We’re back with a curated look at some of the games to check out that are on Kickstarter right now. Today’s picks include an Old West themed simultaneous action/worker placement game, an expansion for a ‘game of life’-themed worker placement game, and the second edition of faction-based area-influence card game. Note that two of these games end in less than a week, so don’t sleep on taking a look!
The Pursuit of Happiness: Experiences – The Pursuit of Happiness takes players from childhood through death as they attempt to juggle work, relationships, goals, stuff, and activities. The original was released several years ago (I picked up mine at Gen Con 2016 when Stronghold was distributing it in the United States for Artipia). In the meantime, there’s been one expansion (Community), and the game is back on Kickstarter for a new expansion (Experiences) and a third printing of the base game. Experiences introduces a new deck (of Experiences, of course) to the options available every turn. Perhaps more significantly, it finally introduces children to the game (as if being in a relationship didn’t take up enough of your in-game time). There are several pledge levels depending on what new or previously-published stuff you want, but the most notable levels are $26 for the new expansion or $95 if you want the base game and the expansions. The project is fully funded, but ends on March 14, 2019.
Coloma – In Coloma (which reimplements concepts from Hangtown), players attempt to build of their prospects in an old west town, using gold to fund expansion of their part of town and explore nearby frontiers. Each round starts off with simultaneous action selection – but beware overcrowding, which makes the action worse for everyone. This is followed by resource generation, business construction, exploration, and the like, followed by a shootout between the players and encroaching bandits. The pledge for the deluxe version of the game is $69 (there’s a non-deluxe option, but it isn’t that much cheaper, so don’t worry about it). Coloma is fully funded, and ends on March 13, 2019.
Master of Wills – Master of Wills is a faction-based game where players (usually one-on-one) vie to manipulate various sectors of the community to favor your faction, represented by their cards’ position on the game board. In one of our Gen Con 2018 episodes, I talked about how much I liked the art for the game, and also mentioned how much content was out there for it. Well, this Kickstarter is your chance to just check out the base game (which has two factions) at a way cheaper price, or load up on all of the existing factions plus some neutral packs. And you can even (sort of) try it out before you pledge, because there’s already an app version. The 2nd edition base game is only $25, and there are limited copies of an ‘ultimate bundle’ for $110 that also includes four additional factions (one brand new for the Kickstarter) and five packs of neutral cards. Master of Wills is not yet funded on Kickstarter, but the project ends on March 21, 2019, so there’s plenty of time for it to get those last few dollars and start moving up.