Casual Games on Kickstarter: Heists, Auctions, and Tiny Dungeons

The Bank Job (Brains and Brawn Gaming) – Each player receives a crew card which has a special ability and is public, and a role card which is kept secret. The possible roles are rat, snake, or crew member. The rat wins if the diamond and tracker cards are on the same player at the end of the game and the snake wins if she has the diamond card but not the tracker. If neither the snake nor the rat wins, then the crew member with the most loot wins, so long as he doesn't hold the diamond or the tracker, and the value of his loot is not higher than value of the cards in the 'score'. During set up, each player is dealt four loot cards, then three cards are placed in the center of the table to form the score. Each player puts two of their loot cards face-up as their 'bag' and two are face-down in their 'safe'. The game is played over seven rounds, with each round having two phases. During phase one, each player picks a day action and a night action. Actions include using your special ability, peeking at a card, and exchanging cards in various ways around the table between safes, bags, and scores. During the second phase of a round, these actions are resolved.

Mint Bid (Poketto) – At the start of each round, each player earns four mints. Then the auctioneer draws location cards equal to the number of players, minus one. The auctioneer then chooses a location card and decides if it will be a closed or open auction. During an open bid, players may discuss how many mints they are willing to pay. You may partner up with either the player on your left or right to make a joint bid. Even if you win an auction by yourself, you must choose which player next to you to share the location with. During a closed bid, players are not allowed to discuss their bid but instead secretly select how many mints they are willing to bid, and all bids are revealed simultaneously. Whichever two adjacent players have the highest combined bid win the location. After an auction the location goes between the two players who won it. They control this location. A new player becomes auctioneer and chooses another location. Once all drawn locations have been auctioned off, a die is rolled and players earn a mint for each location they control whose number of victory points matches the die roll. A new round then begins. The game ends once all locations have been auctioned off from the location card deck.

Tiny Paper Dungeons (Tom Brinton) – A tiny, pocket sized dungeon crawler, with the dungeons randomly generated and contained in a memo pad. The game also includes a pencil and one six-sided die. Gameplay is simple: you roll the die to determine how far you can move each turn. You then draw a line through the dungeon, interacting with objects you encounter as you move. You can customize your character as you go and occasionally encounter shops between the dungeons where you can purchase items.

Dice Dodgems (City Square Studios) – The goal of the game is to be the last dodgem (or bumper car) standing by being the last player with any movement dice left. Each player starts the game by placing their dodgem in one corner of the board and taking five movement dice. Each round, players roll their dice and may then choose to reroll as many dice as they wish one time. Each die result corresponds to a direction you may move your dodgem in (a six can stand in for any direction). If you play multiple matching dice at once, then you may move your dodgem in that direction one space for each die used. Players take turns playing their movement dice. If your dodgem gets hit, you must discard one of your dice from the game. The round continues until everyone has used all their movement dice, and then everyone rerolls.

Snack Attack (Game Direction) – Players are hungry little dinosaurs looking for a snack. Four dish cards are placed in the center of the table and three cards are dealt to each player. Players take turns playing cards onto unclaimed plates. You can use a nom card to claim a plate. A round ends once all the plates have been claimed and each snack on a plate you have claimed is worth one point. The player with the most points at the end of three rounds wins the game. If a dog card is played, all the food on a plate is returned to the deck, while the momnisaur card can be played on a claimed plate to make it unclaimed and up for grabs once again.

Skate: The Card Game (Christian Shelton) – The goal of the game is to be the first to complete five tricks. Each trick card shows two card colors. In order to complete a trick you have to match both of these colors with two skate cards. On your turn you can push, plant, kick, or balance. When you push, you can discard a card and draw a new one. You may do this up to three times on your turn. If you push three times you draw a grind card. Grind cards give you the opportunity to complete extra tricks. When you plant, you play a card that matches one of the two required for the current trick. There are gnarly cards in the deck that count as any color when planting. When you kick, you play a card on an opponent's planted card, forcing them to discard it. Balance allows you to discard a gnarly and eat pavement card. If you have ever two eat pavement cards in your hand, you must discard all your planted and grind cards currently on the table.

The Road (Alone Editions) – The Road is a post-apocalyptic solo card game. At the start, you randomly choose a destination you must reach in order to win the game. The game takes place over a series of rounds or 'days'. At the start of each day you draw two territory cards and choose one: this determines how many road cards you will have to face in order to reach it. Some will also have penalties or bonuses. You then draw the necessary number of road cards and place them face-down in front of you. Road cards can present locations you can visit, obstacles that must be overcome, or events that you can interact with. You flip over a road card and then choose one of the actions shown on the card. Different actions will require different resources which you will gather during the game. The goal is to survive six days and reach your final destination.