There’s a new cheese board game currently crowdfunding that’ll appeal to dairy lovers everywhere – Fromage, a worker placement game that turns players into artisanal cheesemakers. The game’s Kickstarter, launched by publisher Road to Infamy on September 12, has already raised over $180,000 (£145,000).
Fromage is a simultaneous worker placement game, meaning it’s always your turn. You’ll need to manage every stage of the cheesemaking process on your personal player board, from the dairy farm to harvesting berries for an accompanying jam. Meanwhile, the main modular board (which apparently offers 5,424 possible setups) spins around the table, ageing the cheese your workers are busy producing.
This could be the best board game about cheese since that one played with actual cheese (video evidence below):
Fromage’s standard edition is available to back for $35 (£29), and a limited edition version can be bought for $49 (£41). This pricier edition comes with higher-quality edameeples (as we’re calling them), as well as a neoprene Lazy Susan that makes spinning the game board easier.
Fromage met its $10,000 (£8,170) crowdfunding goal in just 18 minutes, and its two stretch goals have already been unlocked by backers. These are upgraded worker meeples and token trays for storage. There’s something different about these stretch goals, however – they were suggested by fans rather than planned by the publishers.
“We’re trying a different approach to stretch goals”, Road to Infamy writes on the Kickstarter page. “Instead of unlocking pre-planned upgrades at arbitrary funding levels, we invite you to suggest upgrades in the comments.” Any reasonably-priced suggestions that catch the publisher’s eye will be made available as part of the campaign.
Fromage is a historical board game as well as a cheese-based tabletop title, set in early-20th-century France. If you prefer your strategy board games to be a bit more fictional, then why not check out our favorite fantasy board games?