When we’re looking for a new game to back on Kickstarter, we often look at the components first.
There’s a reason we don’t have all our games printed on paper, board games are more fun when there are unique and interesting components! Here are a few of our favorite components that make us click that “Pledge” button!
1. Custom Pieces
Generic pieces certainly have their place, but custom game pieces allow the story of the game to be uniquely expressed on the table. One game that did this well was In The Hall of The Mountain King. We can’t imagine playing this game without those adorable pieces.
2. Imaginative Chipboard
Chipboard may seem like a boring material, but designers can use it to create amazing components. Wingspan uses chipboard to construct their birdhouse dice tower, which gives the game such a table presence.
3. Beautiful Player Boards
We are suckers for organized but stunning player boards, that allow us to focus on playing the game without needing to keep track of tons of tokens. We love how the new player boards in The Island of El Dorado are made to easily track progress and clearly show your available actions.
4. Stunning Boxes
Whether we admit it or not, board game lovers don’t just buy a game to play it, but also to display it on their shelf. The Isle of Cats exemplifies a beautiful box exterior that often catches our eye on the shelf.
5. Intentional Inserts
The number one thing that can push a game from a B to an A+ in our eyes, is the insert. When we backed On Mars by Vital Lacerda, we were so excited when the stretch goal was unlocked that included an upgraded insert for the building tiles that doubled as a display.
6. Great rulebooks
There’s nothing worse than opening up a new game and getting stuck for hours reading an incomprehensible rulebook. Accessible rulebooks like the 4-page rulebook from Tapestry make learning a game much more enjoyable.
7. Engaging player pieces
We love it when player pieces can connect with the story, and Mindclash has done that with Cerebria and most recently with Perseverance. We love the look that the Emotion miniatures add to the game and we are very excited to have dinosaur miniatures when we finally get to play Perseverance.
8. Fun Currency
Though trackers have their place, it’s so much better when a game has a fun currency. Racoon Tycoon came with paper money and could be upgraded to metal coins, which made keeping track of your money so much more enjoyable.
9. Kickstarter Exclusive Components
It is really nice when we receive exclusive components from a Kickstarter, and sometimes even expansions! Kingdom Rush is a great example of this. They had an expansion and quite a few “quests” that were unlocked throughout the campaign through stretch goals.
10. Custom Dice
Rolling dice is an awesome way to add variety to a game, but custom dice can add more nuance than a standard six-sided die. Escape: The Curse of the Temple is an amazing game that uses custom dice in its core mechanic.
We’ve Been Taking Notes
As we prepare Alynthia for Kickstarter, you can be sure you’ll be seeing some of these amazing components in the game, and the more people who pledge, the better the game can be! What are some of the components that can push you over the edge for a Kickstarter game?