Jess’s Fave Five Kickstarters of the Week 2/21/20
Cindr
Cindr is a dragon dating game about pushing your luck in dice and love. During the game, players will create their dating profiles; selecting attributes they want to find in that perfect mate. Then players will select a dragon to date from either the deck, dating pool, or even someone else’s dating pool. Once you have your chosen dragon, you will assemble a dice pool based on compatibility between your character and the dragon and draw a location card which will affect your available dice. With the date set, you will then roll to see how your date goes. You want to roll as many hearts as you can. Fire icons lock your die and if you lock 3 dice you turn ends The first person to get 21 heart points wins!
This is a super cute idea, the art style is fantastic, and I love the customization aspect. You can not only name your character and decide on their likes and dislikes, but you can also fill in anything you want for gender, which is something you don’t see much in board games. Swipe right on Cindr by visiting the Kickstarter project here.
DRAGOON: The Might and Magma Expansion
Dragoon has always been a showpiece of a game for me. Its’ components are extremely high quality and have a table presence that draws players in. This newest expansion, Might and Magma, adds an entirely new map to the game and a new volcano mechanic. When activated, Volcanoes erupt and cover the map in lava tiles. If lava covers a village or city, it turns the location into a gold mine which will yield gold for actions. The expansion also adds a new power deck which can do a variety of awesome things, but you can only ever have 1 power at a time.
The original Dragoon is a light strategy game, but with each addition that Lay Waste Games makes the game gets more and more interesting and offers up more tactics to sink your teeth into. I highly recommend the game if you are looking for a sleek, fun, and eye-catching game. Learn more about Dragoon: The Might and Magma Expansion here on Kickstarter.
ANCHORMAN: THE GAME
Andrew and I watch a lot of “try Not to Laugh” challenge videos where someone will either watch a series of funny clips or have to read out silly phrases and try not to crack a smile or giggle. The people in this videos often have just as much fun losing the game as playing it. The official ANCHORMAN game plays on this idea by having you create stories for a teleprompter that another player will need to read with a straight face. If they crack, you get a point. The game uses magnetic, Mad Libs style cards that you can fill in with phrases and comes with a timer shaped like Ron Burgundy’s favorite cologne Sex Panther.
The game looks ridiculous and perfect for parties. ANCHORMAN: THE GAME.
Gruff: Whispers of Madness
Gruff is a twisted little game about shepherds that use mutant goats to battle each other. Gruff: Whispers of Madness is a stand-alone game in the series that adds a whole new mechanic based on sanity and madness. Whispers of Madness can be played competitively, with 2 or 4 players facing their goaty line up against each other, or as a single player or cooperative game, where you can have your goats battle against fearsome trolls. This stand alone is also compatible with the base Gruff game; allowing for some really interesting combinations.
We’ve been fans of Gruff for years now. it gives you all the fun of a battle game with a really unique art style and quirky theme. If you’ve never played, you can pick up the base game and some expansions, and a big box to store it all in with this campaign. Check out Gruff: Whispers of Madness on Kickstarter here to learn more.
Gladius – A Game of Spectacle and Sabotage
Can gladiatorial combat be cute? Well, one look at Cat Quartet Games’ Gladius and i’m beginning to think so. This adorably illustrated card game has the players taking on the roles of spectators at the arena; making bets and rigging the games in their favor. Over 3 rounds you’ll be placing secret bets on gladiator teams, wagering on how they will do at conquering the round’s event. You can use influence cards to affect the teams’ chances of success and once everyone has placed their bets and their influence cards, everything is revealed and the scores are tallied to reveal the winners.
I like games with indirect contention. The fact that you don’t really know what your opponents are playing makes this more of a mind game than a take-that style game. I adore the art, which gives the game a light-hearted feel to what is normally an epically violent theme. Check out Gladius on Kickstarter here for more info.
What Kickstarters are you backing this week? Let me know in the comments below and check back next week for more fun projects!