Casual Game Crowdfunding: Tombs, Pirates, and Shakespeare

EJiPT (Laboratory) – Race other adventurers to be the first to acquire Pharoah's treasures! In EJiPT, players navigate the shifting halls of Pharoah's tomb by rolling a 4-sided die and moving up to the number rolled, with each space causing an action to occur. Actions incude flipping, rotating, and swapping the boards that make up the halls of the tomb, as well as returning an ankh, which is necessary for gaining access to the treasure. The roll-and-move mechanic does not seem to prevent a player from making a choice on his turn (unless a 1 is rolled, in which case it might be nice to have the option to re-roll once or twice during the game).

Extra props to the project creators for the fantastic animation at the beginning of the video.

Crossbones (Tom Razo) – As a game about pirates, you might guess that Crossbones involves a map, a treasure, and plenty of swashbuckling – and you would be right. Each player starts his journey with a limited supply of rum and cannonballs. On each turn, players decide whether they will resolve an event challenge or initiate an encounter with an adjacent ship. Players can also navigate to port locations on the map to gather supplies.

Scalawag (Troubadour Games) – In Scalawag, each player is the captain of their own warship, with the goal of eliminating all other players. On a turn, a player issues a Captain's Order for the ultimate purpose of gathering Compass Points (the game's currency). Captain's Orders accomplish various tasks and consist of things like trimming sails, firing cannons, mustering a crew, etc. The game also involves some bluffing, which appears to offer an advantage to players who successfully learn when to bluff and when to call other players' bluffs.

Council of Verona (Crash Games) – In Council of Verona, players have the chance to play out the story of Romeo and Juliet and determine who will rule Verona once and for all. Players take on the role of influential citizens of Verona and act to use their influence to either add characters to the council or cast them into exile. As the first game in Crash Games' Pub Series, it consists of relatively few components and can easily be played in a tight space.

Stones of Fate (Cosmic Wombat Games) – Stones of Fate is a casual strategy game based on tarot cards, which are arranged face down into a grid on the table. Players can peek at the cards, which contain special symbols on the edges. By placing stones next to a card that match the symbols, a player can win the card. There are also special abilities on each card that can be used when the card is flipped or won, which creates strategic choices.

Wordsmith (Alistair Wong) – Wordsmith is a simple card game that consists of many cards with two-letter word fragments. Several cards are placed face up on the table. On a turn, a player forms a valid word using one card from his hand and one or more cards from the table. The cards from the table are kept for points, while the card from his hand stays on the table for use on subsequent turns. The more difficult the letter combination, the higher the point value.

Hunters of Arcfall (Tony Go) – (Update: this game came to our attention after the original post and we felt it was worthy of inclusion). In this press-your-luck dice game, players compete to become the greatest bounty hunters in the galaxy. On a turn, a player rolls the custom dice indicating different actions, including hit, wound, miss, stun, or heal. Each bounty requires a certain number of hits in order to be captured, and a player can continue rolling and capturing bounties on a turn for as long as desired. However, the bounties are not claimed until the player chooses to end the turn, meaning that they can be lost if he tries to go too far. Some bounties also have special abilities that affect gameplay in various ways.