Kingdom Death Monster is Example of Successful Crowdfunding for a Tabletop Board Game

Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5 is a tabletop game where players hunt for monsters and build a settlement in order to survive.  Kingdom Death Monster (KDM) is about surviving in a nightmare world of horror.  In order to survive, players fight against a variety of horrible monsters and use the spoils of their victories to build a civilized settlement over a 25 year period.  The game can be played alone or with up to 4 players (6 with a game variation).

The Kingdom Death Monster game was created by Adam Poots and weighs in at 17 lbs in a box that contains a 232 page game book, 17 hard plastic molded miniatures, more than 1,000 game cards, 400+ pieces of unique art and 86 illustrations.  Kingdom Death Monster miniatures include White Lion, Screaming Antelope, Butcher, Phoenix, King’s Man, The Hand, Watcher, Starting Survivors, Unarmored Armor Kit, Rawhide Armor Kit, Leather Armor Kit, Lion Armor Kit, Screaming Fur Armor Kit, Phoenix Armor Kit, Lantern Armor Kit, Intimacy Couple, and Masks.

In addition to the monster miniatures, the Kingdom Death box set comes with 652 game cards, 142 terrain tiles and tokens, 6 lantern and 4 hit location dice, game panels, record sheets, box organizer and game board.  There are also add-ons, like the First Hero expansion, Gambler’s Chest, Pinup Male Twilight Knight, Pinup Male Dung Beetle Dancer and an extra hardcover book of rules, Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5 is the second successful crowdfunding campaign for Kingdom Death.

Successful Crowdfunding History for Kingdom Death Game

The first version of the Kingdom Death board game launched in 2013 raised over $2 million on Kickstarter.  The new version Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5 launched on November 25, 2016 has already raised $6.5 million through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.   Since there are still 36 fundraising days to go, KDM 1.5 is on track to be the most successful Kickstarter for a games campaign ever.

In the following table, you can see other successful crowdfunding campaigns for tabletop and card games, including the number one of all time: Exploding Kittens.

If KDM 1.5 was shown in the table above, it would already be the number 2 ranked game on Kickstarter in terms of funding.  However, since there are still so many days left in the crowdfunding campaign, it might rise to number one and replace Exploding Kittens.

Kingdom Death established reward tiers for its crowdfunding supporters, like:

• Black Friday Lantern with complete 1.5 core game for $200. This price does not include shipping.
• Gold Lantern for $350. The pricing for this reward level includes the Kingdom Death: Monster Core Game 1.5 and the Gamblers Chest.  Shipping is extra.
• Ancient Gold Lantern for price of $750. This reward includes the Kingdom Death core game, all current expansions, like Dragon King and Flower Knight. This price excludes shipping charges for Kingdom Death.
• Black Friday Gambler’s Lantern for $777. The price for this reward level includes Kingdom Death Update Pack, Gambler’s Chest, Gambler T-Shirt, all new expansions, pinups and promos for this Kickstarter campaign.
• Satan’s Lantern for $1,666. Final form price includes KDM core game, Gambler’s Chest, current expansions, Satan T-Shirt, Pinups of Death series 1, and all pinups and promotions from last Kingdom Death Kickstarter.  Shipping is extra.

Foreign backers of Kingdom Death should be aware that they are responsible for fees imposed by their respective governments, including taxes, post office fees, value added tax (VAT) and import fees.

Kingdom Death Competes with Other Popular Board Games

While it’s unlikely that Kingdom Death 1.5 will outsell some of the other popular board games listed below, it certainly has found a niche for those who like to play complicated and long lasting board games that require strategy.

• Chess – is a board game for 2 players where each player starts with 16 pieces (1 king, 1 queen, 2 castles or rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, and 8 pawns). The object of the game is for one player to get the other’s king in a checkmate position by eliminating their other playing pieces and or outmaneuvering their opponent.
• Monopoly – is a table top board game where players learn how to build a monopoly through buying and selling properties as they move around the board. The goal of the Monopoly game is for 1 player to get rid of all the other players in the game by driving them into bankruptcy.  The current version of this iconic board game was created by Parker Brothers in 1935, but is now published by Hasbro.
• Scrabble – is a word game where players create words on a board from individually lettered tiles that they have drawn. In the United States, Scrabble is sold by Parker Brothers, which is a division of Hasbro.
• Risk – is played between at least 2 players and can be up to as many as 6 players. The game is played on a board that has a map of the world that is divided up into continents and subdivided into territories.  The object of the game is for players to lead armies against one another and capture their respective territories.  Risk is published by Parker Brothers.
• Settlers of Catan – like in Kingdom Death, players of Catan build settlements by acquiring and trading for resources. The game is won by the player that gets 10 victory points first.  This game is normally played between 3 to 4 players and is suitable for children over 8 years old.  Catan is published by Mayfair gaming.
• Clue – also known as Cluedo, is a murder mystery board game that can be played between 3 and 6 players. The goal of the game is for the players figure out who murdered Mr. Boddy, where he was murdered and what kind of weapon killed him.  Clue is produced and marketed by Hasbro in the United States.
• Ticket to Ride – is a railway based game for 2 to 5 players. The object of the game is for players to connect 2 cities with colored train pieces based on their destination tickets.  Days of Wonder, the manufacturer of the game, has released many spinoffs including Europe, Märklin, Nordic Countries, Deutschland, Rails & Sails and First Journey for younger children.
• Uno – is a card game that can be played by children as young as seven years old and is for 2 to 10 players. In order to win the game, a player has to get to 500 points over several rounds.  Points are scored by players that get rid of all their cards first.  Uno is distributed by Mattel.
• Battleship – is a naval battle game where one player tries to destroy the other player’s fleet of ships. The fleet of ships consists of a carrier, battleship, cruiser, submarine and destroyer.  Each of the ships has a certain size, with the carrier being the largest.  Players try guess where their opponent’s fleet is hiding by firing a missile to a specific location on a gameboard grid.  Milton Bradley released plastic version of the board game in 1967.
• Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) – a popular role playing game, where players control a single character either alone or in a group. The rules are determined by a dungeon master who manages the settings and encounters for the characters, including battles with monsters.

Kingdom Death is situated in Glendale, Queens, New York and was started up by Adam Poots in 2013.