Casual Games on Kickstarter: Kraken, Kingdoms, and Koi

Kraken Ataken! (Titan Forge Games) – Each player is a kraken trying to loot pirate ships. At the start of the game pirate ships are placed in a line, filled with three loot tokens each, and a pirate card is dealt to each ship. Different pirates are immune to different colored kraken tentacle cards, and they also each have a strength rating which you have to beat in order to steal loot from their pirate ship. Each player has two kraken cards and starts the game with a hand of four tentacle cards, which each a specific color and strength rating. Tentacle cards also have different special abilities. On your turn you may send one of your kraken cards against a pirate, attaching one of your tentacle cards to it so that the color but not the strength number is visible. Alternatively on your turn, you may attach another tentacle card to one of your krakens already in battle or discard a tentacle card to use its special ability. Players keep taking turns until everyone has passed and the round ends. At the end of each round, players resolve attacks. If your kraken is the most powerful one attacking a pirate, and its strength rating beats that of the pirate’s, you take a treasure token from that pirate's ship. Players then take back their kraken cards and a new round begins, with new pirates being dealt to each ship and players drawing new tentacle cards.

Animal Kingdoms (Galactic Raptor Games) – Cards in your hand represent noble beasts that have pledged their allegiance to you. Each animal card has a number on it and a specific animal. Over the course of several rounds you play your beasts to different kingdoms in order to gain influence within them, however in order to play into a kingdom, you must follow the rules listed, such as playing numbers straight from eight to one or only playing specific animal types. Kingdom rules change each round, as do the number of points it is worth so you must alter your strategies as you progress. The player with the most influence points at the end of the game wins.

Enso Koi (Landon Ginn) – Inspired by classic board games such as Chess and Checkers, Enso Koi is for two to six players, and you can play head to head games or team battles. Each player has six different types of koi fish, each with its own unique move set. On your turn you may move as many of your koi as you wish, flipping them over once moved. Jumping over lines of enemies allow you to capture those pieces and remove them from the board. Stones placed on the board can prevent you from capturing enemy pieces or may be used to block movement. Koi can capture stones and move them to new locations on the board as they play. Capture enemy lotus flowers and you can bring some of your koi back onto the board.

Fat Stacks (Candy Coded Games) – Players are competing to create the tallest and yummiest pancake stacks in town. You create a stack by playing pancake and topping cards to gain points. Everyone starts the game with a single buttermilk pancake. On your turn you may choose one of three options: draw two cards and play two cards, only draw three cards, or only play three cards. Toppings and pancakes that are adjacent to each other in the stack and match, earn extra points. You may also play cards worth negative points onto other player's pancake stacks. Each player can work on multiple pancake stacks at a time.

Rune (Zemilio) – In this two player card game, each player starts the game with three rune master meeples and three cards. Each card shows six different runes of various colors. On your turn you must place a card from your hand onto the table, and then either draw a new card or place a meeple. To place a card, it must be placed at least partially on top of another card on the table. The overlapping runes must either match or the rune on top must match adjacent runes. Once you place a card you may either draw a card or place a rune master on top of a rune to control it and any matching adjacent runes. Once a player has placed his last rune master meeple, the opposing player cannot draw any more cards but continues to place all their remaining cards and rune masters. At the end of the game you score points for the runes your meeples control: blue runes scoring one point each, green runes scoring two points, and red runes scoring three points. The player with the most points wins.

Born to Serve (Shoot Again Games) – Players are superheroes who have just lost their funding. In order to make ends meet, you go out and look for a job. Each player chooses one of ten heroes to play. You are all applying to work at a restaurant but there is only one job open, so the player who earns the most tips by the end of the game gets the job and wins. In each round you have five hero markers to place. You can place them on a table to serve it or on a staff member to get their help. Once all the marker spots on a table have been filled, the tips are divided, with the hero who has the most markers on it getting the majority. Each hero also has two super powers which they can use during the game to help them in their job.

Onimaru (Penguin & Panda Productions) – In this cooperative dice game, players are heroes, fighting together against a circle of demons. In order to win, you must defeat three demons before time runs out. While you can play prebuilt heroes, you can also customize your character, choosing two out of eight techniques, three out of the twelve skills, and one of the four talents to build the hero you want. As you play the game you can also spend honor points to unlock new abilities and upgrade your hero’s techniques.