We’re so used to board game Kickstarters with enormous lists of stretch goals and expensive backing tiers that it’s quite refreshing to see something like Bound, a printable abstract board game that’s only asking its crowdfunder backers for $2 (or £1).
A two player strategy game with some surface-level similarities to the ancient Chinese board game Go, Bound’s Kickstarter began on Monday, and quickly met its modest funding goal of $119 / £99.
Designed to look like an ancient Celtic ritual, Bound is a board game where you must capture your opponent’s binding stones by surrounding them with your own pieces. It’s created by two students based in London – one the designer, one the illustrator – who together form Turncoat Games. This is their first board game, though they also have a space board game about running from aliens planned for this year.
The board game’s designer explained on Reddit that making Bound so cheap to back seemed like the “best chance of cutting through the noise and letting as many people play it as possible.”
They also acknowledged that Go was certainly an inspiration for the title, but added that “Bound is definitely much more approachable than Go, a much smaller decision space and I think the strategy is more intuitive. I’ve been playing Go for years and I’m still only mediocre at it!”
The Bound Kickstarter will run until March 17, and backers will receive their PDF copies in March.