New Crowdfunded Kickstarter Board Games to Watch for in 2026
by Alex J. Coyne © Gifts for Card Players
Exploding Kittens has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. It’s even spawned its own Netflix series featuring – of course – talking cats. But did you know that the first release of Exploding Kittens was thanks to the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter?
We had a look at some of the most anticipated crowdfunded games for 2026.
If you’re looking for new wish list items or board game night suggestions, start with our list of popular games – or browse through what else we have on our site!
For the Gods, Occult City, and Mountain Goats: Legacy are three of the 2026 games that made our list.
What’s Kickstarter?
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform.
Crowdfunding platforms allow users to create projects asking for individual donations until the project is funded – and usually then put into production.
A crowdfunding project is a bit like pitching to Shark Tank, except that people are pitching “the crowd” who wants to contribute instead of approaching singular investors.
Exploding Kittens and Batman: Gotham City Chronicles were both games funded by successful crowdfunding.
Other items brought into the world via crowdfunding includes the Pebble Smartwatch and Flow Hive; a beehive “allowing you to harvest honey without opening the hive and with minimal disturbance to the bees.”
Do you have anything you’ve always wanted to create or produce – and might be able to crowdfund?
Mountain Goats: Legacy
On Kickstarter:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/boardgametables/mountain-goats-legacy-and-enchanted-ivy
Mountain Goats is a turn-based climbing game in which players have to move their goats up six individual mountains on the board. Goats, therefore players, are allowed to share spaces – but only one goat can climb up to the top of each peak.It’s a whole lot of fun without getting too complicated … But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to win!
Mountain Goats: Legacy is a rerelease of the original game. Funded in early-2026, Mountain Goats: Legacy has already been launched. Some of the elements are updated, but you can still delve right into Legacy if you haven’t played the release before it.
A BoardGameGeek reviewer described it as having typical “king of the hill” gameplay.
If you’d like to see the game being played in action, here’s some more in-depth detail from The Dice Tower on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DVo3EkJbCSlQ&
Occult City
On Kickstarter:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/dhr-dbs/occult-city
Occult City is a Kickstarter-funded game that’s still in the process of reaching its goal; the release date is this year, and it’s become one of the most talked about TCGs for the year.
It’s described as being “a pulp superhero horror tabletop role-playing game powered by Savage Worlds.”
The game’s scenery was at least partially inspired by Cyberpunk 2077 and the fictional setting Night City. Occult City looks like fun if you’re a fan of darker, cyberpunk games like Netrunner or Android.
For the Gods
On Kickstarter:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/mightyboards/for-the-gods
For the Gods has already been successfully funded via its Kickstarter campaign … By more than 500% of its original funding goal.
The game’s description is simple, but we’ll admit that gameplay might get quite interesting: “Conquer the Greek islands by building towering monuments to the Gods.”
Set for a 2026 release, For the Gods is great for anyone who loves world-building or creation games. Anyone who remembers the PC game Civilization or Caesar may also enjoy playing their way through Mighty Boards’ For the Gods.
Barkane
On Kickstarter:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/fightinabox/barkane
Barkane (a clever pun on Arcane, we’re guessing) is a thematic trading-card-game that gets extra points just for sounding super cute!
Here’s the description directly from its Kickstarter campaign: “A beginner friendly, action-journal RPG. Tail your wizard doggo through 10 walking quests.”
This idea proved to be popular enough to be more than 1000% over its initial funding goal.
Barkane sounds like fun!
Grassfed: A Farm to Tabletop Game
On Gamefound:
www.gamefound.com/en/projects/stoneblade/grassfed
From Stoneblade Games, the game Grassfed apparently started as a wife’s gift idea – and soon evolved into a full deck-builder that makes farming sound like great fun.
The description reveals, “Grassfed is a cozy deck-building game for 1–4 players, created by a regenerative farmer and the team behind the Ascension Deckbuilding Game.”
If you’re wondering, Gamefound is a similar platform to Kickstarter meant for funding various types of games.
The Pearlescent Tarot, Charms & Quest
On Kickstarter:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/lastofitskindtarot/the-pearlescent-tarot-charms-and-quest
The Pearlescent Tarot, Charms & Quest isn’t quite just a tarot deck … Instead it’s described as being a symbol-focused tarot deck with “a playable quest and tactile charms.”
If you didn’t know, tarot decks can also be used to play various trick-taking games; they aren’t just for packing out Past, Present, and Future spreads!
Rules for one variation of Tarot can be found at Berries and Barnacles.
The meanings in the Pearlescent Tarot are said to “shift with light, choice, and time.” Unusual for any card deck, it takes full advantage of its appearance in different lighting.
What’s on your list of must-have TCGs and board games for 2026? Do you have any game ideas that you think could make the next big Kickstarter campaign?
