We often see casual games being drowned out by RPGs, miniatures, and heavier games on crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. That's where we come in! Here is an overview of some of the best casual game concepts being crowdfunded this month.
Get Blue! (Steve Hart) - A quick and seemingly fun dexterity game with "Magno Force Battle Action" - players flick a magetic coin toward several different warriors. If the coin sticks to the warrior and knocks him down, the player scores points; but if it sticks to the warrior and doesn't knock him down, the player is penalized.
Formula E (Clever Mojo Games) - An elephant racing game in which players play cards to progress along the track. Play a purple card to advance long distances or play a green and yellow card to advance a short distance and carry out a special action. Red cards are played out-of-turn to affect the current player - which should keep everyone on their toes throughout the game. "Holy cows" and the mouse affect movement and require careful planning. This looks like it could be a great casual game.
DeDeuce (Leonard Yates) - A Connect 4 sort of game where players place cards on the board to try to complete one of four poker hands: straight, flush, full house, or 4 of a kind. The cards in the straight and flush can be arranged in any order and the arrangement of cards allows lines of adjacent cards to cross one another, adding additional challenge to the game. In addition, deuces allow a player to either take over a card or remove it from the board. The first player to complete a poker hand wins. (This project has been cancelled and is scheduled to re-launch in March, 2013).
Hexels (Tim Walsh) - For the Settlers of Catan addict, Hexels seems to be a worthwhile accessory to hold the tiles snugly into place. Each tile is placed into a single "hexel", which contains a self-adjusting maget on each side to snap together with adjacent tiles. This appears to allow for quicker setup and less hassle during gameplay.
The Dice Tower - Season 9 - This isn't a game, but is worth a mention anyway. The Dice Tower is the king of video reviews and news in the hobby board gaming industry. Tom Vasel and his team produce several hundreds of video reviews and other content every year, for all types of games, and have grown quite an audience. Now entering their 9th season, they are looking for and deserve some support to carry on their services.
Unless otherwise noted, we have not seen or played any of the above games or accessories. Our assessment of each is based on the information given on the crowdfunding project page.
