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Dundy O
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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I have become a frequent visitor to the Kickstarter website. I'm sure nearly every one here on Boardgamegeek is aware of what Kickstarter is, but in the small chance that someone isn't, I'll give a short description of it.
It is a site that allows people to find funding for any project that they have personally developed. They create a video introducing the product, whether it is a book, album, game, or other creative enterprise, include pictures and other relevant descriptors, then ask the viewers of the video for contributions.
Simple concept and very effective. It has exploded in submissions, viewers, and supporters this last year.
I have learned from my viewing of it that there are many people who have huge and wonderful imaginations, as well as being blessed with abundant talent in various artistic ways. I have read snippets of books, viewed unfinished movies, and learned of many boardgames that are very well designed--and fun to play!
The problem these people have is lack of money. Though a project is worthy of being shared with a buying public, lack of cash prevents it. Kickstarter helps bridge the lack-of-cash-gap.
I have recently viewed a boardgame that appeals to me to a high degree. It is called, Divided Republic: A Boardgame About the Election of 1860. It appeals to me so much that I cut my finger yanking a credit card out of my wallet to support the project.
On the surface, it looks like 1960: The Making of a President, 100 years earlier. Like that game, it is card driven. There are differences, though. It contains four candidates vying for the Presidency, not two, making it a 2-4 player game. The cards also focus more on historical events and strategies than 1960. In 1960, the historical events printed on the cards act more as flavor text to gain more cubes.
In Divided Republic: A Boardgame About the Election of 1860, the events and strategies on the cards are many of the same strategies that each of the 4 real-life candidates used during the election.
The Presidential election of 1860 was very contentious. Let me have you read what I found on American History@suite 101 website about that 1860 election:
The 1860 U.S. presidential election was one of the most contentious ever. Four candidates vied for the nation's highest office. The underdog, Abraham Lincoln, won.
The 1860 presidential election is remarkable in that American voters had four candidates representing four different parties to choose from. The nation was on the brink of civil war, so the results of this election were critical. Three of the candidates: Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckenridge, and John Bell, were already nationally prominent political figures. The fourth candidate, on the other hand, was a folksy virtual unknown named Abraham Lincoln. When the final vote was counted, however, the virtual unknown was on his way to re-writing history.
So as you can see, that election was more like a knife-fight than any other Presidential election in United States history--including the little scrum President Bush and Vice-President Gore had in 2000.
Watch the video on Kickstarter about this game ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1926752146/divided-repub...) and you will see that the designer incorporated that element into gameplay. It looks to be a boardgame that creates very tense battles between players. If that type of game appeals to you, I implore you to support this Kickstarter project.
There are only 17 days left to raise the funds needed to produce the game. If the goal of raising $13,000 isn't met at the end of that time, the project dies.
Right now, the project is in trouble. $2,939 has been pledged, so it has quite a chunk of money yet to raise. This is why I'm writing a blog entry.
I know many people on BGG would love to own a game with this subject matter and so heavily marinated in historical theme. But for whatever reason the game hasn't generated many donors.
I appeal to the BGG community to go to Kickstarter, view the video, read what the designer says about the game, check out the cards (They are beautiful!), and consider supporting it.
I for one would LOVE to own a copy!
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