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

Project: Purim Board Game

Designer: Philip duBarry (Black Orchestra, Revolution!, Spirits of the Rice Paddy)

Artists: Max van der Hoorn’, Giuseppe LaMarca, Davor Maricic, Giovanni Spadaro (Beccato, High Noon)

Publisher: Funhill Games (Kings of Israel, OT Fantasy Draft, Wisdom of Solomon)

Genre/Mechanisms: ancient, area majority / influence, cooperative game, religious, simultaneous action selection, solo / solitaire game

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “A cooperative card-management and area-control game where you and your fellow messengers must work together to spread the King’s proclamation, represented by gold cubes, to all the far-flung provinces of the empire. At the same time Haman’s ten sons are trying to orchestrate the destruction of the Jewish people by spreading their false messages, represented by black cubes. Every round each player will receive a set number of Action Cards that have a Loyal Action, an Evil Action, and an End Effect. Players simultaneously select one Action Card from their hand and then reveal it. The Action Cards are then processed based each card’s number with the card’s Loyal Action happening first before the Evil Action. Loyal Actions will generally add gold cubes to the board, move Messengers, or remove Sons of Haman while Evil Actions will generally add black cubes or move the Calendar tile forward. This process of selecting and playing Action Cards repeats until all but one card has been played in each player’s hand. When this occurs the last cards are revealed and the cards processed in numerical order with only the End Effect happening. The round then ends and a new round begins. The game end triggers when either the Calendar tile reaches the end of the Calendar, or players run out of gold or black cubes. If each Province has gold cubes equal to or greater than the number of black cubes, the players win the game. If even one Province has more black cubes than gold cubes, the players have failed the King and lose the game.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $35

All-In (w/shipping): $95, includes 2 additional games

Campaign Ends: 3/31

Game Ships: October 2023

Funding Status: Currently at 64% with 23 days to go.

Project: Roll and Rock

Designer: Krzysztof Matusik (Black & White, Craftsmen, Thrash’n Roll)

Artist: Krzysztof Matusik (Cargotrain, Craftsmen, Thrash’n Roll)

Publisher: DicePen

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, dice rolling, music, print & play, roll-and-write, worker placement with dice workers

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: “In Roll and Rock players take control over their own music band. The bands gain experience, improve their skill and equipment, hire new staff members, record albums, and give concerts. All of this brings you fame points. Using dice, players perform actions in the locations available over 6 rounds. Players receive points for the concerts and records they made, and the player with the most fame points after the last round is the winner.”

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $4

All-In (w/shipping): $6

Campaign Ends: 3/26

Game Ships: April 2023

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 216% with 18 days to go.