Casual Games on Kickstarter: From Outer Space to the Subatomic

Space Park (Keymaster Games) – The board is made up of tiles that are placed in a random order each game. There are seven tile locations, each with its own special action that can be taken there when there is a rocket on that location. Players have badge cards in their hands and are trying to earn them. Each badge requires you to gather a certain number and certain color of crystals from various locations in order to earn the badge. On your turn you take an action — each time you take an action with a rocket, the rocket moves to the next available space on the board that does not already have a rocket on it. Location actions allow you to do things such as claim a crystal, take a new badge card into your hand, or turn crystals in for badges or points.

Subatomic: An Atom Building Board Game (Genius Games) – In Subatomic, Genius Games blends science with strategy once again. In this deck-builder, players are building atoms and elements. Each player begins the game with a deck which can create protons, neutrons, and electrons. With these protons, neutrons, and electrons you can either build up your atom to claim element cards and score points or buy cards to make your deck stronger.

Pulp Detective (AV Studio Games - LudiBooster) – This 1-2 player game puts you in the role of a pulp detective, racing to solve a case in twenty-four hours. There are two phases of each turn: the storyline and the investigation. During the storyline phase, you draw three investigation cards: keep one, discard one, and return one to the deck. You can play cards to get new items, earn stamina, or discover a clue. During the investigation phase, you use your stamina and items to roll dice in an attempt to complete the task on the investigation card you kept during the storyline phase. If you find all four clues before you run out of time and stamina, you confront the criminal in a final showdown. The game comes with three cases to solve.

Cooks & Crooks (La Caravana Gamelab) – Players are competing to prepare the best dishes. There are twenty different dishes in the game, each requiring their own set of ingredients. But not only are you cooking your dish, you can also sabotage other players by stealing food ingredients from them or ruining their recipes by sneaking trash or radioactive cards into their dish while it’s in the oven. After six rounds, the player with the most points wins.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Battle Racers (Shinobi 7) – Run, jump, spin, and use special powers as you make your way to the finish line, avoiding traps and villains and collecting rings. The board is modular so you can have a different racetrack every game. You win the game by collecting the most rings, defeating the most monsters, and making it across the finish line. If you receive damage during the game, you drop your rings on the board for other players to collect. Each round, every player plays an agility card. Every agility card has both an action and a movement on it. Each character you can play also comes with its own special abilities and a pre-painted miniature.

Centrix (Richard MacRae and Corey Myckan) – The object of the game is to get your three pawns to the top of the 3D board, moving them through the six rings using colored number cards. You can play up to three cards on your turn, with each card affecting a single pawn, or multiple cards affecting a single pawn. The number of a card you play indicates the number of times you rotate the ring of the board that one of your pawns is on (though the rotation on a card is optional), while the color indicates the direction your pawn will move. You can bump other pawns down or leap frog over them, if they are in your way. No two pawns can share a space on the board.

Herbalism (Deep Water Games) – Herbalism is a Taiwanese card game that Deep Water Games is bringing to the USA. A pandemic has spread through the country, and players are struggling to find the cure. There are four different types of ingredient cards that appear with varying frequency and which make up a deck of 14 cards. At the start of each game, two are secretly set aside. This is the cure for the pandemic. The remaining cards are dealt to the players. Players then exchange information with one another to try and figure out the cure. Score points for correct answers and predictions, or lose points if you're wrong.