Tabletop Games Crowdfunding Roundup - June 8th, 2022

Does your inbox fill up every Tuesday with Kickstarter emails? Well, mine does - so I decided to start writing my thoughts on new tabletop gaming Kickstarters every Wednesday. Keep in mind, most of these are based on initial impressions and looking at the Kickstarter video.

No big heavy hitters this week, which means it's a good time to take a look at smaller campaigns that are out there trying to get your hard earned dollars! Let's begin….

The Atlas base : The ultimate dropper bottle organiser !

I've been doing a lot of painting recently, so seeing a paint organizer on Kickstarter grabbed my attention. If you are the kind of person that paints using dropper bottles from The Army Painter or Vallejo (actually, pretty much every paint company other than Games Workshop), you are going to want to check this out. This organizer uses the dropper bottles to create stacks of eight paints that can quickly organize your painting space. Plus, you can still pull out individual paint bottles without worrying about the stack falling over.

There's an iterative design to this stacker that really appeals to me. Notches in the design allow you to use rubber bands to hold the stacks together if you need to transport your paints somewhere. The design also features holes if you want to mount your paints on the wall. According to the pictures, the bottles seem to hold in place really well. Personally, I tend to use GW paints mostly out of convenience, but if I had more dropper bottles I would probably get a lot of these. Heck, I'm tempted to get some just to better store the dropper bottles that I do have!

Shakedown City

The graphic design of the game got me to click on this campaign. However, the first thing I saw was that this is the first campaign for creator Pizza Games, and zero other campaigns backed. That doesn't mean the creators haven't backed other games before, but it gives the company this novice feeling that potentially gives backers the idea that the team might not know enough about making games. The game itself seems to be a GM-less RPG that you can play using just a regular deck of playing cards. Nine dollars for the PDF is a pretty good deal.

The video sours my stomach a little bit, only because of the timing. The game is all about making a pulp-style game about bad people, but the video starts off with a bunch of guns and shootings. Granted, the creators are Italian and this is my American bias coming through, but over here we're having another big discussion about guns after a terrible mass shooting. I'm also probably just really sensitive to the issue, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. But if you like movies like Sin City, then you may want to check out this campaign.

The Official Munchkin Bookmarks Campaign of Ocean Dice

Someone needs to write a paper and do a deep dive analysis on the game Munchkin. I know there's a lot of people in the board game sphere who hate the game, but the gave has created a hard core fan base. Steve Jackson Games has been thriving off of making different versions of Munchkin and related merchandise for over 2 decades now. While I'm no longer a fan of the card game, I have always been a fan of the humor style of the game.

In this Kickstarter, over 200 backers have already pledged at least $6 to get either Munchkin bookmarks, ocean-based D6s, or some combination of the two. If I remember right, the bookmarks give you one time powers in the Munchkin games, so I'm assuming most of the backers are hardcore fans looking to get that edge in their next game. The campaign itself was only set for $500, so it was easy for them to expect this to succeed. Still, pretty remarkable that you can print out Munchkin stuff on a bookmark and fans will eat it up!

SURVIVE UNTIL DAYLIGHT

I'm a sucker for zombie games. One of my first Kickstarters was Zombicide Black Plague. So a zombie card game with some pretty cool artwork is going to peak my interest. The video also does a *great* job of getting you immersed in the world while also giving you a basic idea of how to play. Bravo! Definitely gives off "The Walking Dead" vibes, so if you like those types of media/games, you might be interested in this game.

The game itself is a co-op game, but there's a "story mode" expansion in this Kickstarter that adds a few more ways to play. Competitive, 1 vs all, etc. Not sure how that works in a "story", as I've found competitive campaigns/stories don't seem to work like co-op games do. However the game is only $32 for the base game and $48 if you want the story mode expansion. For me, this falls into the "I need to try it" bucket.

Tsuro: Luxury Limited Edition

Luxury editions of games have become a thing now - remember that 3D version of Catan? So while it might seem like a niche thing, I totally get the idea of making a deluxe version of Tsuro. You might not think it's worth $350, but apparently over 300 people do, since this campaign is fully funded. This is the kind of thing that's perfect for Kickstarter and established companies. You have a product that you aren't sure people actually *want*, so you can throw it out there and see if there is actually enough demand to make this product.

I love Tsuro. It's probably the one game on my shelf that has gotten played more than any other game. It's quick, simple, and really easy to teach. Most of the time I can teach it in the time it takes me to set up the game. Plus, it plays up to 8 people, which means it's perfect for almost every game night. However, you look at the game and the trailer and you get a super Asian feeling, right? So clearly, there must have been someone on the team that's helping with the aesthetic right? Nope, all white dudes (and 1 white woman). It makes it kind of the premiere case of appropriation, doesn't it? Especially when you look at the history of the game on the Kickstarter campaign and find out it started out as a traffic game that didn't do well. Suddenly, they threw on the Asian theme and it rockets to success! Regardless, I won't be throwing down money on this, but it does look like a beautiful production.

Note: I generally assume I know nothing. So if I've missed something, let me know in the comments. Or let me know on Twitter or Facebook. If you like these types of posts, consider subscribing to our patreon.