Kickstarter Picks for the Week of May 26, 2014

What is this post all about? Well, it should pretty straightforward, but, if there's any confusion, this is where I'll be talking about a handful of Kickstarter projects each week, focusing on a few projects that recently launched and a few projects that are about to end. Will I be focusing only on projects in need of funding? No. I will simply be focusing on projects that interest me, regardless of whether they've only raised $5 or raised ten times that of their original goal. Anyway, I think it's about time I got to the actual projects, eh.

• Recently Launched

Heat

• Ends Mon, Jun 9 2014 10:59 PM CDT.

So, Heat is a card game about stealing things and doesn't have anything to do with the De Niro/Pacino movie from 1995, or Miami's NBA team; though, while there may not be a crazy shootout in the middle of the street or a handful of championships, Heat is still worth checking out. Anyway, back to the actual card game, the reason why Heat sticks out to me is because a key part of Heat is drafting cards and I love the drafting mechanic, so, I'm pretty excited for Heat and, if you want to give the game a go, a print-and-play version is available right now.

Asking for Trobils: A Wacky Worker-placement!

• Ends Fri, Jun 20 2014 9:00 PM CDT.

Asking for Trobils: A Wacky Worker-placement! is a, you may have already guessed it, worker-placement game, and what grabbed me immediately was the art and circular board. I don't have strong feelings for or against worker-placement games, but I know some people hate 'em because of all the blocking that happens; well, Asking for Trobils gets rid of blocking by allowing players to kick off other players--which can actually be a good thing for the one kicked off--and that may be enough to peak a few people's interestl; however, there's much more to the game and, if you're a fan of worker-placement games, check out Asking for Trobils.

Hollywood: Make Your Own Blockbuster

• Ends Thu, Jun 19 2014 6:00 AM CDT.

Remember how I said I like the drafting mechanic? Well, Hollywood: Make Your Own Blockbuster is yet another board game with drafting, so, obviously, I had to include it in this week's picks, but, like the real Hollywood, there's more to this game than just drafting. In addition to drafting various scripts, directors, and actors, there is an auction for more high-powered cards and, when you've got all your employees, you start making your movie(s) and let the money (and, hopefully, awards) pour in; after three rounds, the game ends and whoever has the most points wins. Hollywood has a lot of mechanics I like and the theme seems to come across well--it reminds me a bit of all those simple sim games, like Game Dev Story (only with movies instead of video games)--so, if any of this sounds interesting, check out Hollywood: Make Your Own Blockbuster.

• Ending Soon

Yardmaster - Rule the Rails!

• Ends Wed, May 28 2014 12:00 AM CDT.

Yardmaster - Rule the Rails! is all about building trains and looks like it has the chance to become a great filler game; it makes me think of playing a game of Ticket to Ride where you just worry about making the longest, most valuable train before anyone else, and that sounds like fun to me--I also love fast card games in general and love Yardmaster's clean design. Like a few of the other games in this week's picks, there is a print-and-play version of Yardmaster, so, if you're interested, check out the game and see if you like it enough to back it.

Stratagem, an Abstract Strategy Board Game

• Ends Fri, May 30 2014 10:59 PM CDT.

Stratagem is, as the title says, an abstract strategy game and it looks like a game that both casual and hardcore gamers can enjoy; though, its perceived simplicity will definitely turn off those gamers who scoff at games that don't take an hour to setup and hours and hours to play--we all know at least one. Anyway, from what I've seen so far, Strategem looks like a good amount of accessible fun and I'm a big fan of the clean, simple design; also, Strategem was designed to be accessible for a handful of disabilities--color blindness, low vision, and short-term memory loss--and the team is open to helping the game be even more accessible and you can't not love that.

Transylvania: Curses & Traitors

• Ends Sat, May 31 2014 11:59 PM CDT.

Transylvania: Curses & Traitors is a game of exploration where death doesn't mean you're stuck watching what all the other, living players do with nothing to do yourself; no, death, in Transylvania, means, instead of exploring the world in hopes of solving the curse or killing a monster, you become one of the monsters and must kill the other adventurers if you want to win. There is a "lite" print-and-play version if you want to try out a version of the game, but, even without playing the game--I'm not a fan of print-and-play, but think it's extremely valuable, especially for a game on Kickstarter--I'm interested and especially like that dying doesn't mean you're eliminated from the game with nothing to do.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, that's it and that's all for this week's edition of Kickstarter picks. If you have any thoughts about the projects mentioned or want to highlight a project not mentioned above, leave a comment below--I'm always interested in seeing what other's think about various projects and what projects interest others.