The Whatnot Cabinet
I love collecting tiny things and that is what the pattern matching/set collection game The Whatnot Cabinet is all about. Each round the players will decide how far they would like to journey to find new objects for their cabinet. The farther away you travel the better the selection of objects, but you end up further back in the turn order. You get two tiles a turn and once you’ve obtained your objects you will place them into your cabinet. The goal is to arrange objects in such a way to score points. Columns score for color sets while rows want type sets. You can also score points by fulfilling Curiosity cards, which are goals for specific patterns of objects.
This game is so my kind of thing. I love set collection and there is something special about finding little trinkets that represent fun memories or just appeal to you. As always, Beth Sobel’s art is stunning and the look and gameplay of the game fits seamlessly with other titles in the Pencil First line. Check out The Whatnot Cabinet on Kickstarter here to learn more.
Your Friend is Sad
I love the premise of Your Friend is Sad: You have a sad friend that you are trying to cheer up. By playing activity cards you can try to alleviate those sad feelings. Activity cards require certain combinations of Brain Goop and Feeling cards. If you can play those cards you will gain points based on the activity. This is a competitive game so each player will be trying to cheer up their own friend. Players can play Life cards which can mess each other and occasionally themselves. The first person to earn 11 points wins and cheers their friend up.
Your Friend is Sad sounds sweet, silly, and light which is a perfect mix for me. If you want to discover how to make your friend happy, learn more about this game here on Kickstarter.
The Little Death – The Game
The Little Death is another game where the premise really amused me. Based on a French comic, in The Little Death you and your opponents are Grim Reapers in training, working to earn your Reaping Diplomas. You’ll need to guide characters to their deaths by playing Personailty cards; adding weaknesses or strengths to the characters which are prerequisites for the Reap Cards. Once a character (yours or your opponents) has the symbols needed to match one of your Reap cards, you can claim that character. Be the first to earn your diploma by meeting the 4 various goals on it and you win.
I love the caricature art and the ridiculous personality cards. This Kickstarter also includes the Bad Guys expansion which lets you add a 5th player and includes all new cards. Check out The Little Death now on Kickstarter here.
Tales of BarBEARia
In the land of Barbearia, winter is coming and every bear must prepare for hibernation. Each turn you’ll roll your dice and then assign your bears to gather resources, build up your village, go on adventures, and raid other villages. Whoever earned the most points at the end of the game wins.
Using a mixture of luck and strategy, Tales of BarBEARia looks like a fun worker placement game that can entertain everyone. Also the bear illustrations are un-bear-ably cute. Visit Tales of BarBEARia here on Kickstarter to find out more.
Shelfie Stacker
Board games can become addicting and trying to arrange all of them on your shelves can be… a challenge. In Shelfie Stacker, players compete to have the most photographically pleasing board game collection; jam packing their shelves with delightful titles. Each round 3 groups of dice (representing groups of board games) are rolled and placed in the offer. Players will then choose one of their cards to secretly bid and the lowest card revealed gets to pick first. The cards you bid also give you a one time use power. The dice you pick will either go into your big shelf or, if they don’t fit, onto your shelf of shame. At the end of 7 rounds, the player who arranged their games to earn the most points wins.
Oh boy, this is so meta. I love the puzzley nature of the game. When placing a die you need to fill from bottom to top, each column can only be 1 color, and each die placed must be of a higher value than the one below it. You’ll need to be clever with your selection and character powers to avoid cramming too many games on your shelf of shame. The art is playful and colorful; giving the whole game a fun, whimsical feel. Learn more about Shelfie Stacker here on Kickstarter.
What Kickstarters are you backing this week? Let me know in the comments below and check back next week for more fun projects!