Welcome to Kickstart Monday! This is our weekly series featuring 2 or more crowdfunding projects that have caught our eye. We scour over platforms like Kickstarter and Gamefound to find projects that interest us. Our picks this week are:

Nice To Know! Animals

Our first project this week is Nice To Know! Animals from HOUF Games on Kickstarter.

In Nice to Know! Animals you’ll jump into an adventure for 1 to 6 players in a competitive card game where you also learn facts about a variety of wild animals. You’ll play as a zoologist researching animals and their habitats. There are 88 different species to research on 182 beautifully illustrated cards.

Each round in the game you’ll either be Studying or Researching. When you study you’ll discard cards from the shared grid to gain Research Experience. Then during Research you spend your Research Experience to gain animal cards to earn victory points and work towards completing Quest cards.

You will need to make sure your personal meeple is on the right continent to research your chosen animal or you may need to get a Sponsor Flight or pay for the flight yourself with additional Research Experience. Once the animal research counter has reached the 18th space on its track or one player has researched 5 endangered animals the game will end.

You’ll score for each of your animals your quests and for winning in competitive categories such as most animals of a certain type (carnivores, or herbivores) or most animals from a given continent. Nice to Know! Animals also has a simplified scoring method if you are playing with younger children.

Let’s take a looks at the pledge levels available for this campaign:

  • Kickstarter Special Edition – $42 – 1 copy of the Kickstarter Special Edition plus any unlocked stretch goals
  • Adoption Pledge – $110 – Kickstarter Special Edition and unlocked stretch goals plus your name and country printed on an animal card

If you are looking for an easy to learn competitive card game and the chance to learn some fun animal facts don’t overlook Nice to Know! Animals on Kickstarter. Make sure to make your pledge before the campaign ends on November 29, 2024.

Raising Robots: Friends

Our second game this week is Raising Robots: Friends from Nauvoo games on Kickstarter. 

Raising Robots is an engine building game for 1 to 6 players which was originally released in 2023. In Raising Robots players play as famous inventors assembling and upgrading robots and improving their engine. Players also use the special abilities of their inventor to gain an edge with the ultimate goal of earning the most reputation among all the inventors.

Raising Robots: Friends is a brand new expansion for the base game that introduces 3 new modules that can be added to the game in any combination, More Robots, More Inventors and Competitions and Friendships. More Robots as new robot cards with new kinds of abilities and actions for players to use. The More Inventors module brings in 6 new inventors to choose from with new unique abilities. And finally Competitions and Friendships introduces new shared objectives and friendships that players can compete for to earn bonus points and additional special abilities.

If you don’t currently own Raising Robots, not to worry! The Deluxe version of the base game will also be available again through this campaign if you missed it the first time. 

Speaking of  which let’s take a look at those pledge levels:

  • Friends – $25 – For returning players. Includes the Friends expansion and any unlocked stretch goals
  • Friends Plus – $59 – Ideal for owners of the retail version of raising robots. Includes the Friends and Pets expansions as well as the Deluxe upgrade pack to upgrade your retail version to the deluxe version
  • All In – $89 – Includes the Raising Robots Deluxe edition, Friends and Pets expansions and any unlocked stretch goals. 

Whether you are a new inventor or a veteran roboticist, there’s something for you in the Raising Robots: Friends campaign. Just make sure to visit the campaign before it ends on November 14, 2024.

Did we miss your favorite project?

Thank you for checking out this week’s Kickstart Monday! If you find these interesting or want some attention on a Kickstarter or other crowdfunded projects that you would like to read more about please share your thoughts with us via our social media or email.

Stay informed when new Kickstart Monday projects come out by following us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and following the #KickstartMonday hashtag.

Also, take a look at some of the latest articles from WiscoDice: