![Crowdfunding Round-up: Second Chances and New Editions](https://cf.geekdo-images.com/Oz7o2w6Sr-HnPQo_nHB6Iw__medium/img/n0MITiyQBwmTkMm3j-s5sbiuUKI=/fit-in/500x500/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic2848376.jpg)
A post from a French BGG user states that "Genesis is NOT a new version of Fleet Commander, it's a starter set for 4 players (Ignition is the starter set for 2 players). Rules are the same.", but why do I need to trust Joe Random Gamer instead of hearing all of this from the publisher directly? If I had any interest in space combat games, perhaps I would already have researched such things and know the answers, and the project does have more than $100K in support, so hundreds of people are cool with the info they have, but still this seems like an opportunity lost. (KS link)
• To contrast that project, let's look at The Manhattan Project: Chain Reaction from James Mathe at Minion Games. After two paragraphs and images describing the game, we have this: "MP: Chain Reaction is a stand alone game based on the popular Manhattan Project board game by Minion Games, this is a simpler card-only game using dual-purpose cards in a quick and exciting race to completion." Now that gets the job done! (KS link)
• Similarly, Mayday Games has a new edition of Dead Man's Draw on KS, and after we wade through the (typical for Mayday) "back this now for a limited edition sticker" nonsense at the top of the page, we come to a section headlined "Differences From Prior Version" which nicely details what those who already know about the game will know about this version. I'm not sure why this section comes prior to the section that describes what the game is actually about, but I'm hardly a KS expert, so what do I know? (KS link)
• Speaking of new editions, two Spiel 2015 releases — or prereleases, if you will — are funding new editions via Kickstarter, both of them bearing new looks: Alessandro Zucchini's Liguria from Queen Games has replaced the claustrophobic "bags on a ship" cover with one featuring burros (or some kind of pack animal), which makes the whole thing more approachable. (KS link)
• Artipia Games, together with Stronghold Games, is taking a less idyllic, more lively approach for the new edition of The Pursuit of Happiness from Adrian Abela, Vangelis Bagiartakis, and David Chircop. Neither approach outshines the other, in my opinion, but I have to detract points from the current representative image since it's available solely in 3D. Upload flat cover images, please! (KS link)
• In the department of second chances, we find Luca Vince Caltabiano's racing game Street Kings from Board to Death on KS for a second run (KS link), while Nova Aetas — a tactical battle game from Ludus Magnus Studio set in an alternative Italian Renaissance timeline — has now passed the finish line on its third go. (KS link) Andrew Sallwasser of Steamboat Gothic Studio is also toasting the success of his tile-laying game Biergarten on its second sitting at the funding table. (KS link)
• Mitsuo Yamamoto of Logy Games released the two-player abstract strategy game Moon-Sun-Angel at Tokyo Game Market in November 2015, and now he's offering the game on a larger scale through Kickstarter, with multiple designs being available but the goal still being the same: Get four of your pieces in a row, four of the same symbol in a row, or two sets of three symbols in a row. (KS link)
• Each year needs at least one chemistry-based game of atom-combining, and for 2016 we have Chemical Spill from Jason Goudie and Chemisode, which has players drafting chemicals round by round to create meth(anol) and other compounds. (KS link)
• Tim Page's Toast! from MadeUp Games recreates the spirit of the confrontation between Vizzini and the man in black in The Princess Bride, but with up to a dozen players competing in this game of misdirection. (KS link)
• Based on the title, I was sure that Get Adler!, a hidden-identity social deduction game from Randy Thompson and Caper Games, was based on a true story. Why else choose the odd and difficult to say name "Adler"? And yes, Wikipedia does catalog suspicions about Solomon Adler, who was an economist in the U.S. Treasury Department who supposedly passed information to the American Communist party in the 1930s and 1940s — but no, "Get Adler! was inspired by Sherlock Holmes and other detective stories". (KS link)
• The Card Caddy holds a deck of cards and converts to a combined deck-holder and discard tray once opened. Chris Nichols ran a KS for this item once, and now he's back on KS with caddies that hold thicker decks of cards and have optional dice trays. (KS link)
• And then, of course, there's Scott Almes' Tiny Epic Western from Gamelyn Games — but given that the project has racked up more than $200K in support in less than a week, I suspect that many of you already know about it. (KS link)
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