The Best Tabletop & Board Games Being Promoted On Kickstarter Right Now
by Alex J. Coyne © Gifts for Card Players
Kickstarter is one of the world’s largest crowdfunding websites out there, and they’ve provided a platform for many causes to find usable support. But did you know that Kickstarter is also one of the best places to go for new board game, tabletop, and trading card releases?
If you want to add some fresh titles to your next game night, Kickstarter should be a go-to.
Curiouser, and curiouser?
Here’s a look at some of the best tabletop & board games being promoted on Kickstarter right now. Feed your head, and expand your board game collection!
Trekking the World
Underdog Games. A beautifully illustrated game celebrating the pleasures and wonders of world travel. Join us on a journey to visit the world’s most beautiful places, collect souvenirs and enjoy the miracle of our planet. Age 10+. 2-5 players. 30-60 minutes
Trekking the World is a route management game where you travel the globe to fantastic destinations, collect souvenirs, and race to become the most seasoned traveler. Along the way, you score points in a variety of ways such as by collecting special souvenir sets or traveling to locations indicated on the oversized Destination cards.
The pieces of this game are gorgeously illustrated and everything comes in a tidy kit.
Partners
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stevedee/partners
Partners is described as “a detective storytelling game for exactly two people” by its creators.
Practically, it’s a hint of an RPG mixed in with Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, but by drawing cards from a regular playing card deck corresponding to game actions.
If you are a fan of detective fiction, Agatha Christie, partnership card games, or murder mysteries, then you seem to be guaranteed a lot of fun with Partners.
Ghost Writer
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maryflanagan/ghost-writer
Ghost Writer calls itself “the word game of unfinished business”.
The game promises an interesting, mystical feel that reminds of old haunted mansions and seances. It also reminds a little bit of Scrabble, Words With Friends, and others.
Looks like fun? Oh, yeah, definitely.
Cellulose
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/geniusgames/cellulose-a-plant-cell-biology-game
Cellulose is a new Kickstarter release with a slightly educational spin – although without an obvious teaching aspect included. The game is a great deal of fun, and that’s all the players have to worry about.
It’s a sequel to the earlier game Cytosis (2020), and is centred around cell-building on a board.
Players get a lot of extras for the board, including cards, disks, action markers, resource cubes, and tokens. It’s not as complicated as this makes it sound!
The Broken Cask
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shorelessskies/the-broken-cask
If you’ve ever had a love for business management games like Diner Dash, here’s a tabletop equivalent that’ll keep you busy. The Broken Cask is advertised as “a solitaire inn-keeping RPG” which gets played with dice and accompanying tables that define what happens.
You play it with paper and pencil and at least one six-sided die. It may inspire you to imaginative feats and storytelling of your own, or it may just be a good time when you feel like relaxing and playing alone.
Upgrade rooms, shop for supplies, serve guests to your inn – all based on rolls of the dice.
Darwin’s Journey
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gonab/darwins-journey
Darwin’s Journey sees its official release in November 2021, but has been on lists of anticipated board game releases for a while now.
The player takes control of Charles Darwin, and follows his discovering journey around the board.
Retracing Darwin’s journey to the Galapagos in an exciting Worker Placement euro game by Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangone. With an innovative worker progression system, each worker will have to study the disciplines that are a prerequisite to perform several actions in the game, such as exploration, correspondence, and discovering specimens in order to contribute to the human knowledge of biology.
What makes Darwin’s Journey unique is the historical accuracy of the game. The addition of excellent artwork certainly helps to further this tabletop endeavour’s cause.
