Crowdfunding has become a major trend in the tabletop games industry. It’s allowed both startup and established game-makers to produce products that otherwise they could not have. And it’s given consumers a forum for voicing their opinions and voting with their dollars before resources are committed to manufacturing.

Discovering what projects are out there, however, has become an increasingly difficult process as the numbers have increased. Many of you, I know, looked forward to our weekly Kickstarter roundup, and some expressed disappointment when it recently lapsed. To be honest, maintaining it takes a lot of work. But we love the games!

So now we’re proud to announce the relaunch of our comprehensive list of all Kickstarter and Indiegogo game projects. We’re going to keep it on its own page (see up top where it says “Kickstarter“), to make it easier to access at any time. Check it out. I think you’ll like all the added features. You can now search the table, as well as sort by project name, dollars raised, percent funded, or closing date. You can even export the data or download a spreadsheet with more information.

If you like it, tell your friends.

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Ravensburger Digital will soon be releasing Scotland Yard(Also known as Mister X) for the iPad and iPhone as a universal app. The game is for 3 -6 players playing locally, over wifi, or over bluetooth. The game also features a single player mode, HD graphics for devices with retina display, and has a new setting for London by night.

I’ve actually never played Scotland Yard, so this looks like it’ll be the perfect opportunity for me to give it a whirl.

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Purple Pawn has been on the forefront of covering Kickstarter game projects for some time. With the explosion in both the number and scope of projects, however, that coverage must evolve. We hope to bring back shortly our comprehensive list of projects. In the meantime, though, we’re going to test a weekly roundup of Kickstarter game news that highlights interesting projects, major achievements, sneak peeks, and related stuff from around the web. Please let us know what you think of this approach.

Finished and Finishing

Zombicide successfully funded on Sunday with just over $780,000—39 times its goal! Ogre Designer’s Edition is at $715,000 with about a day-and-a-half left.

Interesting Projects

Ace of Spies is a spy-themed card game set in the 1920s. It’s the first project of new game publisher Albino Dragon, a venture of sometimes contributor to Purple Pawn, Richard Bliss (also currently an advertiser). Watch their intro video. It’s my favorite so far.

Another project with a connection to this site is Off Your Rocker from Stratus Games. It’s a party game, which honestly is not usually my thing. However, we’re currently running a giveaway of Off Your Rocker for Stratus, and as part of that have been playing a version of the game over on our Play page. It’s been a lot of fun!

Polynesian Adventure is the project of a recent business school graduate and Hawaii resident. It’s supposed to teach Polynesian culture but is just roll-and-move—or more precisely, draw-card-and-move, like Candy Land. [Reminds me of a story I did 4 years ago.] It’s passed the 50 percent mark but only has 7 days left to go.

Gen Con or Bust is fiction author Patrick Stutzman’s attempt to finance a trip to Gen Con. He’s been before but can’t afford it this year. He’s asking for $2,250.

Lots of people talk about the difficulties of dealing with sexism, classism, racism, violence, and historical realism in fantasy games. The Farewell to Fear project is trying to address that with a sophisticated “progressive post-fantasy roleplaying game”. Not simply changing the skin color of NPCs, Farewell to Fear presents a medieval-style setting undergoing social revolution.

Think punk rock meets fantasy. Bad Religion meets Tolkien, boot to face.

With the Global GameSpace project, creator Curtis Lacy is hoping to develop a cross-platform, virtual-tabletop application for playing board games over the internet. He plans to give away the software when it’s finished but needs $40,000 to make it happen.

Interesting projects show up on Indiegogo too. One of them is Sharks With Lasers, a game in which the players’ secret agent trainees must dodge sharks, and their lasers, on the way to an island.

Stuff From Around the Web

Lisa Stevens, CEO of Paizo, talked about crowdfunding on a Gamerati Google+ Hangout and teased about a possible Kickstarter project launching soon. Could the Pathfinder Online Technology Demo from Goblin Works be what she was referring to?

On BoardGameGeek, one user is maintaining a GeekList of the top 10 most funded board game projects on Kickstarter.

Pinnacle Entertainment Group announced that it will announce next week (really) a Kickstarter project for a new Savage Worlds RPG setting.

On Troll in the Corner, Nick reminds donors to be cautious with crowdfunding, noting that there’s no guarantee of quality for supported projects.

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Doug Satori has just released version 1.0 of The Game of Gale for the iPad. The game is an abstract strategy game based off the classic game of the same name. Some people may know the game under a different title, as it’s been published by Hasbro under the name Bridg-It.

The goal of the game is to complete a connection of your color from one end of the board to the other. Right now the game supports local multiplayer, and playing against an AI.

It looks pretty interesting, and I’m sure I’ll be giving it a shot soon.

It’s only available for the iPad (no iPhone at this time), and is free in the iTunes Store.

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Starlit Citadel’s anniversary sale includes 374 board games at significant discount.

For 10% off and free shipping on most orders over $25 at HasbroToyShop.com, use coupon code “MIFYIK4″.

GMT Games is offering 40% off four games from Operational Studies Group.

Days of Wonder is going to give an iPad and some games to the winner of the 30 millionth game played online at the company’s website.

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Some of you may have already seen Google’s announcement about Project Glass, a set of glasses that would overlay digital data over the real world.

My first thought about these glasses was about how they could be used in board games, RPGs, etc…

OK, I lie. My first thought was, “ME WANT NOW!”

That’s besides the point.

Think about it. Game masters for a RPG could keep data safely hidden from players while still having full view of the gaming area. Board gamers could keep track of everything from counters, money, victory points, board conditions, player aids, etc… CCG players could keep their card list, good card combos, and more without relying on sheets of notes. The possibilities are virtually endless.

Of course this all depends on if these glasses actually hit the market, and if there’s an open development platform for them.

We can dream, right?

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Controversy erupted recently after a Dutch public television network, VPRO, began offering a downloadable game, The Settlers of the West Bank, with apparent anti-Semitic elements. The game is styled after The Settlers of Catan and has players mining diamonds and Dead Sea mud and producing textiles and bulldozers. But in the game, players can also use an “Anne Frank” card to expand settlements and a “Jewish stinginess” card to take resources from other players. The game’s instructions reportedly describe terrorism as the legitimate result of settlements: “Saw wood, and you get wood chips: Not everyone’s happy with the Israeli settlements. Least of all the terrorist.”

Originally, a VPRO representative described the game as “satire” and explained that “although the item ‘The Settlers of the West Bank’ could have done with some more delicate detailing, it is not fitting to earmark it as anti-Semitic.” Today, though, the organization removed the game from its website.

[via The Jerusalem Post]

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Discovery Bay Games’ Play Together Pledge and Sweepstakes benefits the Make-A-Wish Foundation and also will award prizes of Duo Plinks, Duo Pops, and a trip to Seattle. To enter, like the Duo Games page on Facebook, take the Play Together Pledge, and complete the entry form.

In anticipation of the imminent release of Emperor Edition, L5R is on-sale at AEG.

Member-only, daily-deal site, Deniath, will be offering Atlas Games’ Gloom, Grand Tribunal, Recess, and Seismic at 40-60% off starting Friday. Instructions for receiving a free membership invite are available from Atlas.

Preorder the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG by April 1st to get an ebook copy and exclusive adventure module, Doom of the Savage Kings, for free.

Through tomorrow, pay only a 29¢ flat rate for shipping at Columbia Games.

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Discovery Bay Games’ Toy Fair presence this year was focused on the company’s Appcessories line, small devices that integrate with an iPad tablet for an interactive game-show-like experience.

The Duo Plink (formerly called the Yoomi) is placed on top of the iPad and allows a player to select, in secret, one choice on the iPad screen. Other players can vote by placing colored tokens on top, after which the Duo Plink rotates and the correct tokens fall in to a see-through cup. A variety of memory and trivia game apps are available to work with the Duo Plink, including:

• Yoomi—a get-to-know-you game
• Artifact or Fiction—a Smithsonian-licensed trivia game
• Highlights Memory Mix-up—a memory game for kids
• What on Earth?—natural history trivia

The Duo Plink itself sells for $30, while the apps range from free to $2.

Duo Pop is sort of like a set of hand buzzers and currently works with the following apps:

• Highlights Hidden Pictures Countdown—hidden picture puzzles with a timing component
• Guesstimation—a trivia game where all the answers are numbers
• Swoop—a crossword-style game
• Saturday Night Live—trivia related to the TV show
• Highlights Buzz Blast—a hot-potato game
• In the Know—pop-culture trivia

The price of the Duo Pop set is $40. Apps are free to $3.

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At its annual Toy Fair preview presentation today, Hasbro announced a new CCG being launched by Wizards of the Coast later this year. Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters will see initial release in hobby stores in the second quarter. Then after the summer premier of an animated television show on the Hub network, Kaijudo will hit mass-market retailers in the third and fourth quarters. Kaijudo is tied to the Duel Masters TCG and animated series in Japan but has been adapted to a new storyline featuring Ray, “a young hero with a rare ability to befriend and duel alongside fantastical creatures.” Also supporting the Kaijudo brand will be an online battle game.

In other news from Hasbro, the company has seen the value in head-to-head competitive play for developing excitement among customers. Capitalizing on that this year will be  Bop it! Smash and Connect 4 Dunk games. Hasbro has sold 11.5 million Bop-its thus far.

Another battle game will be Star Wars Fighter Pods collectible figures.

Monopoly isn’t being ignored. Though not the company’s largest brand, Monopoly is still growing (“double digits 2005-2011″, counting the electronic banking edition and slot machines). And to accommodate the interest of consumers in faster game play, the next version will be Monopoly Millionaire (“first to a million wins”).

Toy news that caught my attention during the presentation:

• In the NERF Firefly line, discs are charged inside the blaster so that they light up when launched.
• There will be a Star Trek line of Kre-O constructable toys.
• Furby is coming back for the girls category

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