Dice Throne, a head to head fighting board game powered by a Yahtzee-style dice-rerolling system, is currently raising funds on Kickstarter to develop a digital edition. With $325,373 pledged against its $100,000 goal, the project is already fully funded - but a lot of fans of the tabletop game are disgruntled by the $60 price tag on the Kickstarter.
Dice Throne Digital is being developed in partnership with the coders at Nerd Ninjas studio. It will include two modes, the classic 1v1 gameplay from the tabletop game, and a roguelite campaign mode that will see you run through randomised missions, powering up as you go and collecting permanent upgrades for your hero that persist between runs.
Eight heroes will be available at launch, with "many more" to come, and the campaign page promises versions of the game for iOS, Android, Steam, and a mixed reality version on Meta. The developers plan to get the game out by February 2027, and will be launching it as a freemium experience: players will get one character to start with, with the others unlocked for $9.99 each, or through in-game progress.
Dice Throne may not be in Wargamer's guide to the best board games of all time, but it is popular, with a long history of successful Kickstarters dating back to 2019, and an active organised play scene. And a subset of the game's community is none too impressed with the pricing of the Kickstarter.
Not counting the $1 'show your support' tier, pledges start with the $60 'gold' tier, which grants access to the game's beta in October, all eight characters, a mention in the credits, and unique cosmetics. If you want to get in on the alpha test in August, that's the $20 diamond tier. And there are some extremely high ticket 'collaborator' pledges, ranging from $2,000 to co-design a new campaign relic, to $10,000 to co-design a level four minion.
There are multiple comments from people saying they have pledged $1 just to criticise the pricing structure - though those luxury 'collaborator' pledges aren't really the target. No, it's the value of that $60 gold tier pledge that people are calling into question - it will, after all, only cost $70 to unlock all the extra characters when the freemium version launches.
"Saving $10 imo is NOT worth backing vs waiting for the app to release" says DA Board gamer. Aaron Knepp adds "I tend to stick with only two or three characters anyway, so just buying one extra and maybe grinding the other might be my best course".
Dan says "We get to pay to be alpha/beta testers so the game is more polished for people who'll be able to play for free, and all we're offered so far are cosmetics?" Some are disappointed by the lack of AI opponents for 1v1 and the inability to play the roguelike game mode without an internet connection: "If an offline mode is not implemented, I may just wait for the free version and play without paying", says Seb.
That's just a sample - there are a lot more comments like that. While it may be a realistic price given the number of backers Dice Throne expects, $60 is a tough sell. For the same money you could pick up Slay the Spire 2 for $25, a Humble Bundle of seven strategy games for $18, and have change left over for takeout.
If you're a Dice Throne fan, we'd love to hear what you think makes it so compelling: let us know in the Wargamer Discord community.