Kickstarter Projects We’re Excited About

Backing board games on Kickstarter offers both risk and reward. Hopefully the campaign you’ve backed produces a beautiful board game with high quality pieces. If you’re lucky, the game will also be worth the wait. Sometimes these Kickstarter board games take years to fulfill. In those cases, you just hope there’s good communication as production carries on.

Despite the potential downfalls of Kickstarter, there’s always a few games that we can’t resist. Here’s a peek at the upcoming games we’re looking forward to.

• Last Resort
  • A hotel in space? I love this theme!!
• Hike!
  • It’s all about the theme here. I have two kids who adore Huskies. Can’t wait to play!

• Verdant
  • From the makers of Calico and Cascadia. I really appreciate that all of these games have been reasonably priced during their kickstarter campaigns. We backed at the print and play level. I’m already trying to figure out how to use the 3-d printer to make all of those plant leaves. If Verdant is anywhere near as awesome as Calico is, this will be something to look forward to!
• Dog Park: A Beautiful Board Game about Walking Dogs
  • Could not pass this one up. A board game about walking dogs. Everyone in my family will want to play this. It’s adorable.
• Backyard Chickens
  • Gamplay looks interesting. We are looking forward to the print and play version. More projects to look forward to!
• Flamecraft
  • Lured by dragons and beautiful art. What more can I say.
• Distilled
  • Distilled came to Kickstarter right as I was finishing up our print and play version of Chai. I was in need of a new project, and this board game had a print and play pledge level. Lots more bits to assemble. I love a good challenge. Hopefully next Spring I can begin assembly!
• CANVAS: Reflections Expansion & Reprint
  • The Canvas base game is a great light-weight family game that we’ve enjoyed a lot already. But it’s almost too simple. We’re hoping the Reflections expansion will beef it up a bit.
• Cellulose: A Plant Cell Biology Game
  • Educational science stuff? Yes, please! I’m hoping my kids jump into this one, and maybe they can learn something about plant biology while they’re at it. The company behind Cellulose is pretty cool. If Cellulose goes as well as I expect it will with my family, there’s several other titles I’d love to add to our collection!
• Factory Funner, Bear Raid, and Ghosts of Christmas
  • This was a kickstarter for 3 different games. I’m most excited about Factory Funner. Have you ever noticed that certain themes just appeal to you, and nothing else about the game matters? That’s true with this board game. I just want to build a factory. I keep eyeing a game called Chocolate Factory too. It’s the factory thing. And we definitely like Curious Cargo. Let’s hope Factory Funner is as fun as it looks.
• Night Market
  • I liked Night Market because of it’s theme and game mechanics. I’m glad it has a solo mode because it may be too complex for most of the family to enjoy. A lot of content was added to this game as the campaign progressed (stretch goals) and I hope it all turns out well. Has anyone out there played Public Market yet? This fishing game also seems appealing, but I missed the Kickstarter for this one last year.
• Eternal Palace – a dice placement and painting euro game
  • When Eternal Palace came to Kickstarter, we were playing Canvas quite a bit. Eternal Palace seemed to have a similar art theme, but on a grander scale. And there are minis. I can’t wait to paint them.
• Three Sisters: A backyard farming roll and write game!
  • I can’t wait to play Three Sisters. Roll and writes are typically fun to pull out when you need something quick and easy. The complexity of this game is what lured me to it. I’ve been impressed with how quickly this campaign has progressed. I hope to see it soon!
• Everdell: Newleaf, Mistwood, and The Complete Collection
  • The second game we backed on Kickstarter was the original Everdell board game. It’s table presence is amazing. I had just started looking into the various expansions that have been released for Everdell when I heard that a new Kickstarter was in the works. I held off, and I’m glad I did. The Complete Collection includes all things Everdell, at an incredibly reasonable price. To purchase the expansions through retail is very expensive. Which is probably why we never added any of them to the game. Debate: Should you buy an expansion for a game you love, or buy a completely new game that you may love (or hate) even more.
• Creature Comforts
  • This board game is all about the kids. Kids Table Board Gaming has been publishing these super cute games that appeal to kids without boring the parents. Creature Comforts is a resource collection game that reminds me of Everdell. Manufacturing is underway. Counting the days until it arrives!
• Planet Unknown
  • This board game looks interesting. We like the space theme, and we love polyomino tile-laying board games. I really hope this game finds its way to our home before too much longer.
• Frosthaven
  • Gloomhaven was the very first kickstarter I backed. We absolutely love this game and can’t wait for Frosthaven. Special thanks to Issac Childress for always providing detailed bi-weekly updates for his projects. I wish all kickstarter campaigns were run this well!!

Which games are you most looking forward too?