We’ve had a couple of more in-depth reviews of Kickstarter games recently, but as always there are a few other tabletop projects I want to highlight alongside those. A few of these are ending this week!
New to Kickstarter and Gamefound? Check out our crowdfunding primer.
Fled from Odd Bird Games
Mark Swanson of Odd Bird Games may be best known for his previous game, Feudum, which has had several expansions. It’s a sprawling game set in a medieval world and is good but quite complex. Fled looks to be a little easier to pick up: it’s a tile-laying game about escaping from prison. You’ll need to collect contraband and tools to make your escape, but don’t get caught in the wrong rooms when the governor whistles for a roll call!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boardgametables/river-valley-glassworks
River Valley Glassworks from Allplay
I did get a chance to play a prototype of this one—it’s a cute set-collection game about harvesting river glass. The “market” is the river itself, which shifts and changes as players add bits of glass to one section and remove glass from another. The scoring is clever, rewarding both breadth and depth in your collection, and figuring out which types of glass to grab first can make a big difference. I like the bit of press-your-luck to it, and it’s a quick game to learn and to play.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brotherwise/super-boss-monster
Super Boss Monster from Brotherwise Games
Boss Monster is the title that put Brotherwise Games on the map, and now they’re revisiting it with a new deluxe edition that has new mechanics and art, but is still compatible with your OG set. Assemble your dungeons and stock them with all the stuff that will attract heroes … to their demise! I’ve always loved the retro videogame look and feel of the Boss Monster games, and it’s exciting to see this new set on the way.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/loneshark/the-hunting-of-the-shark-20-years-of-lone-shark-puzzlehunts
The Hunting of the Shark from Lone Shark Games
The folks at Lone Shark Games have been making puzzles and puzzle hunts for a long time—in fact, longer than Lone Shark itself has technically existed. They’ve made puzzle hunts for gaming conventions like Gen Con and Origins as well as the JoCo Cruise and Disney. A lot of these are a series of puzzles (hidden throughout the event/location) that also include some overarching meta-puzzle to be solved. The Hunting of the Shark is a hardcover collection of some of Lone Shark’s favorite puzzles from the past two decades, compiled for your perplexing pleasure.
Robot Quest Arena: Bot Battle from Wise Wizard Games
I didn’t back the original Robot Quest Arena when it was on Kickstarter a few years ago, but I did finally get a chance to play a friend’s copy recently, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a battle bots–style game where you get points for damaging the other bots (whether by hitting them with cartoony weapons or shoving them into obstacles and traps), and it uses a simple deck-building system so you can upgrade your bot as the game progresses. There are a bunch of unique robots, each with their own starting abilities, and the chunky, pre-painted figurines look fantastic. The current campaign includes both the stuff from the first campaign as well as a new, bigger arena and more bots, though you’ll have to save up some pennies if you want the all-in pledge. I’m gonna have to put this on my wish list for later!
