-6 players and including modernized graphic designs, plus all of the components from the Up! expansion. In Lords of Vegas you start out with empty lots, build small casinos, and expand them as your bankroll grows. Your rivals can build next door, and they just might take you over with a clever paint job or a lucky roll of the dice. Buy, sell, trade, and gamble your way to the top as you build your empire along the storied Strip. Channel your inner casino mogul and build your piece of Paradise. This new edition from the creators of the game features redesigned money, cards, tray, and more. All the rules and components are functionally the same as the classic edition, just with a fresh coat of paint in some cases. The new Lords of Vegas includes updated components and the 5 & 6-player expansion Up!, which lets players build their casinos in three dimensions, adding new stories as their towers compete for control of the sky.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $62, just the new Americano expansion

All-In (w/shipping): $234, the base game with both new expansions plus extras

Campaign Ends: 3/17

Game Ships: December 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 130% with 23 days to go.

Project: Roll&Meow: The Cat Burglars

Designer: Radosław Ignatów (Eter, Giftbringer, Island Alonge)

Artist: Michał Teliga (Age of Thieves, Kings & Assassins, Waste Knights: Second Edition)

Publisher: Hammerdice (Island Alone)

Genre/Mechanisms: anthropomorphic animals, burglary and heists, dice, dice rolling, paper-and-pencil, print & play, roll-and-write, scenario / mission / campaign game

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “The game is set in a fantasy land where anthropomorphic animals live instead of humans. Each of the animals has some talents that allow them to do certain jobs. Players take on the role of cat thieves whose task is to break into the mage’s mansion and steal certain treasures. The player’s task is to steal the contents of the safe and collect 2 treasures drawn before the game. In each turn, the active player rolls 4 D6 dice, obtaining movement points to performs several types of actions: stealth, action, aggression, and meow– which is a way to enchant. During these actions, the player must be careful not to increase the noise indicator, which is responsible for guard behavior. At the end of each player’s turn, there is a movement of guards after certain pools. If the player finds themselves on the field of the guard and is not hidden, they lose a life point and an alarm is declared. The alarm means the release of dog guards who scour the entire villa, and it is difficult to hide from them – meeting them ends the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $6, print & play, core game only

All-In (w/shipping): $17, also includes many other print & play games

Campaign Ends: 3/7

Game Ships: March 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 1,666% with 12 days to go.

Project: Street Fighter V: Champion Edition Legends (on Gamefound)

Designer: Mitch Schroeder

Artists: Chris Doughman, Keith Lowe (Incursion, Mercs: Recon – Counter Threat, Myth), Justin Lucas

Publisher: Kolossal Games (Mezo, Omen: A Reign of War, Western Legends)

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, deck building, dice, fighting, grid movement, hand management, video game theme

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: “A cooperative game of brawling action. In each game, you will take on the role of your favorite Street Fighter characters and work together to defeat your rivals and overcome your nemesis. Build your combos, upgrade your abilities, and create your legend. The Four Kings are up to no good and it falls upon the World Warriors to stop them. Choosing a fan-favorite fighter, such as Ryu or Chun-Li, players will perform powerful attacks and build epic combos on their way to defeating the king at the end of each stage. Combining modular style decks and familiar special moves unique to each fighter, there is no shortage of options for toppling the kings, one by one. Featuring a huge roster of characters and stages from Street Fighter V: Champion Edition in an all-new cooperative setting.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $93

All-In (w/shipping): $136

Campaign Ends: 3/14

Game Ships: February 2024

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 143% with 20 days to go.

Project: Tether

Designer: Mark McGee (Kintsugi)

Artist: Eric Hibbeler (My Father’s Work, Trekking Through History, Yukon Airways)

Publisher: How to Steam Broccoli

Genre/Mechanisms: card game, hand management

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: HIGH

Summary: “Astronauts love floating in space, but not all by themselves. Tether them together so they don’t drift through the galaxy alone. Each card in Tether has a two-digit number in the top corner, and when you rotate the card 180 degrees, the number in the opposite corner has the same two digits, but the positions are swapped. For instance the card with a 68 in one corner has 86 in the opposite corner. Opponents sit across the table from each other, which means that when you play a card each player sees a different number. You can connect astronauts together if they have consecutive numbers. One player (or team) connects astronauts together horizontally on the table and the other connects them vertically. Since each side sees a different number and connects in a different direction, but is playing with the same astronauts, you have an asymmetric puzzle with a lot of interaction between players.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $6, print & play only

All-In (w/shipping): $26, deluxe edition (one higher pledge level exists in limited quantities that includes a voice recording)

Campaign Ends: 3/21

Game Ships: November 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 69% with 26 days to go.