Galen's Games Mint Tin Series 2

Last Chance for KS Prices!
4 months ago – Wed, Apr 22, 2026 at 01:18:59 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

4-Week Update: Final 2 Days! A closer look at Kickabout, Hard Drive, and Series 1 Expansions.
4 months ago – Tue, Apr 21, 2026 at 08:32:59 AM

Covered in this Update:

• Campaign Ending April 23rd at 9:30 EST and prices go up after.
• Timeline
• Final Stretch Goal Announcement
• A look at Mint Mechs Playmat
• Kickabout Closer Look
• Hard Drive Closer Look
• Dice Clash: Arenas Closer Look
• Mint-Tin Monster Mash-Up Closer Look
• Accessories
• Prototypes Still Available
• Roll & Pitch Video
• Nothing But Net

We are down to the final 48 hours of the campaign!  We've already raised over $77,000 and gained over 1100 Backers!  Lots to cover here, but let's finish strong and unlock that final Promo Card!  Sharing the campaign helps a ton!

Campaign Ends Thursday at 9:30 EST

A final reminder to check your pledges and add anything you want now.  You will be able to add stuff in the pledge manager but the prices will go up.  I've detailed the price differences in the FAQ section of the Kickstarter Page.  The best deals are reserved for backers during the campaign.  If you haven't backed yet, time is running out!

Timeline:

Here is my estimated timeline for the project.  I'm adding the graphic to the main page as well. There's a fairly large cushion of time for the manufacturing and there's the possibility of staying ahead of schedule and delivering early.  I take great pride in my reputation for good communication and transparency.  I will keep you updated!

Final Stretch Goal Selected: That's an Order!

With an overwhelming majority, I'm calling it early.  That's an Order! is getting another Tactics Card if we can make it to $80,000 before the campaign ends!  Get your vote in before the end of the day tomorrow for what it will be.  We've brought back the previous unpicked options and added 3 more!

• Mobile Garrison: Use during your move or double-time action to move your base along with one of your units at no additional movement point cost. The unit does not have to start its movement at your base, but must end its movement at your base. Advance your Base into Enemy Territory for a risky aggro strategy, or move it away from the opponent's advancing troops into a more defendable region.  Lots of possibilities here!
• Minefield: Use at the start of the round before placing cards. Choose any unoccupied terrain card in the battlefield. No units may enter it for this round. Interrupt the opponent's rhythm and re-establish your own with this one.  
• Improvisation: When revealing the At Ease Command during the Action Phase, exchange your next Command Card with any card in your Cool Down.  This is the Play-Action of the game!  See what your opponent is going to do and stage the perfect response!
• Coordinated Strike: Use during your Attack action; all engaged units may attack.  Just the threat of this action will force your opponent to re-think their strategy.  A double-move followed by an attack and this play could potentially clear the map!
• Go All Out: Use during your Bombard action; all units adjacent to attacking unit may be targeted by this attack. Maybe we should just call this one "Rambo"?  A single soldier can have a devastating effect with this.  The requirement of needing to use the TAO token to activate it, is a good balance.  

A look at the Mint Mechs side of the War Playmat:

Hwa still has a bit left to do on this, but I wanted to share its current state.  You'll be able to play a full 2-player game entirely on the mat.  Note that the War Playmat (with That's an Order! on the other side) is bigger than the other playmats in order to accomodate the games.  The map area in the middle has room for the additional map cards for 3 and 4 players, but they will need to stage their mechs off to the sides of the mat (unless you have 2!)

A Closer Look at the Action Bundle and Series 1 Expansions:

With this final update, I'd like to take the opportunity to take a deeper look at the Action Bundle and Series 1 Expansions, revealing a little about what I love about these games.  I already took a deeper look at Mint Mechs and That's an Order! in Update #7.  And Mint Mechs: Challengers in Update #9.

Kickabout

Of all the submissions that I looked at for publishing for this Series, Kickabout really stood out as most perfectly hitting that sweet spot of easy to learn, fast to play, FUN, and likely to hit the table a lot.  I was also looking for a pairing for Hard Drive, which - at the time - was Breakaway, and was more of a traditional racing game.  A sports-themed game was perfect.  Let me share a bit about what I think makes the game special.

The Secret Sauce

Yomi - "Knowing the mind of the opponent"

In my opinion, Kickabout is gamified Yomi at it's best.  I'm a huge fan of 2-player head-to-head games (in case you haven't noticed), and one of the features of a 2-player game that can really determine how much play it gets, and how fresh the experience remains, is the meta that develops between two players who play with each other a lot.  

I know you know that I know that you know that....

Card reveal in Kickabout is simultaneous.  If the Defender matches the Attacker's number, they've stolen the ball and taken over as the Attacker.  If it's not a match, the Attacker has completed a pass and continues on offense.  Reading your opponent to steal the ball or complete the pass both feel great, but there's more than just luck - and knowing your opponent  - at play in your decision of which card to play...

The art of the Goal:

There are 3 factors at play in setting up a shot attempt:

#1: Number of Passes: For each successful pass (card played without being matched), you gain 1 die to roll for your shot attempt when the Shoot Card is played.  More cards played = better odds of a goal AND better odds of getting the ball stolen as your options diminish.  How far will you push your luck?

#2: Playing the Shoot Card: At the point you play your Shoot Card, it's time to roll the dice!  If the Defender plays their Save Card at the same time, they get to defend with 3 dice.  If they play it too early, it stays out of hand until a change of possession and they only roll 1 die.  In all other cases, they roll 2 dice.  You may have the perfect shot lined up, but can you fake them into playing their save?  Or will they call your bluff and steal?

#3: The number of the Shooter: The number of the last card played before the Shoot Card is your Target Number, meaning that all dice at or below that number count as shots on goal.  If any shots on goal go unblocked: GOAL!  Higher number Attackers have better odds, but also are the more obvious play.  

As you can see, there's enough at play here that no single card play is 100% obvious nor 100% random / lucky.  Knowing your opponent on defense, and subverting their expectations on offense, are the keys to victory.  

Advanced Action Cards:

Evan's initial design truly felt complete, but we needed to add a couple of small things to make it fit in as a Galen's Game.  I'm a big fan of catch-up mechanics in head-to-head games, and I suggested that we add single-use cards to the game that would be earned when you had a goal scored on you.

Not only was it fun to play around in the design space that Evan had created, these add significantly to the Yomi of the game.  You know when your opponent has an Advanced Action, but you don't know which one it is!  You can play to the advantage of the card you have OR you can play to mislead your opponent into assuming the card you have.  Lots of fun to be had here, and the Promo Card you unlocked adds yet another fun wrinkle to the game and meta game.

Solo Mode:

I've gone on at length about the sauce of the game being the Yomi.  So how does one read the mind of an automa?  Designing a solo mode for this game (a requirement for a Galen's Game) was a tough challenge!  We went through a lot of attempts before arriving at the final version.  Ultimately, we leaned into the push-your-luck aspect of the game as the primary experience, and this delivers a quick and satisfying solo experience.  The additional Advanced Action Card unlocked as a Promo also means that there is an additional Automa Behavior Card added and I will use this to be able to increase the difficulty.  Check out the playthrough to see how this mode works.

Wide Appeal:

Football / soccer fans have loved this game! But one thing I've heard over and over from players who aren't football / soccer fans is that they LOVE this game despite the theme not resonating for them.  It's a rare game where the theme is so intricately tied to the mechanics, yet loving it is not necessary to really enjoy the game! I've been able to teach this to kids as young as 6 and adults over 70; always in just a couple of minutes.  This is an amazing game to be able to teach to non-gamers and to draw in the football / soccer fan in your life.

Designer Diary:

If you haven't had a chance yet, and would like some insight into the creation of this game, Evan has a great designer's diary on BGG to check out: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3678713/designer-diary-kickabout

Hard Drive

I've known Stefan for a while, and we have been playtesting and helping each other's designs since well before I became a publisher.  When I started accepting submissions for Mint Tin Games, I approached Stefan about adapting a very clever design of his called Breakaway into a mint tin game.  Though the final game is VERY different from what we started with, it is better in every way.  This one has been a very big hit with the majority of previewers and playtesters and the key things that I hear make it stand out are: the clever and thematic gameplay; the variability, and the quick learn and play.

Retro-Futuristic Racing:

Theme: 

A lot of credit for the theme and look of the final game has to be given to artist, John de Campos. Just like he did with Mint-Tin Monster Mash-Up, John convinced us to go hard on the theme, and I am so glad we did!  From the neon retro-futuristic look and color palette, to the avatar "cars" that are both mouse cursors and racers, this looks like something that would take place in Tron.  Add to this Stefan's clever naming of the features, Mods, and Hacks in the game, and everything has an underlying thematic logic (and humor) to it that creates an immersive experience despite its small size.

Mechanics: 

It may surprise you to find out that the core movement mechanic was inspired by and adapted from a children's racing game called Monza.  Stefan saw the potential to adapt that basic idea, of rolling dice and applying the results one at a time to progress through the track, into something that would appeal to more mature gamers.  Roll your dice, use Charge, Mods and Hacks, and create the best line through the race course in front of you.  

Mapping out and executing a clever play is the highlight of Hard Drive.  There's a really satisfying amount of crunch here.  Not so much as to be AP-inducing, but enough to be able to come up with clever solutions.  Charge can be used to modify dice rolls or to Code Drift from the space you're on to a space of the same number.  Dice can be discarded to create Charge. Overclock spaces cycle your Overclock from its current on or off state, giving you an extra die at the start of the turn when it's on.  Routers push your avatar in the direction of the arrows. Logic Gates create obstacles to manuever around.  And Mods are 1-time use cards that can be used to your advantage or your opponent's disadvantage.  And then there are...

Hacks:

Each game, 2 random Hacks are drawn and placed below the course.  Dice of a value of 1 can be assigned to a Hack to activate it.  Hacks break the rules of the game.  They can turn a backwards facing Router into one that propels you forward; allow you to re-write the track in front of you by switching course cards; allow you to jump on top of a Logic Gate and traverse the upper levels; and much more!  

Variability:

Just how much game can you pack into a Mint Tin?  Within the limitations of the size and form factor, we've managed to create a system with an incredible amount of variability.  How?

Course Cards:

One thing I always try to take advantage of with Mint Tin games is the fact that cards have 2 sides.  If a card back is needed (like in Kickabout), then fine.  But if it's not, there's room for more content!  The 8 Course Cards are 2-sided and - other than the starting cards - are laid out randomly in terms of both side and order.  This combined with the way the course "evolves" as you play - by rows that have been moved through flipping over and going to the top of the track - leads to a huge number of possible courses.  Add the abilities of Hacks to alter the course, and the variability becomes - effectively - infinite.

Hacks:

There are 5 double-sided Hack Cards (6 with the Promo!), leading to a large number of possible Hack combos.  These abilities strongly influence the way the race plays out.

Dice:

And, of course, there are everyone's favorite randomizing component: dice!  Each turn is about rolling the dice and determining what you can do with everything at your disposal.  Combined with everything else mentioned, this means your tactical brain will be challenged in a new way pretty much every turn of every game!

Solo Mode:

Stefan let me take the reigns on the solo mode of this one and I'm really pleased with the results!  I'm going to say that this is definitely my favorite solo mode of this series and may even top Dice Clash as my favorite solo mode of all the Mint Tins!  What makes it fun?

Simple but Dynamic Automa:

The best Automas have minimal upkeep while still providing a dynamic challenge that feels like an opponent.  On the Automa's turn, you simply roll their dice, spend charge to increase the lowest die or increase the highest (based on difficulty chosen), and then move them a number of spaces equal to the "spread" (difference between highest and lowest die).  They choose their spaces based on a very simple and very logical decision tree.  That's it.  20-30 seconds, and you are back to your turn.

Variable challenge:

Variable difficulty is very important to a solo mode that you're going to play more than a handful of times.  Hard Drive has two ways it allows players to adjust the challenge level.  

First, you can choose the challenge level of the Automa.  This determines the amount of charge that they need before spending all of it in order to increase their spread after their roll by 1.  The higher the difficulty, the lower the Charge threshold.  You can adjust from 4 (Easy) to 1 (HAXR).

Secondly, you can add the Password Die.  Set it from 3-6 (higher number = higher challenge).  Each Course Card has 1 space on one of their sides where the number is highlighted in Green.  Whenever you land on one of these, you reduce the Password Die by 1.  Reduce it to zero before crossing the Finish Line, or it becomes a Firewall.  GAME OVER.  Adding squares you have to try to include in your race line is a really fun challenge. Challenge Level, HAXR with a Password Die of 6 is a true solo challenge!

Designer Diary:

This game went through an incredible transformation during development.  Stefan does a great job of taking you on that journey in his designer's diary for Hard Drive: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3673289/designer-diary-hard-drive

Dice Clash: Arenas

Dice Clash has been my best seller of the 1st Mint Tin Series and I was thrilled to have the excuse to dive back into this design space and create an expansion for it.  Interestingly, Chris Backe and I came up with the "Arenas" idea for our expansions completely independently.  I think what makes this a great expansion is that it both adds content and enhances the core gameplay.

The Secret Sauce:

When thinking about the design space to explore in the game, I actually started with the idea of addressing something that became apparent over many plays of the base game. Specifically, that 3's are - objectively - the worst dice to have in your pool, followed distantly by 4's. How could I give those unlucky numbers a chance to shine?  What if playing a 3 activated something to your advantage?  From this simple idea, the Arenas were born.  

The Arenas provide a side board that you can advance in by playing the Challenge Number of the Arena.  The first to the center grabs a special die to add to their pool (another design space to explore).  Not only that, if you manage to advance enough to push your opponent off the side board, you win!  

This adds a really fun wrinkle to the player's decision space.  Rather than just considering how to deplete their opponent's options until they can't respond, they have to also consider how their play advances or sets up advancement in the Arena.  The new dice can provide big advantages.  And the threat of losing in the Arena cannot be ignored!

New Characters:

This was also an opportunity to create new characters for the game.  You may recognize Jane VIII and Kuaket from Super Snipers making their Dice Clash debut!  I love seeing Hwa's reimagining of them artistically, while I had a lot of fun creating powers that explore some new design spaces.  Kuaket's Special die impacts all the spaces around it instead of having the typical immediate effect.  While Jane is able to deny the opponent's best Modifier while on Basic, and can create a space with a range of modifiers on top of her Special Die while on Adrenaline.  The new Automa is especially challenging, and adds to the fun of the great solo mode!

Mint-Tin Monster Mash-Up: Arenas

Despite its diminutive size, Mint-Tin Monster Mash-Up always turns heads at conventions or anywhere it is on a table. Everyone loves to take the pile of monster cards and start creating their own crazy Chimeras with unique "if-then" power combos!  The other aspect of the game that gets the most praise is the flashing of the hand signals during the Boost Phase.  When Chris pitched the expansion to me, he had the idea of extending the "combo" idea to the Arena itself as well as adding more Cryptid-themed monsters with new powers to play with.  As I did with the original, I added some Mad Scientists with powers that play around with previously unexplored play space.

The Secret Sauce:

More Monsters: More Monsters, more crazy combos, more absolutely amazing art by John de Campos!  This was a given.

Arenas: The Arenas bring some evolving tactical play options as well as new considerations when building your Monsters.  For veterans of the base game, you'll enjoy the way this spices up the gameplay and decision space!  Plus, more art from John!

New Doctors: Making new characters is always fun!  Dr. Evolve is able to switch out 1/2 of her Monster once each round!  This can really play into the Arenas and lets players do the most fun thing: make more monsters!   Dr. Time changes the calculus of the Boost Phase as he gains an advantage by matching the opponent!  On his Adrenaline side, if you can guess your opponent's move, you can then re-do yours to whatever you want (benefits of controlling time, I guess).  And Dr. Fission adds a more challenging Automa for the solo game.  

Accessories

I made a short video to show off the Accessories as a number of questions have come up about them:

Prototypes Still Available

I've reduced the price of the Prototype Copies to $200 (only 2 sets available).  If anyone is interested, this add-on will get you the whole set of Prototype Copies of the games (8 total tins) about a month after the KS closes.  Shipping included.  US only.   

Roll and Pitch

Evan, Stefan, Jonathan and I all joined Dan of Roll & Pitch to do quick pitches of the games! This is such a fun format.  The video goes live around 1pm EST, so if it is not working for you, it will be soon!

Nothing But Net

Lastly, I wanted to bring your attention to a very cool game that just launched on Kickstarter today: Nothing But Net.  This game, and its designer Hafiz Printer, are the reason I ended up connecting with Leo Aquino to do the art for Kickabout.  Leo's amazing style is on full display in this very cool basketball game.  Make sure to check out that amazing box / dice tower / basketball court!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hp1/nothing-but-net-2-player-head-to-head-basketball-card-game

And that concludes the last big update before the close of the campaign.  Don't forget to vote for the next promo card and share the campaign around to make sure we unlock it!

Thank you!

Galen

1000 Backers! Mint Mechs Promo Unlocked! Choose the final Stretch Goal!
4 months ago – Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 05:48:49 PM

1000 Backers!

Wow!  This was my my biggest goal (metrics-wise) for this campaign and it feels amazing to hit it with this much time to spare!  My sincerest gratitude and thanks for the faith you've put into me, this company, and the games.  

$70,000 passed: Mint Mechs Promo Unlocked!

We cruised past $70K and unlocked a 2nd Promo Card for Mint Mechs!  It's been a blast to continue to dive into the design space of this game.  I'm really looking forward to playing with these!

Final Stretch Goal: Promo Card at $80,000

Back on March 24th, I never imagined the possibility of an "$80,000 Stretch Goal".  Crazy!  But here we are, and - with a strong finish to the campaign - this one is well within reach.  What's it going to be?  

• A new Advanced Action Card for Kickabout?
• A new Hack (x2) for Hard Drive?
• A new Tactics Card for That's an Order!

I'll let the poll run until Tuesday and then add a poll to the 4 week update to narrow down the exact card(s) for the winner!  

Millennium Games Event

Just wanted to share a couple of pics from last night's event!  All the games got lots of love and lots of buzz!  And Millennium's new space is great!

That's all for now.  I'm gearing up for the big push as the campaign nears the end.  Big update Tuesday!  Thank you all again for helping this campaign reach such amazing heights!

Galen

Week 3 Update: Closer look at Mint Mechs: Challengers and more!
4 months ago – Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 06:45:21 AM

3 Week Update

TLDR: Stretch goal updates, Late Pledges and Pledge Manager Updates, shipping updates for Canada (good news), Millennium event this Friday, French and Spanish rulebook translations will be available, new art and a closer look at Mint Mechs: Challengers.

3 Weeks Down, 8 Days to Go!

In the last 21 days we have raised over $65,000, gained more than 850 Backers, and unlocked 4 Stretch Goals!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I can't wait to see where we can get to over the next 8 days.  Any predictions on when we cross 1000 backers?  I'm going to predict Saturday.  Let me know your guess in the comments.  

The campaign ends on Thursday, April 23rd at 9:30 AM EST.  I'll be reminding you, but make sure to add whatever you want before then, as the prices will go up in the Pledge Manager.

Mint Mechs: Challengers - Art Incoming!

Art is starting to come in for Mint Mechs: Challengers and I'm excited to share!  Let's take a look at the 3 new Mechs included in the expansion.

Excalibur

Excalibur will come in 2 color schemes (like Jaeger from the Base Game).  They excel at creating Sequences out of almost any dice available; and their Grappling Hook might be my favorite weapon in the game.  

Scorpion

Scorpion introduces a Poison Mechanic to the game, shortening your opponent's resource tracks or forcing them to take direct damage.  This Mech excels at forcing their opponent into Overheat but lacks a long range weapon, meaning they have to stay close to maximize their damage.  

Beetle

The Beetle is heavily armored and has the ability to lay and detonate Egg Mines around the map.  Combine this with multiple ways to push your opponents, and you've got some nasty combo damage potential!

4-player Mode:

The 2v2 mode I've designed for this game is really something special!  Some quick highlights of what makes this mode so fun:

• Shared Sequences: Teams Sequence together, meaning that the chain of ascending or descending numbers that make up a Sequence can freely be made by, and then activated, using both Mechs.  Sequences build faster and the combo potentials increase exponentially in this mode.  Setting up and pulling off punishing combos with your teammate has been a huge highlight for players!
• Salvage: If your partner gets taken out, you can raid their downed Mech for supplies.  Take any resources, replace any of your destroyed Systems with theirs, and - perhaps most powerfully - take any remaining dice from their carcass and fight on!
• Pilots:  Your Mech may have been destroyed, but as long as your partner's Mech is still alive, you aren't out of the battle yet!  Pilot Meeples eject from destroyed Mechs and can traverse the map to modify and retrieve dice for their partner.  No player elimination!

I hope I've given you a lot of good reasons to add Challengers if you're picking up Mint Mechs. Besides what has been detailed here there is also:

• Automas: Automa versions of all the new Mechs to play against in solo mode
• Upgrades: 2 copies of a new Upgrade card with 4 possible upgrades. 
• Elevated Map Spaces: 2 new double sided map cards that are added for the 3 and 4-player modes.  Accessible by teleport, but you can jump (or be knocked off) to any space on bordering cards at the cost of 1 damage.

$70,000 Stretch Goal Update:

In the last update I detailed my idea for one of the 2 new Systems for the Mint Mechs Promo Card that we will unlock as part of the FREE Promo Pack for backers.  Let me share my concept for the other one:

Harpoon Gun:

This will be a Shoulder Weapon that can be swapped in for any Mech. The untapped design space I decided to use for this weapon is the state of your opponent's System Cards, leading to some highly variable effects!  

Placement Power: 3 Damage.

Sequence Power:  1 Damage.  If in a Sequence of 4+ add:  1 Damage for every blank space on your opponent's Systems.  Every Black Die: Gain 1 Armor.  Every Green Die: Gain 1 Fuel.  Every Blue Die: Cool 1.  Every Red Die: Opponent gains 1 Overheat.

Purple Dice and Destroyed Systems provide you with no benefit.  The weapon gets slightly weaker as your opponent is closer to death (the opposite of the Jaeger's Tracer Bow).  This should be a really fun one to try to take advantage of.

Millennium Games Event: Friday, April 14th. 6-9pm.

If you live near Rochester, NY (or don't mind traveling) I will be running teaches for all of the new Mint Tin games this Friday from 6-9pm.  They are already the biggest games store in the US but they've added a brand new event space and I'm honored to be a part of its opening night! Caleb and the crew there have been very supportive of Galen's Games since Super Snipers and I always love going there.

Late Pledges and Pledge Manager:

In the next big update I will detail what to expect when the campaign ends.  But I do want to update you on the platforms I will be using.  I am enabling Late Pledges on Kickstarter and that will be active immediately after the campaign ends.  

Late Pledges 

Late Pledges allow people who didn't back during the campaign to pre-order the games and accessories and receive them at the same time I fulfill to Backers.  

If you back during the Kickstarter: You can ignore Late Pledges entirely.  You will be able to add or change your pledge in the Pledge Manager at a later date.  A reminder that Kickstarter prices are only available during the Kickstarter.  They will go up in Late Pledges and the Pledge Manager.

Pledge Manager

I will be using Backerkit for the Pledge Manager.  The Pledge Manager is the place where you will be able to update your order, change your address, and pay taxes, VAT and shipping.  You'll get an invite to it when it is ready, probably 2-3 weeks after the campaign ends.

I was considering trying out the new Kickstarter Pledge Manager.  After some research, I am confident that Backerkit remains the better choice for my backers due to its flexibility and excellent customer support.  

Canadian Shipping

Good news!  I will be using Board Game Bliss for Canadian fulfillment and that means that your costs are going down!  I will update the graphic on the main page when Hwa is able to (I've got him doing a lot!).  Here are the estimates.  The usual caveats, these are general estimates and subject to change.  Actual shipping will be charged in teh Pledge Manager closer to fulfillment.

Single Game: $8 

2-6 games tins only: $10

Everything New Bundle: $12

Mega All-In Bundle: $16

French and Spanish Translations:

Thanks to some wonderful volunteers, I am happy to announce that French and Spanish translations of the rulebooks and cards will be made available digitally.  Also, Spanish translations of the first series.  It's unclear at this time if they will be available as fully translated PnP's, but minimally you will be able to access translated text.  Since there are still assetts and rulebooks being finalized, this process won't start until a little ways after the campaign has concluded.

As a small publisher, I am dependent on licensing deals for physical versions of the games in other languages.  Based on the success of this Kickstarter already, I have no doubt that I will be announcing other language versions in the future.

Next Week:

I'll take a deeper look at Kickabout and Hard Drive as well as the expansions for Series 1.

Project to Check Out: Before the Rain

Evan Wilcock the designer of Kickabout is having a heck of a debut year already!  He's got another game going live on Kickstarter at 1pm EST today.  Please give it a look!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lakescardgame/before-the-rain

That's it for this week.  As always: Thank you for your support.

Galen

Hack Promo Unlocked - Mint Mechs chosen for the next Unlock at $70,000
4 months ago – Sat, Apr 11, 2026 at 06:02:52 AM

$60,000 and over 800 Backers

We hit another one!  A new double-sided Hack Card for Hard Drive that includes the new Hacks Quantum Computing and Restore from Backup will be added to the promo pack!  Reminder that these will be included free to all backers receiving physical pledges and will also be made available in the PnP's.  See Update #6 for details on the Hacks.  

Next Unlock Chosen: Mint Mechs!

At $70,000 we will unlock a new double-sided Systems Card for Mint Mechs.  I'm still working out the details but I'll share at least one of the ideas that I have for this: 

Remote Transporter.  This one would be a Control System which is represented by the head of the Mech, and is usually associated with Upgrading and Cooling.  The concept would be that you've attached transporter technology to your Melee Weapon, allowing you to throw it and then transport yourself to where it landed and retrieve it.  During placement and Sequencing, you would move directly to your Melee Tracker on the map and pick it back up.  This would require some planning, but would make throwing your Melee Weapon out of range less risky, and allow you to move great distances across the map.  I'm looking forward to trying this one out.

I will share details on the other side of the card as I get something more concrete. 

Kickabout Advanced Action Promo: Fake Shot

The first promo unlock was a new Advanced Action for Kickabout: Fake Shot.  Artist, Leo Aquino, has finished the art and I want to share.  But first, a quick look into the process of making these cards:

We (Evan the designer and I) send Leo the concept and an example or 3 of what we are looking for and Leo comes back with some options.  This is one of 2 pages of options he sent along.  I chose #3 as the favorite to pursue.  What would you have chosen?

Leo then does a more detailed pencil sketch that we can provide feedback on.  Sometimes there's a decent amount of back and forth at this stage.  This time, I think he nailed it on the first try!

Final Versions!  We still need to add the titles and the Automa icons to the blue jersey version.  Cool, right?

Millenium Games Event

I'm going to be doing a 3-week update on Tuesday and I'll share more info then, but I will be at Millenium Games in Rochester, NY at the biggest board game store in the whole US to teach the new mint tin games in their brand new events space!  Event is 6-9pm.  

National Board Game Day!

Did you know that today is National Board Game Day?  I'm going to be working with my 6 year old to help her make a playable prototype of a game concept she's been working on.  And maybe playing some Star Wars the Deckbuilding Game with my wife later on.  How are you celebrating?  Tell me in the comments.

Thanks everyone!  Keep sharing the campaign and let's get to that next unlock!

Galen