What are TOGPicks?
TOGPicks are suggestions and recommendations for new or upcoming games that we at The Offline Gamer think you might like to check out. We will pick a game each to recommend you all and then one extra outlier (“The Other Pick”) that is gaming-related or something we think is geeky and cool that you might appreciate.
On April 30th it was International Tabletop Day so we thought, ‘what better time to recommend some campaigns, so that we can all Play More Games?’ The day after, apparently.
The rhyming was not intentional… honest.
Rai’s Pick: “Thin Ice”
Campaign Ends: Sun, May 29 2016 8:00 PM BST
Cost: £20 (GBP)
URL: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1460958499/thin-ice-survival-has-never-been-so-much-fun
Thin Ice is brought to us from some of the people behind the popular ‘Lords of War’ card game and sees you and your co-players stranded on an ever-depleating ice sheet while being pursued by a polar bear. The game looks like it is insanely quick to set up and get going, it’s for 2-6 players and estimates gameplay at around 30 minutes.
You start with your ice sheet, made up of tiles in a grid, with a sleepy polar bear in the middle. When you move off a tile the ice cracks and you flip the tile over to reveal the ‘cracked side’ (which could also be a vicious killer whale come to say hi). Ice also moves around and tiles can become ‘adrift’ and are then out of play. Your goal is simple: be the last meeple standing.
From the KS campaign, the pieces look good, the premise is simple but has potential to get quite tactical as you become more and more limited for space. It is only £20, which includes worldwide shipping, and if you’re empathetically inclined it might tug on your heartstrings to Save the Polar Bears.
Also there’s a Highlander reference on the campaign and I approve of this.
Matt’s Pick: “Ghostbusters: The Board Game II”
Campaign Ends: Mon, May 9 2016 6:00 PM BST
Cost: $80 USD + Shipping
URL: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cze/ghostbusters-the-board-game-ii/
Ghostbusters: The Board Game II is the sequel to the very successful Ghostbusters: The Board Game which Cryptozoic were able to successfully fund on Kickstarter last year, raising over $1.5 million!
As a fan of Ghostbusters since I was around 4 years old, both of these games really appeal to me. I unfortunately missed the chance to back the first game last year, but I have no doubt a purchase will soon be made! While at first glance the high price may put some people off (and that doesn’t include shipping, which will be calculated after the campaign ends) once you see the quality of the game and it’s pieces I’m sure you’ll have no hesitation in backing it! With a number of stretch goals already unlocked, and lots of extras in the higher reward tiers, this is a great example of a well thought out and extremely impressive Kickstarter campaign.
The Other Pick: “Fine Art Dice Towers”
Campaign Ends: Wed, May 11 2016 4:10 PM BST
Cost: Starting at $12 USD for Basic Tower
URL: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eraptor-ludibooster/fine-art-dice-towers
If you want to add a bit of style to some of your games involving dice, you need a nice high quality dice tower to help make sure your rolls truly are as random as possible.
The dice towers as part of this campaign are available in a wide variety of hand-made designs, with various paint jobs available. These would make a great addition to the collection of any tabletop gamer, or even a gift for a friend!
