Kickstarter Weekly--Jan. 31 2014

Well another week has completely sped by here at TOG--and what a week it's been! Podcasts...reviews...all kinds of stuff. Today as we finish up the week we once again bring you our old faithful Kickstarter Weekly piece, to help you navigate through the countless campaigns competing for your gaming dollar. Let's dive in!

Featured Campaign!

Draco Magi - Robert Burke Games

Well, we just published our review of Draco Magi yesterday, and since then they've unlocked their first stretch goal... Coincidence? Probably. Regardless this campaign is already a juggernaut, with lots of stretch goals that everyone will get to enjoy, but if you back the campaign you'll get to enjoy them for $10 less than folks who wait until it hits retailers.

The campaign ends on Feb. 21 and it's a mere $15 to get Draco Magi shipped to your door! The full campaign, stretch goals and details can be found right here!

Four Tribes - Grey Gnome Games

Four Tribes is a light strategic card game of influence and area control. It's driven mostly by cards, with some extra wooden bits thrown in. The buzz around this game is pretty positive and they've already funded and unlocked some stretch goals.

There's just a few days left to get in on this one--it ends on Feb. 6. A pledge of $30 will get you a copy of the game, and there are also some deals to be had with other titles as add-ons. You can find all the details of the campaign right here!

Tortuga - Queen Games

Well, wouldn't you know it, another Pirate Game made it to Kickstarter Weekly. Queen Games, who brought us the Spiel Des Jahres winner Kingdom Builder in 2012, is Kickstarting Tortuga, a transport-and-plunder dice-roller for both young and old gamers. Or so they say. The images on the campaign page show a great, bright and colorful game with lots of custom bits & dice, player screens & boards. They've funded and unlocked all but one stretch goal already, so if you want to grab a copy, it's time to jump on board!

Ends Feb. 13 a few $41 level pledges left for the full game and stretch goals; then it goes up to $50. Find out all the details right here!

Why?

Kombat Kittens: The Card Game - Large Animal Games

The internet has--inexplicably--generated an obsession with kittens doing things. I (Jeremiah) seriously don't get it. (Firestone doesn't get it either!) Nor am I very often entertained by this phenomena. But for those of you out there who find no end to the amusement afforded you by... cats. This one is for you. Kombat Kittens: The Card Game, is... a card game. Featuring artwork that is half kitten half drawn in battle gear. And then you make them battle and stuff. The Campaign video epitomizes the underbelly of the internet's cat "thing".

The campaign ends Feb. 20.  And you'll cough up $25 for a copy. Find all of the "adorable" details right here.

Don't Miss Out!

Just a few quick reminders of some campaign we think you'll be sorry if you missed out on!

Ultimate Werewolf Deluxe Edition - Bezier Games

Another spin on Werewolf that touts gameplay for up to 75--that's seven-five--players! This campaign is making its final push and ends Monday Feb. 3. $25 Click here for the details!

Zeppeldrome - 12SP Entertainment

Come on! This is a great game that you can pick up inexpensively. We're not sure why Zeppeldrome isn't getting the love on Kickstarter we think it so deserveredly deserves! Click the link for all the details on this fun game that is great for players of any age and skill level!

This campaign ends Feb. 16. $29 for a copy of the game! HERE is where the details are!

Thanks for reading TOG, let us know what you're backing or if there's something awesome out there we missed this week!

In the meantime our contest for a free copy of Relic Expedition is still going!

Just follow, like or subscribe your way into the contest by clicking one or all of the following: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or typing your email in the box over on the right!

Thanks for reading, and play some games this weekend!

Last-Chance Kickstarter Project: Buccaneer Bones

Hey, we just found out about a neat-looking project, but it ends in just 48 hours! So we're going to give it its own post. It's a push-your-luck dice-roller, and it's only $9 shipped!

The game comes with:

-    4 Player Maps

-    4 First Mate Pawns (Plastic)

-    24 Ship Markers (Uria Stone Plastic, similar to Backgammon tiles)

-    12 Treasures (Uria Stone Plastic, similar to Backgammon tiles)

-    6 Bones (Dice)

-    Rule books in four languages (English, French, German, Spanish)

You roll dice, and try to get to islands and plunder them. And there are some special powers that activate depending on which island you're on. It's not deep. It's not strategic. It's not Tigris & Euphrates. BUT IT'S ONLY $9 SHIPPED. That's a great deal, even if you only use this with nongamers or teenagers or at an after-school program or whatever. Plus, they're only $3,000 away from adding two players to the mix. Check out the campaign, but do it soon, because there's only ~38 hours left!

Thanks for reading!

Kickstarter Weekly—Oct. 9, 2013

Hey gang! We apologize that we haven't been bringing our usual steady flow of content the past 10 days or so, but life has been a little topsy-turvy for us—but we're getting our ducks back in their rows. In the meantime here's a look at some projects over on Kickstarter we think you should take a look at!

Featured Campaign!

Star Realms - Robert Dougherty

Star Realms is a pet project of Rob Dougherty and Darwin Kastle, two highly acclaimed MTG tournament winners. Star Realms is a 2-player deck-builder that is expandable to multi-player just by adding another deck for each 2 players who want to join the game. Unlike most deck-builders this one is a head-to-head combat style of game: less purchasing of Duchies, and more slugging it out.

It's way easy to get into at $15 for one deck (2-player version) but for an extra $10 you get a bunch of cool promos and freebies thrown at you! You can check out the full campaign, right here, and you have until Nov. 2 to get in on this one!

Castle Rising - Lost Games Entertainment

A very slick-looking strategic and economic board game. Players will seek to create the most prosperous kingdom, by building structures, training units, and gathering resources. The funding goal is pretty low on this one and they're already over half way there!

It's a little pricey to get in on this one if you're in the US because they're shipping from the UK; a pledge of $66 USD gets you the game, and you have until Oct. 26 to check out the campaign here.

Pandante - David Sirlin

Gambling - Lying - Pandas. In this amalgamation of poker and liar's dice, players play a poker-type game in which everyone lies about their hand. If no one calls them out on it, their hand is what they say it is.

A pledge of $35 gets you the basic version, and there is a deluxe version that runs $250! The campaign ends Nov. 7, and you can check it out here.

Sneak Preview!

Monsters & Maidens - Clever Mojo Games

In a game for players 8 and up, this dice-rolling press-your-luck game looks like dicey fun for the family!

A pledge of $15 will score you a copy of the game, and the campaign (although not yet live) can be found right here!

Thanks as always for reading! We hope to hear from you out there on the internets - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and our Podcast!

Are you backing any of these games? Are there any out there we're missing out on!?

A Video Double-Take Review of King's Forge

We get a lot of prototypes to review. Some of them are awesome. And some of them are the Nickelback of games. Today we turn our sights to the Kickstarter game King's Forge by Clever Mojo Games and Game Salute. How's that game? I'm glad you asked...

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IIEGfp18Vg]

Thanks for watching! We hope this video gave you a good overview of the game. As you can tell, we liked it.

Kickstarter Weekly: Game Salute Special!

Well, like we said: Game Salute is busy powering a bunch of Kickstarter Campaigns, and bringing a bunch of games to market! So we thought we would dedicate an entire post to campaigns that wear the Game Salute brand, so here we go!

Magnum Opus - Clever Mojo Games

We'll be reviewing this title here on TOG very soon. Magnum Opus is a deck-builder with a cool matrix of cards to research and select from! You can jump on board with this one for $35, which is a great value! But! If you go in for $200 you can also receive one of the 8 prototype copies that are being sent out to the reviewers. (Including the one sitting on Scott's shelf and the one sitting next to me (Jeremiah) right now!) How cool is that!? You can find the full details and lots of videos and such right here!

Chaos & Alchemy - Clay Crucible Games

There seems to be a lot of games delving into the realm of alchemy lately and we see another example of that here! The game is listed as a quick-playing card and dice game for 2-5 players, and seems to feature a fair amount of decisions on each players turn. You use dice to give the players actions (play cards, etc.). You can get in on this one for $25, and with plenty of time left they've already funded, so there should be some sweet stretch goals in the future for backers! You can check out the full campaign, right here!

Zoo Fu - Closet Nerd Games

After a long day in the zoo, animals go full out in a samurai battle royal. This card battle game pits players against each other in an attempt to be zoo champion! When the deck runs out the player holding the most chi tokens is crowned Zoo Fu champion! A super inexpensive game to jump into at $15, and looks like a fun, light family game! They need a good boost to get to their funding goal on this one! You can check out the full campaign here!

KerFlip! 2nd Edition - Creative Foundry Games

KerFlip is a fun fast paced word game that we reviewed a few months ago. (Read that review here!) But wait...there's more, because with the help of Game Salute, Creative Foundry Games is upgrading KerFlip for a second edition! It's really quite simple: If you have the original version, for a $10 bill you can get a conversion pack, or if you back it for $25 you'll get the 2nd edition of the full game! The campaign is right here!

Thanks, as always, for reading! If you like what we bring you every day, take a second and sign up for our email list over on the right!

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Qwixx—A Review of the Spiel des Jahres Nominee

qwixxcover

By Firestone There were three games on the nominee list for the German Game of the Year award (or Spiel des Jahres). We reviewed the eventual winner, Hanabi, last week. But what about the others? Well I don't know anyone who owns Augustus, so we might not get to that one for a while. But I did manage to snag a copy of the third nominee—Qwixx. Was this dice-fest deserving of a nomination? Should it have won? Let's find out!

Specs

Designer: Steffan Benndorf

Play time: 15 minutes

Number of players: 2-5

Recommended age: 8 and up—but I've played it a 5-year-old who can hold his own with some coaching.

Components

6 standard 6-sided dice: 2 white, 1 blue, 1 yellow, 1 green, and 1 red.

1 score pad

Rules

Setup

Each person grabs one sheet from the score pad, and then you choose a start player. Easy, innit?!

Gameplay

qwixxscorepad

Before we did into gameplay, I need to explain the scorepad, since that's where the game really happens. As you can see from the image, the numbers move from left to right, with red and yellow going from 2 to 12, and green and blue going from 12 to 2. As the game progresses, you'll be crossing off these numbers. The kicker in this game is that once you cross off a number, you can only move to the right to cross off subsequent numbers. So if you start with a yellow 4, say, you'll never be able to go back and cross off 2 and 3. You can always skip numbers, too, so you could cross off 4, and then 6 in a later turn—but you're never crossing off that 5.

On a person's turn, he or she rolls all of the dice, and announces the sum of the two white dice aloud (or everyone can simply look at those dice...). Everyone in the game can then take that number as a "wild" color and cross off the corresponding number in any available color. It's completely optional. Then the active player can choose one of the white die and pair it with one of the colored die to create a "color number" he or she can use to cross off on the sheet. So the active player will be able to cross off up to two numbers, and each other player will have the option to cross off one number.

If you are unable—or unwilling—to cross off at least one number on your turn, you have to check one of the four boxes on the lower right of the core sheet. These are Failure boxes, and are each worth -5 points at the end of the game.

qwixxdice

If you have at least five numbers already crossed off in a color, you are allowed—any time you roll the correct number–to cross off the rightmost number, and then the lock symbol next to it. This locks that color, and you remove the corresponding color die from the game. The game continues until either two of the colors are locked, or one person fills in all four of their Failure boxes, in which case the game ends immediately.

The scoring based on how many numbers you've crossed off in each color, not the value of the numbers. One is worth 1Vp, two is worth 2 VPs, three is worth 6, four is worth 10, and so on... You add up the positive, subtract five for each Failure, and the winner is the person with the highest score!

The Verdict

Look, there aren't huge, strategic decisions to be made here. It's a filler, and a family game—that's why it was up for the Family Game of the Year Award! I like that there's something to do on everyone's turn—and that he decision on other people's turns is actually important. You can just blindly cross off the number on your pad that matches what was just rolled. But will that limit you when it's your turn, and force you to possibly take a Failure? Small decisions, but decisions nonetheless. Yes, it has dice and luck, but it manages the luck in an interesting way.

My family likes the game quite a bit—even my wife! The boys especially love rolling the dice into my dice tower. The 5-year-old still needs some help making decisions about whether to cross something off, but he's still able to play just fine. And after one game he knew how to start counting up his score and putting the correct number in the correct box.

My gamer friends liked it, too—even the ones who hate dice! It's a filler game that's truly filler length; this will be in my game tub for a long, long time.

If I had one complaint it's that there's only one score pad in the box, when it would clearly fit two. Yes, this would increase the cost, but you're already charging me ~12 for six dice and a score pad—I think you can throw another pad in...

qwixxdicetower

Recommendation

Put It on the Table! This game would work with any group: kids, family, youth group, nongamers, and gamers. It's very cheap, and there's no reason not to have a copy of this at every game night.

The Final Verdict

This has been a hit with every group I've played it with. It's cheap, fast, portable, and fun. Pick up a copy!

Kickstarter Weekly—May 4, 2013

It's another Saturday edition of Kickstarter Weekly! This week we feature white whales, a new iteration of LARPing, and some railway dice rolling fun. All that and much more, so let's get started! The RatRace Board Game - Innov8Seven Design

RatRace is an interesting take on a board game. In a sense it's a type of LARP game. The game board is a calendar, and the events you face in life become allies or foes you defeat. Twenty British pounds will get you a copy delivered to your door. Find out more here.

Moby Dick, or, the Card Game - King Post Productions

Great literature translated into a game? Apparently so! Moby Dick is a card game for up to 4 players. Players are embarking on the epic voyage to find the elusive white whale. You can get in on this campaign for $30, which will score you a physical copy of the game and a print-and-play pre-release version. Check out the details here.

Canterbury - Quixotic Games

Canterbury, is a civilization building board game. Players take turns building different structures in the medieval town of Canterbury. Each structure supplies different needs to the town, and scores points.  The game looks cool, but it's a little pricey, with a $60 price point to get a copy of the game. But you will get your name on the box at that pledge level as well! Check out the campaign here.

Railways Express - Gryphon and Eagle Games

An express, dice rolling version of Gryphon and Eagle Games' Railways of the World board game. The game feature lots of dice-rolling, and tile-laying as up to four players compete to finish their railway routes. The game play looks fun and fast. You can still get in on a few remaining early bird pledges for $38 after that it will cost you $40 for a copy including free shipping. The details lie on the other side of this link.

Funded!

Fox & Chicken - Michael Fox A few weeks ago we told you about Michael Fox's Werewolf interpretation, Fox & Chicken. The campaign closed this week and it is fully funded and all of the stretch goals were unlocked! Congrats, Michael! Check it all out here!

Coming soon!

Storyteller Cards - Buttonshy

Jason Tagmire of Pixel Lincoln fame is launching his first product under the Button Shy brand. Look for the Storyteller Cards project to launch on Kickstarter May 5th.

Thanks for checking in with us this weekend! Are you backing any of these projects? We'd love to hear which ones, and why!  And don't forget to look for us on Facebook, Twitter, and now Instagram! Have a great weekend everyone!

Emperor's New Clothes—A Double Take Review

A couple of weeks ago we received prototype copies of the Kickstarter game Emperor's New Clothes—a game with a new twist on an old tale. We can't wait to share our thoughts with you. The game includes:

1 - Game Board

64 - Player cards

8 - Role cards (1 Emperor, 2 Swindlers, 4 Townsfolk, and 1 Child who breaks the illusion)

4 - Six sided dice

A whole pile of resource tokens

4 Meeples (for score keeping)

1- Starting player pawn

and the rule book.

The game begins with players randomly choosing a role and keeping that role secret. And dealing 5 cards to each player—it's pretty much that easy!

The player turn goes something like this: The starting player rolls all four dice, then decides whether to keep them, or re-roll any number of them, up to two times. The reason for keeping a certain numbers/combinations relies solely on the cards in your hand. Each card has certain abilities that can be triggered by certain dice roll totals or combos (or both in some cases) which will then allow you to score resource tokens.

Resource tokens are used for 1 of 2 things on your turn: either to buy you victory points, or you can cash them in for more cards. It often depends on what your role is. So the players take turns rolling dice, and using them to activate cards out of there hands, which then scores them resource tokens. After players have decided whether to spend or save their resource tokens, the round continues with the next player's turn. One round consists of each player taking a turn, and then victory conditions are checked. If no one has won, then the next round begins; players select new roles, the starting player pawn is passed to the left, and the whole thing starts over. The tricky part is there are sooo many ways to win and/or lose in this game! It all depends on which role you have (which, by the way, changes after every round!!). There's an element of "The Resistance" in this game, which basically means that if someone finds out who you are mid-round, there are plenty of "Town Crier" cards in the deck which players can use to block certain actions, take dice away, and stop you from scoring resources.

The beautiful part of this game is the marriage of old-school table-top gaming, and technology. The cards, game board and even the dice have been printed using some ridiculous ground breaking process - that we would almost call magic! We certainly don't claim to understand how it works, and Hoke's gaming (designers) and Game Salute are definitely not spilling the beans (something about patent lawyers and all that). But as far as we can tell it's like a mix between those "hidden picture" images they used to sell at the mall kiosks, and the technology described in this video from MIT:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rWycBEHn3s]

It's said that because of the printing process there are actually a small percentage of gamers (estimated to be around 3%) who will actually not be able to see the artwork—or at least not in great detail.

Jeremiah—Let's put aside the unreal components for a minute. If this game was printed via a standard process, it would be an amazing game. There's enough depth in the mechanics to keep the veteran gamers coming back, but it's light and fun enough to introduce to a new or casual gamer.

Firestone—I'm always looking for a game that's going to be a hit with my game group, but that I can also bring out with newbies. Emperor's fills that void.

Jeremiah—Let's also not forget the humor side of this! Sabotaging your friends with cards like "Skid Mark" and "Holey Sock" add a decent and light-hearted amount of skullduggery to the mix, without giving too much power to the swindlers!

Firestone—I thought the "Bamboozle" card was a little overpowered, but for the most part these were a good mix. I'll never forget the look on my friend's face when I played "The Man Who Was Thursday" on him.

Jeremiah—I know Scott is probably going to disagree with me on this, but I love the randomness of changing roles after every round!! It keeps you invested in the game, and keeps you always thinking! Having just ONE strategy will not score you the victory in this game!

Firestone—Oh Jeremiah, you and your crazy love of chaos...

Jeremiah—What can I say about the components... When I opened the box it was breathtaking. To get that kind of depth, movement, and clarity on a completely FLAT surface, without the use of glasses or special lights! Totally science-fiction-type stuff; the future is here, folks!

Firestone—Agreed! The kids were begging to play this as soon as they spotted that board. And it's not just pretty; all of the information you need in the game is right there on the board. The meeples were great; I'm so sick of companies insisting on giving me crappy plastic pieces. I love the old-school basic-ness of the wooden bits. Basic-ness sounds like bacon; now I'm hungry...

Jeremiah—I fell in love with this game and the idea from the word go! The mechanics are an incredible amalgamation of card and resource management, dice rolling, and backstabby role playing, with a dash of chaos mixed in. All that wrapped in a beautiful package! This is a future Game Of the Year candidate, I score it an 11!

Firestone—This gets a big thumbs-up from me, too. Often games with this many mechanisms don't do any of them particularly well, but they've managed to combine everything into a nearly perfect whole. Emperor's New Clothes should be seen to be believed.

The Kickstarter project ends in just 6 days, so check it out and see what you're missing.

Dungeon Roll—Kickstarter Weekly

Tasty Minstrel Games launched a new Kickstarter project this morning, and they're already 1/3 of the way to their goal.  

According to the game's description, "Dungeon Roll is a light and quick press-your-luck dice game with many important and interesting decisions.

In Dungeon Roll, you will:

• Be a Hero with special and unique abilities.
• Roll your party made of clerics, fighters, mages, thieves, champions, and scrolls.
• Destroy the monsters, drink potions, collect treasures, and slay dragons found in the dungeon."

The game comes with:

• 7 Dungeon Dice - Custom Molded Dice
• 7 Party Dice - Custom Molded Dice
• 4 Hero Characters - Commander, Paladin, Battlemage, and Necromancer
• 30 Treasure Tokens
• Experience Tokens
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Book of Heroes

And the best part is that all of this is only $15—shipped! That's a great deal, and a price-point that I'm willing to take a chance with... Head on over to Kickstarter for yourself, and check out the project. The stretch goals include more Heroes, so let's blow past the goal!

Thanks for reading!

2012 Holiday Gift Guide - Stocking Stuffers!

Today we're completing our gift guide with a list of things to get that gamer who has EVERYTHING! These little trinkets are fun, add something to your favorite game, or just add a little geeky Christmas cheer! Catan Ornament - For the serious Catan fan, this cut-brass beauty will help you celebrate the season while settling on the newfound island of Catan. The third in the Catan Resource series, this year's ornament features wool.

Cost: $48.00

Available from: Mayfair Games

Pirates of the Spanish Main card game - Wizkids Games' latest reboot of their former titles, turns their classic consrtuctable strategy game, into a single-deck card game, perfect for the nostalgic Pirates player, with lots of art that has been re-purposed for the game.

Cost: $10.60

Available from: Amazon, or your local game store

Ages: 8 & up

When Zombies Attack - Because Attack Dice (makers of When Zombies Attack), isn't Steve Jackson Games, this fun little dice roller has been somewhat overlooked. Unlike Jackson's "Zombie Dice"—which is basically a re-themed version of Farkle—When Zombies Attack is a competitive dice game that has players trying to eliminate not ALL of the zombies, just ones attacking them! Totally worth picking up and stuffing someone's stocking with this one!

Cost: $14.99 (And they're running a special Christmas deal 2 for $25.00!)

Available: Right here!

Ages: 8 & up

Alvin and Dexter: A Ticket to Ride Monster Expansion - By far one of the coolest mini expansions for a game to come along in a while! This was released last year and is becoming harder to find! They're out there, so grab a set for your gamer and become the hero of the day! It's like a Godzilla effect for Ticket to Ride! 'Nuff said!

Cost: $15.00

Available from: Amazon, and your local game store.

Lord of the Rings card sleeves - Fantasy Flight released a series of card sleeves featuring art from LOTR: the card game, every gamer wants to sleeve their cards, but most of the time they buy the cheap clear sleeves because that leaves more money for more games. So a couple packs a snazzy LOTR sleeves is sure to make the yuletide gay! (Note- there are Star Wars sleeves available now too!)

Cost: $5.00

Available from: Amazon, and your local game store

IronDie - I saw these at Origins this year and HAD to buy one. Simply because they are so cool! There is a game that is played with them if you choose to buy the whole set, but if you play any game that requires a 6-sided die, pick up a couple of these to replace them! There are now also polyhedral designs for that role player on your list!

Cost: $5.00 (6-Sided) $25.00 (Polyhedral, 7 die set)

Available from: Amazon, and your local game store.

Thanks so much for reading and being a part of Theology of Games; we hope this guide has been helpful to you during this wonderful season!

As always stay tuned for more great features from the gaming world!

Merry Christmas, everyone!