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Crowdsurfing - April 15, 2026

The Dice Tower Apr 15, 2026
Transcript 1:20:13

Hello everybody and welcome back to Crowd Surfing here on the Dice Tower. My name is Z.

I'm Camila.

I'm Mike. Today we're going to be taking a look at a whole bunch of stuff on Game Found on Kickstarter. there. No other no other platforms,

including one of the projects we're looking at today being the highest funded game project

ever. That makes sense cuz it is crazy.

This is a historic week. Today's a historic day. A day that will live in infamy.

What is it? What is it surpassing?

Everything is

No, I mean like what was what was number one? Wasn't it like was it

I think it was Avatar Fire and Ash

kid.

Oh, what was what was it before?

I don't know. Some dungeon. Who gives a crap or

Okay, let's move on.

Everything is dead now except for this one.

Yeah, thank you. Um,

before we get to all these things though, this show is sponsored by Game Found. Let's take a look at something that's on Game Found right now. Today's project we're looking at is Claustrophobia 1692. You may have said, "Well, I've heard of this game before." Yes, it's one we've talked about many times. This is a reprint and a remaking of this game from Dvere. It's a game that Z Garcia loves quite a bit. It's an asymmetrical twoplayer back and forth game in which one person is playing a bunch of fugitives who are forced underground to fight the other player who is running a pile of different demons. It's kind of a dungeon crawl back and forth twoplayer tactical game with some interesting dice combat. This particular uh game found project has the game where you can get it again but also has a brand new expansion day profoundis 1692 with a couple new heroes of sorts mercenaries lancer and then a pile of new monsters.

Look at these different monsters you can get in here and lots of tiles more cards just a ton more content for the game. So, go check it out. It's on Gamefound right now. Get some paint pens, paint up these miniatures, get a bunch of different add-ons. If you've never played the game before, this is your chance to jump on board. Or if you want to get the new stuff also here, all found on Game Found Claustrophobia 1692.

All right, that is Claustrophobia, baby. Very excited for that. Very excited for that.

I mean, spoiler

spoiler. Okay, it's not this week.

It's not this week. We're not covering it yet ourselves here. You know what? We are covering the highest funding project ever. Let's take a look at

the official

Cyberpunk 20 uh uh trading card game. I realize it doesn't say Cyberpunk 2077 actually, but it is

it is using that look, that imagery, that setting

and it is making $22 million.

35,000 backers. It's nuts. And I So it's in the past, I think the biggest projects have been things like miniature heavy games, right? Where you're going to get 17 boxes and this is a trading card game. And I think

that's the part that is surprising to me. No, because if you think about it, what if Lorana had been crowdfunded?

Well, we did kind of see that with Altered was crowdfunded and that one did really well, too. an IP, right? Altered was a new thing.

Correct.

So, I think part of this is IP, although this is certainly not as big as Disney. Um, but we're I'm using that as a false example, but I don't know. The the the whole trading card game element of it is interesting. I believe the one that's getting by far the most pledges is the one that's about $350,

which makes sense if it's like, hey, the other ones before have been big miniature pledges because that's, you know, a little bit more, but that not completely outside of that price range. I wonder how much of this is a like like with TCG specifically, do we see more of a snowball effect because it's like, oh, it's taking off. Oh, this might actually come first. Oh, a lot of people are going to play it. Therefore, more people back it the more it the higher it goes because they know it's going to be out there. It's not

going to be supported. There going to be plenty of people to play it with. Yeah. It's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy, I guess. But

Right. Right. it once it hits that critical point.

Mhm.

Then you are more likely to run into someone else who backed it and someone you can play against. Though of course you can just back enough of it to play

to to make decks for for two players, right? You can certainly do that. But you're right. But I think the more one of these makes, the more it attracts that invitation and

the more likely a store will jump in and get a bunch of it because they're thinking it's um

likely to have an aftermarket. But

but it is a trading card game. A certain part of this is speculation. This could

this could be it. This could be the last release, right,

for this trading card game, especially considering this has the official Cyberpunk license, but it is from a company.

This is their first I've never heard of. This is their first thing. This is their first creative five things they've ever backed.

So strange.

Weird co even.

Yeah.

How uh how many people are doing the allin $7,000? I'm sorry, $8,000. I was going to say I'm almost embarrassed to admit how old I was before I owned a car

that cost more than $7,999.

Oh my gosh. I I was in my 30s.

I was in my 30s.

I was in my late 20s, early 30s.

Yeah. I was in my 50s.

Well,

dream dream big.

Followup question.

Yeah.

Anyway, uh this is neat. I mean, there is this definitely a renaissance of trading card games right now. Um

and this one looks cool. I I got some small graphical issues with some of the writing on the cards I find to be a little problematic. There were some treatments that had the words

on like glowing on the cards and they looked like they were really hard to read.

Is that just a special foil effect or is that like

Yeah, I don't know if that's like every every card or

just a weird one. I you know I don't know. But

there's so much

this is very much not for me so I can't comment much on it on my guy. more of a I mean I you I think would speak more to this cuz you do play trading card games.

I do.

I avoid them like

Cyber Punk. You like the theme like Yeah.

This is one I'll definitely check out once it comes out. I was not inspired to back it based on everything they showed here.

But I think some of that is trepidation on based on this company I've never heard of. And the fact that they're making $22 million is actually scaring me more than helping me. M

I'm like that's a lot of money. That is mighty tempting to just go to the Bahamas with 22

million. Which one doesn't have an extradition policy?

Anyway, uh Stefan Feld City Collection 1 through8 Kickstarter special edition.

I don't like to lead with negativity. I mean, I know sometimes we can be critical on this show. That's part of it. And I also like to think that we celebrate projects that we think are uh particularly well done. I have a fundamental I I'm really having trouble with Queen at this point. I really really am. There have been a lot of things I felt were

uh odd at at best. I think it's relatively clear now that they really don't use crowdfunding uh the way that it was originally. You know, there's nothing illegal about it, but this is clearly a pre-order system,

right? Which we have seen more and more of.

We have seen more and more of. It's like it feels like they just keep releasing the same stuff over and over and over again and we're going to put a slipcase on this. We're going to switch to wooden components on this and they're going to have some completionists that feel compelled to buy all this stuff. Maybe second, third copies of the same game. Now, that's, you know, that's not necessarily on Queen, although I think it plays into it, but most people that are backing this are backing the silly looking soccer game.

Really? Wow. The vast majority of people that are backing this are backing it for that soccer failed game.

Failed fanatics maybe. I don't know. Uh yeah.

Yeah. We also talk a lot about games that when you jump into a game that's three or four in the series, you don't know if you've missed the boat. You know, I mean, I talk sometimes about Garfield. I don't know where to start at that this point. Like, do I start with the um West what is it? West Sea or the West Kingdom or do I jump into, you know, wherever. You don't know where to jump in. But that's the impetus is on me because those are individual games. Here it feels like that same thing. Like I don't know where to start. But it's like I don't know where to start because do I already own this game because it's been renamed? Do I own this game because I have a different box cover? Do I already own this game with different components? Like it's so confusing because it's gone through these iterations and it's not even new games. It's like is this a new game or is it a game that already existed? Is it a rename of a game? Is it just a new box? Is it just a new insert? Which I'm a huge fan of folded space inert. I love it. I think it's fantastic that they're working with companies to do official ones, but at this point it's like I'm so lost in this product and what I may or may not already have or may or may not have played out of the game with life and be ready to replace.

Like it's just convoluted and just bulky at this point.

Yeah, I already had a problem with them taking games that existed and naming them after not just cities now, but oftentimes a different city. These games were sometimes named a city's name. Bruge now is a different city.

Yeah. So that already was a little, you know, confusing. But the fact that they cannot to save their lives release each of these ones,

right?

Just put it out once. Can keep selling it to me. I don't even care. You keep doing this.

But you keep doing the tiniest changes and selling it again. Like Mike was saying, now wooden pieces, whereas before they were deluxe plast, and you're like, wait, it's not even two versions. They are just they microchanged things and release it again.

Now it's a slightly different cover. Now it's a slightly different box size,

right?

It's wild and confusing. I don't understand. I can't I can't imagine buying any one of these games secondhand. I would have no idea what I'm getting.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

How printing is this? You know what I mean?

Edition. Is this the one with the big box? Is this the one with the insert and the and the and the wooden pieces? Is it not?

Is it just the box? Cuz a lot of these, like they're saying in the comments here, a lot of these are just like a box with the insert. So then just

sell me the insert or why didn't the insert fit the box I have? Why do I need a new box with it? Like it's just nah. It's so confusing.

It's wild. It's wild.

They've pretty much lost me in the crowdfunding space.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I like some of their games, but you know what? I will buy it at the convention. I know what I'm getting.

Yep.

Yeah.

All right. Next up, we've got Acres familyowned feuding.

Family feud.

Hey, this is an interesting

says

I think it's a really interesting um theme. You know, it's like, hey, you have this land, this plot of land, and you and your family

are fighting over it.

are fighting over it. you know, whoever whoever cuts down the tree gets the gets the wood and that, you know, so it's a it's a really interesting theme.

Yeah. And no, I agree with you. It's it's definitely kind of leaning into the the natury kind of vibe, but it's not really a cozy, right? Because it's area control and it's like fighting over your family farm. And so, I do appreciate that they're taking a slightly different approach. It also very much, this one very much seems like a labor of love.

Um, you know, a small team. Uh, you know, this kind of feels like a crowdfunded game, right? Which is a huge contrast to what we just saw. I don't know that I'm terribly interested in the mechanics of the game. Uh, from what I saw, but um, I mean, I I think that they're doing, you know, a good job with kind of putting this page together. Again, this feels like a very small operation to me.

I will say I was really interested in the the shipping of it here. Did you see? Is it? Yeah, there it is. You're on the US. $4 for shipping. They're partnering with All Play, it says.

That's what it is.

Yeah. The designer works for All Play.

Um, and so I think that there's Yeah. So, probably a partnership there. It's not an All Play game.

No. And that's being subsidized, just to be clear. That's a thing that, you know,

you know, AllPlay does and a lot of the partners will do that. And uh, so yeah, it's great. I mean, it's it's very

backer friendly. Yes, I really love that cover. I I Yeah, I think it looks good. I'd be interested to try it for sure. Next up, we've got Meeple Vacation Water Park. I'm guessing there will be other Mele Vacation games. I'm not sure.

I don't know because this one looks like it's not going to fund.

Yeah, it might not fund. It does have five days to go. It might it might fund. Um, so this is from Play to Z and it is a

It's like a modular board with different parts of a water park that the Meeples get to go and have fun in. I am not a big fan of the whole

like like mele anything and lead really kind of like lead leading with that whole

wink gamers. This is for us by us meeples.

I'm not a fan of that.

This could just be humans. I don't know why it has to be like game pieces having fun at a water park, but whatever. That's neither here nor there. I just find that theme kind of too uh self-reerential. I I don't love that. It kind of immediately limits the scope of the game also, right? It's because you have to if you put this on a target shelf, right? They're gonna be like, "What is a mele?

What's a mele?"

You know, that is a very hobby gamer term.

Um, and so so I think it does kind of limit the scope of that. But that being said, it's kind of one of those little miniame kind of things that has I

tend to like.

I do too. And so I was intrigued by that part.

I like the water park theme. Yes.

Other like you said, other than the mele part of it, I mean, I'm sorry. I like the gimmick of the water slide and how it can be used for multiple different things.

You know, agree.

The one thing I'm not convinced about is the element that I saw in another game. I want to say Rolling Heights had this where you're essentially the direction that the meles land

will determine where they can go.

I I'm not so sure how well that works. I'm not saying it doesn't. I will say that I wasn't too too enamored by that when I played it in in in I think it was Rolling Heights, but

I've seen it in one other game. I forget what it is now. It was like an area control jungly themed game. It was a jungle themed game

and you would roll meeples and there's just something very unnatural about that. I had to like fight that feeling of

this doesn't seem right. I should just roll dice and then pretend like one or two he's on his side,

right?

Three or four he's standing up.

But it does work. it does give you different results,

but I do wonder like I think a lot for me a lot of it's going to come down to how are those locations um not attributed but like what's the scope of them because

I and maybe I'm completely wrong. I'm not a statistician but statistitian but I don't know how often is it going to land straight up normal. I feel like it wouldn't be very often, you know,

I feel like there would be probabilities on that,

right? And so it's like as long as those probabilities match where you're able to go, you know, because that I could see that being a source of frustration or maybe there's mitigation, something like that.

It could also be that we're

being way too serious about a game that's meant to be very light, silly, family fun, cuz that really is what it's what it's going for. And I do really I I've mentioned many times I like the idea of mini games.

They are very seldom done well, but I do like the idea of mini games. Um, and I don't know. I'm very conflicted about this one because the Mele thing is off-putting to me. Um, but I really like kind of the theme and what it's trying to do. I I will certainly This is one I would absolutely play. Yeah.

I'm not sure I would back it sight unseen.

It's one that I went on a journey with the Mele. At first, I was like, especially them doing like weird poses and looking weird. I didn't love it. But as I went, I feel like the water park theme overtook that and I was I was charmed by it for sure.

This is my favorite part right here. Putting together the board.

Yeah. with the different scoring pieces, you like build a different board, the corners, you know, it's just like, oh, that's neat. I I like that it's

the board is modular, you know?

That reminds me of like Floresa, which I liked that a lot.

Yeah. Yeah. And then you have mele families as well, so you can like

get yourself the cave caveman meeples or, you know, explorer meeples. That's cute. If you're a huge mele fan, then sure thing.

That's true. That's right.

That's a lot of individual screen printing, though.

Yeah. Yeah. All right, next up we've got flip flop free.

Oh, I missed that.

Which I could see why you missed it. You might have like sort of glanced and over it and moved on.

Used it with a quite

It's an abstract. Um it's incredibly again a very small uh publication. I think this is the same guy.

Is it the same one that's done a bunch of them?

Yeah. Like

Yeah,

I think Tom has backed some of these too. It may be a different person. There's a guy that does them on like um what do you call them when you put a hot thing on a on a

a hot ceramic?

Yeah, like a ceramic tile that you put something hot on to keep it from burning your table.

Same guy like a coaster.

It's this game right here that we've seen. We've seen this game.

Um

I've seen

Yeah, Tobito. I've played that one.

Right, right, right. I've seen a couple of these in person.

Mhm. I heard the pipe one, this one, the aqua pipe had some production issues, right?

Oh, I remember us talking about that one and we're like, "This one looks interesting as long as there's not production issues."

Yeah. And there were because we we actually backed that one.

So, this is an abstract. It's a it's it's this gentleman who who makes abstract games and he's done quite a few of them. um you know if you want it from looking at it and watching a three minute video I was not intrigued by this or interested but I don't know I think for me abstracts also need to bring a certain level of beauty to the table you know physical beauty and I don't find this one

attractive I don't like the look of these pieces the the

the you know kitchen back back backsplash look is not one I like for for an abstract Yeah, I'm not I'm not I'm not really taken with this one.

All right, next up we've got Dungeons and Draft. This is a dungeon crawling drinking game, and I will never understand, again, this goes in the same bucket as using Meeple in your game.

I will never understand making a drinking game with a bunch of rules,

right?

Either make a full-fledged game and you know what? You can drink any way with any of them

or make a drinking game that you don't have to be a super gamer to play,

right?

I will never grasp that.

I don't know. To me, though, I mean, yes, this is a drinking game, but I mean, you're talking you've got I mean, this is like half of a flight out here. You know what I mean? Like, not that much.

But there's cards you play that refill all your cups.

Oh, I missed that one.

Oh, that's the only card I play. I was saying this looks like Heroes of Arcadia to me, right? I Mike brought it up and I was getting ready to say it. I just didn't want to cut you guys off. But um also I know this is probably me being a little bit uh precious about stuff, but I don't particularly like games where you've got glasses full of liquid and it's meant to be going in and around cardboard pieces.

Yeah, I guess I guess because I know what this is going into it. I thought it looked really cute. I like the idea. It was actually reminding me a lot of uh the Misborn series, you know, where they take the metal and then it gives them some like power up. Uh it kind of reminded me of me this because you have the four glasses with the four different elements. And so in order to use a card, you know, you need to have some of that that wins. So you have to take, you know, half of the that's not a shot. It's a uh

you know, just a little bit of that drink, you know, in order to be able to play that card. I was like, "Oh, I I thought that was kind of a cute tie." So yeah, I don't know. I thought that this was I thought this was cute.

Let me ask you a question. Would you find it cute if you were using water as your liquid or would you be less interested in the game?

There you go.

Like Neo to put in it or anything? Is it just No, I like No, I like this.

The cards. I mean, the cards I think look terrible. I think those cards look terrible.

This is a terrible looking game that is salvaged by you being like, "But it's a drinking game." Get it? You can't come after us. It's not supposed to be serious. Shut up. No, your game looks like crap. I don't care. It's a drinking game. I can also do that with

Cascadia. I was so

You've never seen me play Cascadia. Let me tell you what. I love it.

I just find this incredibly derivative looking. I don't know. The whole nothing about this is talking to me. And then again, that all the writing, all the text, all the There's one image of the board that I was like, are you kidding me?

This

Yeah,

I'm sorry. No, I'm not playing this game and drinking.

That's that's the setup, right?

Before the game. I mean,

the characters go on the numbers, the monsters go on the little thingy bobbies. But yeah,

but you're just moving around and fighting them and that's what your power up and plays are. Yeah. No, I I disagree. I think this is this would be fun fun to try.

Get the pick of the week ready.

All right, we've got Gayen's games. Mint

series two.

I know we have series one kicking around here. I've looked at them a little tiny bit.

Um, but they are games that come in a very small tin. Very small. And um I guess they're doing different kinds of games now. The ones I've seen kicking around are these right here. Series one.

Yep.

The Verdant Arizona here and the Heritage Farms are the ones I've sort of taken a quick look at. And they're they seem cute. They seem very, you know, small in scope, but how could they not be?

They're one and two-player games, all of them.

Right. Right.

I feel like this is very comparable to me to like the Buttonshy games. They're going to be small in scope. They're going to be, you know, a limited number of components, something like that. And it's all going to come down to the design because I feel like the buttonsh there's a wide uh you know swath of how I feel about them, you know, depending. So I think it's going to come down to that same kind of thing is how well is it designed? And I will say this is a small company it seems like uh a very small company it seems. add kudos to this page because I love that there's multiple games coming out and he has a dedicated section to each one with a really good not a how to play but a overview so you understand the scope of the game what you're doing in the game has a couple quotes a video if you want like there's a whole section dedicated to each one individually so you know what you're getting and I feel like a lot of times when we see these combo pages especially from a small company we're like but what am I getting from you I don't understand why do I'm only interested in one which one How's it going? Like this is very very well organized.

Yeah, this one almost reminds me a little bit more although it sticks the one half done in the other one in a lot of ways more of the pack of games than it does the the wallet games.

It's kind of between those two things, right? Though this one is able to include componentry above and beyond cards, which neither one of those does, right?

Correct. That's correct.

Um yeah, this is cute. And again, kudos for doing your own little line of games. Um, and and they are

thematically at the very least very different from one another, which I think is a good way to tackle that. You know, try to appeal to different people.

These are the types of uh games that are going to get a f a following, right? They're going to find ones they like and they're going to want to buy. It's kind of like the tiny epic things. Like once you find a couple you like, you kind of want to get all of them.

And they also look like ones that are, you know, kind of like the little pack of games if they're up at the checkout, you know, at your local game store. Sure, I'll pick one. You know, I like the button. I like the the

uh tiny games, you know, whatever. This is I think it's very good for that.

All right, next up we've got Neopets uh Neopia Quest here by Ghostfire Gaming, who does a lot of RPGs normally, but they have a couple of board games they put out. Um, obviously based on Neopets. I don't know if you guys know Neopets.

I don't know. I felt immediately like

I I'm like, okay, this is for people that know this IP very well, and that's not me. You know what I mean? But I mean, it's a good-look page.

Yeah, I'm definitely like very very passing, you know, familiarity with this. I've seen the trading card game, both the old trading card game and the new Battle Dome trading card game. I've seen both of those. I've messed with both of those.

That's it. That's my familiarity with this. I I assume there's a a video game or maybe a cartoon. I don't know.

I don't know. Um

Yeah. I would imagine this has probably a lot of licensed products.

Yeah. Yes, I feel like this is something that's, you know, if you have nostalgia for it, but I definitely missed that.

Right. You know what you're getting. The the the It looks very well put together. Like graphic design on everything looks sharp.

Uh the

the idea of having your little standandy and moving around the locations. There's a wakeup track even or like a time track. I mean, the whole thing looks

well put together.

Yeah,

it seems like a neat game, you know. Um, so yeah, kudos for that. I just feel way on the outside of

unfortunately I don't think the the game while it looks interesting, it definitely feels like it feels so nostalgiaheavy that it's like because I don't have that, I'm like, I'm good. Unfortunately, I don't think it um overcomes that.

Yeah,

it feels very fan service friendly. It's like we're giving the Neopets fans what they want.

Yeah,

absolutely. All right, next up we've got Drop Drive, Second Sun. Um, drop drive is a a like a dexterity type game. You're dropping everything onto this thing inside of a box

and then based on where everything landed, you play from there. It's not a game I've played. It's not the kind of thing I enjoy. I don't know if you guys have played it.

I've played it.

I I have not played it. I I don't believe I played it. I think I ran the stream one time, so I can't remember if I was in the stream or if I was just running it, but I remember being really intrigued by it. I think this is one that I might like. Um, yeah. And so this this one here is going to bring that new little blue area we're seeing there with little doors that you have to jump through to get So yeah, you you drop the components down and then you have to run around and and pick them up. Um, you know, so it's going to have the measuring in it and stuff like that,

triangulation type stuff.

Yeah. And I'm I'm very intrigued by this this I think again this is a well done expansion because it made me think about the base game that I haven't played and I was like oh yeah that's right I wanted to try that at some point you know and it kind of revived that that interest. So yeah I'm think this looks good.

I need to pull back. I have not played drop drive. I played dungeon drop.

Got it. Okay.

Which was like an earlier version of this system but it's kind of a similar system as far as I know. Right. This one looks like it has even more dexterity elements maybe than Dungeon Drop did. That one was more of like a a dungeon crawl type of a theme. But I can tell you that this um these series of games have a pretty devoted

following. They are wellliked, I think. Yeah.

Yeah.

Mike Heler likes this. All right, Mike, we need to make this happen.

Mike saying it's much better than Dungeon Drop. Well, I have not tried it, but uh I will not take your word for it. I'll have to play it myself.

There it is. All right. Next up, uh, Escape from Mars, a sci-fi survival horror solo co-op game.

Hidden Trader meets sci-fi horror survival in the solo and co-op deduction game. I mean,

that's a whole lot of stuff.

Hidden trailer is only in the solo, right? Because I think in the solo, you're trying to find who the traitor is, but in the co-op, it's kind of becomes

I I think a little I didn't I didn't go too too deep with it.

It's so weird. Like even at the top they're like echoing the tension of the thing and dead of winter. Then you go down a little bit

and they're like like the thing and alien. I'm like those are images of those things.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know if I love how much they keep going like it's like the thing, you know, the thing alien dead of winter.

Okay. All right. Sure.

At least their game doesn't look like it. it is more like, hey, it's going to have that feeling, so I'll give them that. Um, but it was weird how they kept throwing that out there kind of as the hook of the game instead of using the game itself as a hook.

Also, I don't think this is the best designed page. It looks a bit overwhelming. That's not a great kind of graphical layout of the components. In my opinion, it looks like a whole lot just there. And the the board looks a bit

busy to me. It's a huge block. When I get to this image here

and this list of everything, I'm like, I think I'm out.

Yeah.

And that that's not an amount of componentry that would normally scare me off of a game. Yeah.

But you give it to me in a list like that, like instead of telling me showing me one

one of these drops of water tokens

times 14.

Yeah,

that's a lot less intimidating than that.

Yeah,

that's just a lot of crap. I'm out.

This looks like too much. The board looks mega busy.

Well, I think unfortunately that's the barrier that you hit before you even get to the how to play. Then when you get to the how to play, it's like, oh, we're seeing these zoomedin images. We're getting like an idea of the phases and the feel of the game, which I think does the game a lot of credit. And it's like, I'm back in. But unfortunately, there's that big wall that I don't know that if I well, I'll be honest. If I wasn't researching it for this show, I probably would not have made it past that wall. Right.

One of the things we don't talk about on this show that often is, and you know, I don't want to speak for you too, but I'll speak for myself,

the the skills involved in designing a game

are not necessarily the same skills that are needed to build a Kickstarter or or gamefound page.

Y

right. And so I think a lot of times these are things that people don't necessarily know, but this is just giving feedback, you know, and it may not it may be the minority opinion, but I can tell you from my opinion, it sounds like from Z's opinion as well, that's something that to to learn from is that that's a bit offputting, right? It it looks unnecessarily convoluted. Like you said, you may lose people before they get to the how to play part

to what your hook should be, which is the game and the mechanisms of the

Well, here's another perfect example of this. There's a how to play right here.

Phase one, phase two, phase three, and then after that in short. No, no, no, no, no. In short first.

Mhm.

Okay. Look at every project from Awaken Realms. Look at every project from Seimon when they were doing their projects.

I need the in short first.

Yeah.

It's always too long, didn't read, and then let me go and do that.

Yeah. You got to shock me, hook me. Why this game? But like in as quickly a time frame as possible,

then a little deeper, then a little deeper. Still the same way you teach games. Okay?

Yeah. I don't start teaching you a game about, you know, terror in Mars and then go in this game. Step one, we're going to put out the board. Step two, I'm going to shuffle up the deck. No, no, no, no. What are we doing?

How do we win?

How do I win? What am I doing? Who am I in this world? Yeah, I got to start there.

And I will say they set up an intriguing theme. It's it's a theme that I think a lot of people could get behind. Survival horror is popular and and then you put it in a space thing. You're you're getting, you know, a pretty big ven diagram.

It's like the thing,

right? I think that Yeah, you you have to kind of hook people,

get them into that theme, show them very quickly what your game is about, how you win, how you play.

Right. Absolutely.

Don't go with the minutiae first.

Right. Because wash all that away that we just said. Yeah.

And this looks pretty interesting. It does look like you're going around. You have a couple actions you can do in order to flush out where the trader is and, you know, meet some goals and accomplishments. And I it is one that is very intriguing. I think there is a lot here that is interesting. Yeah. Unfortunately, the page just doesn't isn't doing that that work for me. It's a lot of work I have to do on my own. So, yeah, I'm interested in this. I'm

I I again, I'm back and forth. I'm fighting against the page, but yes, if it showed up in office, absolutely, I'd be interested in trying. That's a fair point.

It's not like I'm I'm on the other side of that of that line. They pushed you out too far. Yeah. No, I'm not interested.

Yeah.

And I even like these kind of solo games. I like the theme, but this game does not look appealing to me.

All right. Open chess is a customizable smart chess board kit. Um, which looks great. It's the idea of all the spaces are wired and you can see right here. And then it will light up. It will like

upon selecting a piece tell you it tells you where that piece can go. It shows you

uh just saw an image of it right here. Yeah.

So that pawn lets you know like hey I can go one or two spaces forward. That's how I can move. I love that. Yeah,

but I'm not sure about it. Maybe you guys can speak to that. Am I supposed to put this together? Is it like just something that comes built but then you can hack it? I I the impression I get is that it's going to be something that's relatively simple, but you can get more advanced if you want to as far as like this building your own game, but it sounds like it's pretty easy to swap things in and out.

Um,

but again, it's a technology thing, which is always, you know, a little bit of a thing to think about. Um, but I think that what this is going to appeal to are the people there already, and you know, there's a a little sarcastic comment there. I get it. Uh, electronic chess finally, it's been around forever, right? But uh this is kind of I think trying to like bridge the gap between purely electronic chess and tabletop chess. Giving you a little bit of both

and a teaching tool.

And a teaching tool. Yeah. Yeah.

And eventually you could, you know, use it and turn not use the lights and that kind of stuff, you know.

Yeah, for sure. What's the cost on I didn't I didn't really pay attention to that.

Uh again, it's this is what this is what concerns me. The fact that they keep calling it a kit.

Yeah. No, I think you can put it together.

It does show it. Yeah. So, it has like the motherboard. we'll call it, you know, that's just that and then it seems like you put it inside the box and put the thing on top. So, it looks very easy to put together. That is looks that way.

So, there's no soldering, none of the, you know, it's that back there.

It's right there. You just kind of lay it on top and maybe snap in or something,

right?

That's cool. Yeah. It's expensive though for that.

It is.

Agreed.

Uh, Ravoria,

I love this cover.

This cover is great, right? I know. Yeah,

I I mean I just love the idea of the battle elephant. That's always been something that is cool, but this is not Hannibal's war elephants. This is futuristic, but you still got your elephant, right? There's something very uh imposing about that.

You guys,

I love the look of this game. Yeah. You know, I'm a sucker too for those asymmetric um factions, you know, and in this one, it's like you play a leader who has an asymmetric win condition or point condition, right? you know, so what you can do is maybe a little bit different, but more than that, you get points differently. And so you're trying to kind of sus out who is who and how are they trying to get points. And um this is an interesting, I think, entry into that social deduction because it's not just find out who they are, but they're trying to get points that way as well, asymmetrically, maybe trying to hide their end goals. I thought this was interesting. Again, I don't want to harp too much on poorly put together uh pages, but

there's not a how to play outside of videos, and that is something I'm a

super super hung up on. I I don't like that. Like, don't make me go watch content to find I Thank you guys for watching content, of course, but we appreciate it. But, uh but don't make me watch content to hook me on your game if I want to know more. give me at least like you were saying that highlevel overview so I know it's worth watching a 45 minute video my only option should not be a 45 minute video investment

right right at that point that's asking a lot for me to back you gota

especially when your rule book's in progress

yeah you gota like keep me going in smaller chunks I guess you know like leave me a a trail of breadcrumbs um I will say the more I looked at this the less interested I was it just kept going.

It did.

That first image looks amazing. You look at the factions and I'm like, "Yeah,

this is kind of post-apocalyptic." I saw the board and I'm like, "Yeah, okay. This looks good."

And then there's the I did watch a piece of the playthrough. I jumped around in a little bit. I'm just like, "Oh, it just keeps going. This game just keeps going."

Yeah, that worries.

There's just more. Every time I turned a little corner or I looked at a new, there's more, right?

This is something else. I haven't seen a new aspect. social this. Figure out that. Now the tiles are made up of like three tiles. Each tile has pieces that make up the t. That's a lot. I just it just kept going and I'm like, ah, I wish you would have kind of quit around, you know, here. Like this. I love the look.

I like the board.

Oh, this game seems heavy. It seems And I don't just mean like mechanically dense and engaging. I mean like literally ponderous, heavy. I have to slog through this thing. But again, I think part of that is complicated because there's not a overview scope of what's going on. Your entry point is a 45minute video. And I know we're seeing here in the comments like, "Hey, I need a how to play. I need a good, you know, playth through." I agree. I want those things. I want that 45minute video. But I also need to know what I'm getting into beforehand. And I think if you have that overview, then maybe as you're digging through that minutia, it's more intriguing because you understand what the game is doing and where it's going.

Yeah. So, here's the thing. It tells you a whole lot about the game on this page, right? Like if you're willing to sit down and read all of this and watch the video, you'll have probably very few questions. You know what I mean? But again, we're looking for something. You got to hook people. What's what, you know, and the cover did, right? I was in for for a good while, but as as you said, Z, it's just like, okay, this is more than I can handle right now.

Yeah. Yeah.

Just everything. It's like even this board setup board generator in development to merely copy and facilitate the setup with randomized modular board and tokens. Okay. And then different difficulty levels for all players. So there's an app also.

Okay. There's also an app for setting up that they're working on. It's another thing. This game just kept going.

Yeah.

And I was so intrigued. But but again, the more I look, the slightly more concerned I am, and the less willing I am to kind of jump in.

This does not look like a game I want to play for three hours, and it certainly doesn't look like a game I want to teach for an hour and a half. And again, I'm making huge assumptions there, but it's based off of playing a lot of board games over the years, and this kind of has that feel of a game that's not going to be the easiest to teach.

But again, if that's not the case with this game, the impetus is on them to show you that's not the case, because that's the feeling you're walking away from after slogging through the page a little bit.

Yeah, like I said, I watched a little bit of the how to play and it's it's a lot. It seems like a lot of game.

Now, having said that, I fall into that camp you were talking about where if this was here, I'm going to look through it. I'm going to be intrigued. I'm going to open it up. I'm going to read it. I'm going to I'm going to be intrigued enough to pick this up and look through it.

Absolutely.

Uh but that's because I love the look of this game.

Yeah.

All right. Next up, we've got Flag Rascals, a capture the flag board game with little kids on an abstracted board right here.

Uh to me, this kind of looked like a very indie toy soldiers or whatever. Toy battle. Battle. That's exactly what the same exact game I thought of. That's funny. I say on this one though, kudos for hitting that nostalgia. I think this artwork absolutely captures that capture the flag, you know, feeling. See? Um, I I think I think kudos on the theme. Kudos on nailing it with the look here and building your teams of, you know, uh, different clicks and cool and stuff like that. Like I think that is just absolutely stellar for me. Unfortunately, I don't love toy battle. I find it, you know, perfectly passable. Um,

this may not play anything like

it might not, but that's the, you know, kind of what I was what I was getting for. But that being said, this one has me with the nostalgia, with the look, with the just theme in general. I I find this super super charming.

Yeah, this looks like it could be a mass market, but it is, but it also looks like it could be a mass market game.

Yeah, I agree. I agree.

Yeah.

Yeah. This has a really cute

cute indie vibe and look.

I think Go ahead.

No, I was I love that idea of like hide your flag. I remember like I grew up playing that, you know, I grew up on, you know, backwoods farm, you know, so it's like I love we would go and hide our flags up in the trees and then you go out in the teams. Like I there there's so much of that theme that does seem to be kind of evoked in this.

Yeah. I just think it's a very consistent look.

Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Next up we've got Concrete Canvas, the game of authentic New York street art which is built around the artwork of Chris RWK.

Uh who is I guess a New York street artist.

I wonder if he goes I wonder if that's like rock.

He says RWK because I'm video and he says it then he says robots will kill or whatever. That's what it stands for. Oh, okay. I I love this look.

This looks so

I love this theme.

This guy right here is the one in the video.

It's his voice over the whole time

talking about how, you know, he got together with this David gentleman and made the game.

Yeah. Um it looks like a a not complex game, which I think is a good choice for this theme because I think that this could attract people outside of board gaming altogether. Um, I'm one of those people that actually likes the look of well done graffiti. I mean, if you're just going to scroll your name and it's, you know, but growing up in and around a lot of cities, I mean, it does add a particular appeal. Uh, and for me, it has an era of nostalgia. Um, I like especially what I'm seeing with some some of these upgrades.

Aren't these great 3D top of spray cans? Get out of here.

The top go. super smart cuz it'll sit as a token but you can tell what it's evoking. Um I the fact that you have those minis that still look like graffiti art.

That's really impressive. I know those are renders but um

I'm a little nervous on them being so tall. You know it looks a little a little fiddly. You know it's kind of reminding me of not in gameplay at all but a similar story for like coexist which I did not like that gameplay. It was like oh man what a hate to say like waste of good art. you know what I mean? But like this seems like it might have a good game to back it, which is exciting. And then also it's giving me a vibe of like a very very simplified um

urban urban sketchers. Urban Sketchers um which I I like that as well. So I don't know. I thought this was a again once was again a very charming product.

Oh, you can get them prepainted.

Oh snap. Oh snap.

I'll tell you what vibe I get from this game. The game seems very simple and it sounds from everything I read that it then it becomes puzzly towards the end,

right?

Because your movement on the board becomes a little trickier and the whole game is about

recipe fulfillment, right? That idea of getting the things and then completing them. To me, it sounds like the kind of games that Adam West puts puts out.

Oh, interesting.

You know, u he tends to be a very clean designer. He puts out games that are generally very streamlined

and this feels like feels like one of his games. I tend to really like his stuff.

I don't know why I make that association. It's maybe because he has that robot game. So maybe it pops into my head.

Transmissions.

Transmissions game.

This feels like that game to me in many ways. It looks good.

Yeah, I think it looks really good.

All right, next up we've got Gods and Mortals here. Uh, this one is an interesting amalgamation of stuff.

I agree.

I don't even know where to start. It's got this theme. It has uh kind of a stock market thing, right, with the tracks.

First of all, does this not in some ways remind you of a couple of games that have already come out? Like this was a remake.

A whole lot of And I'm trying to think of what the names of those games were.

Very similar theme. very similar

um even font and art,

right?

It I wish I can remember what it was, but

it looks like that flicking faith game for one thing a little bit.

Yeah, but there's another one that that

this has been a popular theme and I feel like with this theme comes this font. I feel like those things are very tied

and this artwork style unfortunately also you know

it almost had a little the Meo vibe a little bit, you know, vibe to it.

Yeah, a little bit. And we just did a playthrough of that. Uh, Almighty. I wasn't in that one. But yeah, so

it kind of looks like that too a little bit. I will say my least favorite thing about this whole thing is the cover for the game. I don't like

I don't like it either. And also

it's a terrible cover. I think your title is lost. If you look at that corner right there.

Mhm.

That's a nondescript. I'm sorry. Your box cover is nondescript. All I All I see when I look at that, a blue pillar on the left, a yellow pillar on the right. Must be a must be a one versus one game.

Yeah. I don't So, it's an oddly shaped box and I'm wondering if that's because of playmats. Is it maybe because playmats will be in the box?

Because I think it this is the We have one that has a playmat board and it's fits in the box and it might or may not be this one. I do love this look of these characters. The I mean this is great. The artwork is great.

The artwork is great, but I think unfortunately that's they know that and that's kind of what's p like selling%.

Divinity Derby.

Divinity Derby doesn't look like this though.

No. Okay. No, it doesn't have the sort of I love his beard being a fish. That's fantastic. It doesn't have the style. No.

Yeah.

Unicorn Fever has a little bit of that.

A little bit of that. Yeah. But again, there's there's a lot about the artwork and a lot about the, you know, gods you can

Yeah, these are great.

Um, not be here, but, you know, kind of influence. I just need to stop playing with that. Um,

Revujo, but

but there's not a lot about the gameplay here. It's like, yay, it's stock market. Oh, you don't have a player color. All the pieces are open for everybody. But that's about all we know about it. Right. Right. Right. You know, and so that's

Yeah,

it looks interesting. I'm worried about the mechanically I'm not sure. There's a lot of stuff thrown into a pot for this game,

but it is certainly a well it looks like a well finalized game. It looks like a well put together game

and that character art is

Yeah, it's a it's a looker for sure. I can see this doing very well. And I think it is doing very well. Yeah,

it is. All right, next up we've got Ariada and Seaggrass,

which are charming, travel friendly board games. These are two abstract basically games.

Yep.

From uh Bitewing is the publisher.

Mhm.

And let me see if I can see. There we go. So, here's an image of the the turtle one

where you are have these little plastic turtles and then color discs above them. And then the other one has hex's. Let me see. I do like that packaging is pretty cute.

It is cute. Yeah.

The other one has uh hex's

and you can do I guess the cardboardy ones or then the fancy plastic.

Sure. Sure. Sure.

So this is part of the travel line that Bitewing has done before. I believe it started with Trailblazers. I think that was maybe the first in their travel line. And then they've recently came out with Gazebo um which was the Rhiner Kinesia redo of Chin. Um and um Gingum and the the designer of Gingham is the same designer as Ariata. Seagrass is I believe uh Brett uh

Brett Shake Gilbert and Trevor Benjamin.

Trevor Benjamin. Okay. Um, and so yeah, this is a again part of this line that has been largely abstract games and you can get them in regular boxes or you can get them in those kind of travel friendly packs that have a carabiner that you can add.

Um,

but yeah, they they're they're they're obviously creating a product line that has been

pretty successful so far. At least I gather.

Things I think is doing well. Yeah,

they're games that I could also see doing well in

like an REI or like, you know, some like outdoors store.

Yeah. Yeah.

I will say I think the look of these is from both of them is very high quality. Both the packaging and the artwork,

but I think both games look deadly boring.

I don't know. I don't know because I have not played them. I might play them and find them fully fascinating. But I think the the other line, I'm sure they have multiple lines, but the other line I can think of from Bitewing that has the the two player, the myth mythological line, whatever

of the ones I've played, I find those to be much more interesting than than what I'm seeing here. These just look plain. They they

they look boring. They look like grandma's games to me.

To me, they look abstract. They're really pretty abstracts, but that's Yeah, I'm a little lost in the gameplay because of that, but that's my personal tastes.

Well, they're defin Yeah, they're definitely abstract. I don't think that they're really marketing them as as non uh as non-abstract games. It's Yeah, these are ones I have not played. Um and so I I you know, I just took a little look at how they play and I will be honest, I I don't know that I'm quite as taken with these at a first blush as I was with some of the other games that they've released recently. But I'm going to, you know, I'm going to keep an open mind just because they've established a pretty darn good track record so far. So, I am hoping these kind of live up to it. But I I do kind of wish that they grabbed me a little bit more right off right off the top.

I think of the two, I do like Seagrass, the look of Seagrass a little bit better.

This one looks like I don't know, there's something phase 10ish about this game. Very,

you know, there's something like Rummy Cube phase 10. mass market look about the turtles with the numbers and the tiddly wings. I know they're not Tiddly Winks. I'm sure they're much nicer than that, but that look doesn't doesn't jive with me. It looks old. The other one looks a little bit better. I like the graphic design on this a little bit more. Hex's are a little bit more appealing, I think, than the squares.

That's funny because I was thinking I was like, "Oh, but the other one that Aribata that the first one I was like because of those connections you're making like I see that one selling better

not hobby game, you know, mass market kind of thing. I could see it doing well there.

No, you're probably right. I think it could do very well. And they are doing well.

It's a good looking for sure.

All right. Epic props. Legendary treasure chest. These are 3D printable files where you print out a little, you know, little treasure chest here and then fill it with your stuff, your goodies, your geeky bits.

I didn't realize how big this was. Yes, I understand. It gives us dimensions. I did not process that, but I didn't realize how big it was until you get down later and it shows that it can they have a little insert you put in it to hold paints

and it holds like 15 paints or so. I was like, "Oh, this is larger than I expected." And then of course, you know, cards. I think they're super super cute. I think the renderings look fantastic. And it was when I got I think not to this image, but one of these images where it's an actual one. You zoom in and like all the paint is peeling off. It's like a pretty poor paint job. Uh it's that one maybe. Anyway, I don't know. But it was um yeah. Yeah. See how the paint's coming off the tooth right there and everything like it's like Okay, hold on. You know, so

and they even have paints right there. Just touch it up.

Pain. It's like Yeah. So it it was

But they're also $15 each, which for just for the STL.

That's a lot. The STL is 15 bucks for one of these.

For one of them. I was like,

I will say this. This is the one that gets me. This image right here is the uh the treasure chest holding two decks of cards. M.

And then I look at the lid and I look at how far up the cards are sticking

from the top of the teeth there to the top of the cards. And then I look at the lid again and the curvature that commences immediately.

Yep.

On the lid. And I'm like, "No,

it's not a square box, right?

This will not

Yeah.

No.

Yeah.

I think the center card might be too tall." Never mind the ones in the front and the back of the box. I want to see a picture of you closing this with the cards in it.

I'm not see I'm not seeing this happen.

I want to see a picture from the inside of the box when it's closed.

Yeah, I just I don't I don't see this one working. I'm I'm not No, I'm not buying that cuz look at it. I mean, I don't know. Maybe, but I don't think so.

This is something that I think would be my my mind immediately goes to like, you know, the RPGs as we're playing. It's like, "Oh, that'd be cool." You know, if Tom was like, "Oh, and you come up on a chest. Here you go. Do you have the key?" Like just having like a little prop for your RPG. I was like, "This I could think of some really cool ways to bring this into play, but I don't know, $15 for her, you know, just the STL." I was like, "Oh, I I don't know.

It's cute, though." All right. Next up, we've got Goa from Quinn Games. So, Goa is an old game from Rutiger Dorne, as it says here, released back in 2004, and it is back. It's been out of print. It's actually been one of those games that has been just super out of print, like hard out of print for a long, long time.

So, I'm glad to see it back. It's interesting that Quinnet is bringing it back. This seems exactly like the kind of game that like

Awaken Realms would take and put crazy buildings in.

Very interesting.

Or, you know, these companies that do this quite a bit. I guess Quinnet is one of those companies. They

are one. Yeah.

Um, yeah, this is good. I I I like Go. I think Go has a solid game. It has um an interesting bidding system in which the players are going to take turns selecting, let me see if I can find a picture of the central board here. Uh the players are going to take turns selecting a tile that is up for sale. Uh and then going around in that order they select them, auctioning off those things. If I'm the one who put if I'm green and I put up this tile over here for sale and you win it, you pay me that money. If you're willing to pay me five coins, but I really really want it myself,

then I can just pay six coins to the bank and take it for myself. So, not only am I paying money, I'm also not getting your money. So, generally, you don't really want to do that, but you know, you you could do that if you really want something. Uh, and you're also maybe hoping that, you know, after the guy put this token on three, maybe you really want this to go up for sale, but then somebody went this way. Oh, no. I wanted that.

Um, besides that, you're moving up on tracks as you are leveling things up. Over here, you have your little track, which I love this idea of I get better at stuff throughout the game. Uh, you're actually coming down, I guess, but you're moving, you know, on the tracks and, uh,

improving the things you can do. It also, of course, has a brand new look to everything, which is very nice. I like the look.

I really like the color palette that they that they've used in this. I think it's sharp. It's It kind of, you know, it's like almost a um you know, we complain about beige a lot.

And it it's in that world, but it's not. It still looks bright and vibrant to me while still having kind of that that sandy type of a color. I know that's an odd thing to notice, but I just Well, Na, you know, um,

right? It's like Tokaido and Namiji, all those games is the same artist as all those games. A very good look. Yeah, it really is. So, this is a new look.

This is a new one didn't look like that. Oh,

no. The old one did not look like that.

It did not. Oh, apparently

the only the owner of the token pays.

Just your backhanded uh comments are just funny.

It's a question.

How could it look worse than this?

Oh, this is the new look. The old look like that. And then you went like this.

That was my surprise.

I guess the the second edition changed it. The owner of the token pays one less.

Oh, okay. Well, there you go.

You got dored.

Very nice. Okay. I guess you pay one less now. Um

anyway, that's the original. Yeah, those are the original rules. But the game's Yeah, it's a good game. I enjoy it and I think it's nice that it's coming back. I I

I feel like Euro games have by and large gotten crazy complicated. And while this is not by any means a very simple euro, it'll it'll now be surprisingly streamlined compared to the kind of things we get.

Yeah. And I like this is a middle ground between, you know, an updated new euro kind of and it's it's upgraded. It's much nicer, Camila, but um it's not

they keep telling me

$400 with minis like save that for the ones that you know the gorillas and the Puerto Rico and all the games that people have gone crazy for.

I agree. I agree. All right, next up we've got some silly projects. That's the final That is the final game there.

All right, let's talk about some silly projects. The Razor Rinser 2.0, mind you.

Yeah. Yeah,

they fixed it.

Mhm.

Now it uh does this.

So, you fill it with water. You can or or you know, cannot. I put a little cube in there that dissolves and turns it into like, you know, eucalyptus water.

Yeah. Oh, is that why?

And then you do that to your razor and and rinse it. And that's the entire amount of water you'll use for the whole thing, I guess.

No, no, no. Okay. I like this.

I like this a lot, too.

Okay. I was I'll come out and say I think this is fantastic for in the shower when you know when you have to like rinse the razor and you're trying to get it, you know, like if you have one of those rain shower heads and you can never get enough pressure to actually rinse the razor.

I think this is fantastic.

I also like quite a bit, this is not even something I thought about, but it's like, well, you got to dump it out because it's going to get, you know, the hair cycles. There's a filter here on the side so that the new water the new dirty water like the water dirty water does not with the hair anyway does not flow back in

to push so it's not pushing the hair back into the

I know like when you push down on the little stopper top it's just

water that was able to get the through the valve.

Mhm.

I think this is solid. I kind of dig it and I would love a tin of mints.

That would be nice. Right. Yeah. This is Yeah. This is cool. I mean,

is that a sharpener?

Yeah.

Oh, I didn't make it that far. Huh.

Well, because this could be used with uh disposable razors, right? I mean, you can

I think it's actually four disposals, right? And so, that's the thing is that you don't have to, you know, get one of the terribly expensive razors. Just get yourself uh you know, some you want you want at least three blades. I'm I'm a fiveblade guy myself.

So, I'm a five blade guy.

I'm a oneb blade person.

Well, you Well, you do you'd put that a straight razor in there.

I do. I have a safety razor.

Yeah, I know you do.

Um,

it still scares me,

but it's like

Yeah, the whole more than three blades is just goofy. I'm sorry. You don't need five blades. You probably don't need three, but three.

I'll meet you halfway.

Five blades.

Five blades.

That's just silly.

And lubricated strip.

Oh, yes. You have to have the strip.

Got to have the lubricated strip.

This helps with that. It's the idea with the with the water. It lubricates blades.

It lubricates the blades. It puts some eucalyptus in there. Maybe it adds an extra blade or two. I don't know. I'm in.

I love how they're like, "This is called the razor rinser." And they're like, "We're the team behind the razor rinser." Like, "No, we we we know we got it." I really like this stuff.

How much is it? I'm just curious.

You're not just curious. You want a rinser razor?

$75. No, I'm back.

We got two though, right? I think I was going to put our complete shave system at the lowest price it will ever be offered. I will wait till this comes to five set. Can you get one set?

Early bird.

$29.

29.

I would pay $29 for that.

What comes in the other one? Why? Oh, you get this this st thing for sharpening. Yeah. No, I don't need that.

And shave bombs. The bombs.

This one only has the thing.

Yeah, but you can probably get the shave bombs.

You can also just put like

And you add on shave. Add on bomb.

No. Okay. When they run out, what are you going to do? You're going to just use like oils or like essential oil. A little eucalyptus oil in there. That's all you got to do.

Eight blades. Eucalyptus oil.

Bath bomb. You split it into 18s.

Okay.

All right.

I like this. And then and then on the on the

uh on the tail end of this something you guys haven't seen.

This I saw this as well. I added this full full metal five blade razor mic with magnetic swap.

What?

Magnetic swap technology. You've got my attention with the five blades.

Look at this. Okay.

Only a thousand pieces.

It has a thousand pieces inside of it.

One of the thousand.

Wait, hold on.

No, that's not what that means. The other the other thing what Mike said. Check this out.

Check out that design.

Yes. That's so terrible.

Check this out. Look at that. Everything is metal. This one thing that made me laugh right here. World's first plastic free full metal body with five blades and pivoting head. Um,

that's a lot of

the Germans are calling. They've been doing this for about 60 years. I don't know what they're talking about.

Five blade. Five metal blade.

Full. No, the f first plastic free thing. That's the one that has the asterisk. I'm like, what are you talking about?

My blade is full metal.

But is it five?

It's one like it should be.

That's what I'm saying. This is telling you specifically. This is the first five blade on that handle. That handle is slick.

The handle looks like something that

Look at that. That's five blades, baby.

Out of NASA.

And it comes with 48 of these replacement blades. Really

look, you just break it off.

Okay.

And then you pop a new one in there. It says two weeks. Two weeks is what you can use. This

48

divided by two. It's 24.

Okay.

It's a

the other way, right? Is every two weeks. So it's actually multiplied by two.

Now you got to carry something.

It's uh what is that? 80 90. What is it? 48 96

32

96 weeks of shaving.

96 weeks. There's that's two years. Almost two years. Almost two years.

And then it's a bad product because you can't get more blades, I'm sure.

After that, you're done.

Yeah, that's all.

No more shaving after that.

After that, you go to the knife.

All right.

I think this looks pretty good. It's a neat looking blade.

And also, this was not on our initial thing. This is bonus coverage. And you don't even have to, you know, do the the Patreon, although you should do the Patreon.

All right. Midnight Misfits plush Kickstarter um with Odet the Oposum, Rome the raccoon, Ripple the rat, and Smudge the skunk.

I'm confused by is this is not something that I don't know about. Right. This is just somebody's little creations that they like making stuffies. Now, they all have the smell of vision added to it. They actually as they should

like the actual animal smells. Um, this is interesting, I guess, in the sense that you're taking what what are traditionally not

um, considering they make them cute.

I disagree.

They make them cute. Have you ever been around a dk skunked skunk?

No.

They are lovely animals. They're beautiful creatures.

That seems like a They want to cuddle.

How do you desunk it?

You remove it.

You reach up in there.

No,

actually, I'm betting. I'm betting I'm not gonna I'm betting it's not a good thing to do.

I bet so. Kind of like declawing a cat. You don't ever decunk a skunk.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Uh no, this this is interesting. I think that it looks like a little indie booth at a convention, which is what you know they do, right? Um so,

sure. It's not my cup of tea.

I think it's cool because it's plushes of animals that are not usually represented in that space. Why not? Yeah.

Get you a wrap.

These are scent bags. Hold up.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. What? I was I was joking. I didn't go this far down.

What? Oh, it's just Okay. It's an unrelated thing. Waxing moon candle shop. Okay, never mind.

Skunk bath.

Give me skunk bag.

Okay, next up we've got folk.

Now, see or I shouldn't have brought my phone in here because this has been all over my Facebook ads for like the last

one sofa, four modules, endless combinations. This This is love sack. Everything stops.

This is love sack. This is not sack. One sofa, four modules. Endless combinations. May I refer you to math? I got to tell you. Let's go back to there's not even that many combinations. An idiot like me could figure this out.

It has 59 backers, which is not a lot. Although these are highriced items. 107,000. I can't imagine how they have not spent 3 million on advertising because of the amount of ads that I get.

Holy. So they say 50 million worth of designled products sold.

Okay.

So I guess they've made 50 they haven't made they've sold 50 millions worth of of product.

Okay.

This looks like a perfectly fine modular seating system of which I've seen 20 30 40 uh you know

unfortunately 15 years late but I'm feeling this this could be the same quality I get from big lots.

I don't I bought a couch about two years ago and let me tell you I sat on about 75 couches.

Also, a little bit of a question I would have is that I I do think you have to incorporate um the shipping costs, right? Because these are not going to be cheap to ship. So,

um this that is true. So,

look at the combinations, Mike. So many count.

Okay, let's see. Let's see if we can count how many combinations.

We're going with the combination.

One.

Uh-huh.

Two. That's too slow. Okay, go ahead.

It doesn't have a frame. It it's it's just cushions. And again, I have seen those, too.

I get Yeah, I have seen them, but I also get that. But not having a frame also means breaking down and the longevity of it. And

yeah, no, I I I appreciate I think they're trying to be relatively eco-friendly, I support that 150%. It's It's got a very nice If you like that kind of sleek, modern design, it certainly has in in spades. I'm sure Well, I'm not sure. I assume that it has quality materials because they're charging a premium price and uh so anyway,

yeah,

you know, if this is for you, I just am so surprised at how much I had been seeing it on my phone and now I might as well throw my phone away.

Your phone knows, so you know, that's all you're getting,

right?

Mhm.

Parksible, I think, the world's first smart garage for model cars. This looking at this project reminded me of how most people that are people that are not board gamers must feel when they look at like our board game collection.

I really don't want a hobby shame here because there are those that are really into model

cars. This was this was my moment where it's like oh that's what we look like.

This is making almost half a million dollars. I I honestly I will admit I did not read the title of the top and just kind of quickly started looking and I'm like is this to park freaking cars? Is this guy trying to like get a building going? Only only later was I like, "Oh, model cars."

Let me explain something to you. If I was deep into model cars, I would be all over that.

That was the coolest thing.

We We know a guy who has this for painted miniatures in a customuilt shelf that it like electronically comes up and, you know, scrolls through his miniatures so he can pick. I mean, this is

We also know a guy who builds custom cabinetry for his popcorn uh tubs, his custom popcorn tubs. He's installing shelves. He does not. I feel like he knows a guy.

Yeah, please. Okay. The man that you're describing is not very handy.

Say custom shelving for popcorn box.

I don't want to shame anybody, but this guy is a lazy slob.

Here's me not hobby shaming. Give me 20 seconds. I'm hobby shaming. Popcorn things are great. If you like it, do it.

Anything that scrolls through like what did you call it? Um, there's a cycling of like shelves or whatever that that like

it's there's something neat about that.

It's just something incredibly cool about that.

I think this is cool. I think this is great that it exists for people that have, you know, hobby cars because it's not just Hot Wheels. I'm sure that there's a whole hobby car that they buy a certain scale of miniatures and they put them together and they paint them. I mean, there's a there's a whole thing for this. I I think it's pretty cool.

I think this is neat.

All right. Now I got a real problem with 81 10in-1 titanium universal utensil.

Let's take a look at it. So it's got 10 tools in one. It's made from titanium.

The little thing, the open thing is also a cutting board. That's a smart idea.

Let's see here. Yeah, you open this up and then you have the utensil, spoon, fork, knife, peeler, bottle opener.

Uh let me see if I can catch it. I wish I could pause this.

Serrated edge spreadered pry tool. Okay, there's a lot of stuff on here. It does everything.

But but Mike has a fundamental issue with this.

I think this has a fundamental design flaw in that the area of the fork that you grasp firmly to be able to eat your food is all of the sharp stuff,

right? It's all right here where they always cut their their right in every movie where they have to cut their palms for or donate blood or whatever. They always cut right there right where the razor blade is going. The silicone carrying case is going to be the place where you collect the copious quantity of blood that is spilling out of you alone in the forest as you're trying to eat.

That's why they included the spoon so that as you cut yourself you can cook it, right?

Oh, no. That's to sanitize.

I don't I really do not. Are you supposed to use this wearing like

Kevl Kevlar?

Yeah, the Kevlar gloves.

Yeah. Sorry.

How are you supposed to eat with this thing? It's all the sharp edges that you grasp.

I o I I love

if you are if you need to eat out in the woods

and you're a cultist,

right?

I welcome Cahulu while I enjoy this wonderful.

Yeah, it's very good for blood rituals, but not so much for eating unless they they're both incorporated together. I don't know. Maybe you want a nice meal with the blood ritual.

He's like tossing it and grabbing it. Maybe it's not very sharp. I don't know.

If it's not sharp, then then it's not doing what it should be doing. It should be cutting your food. It should be opening. It has a box cutter, you know, on the part where you grab. I don't understand this fundamentally. This feels like it is um just an it's just an injury, right? It's several injuries.

And then lastly, we've got

nudes,

pasta-ash shaped pool floats. So, what if what if you were feeling um you know,

nudesy? No, like like like you want to give a gift to somebody, right? And you're like, I have I have a friendly hungry at the moment.

I got a friend who loves pasta and loves their pool.

They're Italian.

I'm going to send them these. What am I doing at that point?

You're sending them nudes.

I'm sending them nudes.

This is a

I don't know. Is that something you can do over crowdfunding? Can you send nudes over crowd?

White elephant gift, right? Or like this is a dollar store kind of thing, you know? Like this is I don't understand the hole in the ravioli. Just make the ravioli ai a ravioli and make it something you can lay on.

Why is that?

There are no there are no raviolis with holes that I know. Um so what do we got? We got So you got the the the elbow or whatever.

You got elbow macaroni. Okay.

And the ravioli, but it has a hole in it.

A holy ravioli. Heat is just like you're going to make lasagna from a lasagna sheet.

Yeah, I think so.

What kind would you want

of these?

No, no, no, no. If you were making, they're like, "Oh, we have a guest designer, Mike Delicio."

Okay. I would want

What's your pasta?

Mine would be one of two. It'd be Rotelli.

It'd be the spiraly one. So, you're just spinning around in the pool.

Yeah. You try to sit, but you keep falling.

I like it. I like it.

Or it would be the um Farfale, which is the

I like that one. The bow tie. The bow tie.

See, that would that would work. The bow tie would work.

You could jump on the bow tie. You can grab it like this.

Exactly. It could be two of you back to back on the bow tie. Um

you Yeah, there's different ways to kind of tackle the tie,

right? Exactly. And yeah, Mike Keller saying the raviol Oh, he's even going fancier. He's a ravalini.

Okay, Chef Boyardd, calm down with a hole is a torillini. Yeah, it's a tortillini. But that's not what that is. That is a

Right.

That's a ravioli with a hole stamped inside.

Which could you do it? If you were making it fresh, you could, which would just be adding an extra step. Um,

right.

I love how we're talking about pasta more than floaties, but that's

make a ravioli fresh with a hole in it.

What kind of pasta would you make as a guest designer for this company?

As a guest for this one? Oh, I don't know.

I want to make angel hair.

I was going to say angel hair. You just stole it.

But angel, you won't float. You'll just drop to the bottom rack.

Yeah.

That way they don't have my master plan.

Like they're tied at the ends, but the middle is just strands and you get in there, you start like getting tangled up. I'm I might drown you guys. The angel hairs got me. It wraps around your

I would probably do uh like either a big shell so that you could like get in it. A

shell shell. Sure.

Yeah. Or or the uh ziti because again then you can like or you can lay in it.

Oh, you mean that big of a zit?

I want like Yeah. What is it? Oh, the bigger one would be riotoni.

Riotoni. That's what I'm

Yeah, that would be a big one. Then you've got the ziti and the penny which are very similar. Yeah. No, not the penny. have the the the beveled edge.

Correct. Yes, that's the one I was thinking about. I was like, "Yeah, either one of those."

Beveled could be good cuz you could lay on it with the open like angle like this and get the sun or do the opposite and treat it like a little canopy. I like you could like be in there and squirrel in there. You know what I mean?

We're getting some good things in here.

Or like a moious strip. How about a moia strip?

Uh it doesn't hold the the sauce very well.

It slides right off.

Yeah.

Anyway, that's it. Uh, do we have picks of the week from anybody else? All right, let's go ahead and take a look at a pick of the week from the Vassel.

My pick of the week is Goa. Goa is a game that I mean, I played this game a long time ago. I found it to be a fantastic game and I'm really excited about the upgrades and improvements that Quinnet is making to this. I mean, it looks way better than the original one ever did. Um, but it also sounds like they're keeping basically the main game intact and just doing a little bit of streamlining, a little bit of changes in it. So, that's something that uh there's a lot of Kickstarter games out there sometimes that are overwhelming with how big and giant they are. This one is just a great classic game redone for 2026. At least that's what I think anyway. So, I'm very excited to give this one a whirl. That's my pick of the week. Goa.

All right.

Yeah.

So, what are you guys uh picking with here? was sticking with

I will go with the capture the flag one. That one was just very very charming. We talked about other ones that seem to have that nostalgia and I didn't have any pull to them. This one absolutely the games are reminded me of um are not ones I'm super interested in, but this one seems to really have that theme in there where you are hiding the flag and you have your little, you know, backyard friend group, you know, and going out there and trying to do your best. I'm I'm very very charmed by this. I love that 15 to 30 minute play time. I think that fits right along with this theme as well. Um, yeah, this one just kind of captured my interest in my heart this week.

Nice, Mike.

My pick of the week is uh one that actually not only is a pick of the week, but it's probably one of my most anticipated games now. And that's that Concrete Canvas, I think it's called. Is that what the name of it is?

Is it this one? Yes.

Yes. Concrete Canvas. I really like the look of this game. Uh, I can't wait to to get a chance to check it out and play it. Um, I probably will go with the painted minis just because I think it's such a goodlooking game and and um, yeah, I just really like kind of what this is about. You get it, you know, a street artist who's wellknown. They hook up with game designer. They kind of create their own vision. It looks like there's a game there, too, which is important. Um, so yeah, I'm super looking forward to this one. Now, I'm not going to lie.

I think I want the upgraded stuff. I think that will make a difference for me. I want those little uh spray can minis and and the and the painted minis that just look

those cards look sharp.

They look so good.

But I mean those upgrades are a reason to back a project sometimes.

Yeah, this is really exciting to me.

All right. And I'm going to go with Goa. Uh coming back here.

It's a game I've I've liked in the past. It's a solid Euro game. Um let me see if I can find a video here and play that. Rutiger Dornne is a very good designer.

Mhm.

And I think this is one of his better games actually. So it's nice to see one of those Euro style games that has cycled out, has been out of print actually make a comeback. Uh because usually they do. I mean these things don't they don't seem like they stay out of print very long anymore any of these games.

And this I think was one of those oversightes. This is a game that was certainly super wellnown and yet no one had brought it back yet, even though that seems to be the thing to do.

So, I'm glad that it's it's back. It's a it's an engaging game. It's got some good wheeling and dealing in it, some interesting track advancement, and a great look now in my opinion with the new artwork and the new kind of the new kind of vibrancy of the whole thing really works for me. So,

yeah, it's a nice color palette.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, Goa for me. And that's going to do it everybody for us today here on Crowd Surfing. Thank you very much for tuning in and checking this out with us.

Let's see what do we got left for tomorrow. We got the news in the morning,

the top 10.

Top 10 you guys are doing the afternoon. Four player games. You're going to want to watch that. Four player games is kind of where it's at.

Uh three player games for me. Then four players.

Four players. Yeah, we'll talk about tomorrow, but it's tricky. It's a tricky

list. Yeah. So there you go everybody. Thanks very much. We're gonna get out of here. My name is Z.

I'm Camila.

I'm Mike. Take care everybody. Bye bye.

Bye.

Hey everybody, thanks for watching this video. If you like this review or whatever you just watched, wasn't it amazing? Uh check out our channel, Dice Tower. We have all kinds of things. We review games, we do top 10s, we play games live. It's all about board games, but especially the people who play them. Check out Dice Tower YouTube channel.

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