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Puzzle Strike Shadows has ten new characters, 24 new puzzle chips, new gameplay modes including a free-for-all mode with no player elimination, a 2v2 Team battle mode, and a customization mode. Hopefully it will have even more components, too, depending on how the stretch goals go.

The math game Got It! – which had a working title of Fermat – accommodates as many people as fit around the table. What they're looking at on the table is a 6x6 grid of cards, with half the cards numbered 1-14 and the other half bearing mathematical operators. To set up the game, these cards are placed randomly checkerboard-style, with numbers and operators placed adjacent to one another.

Everyone plays simultaneously, with players trying to find a five-card formula that results in the number shown on a goal card, with goals ranging from 1 to 40. The solution must consist of orthogonally adjacent cards, though not necessarily in a straight line, and a player can't use a card twice in a formula. If a 12 is turned up as the goal, for example, one might find "8+4x1" in the grid, then shout out "Got It!" Players can mentally insert parentheses into a formula, so "7+2x3" can result in (7+2)x3 (=27) or 7+(2x3) (=13).

The first player to shout with a correct formula – and the grid might contain many – claims the goal card. The player who collects the most goal cards wins!

An easy version of Got It! can be set up for younger players, with a 5x5 grid that contains only the numbers 1-9 and only addition and subtraction as mathematical operators.

I've come to the conclusion that the vast majority of games have depths that are hidden to those who play only a few times. So much so that I think it's unwise to assume that you've seen all a game has to offer after your second play, no matter how simple the game appears. [For example,] I agree with another gamer's assessment of Coloretto – there just doesn't seem to be much there – but experience has taught me that this is most likely due to the fact that I don't like the game enough to seek any depth it may have.

To have a short-to-mid-term goal in mind, with a reasonable chance of achieving it. The goal should span multiple turns, but generally would not be a game-long strategic plan. None of the games mentioned so far have that attribute. Or at least I lack the proficiency in those games that would be required to be able to pick a goal and aim for it. And none of these games have enough appeal for me to want to play them enough to develop that proficiency.

The last benefit of limits that I'll talk about is their ability to help ease new players into a game. Developers nearly always get too close to their games and forget how intimidating it is to learn as someone picking it up for the first time. If the player knows his first goal is to find and harvest a particular type of resource, or that he needs to capture a certain part of the map it helps focus his attention and keep him from becoming intimidated by a vast array of options...

At the start of the game, each player receives a card that features three challenges, e.g., "Speak three sentences in a foreign language" or "Suck your thumb for 30 seconds". Players agree on an ending time for the game, perhaps 1-2 hours, then each player must perform or act out his three challenges during that time in a subtle manner, but with witnesses. If no one says anything for 30 seconds after a player has completed a challenge, he can whip out his card and show everyone the challenge he's just performed. This nets him a number of points specified on the card for that challenge.

If, however, another player says, for example, "I bet you had to suck your thumb" and the guesser is right, then the guesser earns two points; if she's wrong, she loses one point.

Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins.

The Tweegles are monsters from another galaxy, come to invade the Earth. Unfortunately for them, once they hit the ground, nothing is on their scale. They are frightening and huge monsters on their own planet, but are only as big as mice on earth. They land in an everyday house, full of traps for them: electrical sockets, children with scissors and stamps, insects and cleaning products...

Twenty-five action cards – each showing a tweegle that has been hit by one of the "traps" – are laid face-up on the table at the start of Tweegles, while the twenty-five tweegle cards are shuffled and set aside. Everyone plays at the same time. One tweegle card is revealed from the deck, with the card showing one of five tweegle types and one of five possible actions, symbolized by scissors, a mosquito, an electrical socket, a stamp and spray bottle.

Everyone searches for the action card that "completes the story" begun with the first card. If a tweegle card shows scissors, for example, you need to find the cut-up tweegle among the face-up action cards. To claim the card, however, you need to perform the appropriate gesture: slapping the card if a mosquito is involved, hammering it with your fist if the tweegle was stamped, and so on. The first player to do this claims the tweegle card, while the action card remains on the table.

Whoever claims the most cards wins!

In Le Mot le plus Court ("The Shortest Word"), you don't actually want to find the shortest word – but given the interference of opponents, that's what you might have to settle for.

Each round, one player rolls the three consonant dice included in the game, then everyone tries to think of a word that includes all three consonants (in any order, with repeats allowed). As soon as a player thinks of a word, she announces the number of letters in it, then starts counting down from that number, e.g., "Eight letters! 8, 7, 6..." If someone else thinks of a shorter word that includes all three consonants, he interrupts the countdown to announce his letter count and start a new countdown. If no one interrupts a countdown, the counter announces the word and scores as many points as the number of letters in the word; if she goofed, giving a non-word or a word that doesn't contain the consonants, everyone else scores that many points.

If a player thinks that no word can be created with the letters rolled, she announces, "Impossible!", then counts down from ten, scoring three points if no one interrupts with a shorter word count.

The first player to score 36 points wins.

A six-sided vowel die is included that allows younger players to compete with older ones. The young players use any two consonants and the vowel, while older players use the original game rules.

The board game Wonderland features two separate realms: Earth and Wonderland. The realms are artfully depicted on the double-sided board and switching between them adds a unique twist and an added level of complexity to the game that few other board games offer. Players compete against each other, each player trying to complete specific goals while the other players try to foil their attempts at progressing.

It is the 1920s, a time of much industrial building and growth. In Titans of Industry, you must invest in building factories and businesses in order to produce goods and sell them to gain victory points (VPs). Game play involves a delicate balance of money, production, and goals. The person who can best manage his buildings and meet his goals in seven years will win.

Each player starts the game with four workers and $6,000. Every turn, players first buy buildings, then place workers on those buildings or on the board. Factories allow you to produce goods, while Businesses allow you to sell those goods for money or VPs. A good player needs to balance production and sales, and encourage other players to sell with them to maximize sales. Board elements allow players to take advantage of bonuses, such as extra production, building improvements, and Corporate Strategy cards. Corporate Strategy cards help give players additional goals and direction, by specifying additional ways to gain victory points.

Three times during the game – years 1923, 1925, and 1927 – upkeep will be due, and players must pay to maintain their buildings, or will need to take out loans. Players will need to sell enough goods before then to have enough money to cover the costs, as loans are worth negative victory points at the end of the game. After year 1927, whoever has the most victory points from combined sales, buildings, and Corporate Strategy cards wins the game.

• First, our margin on this game is low, so we had to be conservative in our plans. We couldn't put a 10-year supply in the warehouse. We were going to print only 3,000, which is the absolute minimum we were sure of selling in a year or so. There would probably not have been expansion sets, or even a reprint. Something that's expensive to do at 3,000 units is impossible at 1,000!

But with Kickstarter, we can reach a lot of people quickly, and gauge our support. If the initial print run can be bigger, fine! If the gamers show that they want an expansion set later, then I get to do it!

• Second, because I got literally hundreds of requests to pre-order the game, and we don't do pre-orders. When we get our new shopping cart set up, sure . . . but that won't be any time soon. By using Kickstarter, we get a pre-order system automatically. And, because so many people said they wanted more than one copy, we're offering options for two and even three.

• Third, because with Kickstarter we can have stretch goals, which will let us add more components and improve the ones that are already there.