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, Gamefound, and Indigogo to find projects that interest us.

There are certainly some exciting projects out in crowdfunding land. Let’s take a look at a couple of games that we think you should check out.

Kabuto Sumo: Sakura Slam

First this week we have Kabuto Sumo: Sakura Slam from BoardgameTables.com on Kickstarter.

Kabuto Sumo: Sakura Slam is a stand alone sequel to 2021’s Kabuto Sumo. In Sakura Slam 2 to 4 players will control a sumo wrestling bug known as a Kabuto Mushi. They will face off with their uniquely shaped wooden wrestler tokens in a raised wrestling ring board filled with different sized wooden discs. The goal of the game is to eliminate your opponents by sliding new discs into the arena and trying to push the completion off the edge of the board.

Sakura Slam uses the same mechanics as the original Kabuto Sumo but now features a square game board with fixed corner posts that you can use strategically when siding your pieces onto the board. Sakura Slam also features 8 new wrestlers like the Assassin Bug the Antlion and the Honey Bee each of which have their own unique power to use during the game. The new board and wrestlers are all compatible with the wrestlers from the original game and its expansions.

The Kickstarter is offering a bunch of different reward tiers starting with the base game tier for $39 USD. You can snag a copy of the game along with the new Swarm expansion at the next level for $54 USD. Further up the line for $89 you can get the game with the expansion, a Kabuto Mushi plushie and two deluxe wooden wrestling rings. And lastly the all-in pledge will include all of this and a copy of the original Kabuto sumo and the previous expansions and will run you $149 USD. If you are ready to get in the ring with Kabuto Sumo: Sakura Slam, push the competition out of the way and get to the kickstarted page to make your pledge before February 1, 2024.

Dungeon Twist

Next up this week is Dungeon Twist, a Kickstarter from Magari.fun.

Dungeon Twist is a competitive strategic tile-laying dungeon crawl game for 2 to 5 players. Players will guide one of 5 roguish heroes into an ever-changing dungeon to grab loot and treasure, steal from their opponents and with luck escape with their life and loot intact. Each turn players can add tiles to the dungeon constructing it tunnel by tunnel and room by room. Some rooms grant loot that can increase your wealth or power up your character when equipped.

While you can place up to three tiles in a turn you can also rotate tiles to open up new passageways or block in opponents or swap tiles in the dungeon for ones in your hand. Trap doors, portals and other special rooms will provide ways for you to move around the map in different ways.  You can strategically alter the dungeon to your favor and to mess with your opponents.  But what do you do if your opponents are having all the luck and finding all the valuable loot? That’s easy you rob them of course! You are a rogue after all. When robbing another character you roll dice against each other  and earn successes  based on the stats on your character card.

If you roll the most successes you can steal a token from the other player and choose to swap places with them to give yourself a positioning advantage. A thoughtful player will be looking to collect sets of three of the same dungeon tile as this will allow them to play larger and more powerful room tiles. Once enough room tiles have been played a treasure room can be added to the dungeon and players will scramble to obtain this ultimate prize. Once someone manages to escape with the treasure the remaining players will only have a short time to escape before the dungeon collapses on them. The survivor with the most wealth after escaping will be the winner.

The Core Edition of Dungeon Twist is available for ~$44 USD and also includes a print and play version that will be made available as soon as the campaign ends. The campaign for Dungeon Twist ends on February 17, 2024, so be sure to get your pledge in before then to get your copy.

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.

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