Casual Games on Kickstarter: Sumo Wrestling Beetles and Ship Wrecking Octopus

Kabuto Sumo (BoardGameTables.com) – The round board is set in the middle the table. This represents a log that the players, sumo wrestling beetles, are fighting over. Each player chooses a beetle and places it on the board surrounded by various round wooden discs. Every player also starts with a certain number of these discs in their inventory. On your turn, you choose one of your discs and slide it onto the log. You must slide in a straight line. Your goal is to ultimately push your opponents off the log. Any discs that are knocked off are added to your inventory. Each beetle also comes with a signature move, represented by uniquely shaped game pieces to slide onto the log. These cost a certain number of discs in order to be able to use them. You are out of the game if you ever run out of pieces in your inventory or are knocked off the log.

Crash Octopus (itten) – The game is set up by placing the octopus head in the center of the table and then dropping all the treasure pieces down on the head, causing them to scatter. Players will use little flags to try to flick treasure to their ships. If it hits the ship, you have claimed the treasure piece and place it on board. You want to balance the pieces so that they won't fall off. If it falls, you lose it. At intervals the octopus will attack, with each player dropping a die on the octopus’s head. If the result of the roll is black, you move an octopus tentacle to where it landed; if it shows a red face, you move the octopus head there. The first player to have the five different types of treasure on board her ship, before a certain number of rounds, wins the game; otherwise whoever has the most treasure wins.

The Science and Séance Society (New Mill Industries) – In this asymmetrical dice and card game for two players, one person represents the science society and the other the séance society. Each player has a different win condition, with the séance player attempting to line their cards in a correct order while the science player is attempting to get the correct dice placed on each of their own cards. On the séance’s turn he can either draw from the deck, replace a card in front of himself with one from his hand, or discard a card for its ability. Afterwards, he can discard a card to remove a die from a card or activate two abilities on the cards in front of him. On science's turn, she can place one die on any die space on séance’s cards to block its ability and can then place her remaining dice on her own cards, before drawing more and rolling them for next turn.

Dungeon Decorators (SlugFest Games) – In this competitive tile drafting game, from the publishers of The Red Dragon Inn, players are busy building and decorating a dungeon. On your turn you draft one of the two-sided tiles and add it to your dungeon either as a dungeon tile or as a decoration tile. Each decoration tile shows several pieces of decoration so you must place the edge that shows the type of decoration you need, adjacent to a dungeon tile in order to display that specific decoration type in that room. Players score points by completing goal cards, such as decorating a room with specific types of decoration or creating certain layouts with your dungeon tiles.

Lost In Jurassica (Sam Milham) – To win the game you have to be the first to find three power switch cards in the explore deck. On your turn you draw two cards from any of the three decks. The decks are explore, scavenge, and craft. You stack dinosaurs in front of yourself, as well as any materials you scavenge and any crafting recipes you find. You must spend materials on the recipes in order to build them. Once you have four dinosaurs in front of you, you can no longer explore until you defeat them. You defeat dinosaurs with items which you then discard. The health of the dinosaurs must be equal or less to the strength of the items you are using in order to defeat them.

Frontline (RG Games) – In this two player card game, each card represents a soldier. Each player starts the game with twenty cards face down in front of them, in a five by four grid, and then the commander card is placed at the very back. You also start the game with a hand of three soldier cards and a draw deck. On your turn you may take two of the following actions: flip a card, attack, move, retreat, deploy, or use a soldier's special ability. The goal of the game is to break through your opponent's cards and defeat his commander, while protecting your own.

King of the West (Jacob Purnell) – A western themed micro game that fits into a wallet, each player starts by choosing a character and taking that character's three shootout cards. The town location cards are then placed in a grid on the table. Three of these locations are unique, while six are generic. Each player then turns the location cards with their character's icon on it towards themselves. On your turn you take one of three actions: claim a location (turn a previously unclaimed location towards you), move (swap a claimed location with an adjacent unclaimed location), or start a shootout between one of your locations and an adjacent one controlled by an opponent. When in a shootout, both players choose one of their shootout cards and reveal them at the same time to determine the winner. The first player to claim all three unique locations and hold them until the start of their next turn wins the game.