A few years ago, there was a very successful Kickstarter campaign for a board game called Kingdom Death: Monster. This week, a new, improved version of the game hit the crowdfunding service, and in only a few days has raised over five million dollars.
The original game had two key appeals: it had a neat premise (people working together to build and hunt on a world inhabited by big, dangerous monsters), but just as important, it had a ton of very cool miniatures, offering the kind of premium board game experience that a lot of modern gamers would like to enjoy/spend money on, but which most traditional publishers would be too scared to print.
Kingdom Death: Monster is now completely sold out, so bolstered by the reception to the original, and everything he’s learned since, designer Adam Poots has been working on this updated version—Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5—which will not only let those who missed out get their hands on a copy, but might entice existing owners to upgrade, since this will be a fancier edition, with new expansions and new rules.
Those looking to get the full experience with the core game will be spending a minimum of $250-300 (reminder: board games are not a cheap hobby), while those upgrading from the original can get away with just getting the new stuff for $50-190.
The core game is expected to ship next year. Poots is being very real with the final delivery date of all stretch goals and expansions, though, estimating that the full Kingdom Death 1.5 experience won’t be in gamer’s hands until 2020.
At time of publication, the campaign has made $5,244,901, with 40 days remaining. The current record-holder for a board/card game on Kickstarter is Exploding Kitten’s $8 million, a record that at this rate will only be standing for another few days.
Kingdom Death 1.5 was only asking for $100,000.