Eye on Kickstarter #17

Welcome to my Eye on Kickstarter series!  This series will highlight Kickstarter campaigns I am following that have recently launched (or I've recently discovered) because they have caught my interest.  Usually they'll catch my interest because they look like great games that I have either backed or would like to back (unfortunately budget doesn't allow me to back everything I'd like to).  But occasionally the campaigns caught my attention for other reasons.  Twice a month, on the 2nd and 4th Fridays, I'll make a new post in this series, highlighting the campaigns that have caught my attention since the last post.  In each post I'll highlight one campaign that has really grabbed my attention, followed by other campaigns I've backed or am interested in.  I'll also include links to any reviews I've done.  Comments are welcome, as are suggestions for new campaigns to check out!

You can also see my full Kickstarter Profile to see what I've backed or my old Eye on Kickstarter page that was too unwieldy to maintain.  Also, check out the 2017 Kickstarter Boardgame Projects geeklist over on Board Game Geek for a list of all the tabletop games of the year.

So, without further ado, here are the projects I'm currently watching as of the fourth Friday of March, 2017:

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HIGHLIGHTED CAMPAIGN
Cytosis: A Cell Biology Board Game

• As a homeschooling family, we love games that teach. True, pretty much all games can be used as a learning experience, but John Coveyou and Genius Games is making some of the best games that are meant to be educational. His games not only teach science, but are pretty nifty games, too! No boring roll and move trivia here, Cytosis is an honest to goodness worker placement game!

Cytosis is a board game taking place inside a human cell! Players compete to build enzymes, hormones and receptors and fend off attacking Viruses! That's right... Cytosis: A Cell Biology Game is a worker placement game that takes place inside a Human Cell!

2 to 5 Players, Ages 10 & up, Plays in 50 to 75 mins

Players utilize the organelles within a cell to collect cellular resources such as mRNA from the Nucleus, Lipids from the Smooth E.R., ATP from the Mitochondria, etc. and score points when they use these resources to complete Hormones, Receptors or Enzymes!

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The Lady and the Tiger

• Back in October I reviewed the last Kickstarter by Peter Hayward and Jellybean Games, Unmasked: Dracula's Feast, and it made it to the number two spot on my Top Kickstarter Previews of 2016! So I am excited to see another game from Peter and awesome artist Tania Walker hitting Kickstarter. With additional rule sets for solo play or even 2-6 players, this looks like another winner!

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The Island of Doctor Necreaux: Second Edition

• People Behind the Meeples Interview
• Back in November I interviewed Jonathan Leistiko, the designer of The Island of Doctor Necreaux. This second edition of his first published game includes a number of updates, including a lot more artwork, more options for how to progress throughout the game, and more options for adjusting the difficulty.

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The Grimm Forest

• The Grimm Forest is a light, family friendly action selection game with awesome artwork and miniatures. The game looks light and fun, but maybe a bit too light for the $50 price tag, despite the miniatures and artwork? Regardless, it's blowing up Kickstarter, earning over $100,000 in the first 48 hours!

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Dicey Peaks

• This is a light, press-your-luck game from one of my favorite designers, Scott Almes. If that wasn't enough to catch my attention, it also has a similar theme (if much less controversial gameplay) to the next game on this list. Players work to climb Yeti Mountain and capture the flag at the top while avoiding disaster and Yeti attacks.

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Yeti Mountain

• What are the chances of two games about climbing Yeti Mountain being on Kickstarter at the same time? It's not like Yetis are the new zombies or Cthulhu (or maybe they are and we're just seeing the beginning). Unlike Dicey Peaks, above, Yeti Mountain isn't really an original design. Yeti Mountain is basically a retheme of the classic Fireball Island, with pretty much identical mechanics. Only the artwork and overall theme seems to have changed. Legally you can't copyright or trademark game mechanics (you can patent them, but that's a difficult process), so I don't think Hasbro/Milton Bradley can technically stop this game from being made, but if they did decide to pursue this publisher, even knowing they wouldn't win in court, it would likely be devastating to the campaign. This is definitely one to grab some popcorn for. I'm very curious to see how it turns out. It would be awesome if the game is successful, but it could end up being quite the legal show if the big dogs get involved.