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• In Solstice from Grant Rodiek and Hyperbole Games, a drafting and blind-bidding card game inspired by Frank Herbert's Dune, players vie for control of the throne, while optionally dressing up their game with wooden tokens. (KS link)
• Blind-bidding of a different sort awaits in King's Road from Reiner Knizia and Grail Games, this being a revised version of Knizia's Imperium. In each round, each player chooses three of their eleven cards in hand along with the order in which they want to play them, trying to use these cards to gain influence in the king's many provinces. (KS link)
• Another remake is Divinity Derby from Carlo A. Rossi and Ares Games, with this game featuring the "shared hand" mechanism of Rossi's Hab & Gut. Players bet on which mythological creatures will win a race, with each of them sharing information on the movement cards they hold with their left-and right-hand neighbors. (KS link)
• The revisions continue with Thunderstone Quest, the latest iteration of the Thunderstone deck-building game from Mike Elliott and Alderac Entertainment Group. (KS link)
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• Weta Workshop is normally associated with movies, not games, but the design studio had a game world that it wanted to bring to life and it partnered with Cryptozoic Entertainment to make it happen. The world of GKR: Heavy Hitters! features giant, advertising-sponsored robots battling in a post-apocalyptic world in which you're either trying to destroy the opponent or tag enough buildings to make your brand come out on top. (KS link)
• I played a few rounds of Dubai: Rebuild the Ruins from Chris Zinsli, Suzanne Zinsli, and Greater Than Games at PAX East 2017, and despite making horrible choices, I appreciated the challenge of the design. At the start of the game, players take turns placing their workers on three wheels, and on a turn whoever was at the end of the worker chain on the wheel of the current action removes that worker from the chain and places it at the nose of the chain of their choice, with each player then taking actions related to that wheel. Thus, within the confines of a familiar "collect resources and money to build stuff" design, you're challenged to get things working in the right order so that you can build better and faster. The current project is foundering, but I'm sure GTG will bring it back to market in the future. (KS link)
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• Trick-taking of a more traditional sort awaits in Half-Pint Heroes from Roland Goslar, Johannes Goslar, Søren Schaffstein, and Corax Games, with players trying to predict how many tricks they'll win while betting against the predictions of others. (Spieleschmiede link)
• Shin Wong's mafia-themed, dice-placement game Lawless Empire has you trying to meet more of your hidden victory conditions after five rounds than any other player. (KS link)
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• Cosmic Run: Rapid Fire is a roll-and-write game by Steve Finn of Dr. Finn's Games in which 1-2 players roll dice to move through space, take special actions, and attack one another — unless you're playing a solo game, in which case you're not likely to be firing on yourself. (KS link)
• Another trip to space is offered by MARS WARS from Grant Wylie, Mike Wylie, and Worthington Publishing, with 2-6 players representing Chinese and U.S. space forces who compete for space on Mars, with Martians also laying claim to their own land. (KS link)
• John Wrot! of Gate Keeper Games has new sets of "halfsies" dice — sets of seven dual-color dice — with pledge levels ranging from one to thirty sets. (KS link)
• Another non-game-yet-game-related thing are orc and goblin miniatures from 3dArtDigital. Minis are hot on Kickstarter, right? Not necessarily as this project is solely for the minis and it barely has a presence on KS. (KS link)
• Also in the "that's not a game" category, logical puzzle publisher ThinkFun has hit Kickstarter with its first project: Roller Coaster Challenge. This item fits the model of many of its logic puzzles, with players being presented with a challenge card, then trying to assemble the components into the one correct pattern. In this case, players construct pillars, then add track in order to finish a roller coaster, finding out whether they succeeded by rolling a car down the track to see whether it crashes or not. (KS link)
Prototype components shown at NY Toy Fair 2017
Editor's note: Please don't post links to other Kickstarter projects in the comments section. Write to me via the email address in the header, and I'll consider them for inclusion in a future crowdfunding round-up. Thanks! —WEM
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