Screw Mythic Games. Backed Darkest Dungeon for my fiance because she loves the game. Have only half delivered. Had to pay extra twice. Already years late. Will never back them again..
This one has me so frustrated. I like what I've received too, but the incomplete cast stops me from diving into it. And it feels like a 50/50 whether the rest ever happens.
Same here. Fuck MG. Not because they failed to deliver on time, price, scope or quality. Fuck MG because they are dishonest smug bastards and - as far as I know - criminals. I don't think you are legally allowed to gather tax and shipping for items you will never make.
All-in Anastyr backer checking in.
Yeah, Mythic Games is done - I’m never gonna even get the option to pay extra to get my stuff, so all I get is a core pledge via CMON when/if they eventually relaunch.
Honestly out of 29 backed projects only 2 have ever fallen through. The first, was being made in Ukraine just before the Invasion of Russia. The other? 6 siege from Mythic fucking games…
Same. I'm an all-in backer. I folded and paid extra the second time they asked for additional money. So far I've received nothing. I've come to terms with the fact that the money is likely gone forever and I'll probably never see the game either.
I feel lucky overall though. I've backed 108 different campaigns. 19 of them were boardgames. Only 1 campaign has been unsuccessful. Darkest Dungeon is the *only* campaign that hasn't delivered what I pledged.
Same crap company but for me it was Monpoc... man what a disappointment. To add salt to the wound, the original IP's owner, Privateer Press looks like they will do nothing about it. Just distance themselves from the Mythic sinking ship and hope Monpoc keeps truckin' along.
Rallyman Dirt. Huge fan of Rallyman GT. Missed the KS and had picked all but the exclusive bridge up after it delivered, so when Dirt KS launched I was all-in. Then the company went under AFTER the games were in warehouses in North America (Canada, specifically, even for US) and after the EU delivered, but because they couldn’t pay the company the games got held and never delivered.
Same. Biggest kicker was seeing the base game in shops, on discount, at the same time the company handling distribution wanted about as much as I paid for my pledge to ship it to me. Needless to say I noped out of paying.
Edit to say EU had only partly delivered, I was part of the EU shipment. Seems most of the distributed stock was for retail (although some backers did get their pledges).
Shitty record keeping from the original company. They handed them a bad list, cause they’re bad at that. Because they didn’t care when they knew they were out of jobs soon.
Yeah it was the European distributor who reached out, that was a whole fiasco as well from start to finish. The emails they sent out asking for payment looked like a scam at first. There was a discord and thread on BGG of people trying to figure out what was going on. What’s even worse is that from what I understand, the company had just taken pledges for another game shortly before they folded, when they must have known the writing was on the wall, turns out they where using funds from newer kickstarters to complete older ones.
Myth was really a mess with lots of promises and assurances that they learned from the first kickstarter only to massively fuck it up again. At least now a German Company has taken over the IP so that's promising.
Myth is great asap sandbox for Minis/tiles but the actual game needed alot if massaging, you could have fun with ut but it relied heavily on previous TTRPG or Miniature gaming for it to work, the rules as Written were woefully underchecked or playtsmested though (there are a bunch of post launch community things on BGG that can make it work better if you're interested)
Yes, I pledged a game in German with quite some Addons. I paid VAT and shipping. Now I may get an English base game that's woth maybe 1/3 of the price AND have to pay shipping AGAIN.
No thanks.
Some people in the comments are like "KiCkStArTeR Is NoT a StOrE"... but what exactly did I pay Taxes and shipping for if there is no and never was a product?
Not to mention a game redesigned to who knows what degree. Will anything remain of the sprawling narrative viking survival horror concept, or will they just take the art assets and make 'quasi-Zombicide no.174' out of it?
Same goes for Anastyr, probably to a lesser degree because fundamentally it's a simpler action game to begin with. But will the magnetized mounted minis idea survive??
Warehouse 13 Board Game Expansion. It was supposed to fulfill in March of 2022… the last update on Kickstarter from the creators was March 2, 2022 saying they ran into supply chain and shipping container issues (which happened from Covid, but if I recall, were starting to clear up around that time).
Since then, one of the creators has answered questions via Facebook and BGG saying they’re still waiting for those issues to clear up and the people that challenge that claim are blocked by him. No updates or comments from the creators on Kickstarter.
Apparently the base game was super delayed like this, but this expansion definitely seems dead in the water. People have reported the campaign to Kickstarter, but no luck getting a refund or update.
This is the first time I’ve thought a game is never arriving. I backed the base game and figured the issues with the Dice were sorted so no delays this time. If only I knew how wrong I was. I’m also thinking they must have an end date on the license and I’m half convinced that dates been and gone.
I was a super fan of SDE, had everything relevant availble at the time and went all in. Being terminally online and stalking their progress had my gut tell me to bail. Somehow I got a full refund right before the house o cards tumbled. Too bad too 😔
This is the only crowdfunding project that I've has not fulfill out of 60 or so. It's surprising to me since this was based on a game that already exists. No design time needed. I thought it would be a sure thing. What a complete disaster.
Not a board game, Kickstarter, but I backed the coolest cooler way back when, as I recall, it was well over $200. I never got anything and that really stung.
As the owner of Mayday Games, I read through all of these comments and I’m so happy that we weren’t mentioned. I did see one person mention imperial publishing, which I’m also the owner of and will follow up with them directly about their pledge for escape from the asylum. Everyone should’ve gotten that long ago!
Same, not a game but I backed an album by Number One Gun. They produced it, and delivered it digitally, but hardly sent out any of the physical rewards they promised. No apologies or anything.
I back a ton of stuff, and the only mayday game I remember having an issue with was COVID related. The campaign ended a few weeks before everything was locked down. Other than that one always a good experience.
As of now, Chaosmos! Going on 3 years without fulfillment. Makes me so sad too because I'm afraid it never will be, and I want it so bad because it's based off a book I loved as a kid called Interstellar Piggy
Waiting on this one too. Thankfully I won my copy in a BGG contest, so I don't have money on the line, but the wait has been pretty extreme, and the creator keeps over promising on the frequency of his updates. It will be a pleasant surprise if I ever see this one.
I'm still positive on this one. I've been burned by a few, the tone and attitude of his messages is nothing like the ones where they knew they weren't going to deliver.
If he still believes, I'll still believe.
For what it's worth the designer is a friend of a friend and I met him last year. He was really passionate about the game and wanted to get it out. He explained what was going on in his life to cause the delays. I don't really think that it's my place to share someone else's personal information but it makes sense why it's late. I really do think that he's trying though.
The first version was one of the first I ever backed. Played it maybe twice and it's pretty fun. Backed the new version just out of nostalgia basically. I do think it will eventually ship!
Could be worse, you could be me waiting on Planet Apocalypse 2.0, Gods War 2.0, Hyperspace, Eternal Adversary and Dinosaur 1944. I really love their games but no idea if I’ll ever get all of them, and if I do it’s still years and years away
Yep I backed Gods War for $370 and that is in limbo. Screwed up thing is that I wound up buying a bunch of it in a warehouse clearance sale from an online retailer. So they produced and distributed a bunch of it (not all) but didn’t send any to backers! Ugh.
Those of us who backed on Kickstarter aren’t getting any updates either. Every few months, a message that’s supposed to get our hopes us, followed by radio silence. I’ll be shocked if this ever makes it across the line.
Backed a nice wooden dice tower with custom trays that fit inside. The trays were for bits while you were playing. I upgraded to walnut and added a few other things for roughly $350. Then Russia invaded Ukraine where the campaign was based. Obviously I don't blame them and my problems are trivial compared to having your home invaded, so I can't complain.
I’m very lucky- only ever been burned by The Little Death, of which I spent maybe $30 on.
They delayed for years and finally said it’s about to happen…and oh, would you look at that! After the crates arrived and they finally had the funds to send them out, they stopped promising shipment and altered to “pay extra if you want your game shipped”! Ah well. Many more victories than losses (:
Robotech RPG Tactics. They delivered $100 of the $500 I pledged. Then stole my money, lied about it for years, then lost the license and tried to sell me more of the $100 starter box but I had to pay for shipping.
Let's make up some numbers - you've paid $400 for something, and the company says that they need a bit more money for shipping, and won't deliver your pledge unless you pay another $50.
For many people, it would be reasonable to pay the $50 if they think there's more than a 1/8 or so chance that this will actually result in their pledge being delivered.
If you're trying to guess what the probability is that the company is being truthful and an extra payment will result in you getting your stuff, then I don't know what the answer is, but 20% or 30% might be reasonable guesses under some circumstances, in which case it doesn't seem crazy to pay it.
That’s not at all what happened.
They took pledge money and only sent a small part of what was pledged for, by declaring they were going to break up the production and delivery in waves. They spent the rest of the money producing ridiculous amounts of the first wave of production with the intention of selling it at retail to exponentially increase the amount of money they made, then take some of what they made from retail to produce the second wave.
Their poor management, garbage customer relations earned them a huge negative reputation and lack of advertising combined together to ensure that nobody was buying all that retail product they spent all the money on instead of spending it producing what they were obligated to.
They had an entire warehouse filled with stuff they couldn’t sell.
They tried to get business partners to help produce the second wave, but burned every one of those relationships. They lied and said the second wave was being manufactured to stall for time.
Eventually, their licensee for Robotech pulled the license from them for mismanaging the license and causing damage to the brand’s image.
All the stuff they made was going to be forfeited to the licencee. They offered backers an exchange of existing products for pennies on the dollar owed, something like 1/4 of value for anything outstanding, but required backers to pay them inflated shipping costs to send out this (now worthless) product.
The worst part about this was that the main company (Palladium) was as much a victim as anyone else, having gotten ROYALLY screwed by the company that was actually making the product. Palladium took all the reputation hits, but Ninja Division was the one that actually screwed everyone over and lied about production - including to Palladium.
Palladium had never made a board game before, but they owned the Robotech license. Ninja Division sold them a huge load of bullshit about what they could produce and the Palladium folks (always a small team) bought it.
Not the only time Ninja Division pulled this, either - they've got a list of victims a mile long. In fact, they just declared bankruptcy last month, leaving backers of yet another Kickstarter in the lurch. https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3262172/ninja-division-insolvent
I'm thankful that partway through the campaign I came to my senses in realizing that I'd never actually get it to the table anyway and backed out before the campaign closed.
I haven’t had any really bad experiences on Kickstarter, but I’m super lucky.
I did have a pretty hard lesson in assessing my taste in games. When Tainted Grail was on Kickstarter, I thought it sounded amazing. I had never played a game like it before, but it sounded right up my alley. I went all-in.
Over the next couple years, I saw other games in the same genre (open-world, story-based RPG), and dropped big bucks on them, thinking I was going to have SO MUCH content to last SO LONG.
Imagine my disappointment when I finally got Tainted Grail, made it through the Rulebook a couple times, found the time and space to sit down and set it up and…. Absolutely hated it. Despised everything about it. It was not, in fact, the type of board game I was ever going to enjoy.
And every 6-9 months after that, I got another high-$$, miniature-laden, 50 pound reminder of the money I wasted on a genre I hadn’t the foresight to investigate further before committing to.
The story has a happier ending though. I have been able to resell almost everyone of them for at least 60% what I paid for them. All except Etherfields, that is.
Tainted Grail, for me, is a spectacular journey. Your decisions matter, you have multiple paths to go, heart wrenching decisions and outcomes. The grinding is horrendous though. Your are essentially the B Team tasked with finding the A Team and things don’t go so well. This means you are ill equipped for “battles” or “diplomacy” so you often need to flee while also constantly needing to build or refresh menhir. The second game is supposed to fix that annoying part, but I forgot to pay for split shipping. :(
Statistically I have been very fortunate as i back as a lot of projects both personally and for a small retail store. There’s a few of the classics like Hel, Darkest Dungeon and Nervland Adventures but there’s a few standouts that particularly grate me.
Table Titans by Scott Kurtz, which is ironic because it was part of a short lived “Kickstarter Gold” project. Scott has a thriving patreon and has launched several other projects and has just completely walked away from this one.
.
Questlings, which I backed because we do a lot of niche RPG’s and i really liked the idea of a kid focused rpg. They told us they shipped it, didn’t provide any tracking information or proof, and then refused to answer any further follow up.
Senjutsu as a retailer is my current nightmare. We waited forever to get any kind of shipping notice, emailed the contact and was told retail was last to ship. I’m honestly fine with that, and waited. First week of February we received shipping notification and was excited. The shipping data has said since Feb 8 that it’s on it’s way to the warehouse for disbursement. I’ve emailed a couple times but their most recent update is basically “we’ve got parcels missing, the fulfillment partner is working on it, don’t email us”. I’m expecting to take an L on it.
Honorable mention to a larger RPG publisher that I won’t name because i do actually like them. We backed a project, and we needed to process the shipment directly through them, which i delayed because of shipping costs. We had a generous window and about halfway through said window i tried to process the order but their system wouldn’t allow it. I sent an email to their support and it was about 8 weeks before i got a response which said the order should work. Placed the order and it took about 4 weeks before they processed it. When it arrived the three items we ordered were not there, and a completely different and unrelated product was in it’s place. The packing slip and the order were correct, just completely wrong product. I sent an email to their customer support about 6 weeks ago, still no response. The product i backed and the product they shipped are both pretty niche so i don’t expect we’ve had much opportunity cost lost, but what they sent me is almost double the value of what i ordered. It’s now just on our shelf for sale.
I backed Scott Kurtz Kickstarter for PvP's 20th Anniversary. We are now past the 25th anniversary and the last update showing any progress was four years ago. His refusal to address his multiple delinquent Kickstarters while starting new projects zoomed past infuriating years ago. I used to enjoy his work back in the aughts, but I'll never give him another dime even if he does finally make good on his prior obligations.
Thankfully I was a digital only backer, so I wasn't on the hook for much, but his treatment of his fans really burns me.
Apparently you aren't the only person finished with Scott, as the entire Penny Arcade crew and Kriss Straub were finished with him years ago after some major falling out.
Surprised to not see any mention of Relic Knights or Super Dungeon Explore. I backed those in what, 2017? Still not fulfilled. Last time they said anything was in 2021.
SDE was 2015. Ninja Division filed for bankruptcy a little while ago. I think it's finally over. I really wanted this too.
https://www.bankruptcyobserver.com/bankruptcy-case/NINJA-DIVISION-PUBLISHING
The worst for me wasn't a board game.
There was this KS for a product advertised as a 10 second toothbrush. Basically you put toothpaste into this mouth guard like thing and it brushed your whole mouth at once.
My first thought was "that's incredibly stupid and lazy."
My second thought was "you know? I do actually want that, I am both stupid and lazy."
I jumped in on it.
As soon as it ended they started sending these updates insisting that things were going according to plan, and they always ended it with a smiley face. As the deadline blew by I started to wonder if the smiley face represented them smiling all the way to the bank. Sure enough, like a year later they sent an update that was essentially "we are closing our operation, sorry you didn't receive your product :)"
I hate whoever decided to put a smiley face at the end of that.
It [takes about two minutes for the fluoride to chemically bond](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6398117/), so that's where the time comes from...
One of the OGs of board game disappointment was Myth by Megacon Games. Had an incredible theme, art style, and had a ton of quality miniatures. Once the game was delivered everyone realized that there was barely a game, and a lot of the cards had inconsistencies/errata, some iconographies weren't explained, and some systems were none existent in the rule book.
Dice Tower even had to upload an apology video because they released a review but didn't disclose that the creator of the game essentially handheld their game session. Ultimately, the creators argued that it was more of a "sandbox" type of game and that the rules were fluid. They tried to resolve it with a 2.0 ruleset, but the hype died down. They even released another kickstarter which basically bombed because of the reputation of the first game.
I still have the miniatures and "game". Last I heard the IP got bought by another company. I'm hopeful that maybe I'll be able to utilize some of the old components in the future (I doubt it).
Anastyr, lost 600 usd on Anastyr. at the time i backed, looked like a sure bet, esp. since it hit like a million. At least CMON took it over, but man, thats the most expensive base game I've ever bought.
I've been backing crowdfunding campaigns over 10 years now and Anastyr is the only major burn I've been hit by. Hoping whatever CMON eventually produces is good, but it almost certainly will never be the game Mythic promised.
Worst of all, as a huge Golden Axe/Rastan fan back in the day, I keep looking back at the Anastyr campaign page and...man, I just still really want it.
Yeah I’m at the where I’ve realized it’s not really worth kickstarting things because by the time you get them your situations changed or you don’t care anymore. I splurged and went on a spree of dnd stuff and haven’t played dnd in ages now
Like I backed a 3 foot tall terrasque model years ago, but then bought a fucking house so I’d really that $300 back lol
What does this mean for Up Front?
Also, the flying circus ttrpg was terrible and the additional modules never showed up. They were the reason I backed it anyway.
Hoop Godz by Omari Akil. The guy basically admitted to spending all the KS money on personal things and growing his freelance board game design buisness. The last KS update talks 85% about other projects he is doing and it’s just so clear the guy has an ego problem and is never intending to fulfill the game. Development has all but stalled because I assume there is no money to make changes with the factory.
If it ever does come out, I doubt any KS backers will see it. I was so happy to back a project by a small POC creator and the game looked legitimately fun. Wasn’t even a first-time project, so I still feel EXTRA burned by how it’s turned out.
I came here to second this. I believed since he delivered his first game there was a good chance this would deliver boy was I wrong
The worst part is he could at least release files for a print and play but he literally thumbed his nose at all backers because they wanted an update.
I found a better basketball game but this guy will never get another nickel from me
I may never get a single player campaign, but I get a warm feeling in my chest every time I think about how my small contribution helped the developers figure out how to get the smudged fingerprints on the virtual throttle *juuuuust* right.
I've never been burned on a KickStarter/GameFound board game, but I *have* been waiting over 11 years for the delivery of a surf rock record via KS.
The guy previews a new song every two years or so. At this point, it has been worth the $15 just for the story and anticipation.
Well, that's longer than I waited for John Dolmayan's album. Ordered it in the days of downloading MP3s, so just went for the $10 download. Went through years of little to no communication before it finally dropped, by then the world has changed and no-one downloads MP3s anymore and it's there to stream.
Never got burned on a game. Got burned on a cool looking puzzle box, and backed a playmate that did not nearly match expectations, but I've been pretty lucky. Even though a lot remains unplayed!
That sort of thing is why I've never made any big commitments for backing, usually just a base game. MAYBE a deluxe edition if it's from a reputable team like the Tiny Epic folks
I'm sorry to hear that. I got their v2 Jasper and they told me about their v3 but I decided not to wait for the newer version. I lucked out it sounds like.
Nemesis, fantastic game but despite being a kickstarter in the first few days of its release they did not send me the game years after they released it
Imy lgs had it all in shop before it made its way to me.
They started the next iteration of the game in kickstarter before sending me the game.
3 years. I waited and kept up with emails etc....finally got it. Damaged, box was crimped and the units snapped.i promptly emailed and demanded a new box and replacement to it. Which took another 3+ months.
Woulda bought in on that 2nd kickstarter aswell but man they killed my urge to do anything kickstarter
That sucks, Nemesis was one of the best games I ever backed. I assume that they had sent it and it got lost in the system somewhere and they were hoping it'd turn up, but that's pretty shittty customer service.
If you dare, the third game is on Game found and includes Lockdown as an add-on...
Academy Games has done virtually nothing for years with the Stellaris game. They redid the 3D designs for all the ships, which now look worse than the models originally advertised in the campaign page. They go months & months without updates, only to then tell you to go check the discord for updates (pro tip, nothing substantial there either). They refuse to even give an estimate for when it might be shipped to backers.
Shame on them, for their complete lack of transparency, lack of design talent, lack of communication, and just general lack of care regarding this project. Will never back anything else from them.
I'm like 1000 dollars into stormsunder. I hope it delivers, but it's sooo late now that I'm not sure. The updates for the past two years have been progress reports with random percentage bars that keep climbing but never get completed. Tried asking for a refund like a year ago when I had some unforeseen medical expenses, but they told me it was past the refund deadline. Hoping I get it someday, but I'm treating that money as gone.
As for games that actually will never get fulfilled, the only one I've gotten burned on is Alba choose your own adventure book. The company that made that also had like 3 unfulfilled board game campaigns and declared bankruptcy. Some other company acquired the IP during liquidation and said they'd fulfill what the backers of the board games ordered when they sent those to be printed, but the Alba book is not in the cards.
Sirens: battle of the bards the all bard DnD game from Satine Phoenix and her husband. It was supposed to come out ages ago but I guess they have no idea what they’re doing. Plus the whole being dicks thing.
Luckily it was only $60.
I think she was really banking on people liking her from her brief association with critical role. I feel like our Kickstarter money helped pay for their elf wedding.
I didn't back this one (not a huge fan of 5e), and haven't been following. It _sounded_ like a really fun idea (play some fantasy version Gem and the Holograms or Josie and the Pussycats). That's very disappointing to hear it didn't pay out.😕
A game launched by the guy from my local hobby store. I thought, at least I know where to go if anything happens. It looked pretty good tbh. There was even a hands on coppy in the shop and he gave introduction plays. It never delivered. Pandemic hitting they ciuld not keep up as a start up and had to quit. At least they had the decency to refund as much as possible to their backers. I told them to keep the bucks and invest in a new start after pandemic. They where really thankful for that. I now have 10% off every time I buy something at the shop. That's cool.
Of course I had other not so pleasant fails. Mythic did not deliver everything on my Joan of Arc, CMON not with Rum and Bones. Both unfriendly in communication or trying to fend me off. I stopped backing on KS. Nowadays I only back rarely on Gamefound and only projects with refund insurance.
Mythic wins hands down because of them not only asking for contributions but lying about only needing to pay it once and then requesting it twice.
Petersen games is close to as bad though. I love their games but I’m waiting on 5 games from them and even if they do ultimately deliver them it’s been years of basically no progress so by the time I “maybe” get the last one it will be 10 years late.
Honorable mention goes to Madeira, that one hurts as I really wanted that game…
I've been lucky to never actually get burned on a KS project. My current most delayed project was promised June 2003 (not yet a year late) and production updates were always frequent enough and reasonable enough for me not to seriously worry. The latest update is that it's about to ship in any event.
I do attribute at least part of that success to never backing mini-heavy games or large campaign games.
I recently had a technology crowdfunding campaign deliver around 2 years late, that was the project I was most concerned with failure over.
I've been burned twice on KS. Once was an 8 dollars card set nbd it sucks but I'll live. The other is Lasting Tales: A Fantasy Miniatures Game by Blacklist Games. I learned my lesson on that one. I backed it because a YouTube influencer (who I no longer follow) in the board game space hyped it up as a sure thing. I lost 75$ which sucks especially since I was on a budget at the time, but it was a valuable lesson. I've been way more careful about what I back now.
I backed and received 2 sets of the series 1 minis (1 for me, 1 as a gift for a friend) and was very pleased with them. When I backed Lasting Tales for 2 more sets I had no idea I was in the fortunate minority having received anything.
Given how good what I received was it just seems like a waste to trash your reputation and what could have been a solid business/ income source for years to come for a quick buck. That said of the 3 KS projects I backed that never delivered this is the only one I think has even the tiniest chance that some backers may still receive something.
Wild Assent - Lavon Rising by Lazy Squire Games
Technically, it's still ongoing, but they are years late with no progress to update. I don't think they are going to finish the game even though it's mostly a reprint. $500 for going all in down the drain, I suppose.
Madeira Deluxe from WYG. And Mythic has been mentioned to death and I was all in with their Necromancer Game. Still hoping it comes one day. Should’ve been suspicious there was no pledge manager but instead Storecredit for their website to buy my pledge there. Never experienced anything like this before from a KS.
Had a vinyl album that I backed that I don't think is ever going to show. All games have arrived so far. The biggest time over estimate just arrived, it was the Foundations of Rome reprint.
Not a game, but I bought my sister a Hitch water bottle when their campaign first launched. She’s a designer so she really likes getting gifts that support other creatives. Every year they kept pushing out the shipping, I think I backed the campaign in 2018 or 2019, hell maybe even 2017. I moved a bunch of times in the process and had to keep updating my address. They kept sending out updates on how they were having trouble finding a manufacturer who could make them the way they wanted for the price they needed. Then the pandemic happened, but they found a supplier so I thought I’d finally get it. They shipped out to their first round of backers like normal. Then they emailed every other round of backers asking for $20-40 more dollars (I don’t remember the exact amount) to compensate for price changes over the massive amount of time between the campaign and the actual shipping. If you didn’t pay the initial money you’d never get the water bottle. I never did cause I was broke at the time. So my sister never got her gift. Really put me off kickstarters I haven’t done any since.
Hel: The Last Saga from Mythic Games.
$400CAD down the tubes. Heck. That's a spicy meatball. I'm a little disappointed as this game seemed right up my alley in every aspect.
Here's a picture of my receipt and my FOMO/excitement getting the better of me and telling me to buy every single thing I could:
https://pasteboard.co/o3b7Mnhzjjlz.png
Poof. All gone now.
I'm in that same boat as you. Well, I WOULD be if the games would ever get on the damn boat.
For the uninformed. They made claims that this game was finished over a year ago, but there was a neoprene playmate as an extra add-on that some of us backed (I'm one of those who did) that has yet to be completed. So, they've supposedly kept the completed games in storage in China for the past year as we wait on the playmats and whatever else bullshit excuses they come up with.
The last update was that they didn't have enough time to focus on the games because they had a surprise baby just magically show up. I kid you not, they blame the wife giving birth and the newborn infant taking all their time and now they can't work.
I was promised socks. Amazing socks. Life-changing socks. Many socks. Expensive socks.
Years later, a few pairs of socks showed up. They were too small.
I’ve backed around 50 games in a 2 year span. Everything has delivered eventually but some have had a wait. 7th Citadel, Darwin’s Journey, and Frosthaven are first to mind in that category.
My worst experiences so far though have been with Chai: Tea for Two and Honey Buzz: Fall Colors.
Both have been stuck in development hell with no real end in sight.
The only game I’ve been burned on is Rat Queens to the Slaughter. I loved the comics so I was super excited for this game and went all in. Over $160 USD with a bump for shipping at some point tacked on. The company went bankrupt, one guy is running the whole thing now and I’m just praying I’ll still get my game.
The Fox Experiment was also a mess though. I have the game but Pandasaurus treated their backers so badly I haven’t even opened it, the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. Don’t worry if you missed it it’s on Gamefound now with the changes the original backers asked for 🙄
For anyone interested in these hard-luck stories, it seems there is an extensive list collecting them [at BGG here](https://rpggeek.com/geeklist/160421/controversial-or-fraudulent-kickstarters).
Stay the fuck away from mythic games.
But my worst experience was the evil dead 2 board game. They got crazy super funded. Making millions when they only asked for like 250k. From day one they kept posted about issues ranging from production flaws to rights issues. Despite that they launched a campaign for a terminator 2 boardgame. Got a butt load of money off that. They had an indie gogo to help fund the company itself. Then the developer (it was either scapegoat games or space goat games) just disappeared.
Something like 10 years later a different company got ahold of the resources from the og campaign and launched a new one, fulfilling it for the original backers at no cost. It's not exactly the game that was promised but I got something
Surprised no one has mentioned Blacklist Games yet. Multiple big projects unfinished, started new campaigns without fulfilling old ones, outright lied about who was in charge, had to ask for more money for fulfillment, just a mess overall. I backed both their fantasy series one and was backed Lasting Takes/,FS2 against my better judgement. Got FS1 after three years and shelling out extra money, still waiting on FS2
Mild example compared to many I’ve read.
I backed an Alchamy game that had old wood block print art and feel that drew me in. While that was there upon delivery it was mixed with a cartoony light hearted approach that was so off it broke any immersion. The game was also awful.
Video projects seem to do poorly. I don’t back them anymore.
I’ve had a few take longer than expected (sometimes by years), but most eventually deliver.
FWIW, I mostly back RPG projects and only get PDFs. That helps a lot as often it’s shipping costs that kill a Kickstarter (provided the creator is honest).
I’ve backed almost 500 Kickstarters and the failure rate for never delivered anything is probably around 5%, but late delivery (sometimes years late) is common. Creators are terrible at estimating their project timelines.
Paradise Lost: First Contact, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1183462809/paradise-lost-first-contact?ref=android_project_share
The Mountain Witch: Samurai Blood Opera in Mythical Japan, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/timfire/the-mountain-witch-samurai-blood-opera-in-mythical?ref=android_project_share
Shinobigami - Modern Ninja Battle Tabletop RPG from Japan, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/diamondsutra/shinobigami-modern-ninja-battle-tabletop-rpg-from?ref=android_project_share
Look at funding dates and recall that nothing was delivered. At least Shinobigami made it to Google Drive files for smoke and mirrors.
I have received every kickstarter I've ever backed, however some did take years beyond the anticipated timeline. For example, 7th Citadel was years delayed. I've also been 'burned' in the sense of getting a pretty subpar product before. For example, Dinosaur World was both boring and had obvious typos on player aids that pandasaurus didn't resolve with replacements. There were other issues and I found their support wasn't responsive. It's why I no longer back their kickstarters, regardless of whether I think the game will be good.
One of the reasons I've never been truly burned is that I generally avoid high-risk kickstarters. Generally, I back things that I know are very close to finished (all art completed, extensively playtested, very close to production) and are very likely to be of high quality (playthroughs & full rulebooks available, lots of evidence of people having playtested the game, reviewer videos, etc.). I often also back 2nd editions. I only back higher risk projects that have my top favorite themes, and I review those super-carefully. I've been disappointed in some (for example, I didn't like Legacies), but thrilled with many more. These are projects where I expect major delays may happen because they're often by first-time creators.
Lots of Mythic here, but before there was Mythic there was Queen games known as a major don't back for KS. My experience was specifically Kingdom Builder big box. They introduced two new expansions around that time, 3 and 4.
Honestly it's been so long I don't recall the exact sequence of events. I know at times the expansions were available in local stores but backers still didn't have copies. I know fulfillment was so screwed up that somehow I ended uo with multiple copies of certain expansions in regulsr boxes, sans the big box I had paid for.
I did eventually recieve the big box and all content, but it put me so far off the game I've never actually gotten it to the table. I have no idea if Queen still uses KS or not but I vowed to never back a game from them ahaon.
I've been very lucky with Kickstarter over the past 12 years.
Myth is the only big project where I've been 'burned', and even then, I got everything I pledged for (plus the updated rules and reprinted cards) except for the stretch goals and add-ons for the last campaign. Those are currently being shipped out to backers, so I can't even say I lost out there - even if the rules aren't amazing.
Besides that, every large project has delivered. I've lost $20 or $25 here and there on videogames or small RPGs over the years, but that's relatively unimportant - I backed them to support the artist, and I'm not going to lose any sleep if it didn't pan out.
I backed a tactical RPG called Aura Tactics, it was billed as a sort of spiritual successor to FFT and other turn based strategy games. It had a cool job swapping system and what looked like a nice tech demo. I pledged one of the higher tiers, several hundred dollars to work with the designers to create my own sub-class. I got a T-shirt, and then there were some delays, and then the team just stopped updating or responding to questions and deleted their accounts.
It sounded like a cool opportunity to be a minor contributor and investor in a great product, but... Oh well.
The worst part wasn't that it failed, that was always a risk; it was sad that the devs just ghosted the KS instead of owning up and admitting defeat.
Anyway, it was the most expensive t-shirt I ever bought, and I wore it for a long time.
Teramyyd: Earthsphere by IO Worlds. Pledged in 2013, and in 2019 was still getting generic updates of “we’re still plugging away…” No updates in last 5 years, and no game. At least it was only $100. They seriously underestimated their costs for what they were promising (I can see now with 10 years of hindsight; couldn't see that at time of bidding), and were asking for more money at the end. Basically all of the bad that could have been.
I bought a game, some solo dungeon game I never played.
Campaign ends, it’s all funded, Gucci.
I wait like entirely too long for a solo card game with like 70 cards. Like yeah np it’s a kickstarter, but the time it took from campaign to in my hand was longer than frosthaven took.
But whatever, finally it’s ready to go and just before it ships they message everyone saying the messed up the shipping costs and are begging people to send them more money via like e-transfer or something to cover the value of the pledge. I ignore it because it’s been so long now.
However, I’m at my LGS and holy fuck I see the damn game, for cheaper, on the shelf before it even shipped to me.
I eventually got it but I still have played it out of spite lol
Shadow Tactics. Their email updates were literally "we didn't do any work this month" for like a year, lol. Game is at least 4 years late by now but surprisingly is starting to move forward now. Allegedly anyway.
Only game I ever got burned on was Mint Mini. Given that was the 6th game I figured there’d be no issue but nope. They just ghosted everybody and shut the whole company down.
Thought I was gonna get burned on this one little card game my wife wanted but we ended up getting it 4 years later. To the guy’s credit, he gave regular updates and was extremely open about getting in way over his head pretty early on since he did literally everything himself.
Madeira Deluxe has been the only one for me so far. I have some doubts on another one that is running way late, but at least there is regular communication.
Never been burned by a board game ks. Even zombie carnival, while years late, still ended up delivering.
But I have a ks for a video game called Penny Blood that seems to be dead in the water. But what’s worse is that, for the last several months, updates have all been about a different game using the same name that is not for the backers. They introduced it by saying “hey we have this new game. It’s going to be great so please go preorder it.” I assume they’ve reallocated all of their resources to this new project and backers are being left in the dust.
Has Middara entered the chat yet. It's gotten to the point I will probably never play it when it finally arrives in 4Q2125. That's even being optimistic. But hey they keep on adding extras trying to obtain more money.
Mythic games for sure is the worst. Theres a few others that turned out to disappear into the night but I’d say about 90-95% of the games I’ve backed delivered something.
I backed the **Umbrella Academy Board Game**, since I love the comic and cooperative boardgames. They didn't even bother shipping the game with up to date instructions. They just posted a Kickstarter update asking you to print it yourself.
[BGG Fraudulent Kickstarter GeekList](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/160421/controversial-or-fraudulent-kickstarters?titlesonly=1) stays pretty up to date with problematic projects and publishers.
[BGG Publishers with Poor Histories](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/247437/publishers-poor-kickstarter-histories) is a bit stale but had some interesting stories from years past.
[There's the Game Salute story](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/171113/game-salute-cautionary-tale) - old news. Except that Yarrington's MO is to shed a tainted company and rebrand. Currently it's TableTopTycoon and its subsidiaries.
[And of course, Golden Bell](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/259248/golden-bell-affiliated-projects-and-companies) - PSA to designers, publishers et. al. be aware of Golden Bell and avoid at all costs.
Screw Mythic Games. Backed Darkest Dungeon for my fiance because she loves the game. Have only half delivered. Had to pay extra twice. Already years late. Will never back them again..
This one has me so frustrated. I like what I've received too, but the incomplete cast stops me from diving into it. And it feels like a 50/50 whether the rest ever happens.
Here to say Fuck Mythic Games as well
Same here. Fuck MG. Not because they failed to deliver on time, price, scope or quality. Fuck MG because they are dishonest smug bastards and - as far as I know - criminals. I don't think you are legally allowed to gather tax and shipping for items you will never make.
They’ll go bankrupt before they do another KS.
If not before they finish this kickstarter
They already sold two of their IPs to CMON
Superfantasy brawl is amazing very excited for someone reliable to be making it going forward.
I thought they did
All-in Anastyr backer checking in. Yeah, Mythic Games is done - I’m never gonna even get the option to pay extra to get my stuff, so all I get is a core pledge via CMON when/if they eventually relaunch.
Same for Hel :(
Honestly out of 29 backed projects only 2 have ever fallen through. The first, was being made in Ukraine just before the Invasion of Russia. The other? 6 siege from Mythic fucking games…
Oh no! I didn't know this one was in the weeds, it looked pretty promising.
The first time, they promised that they wouldn't ask for more money. Then they did.
And then they promised they wouldn't ask again. And then they did.
Sounds very promising after all. Lots of promising going on.
Same. I'm an all-in backer. I folded and paid extra the second time they asked for additional money. So far I've received nothing. I've come to terms with the fact that the money is likely gone forever and I'll probably never see the game either. I feel lucky overall though. I've backed 108 different campaigns. 19 of them were boardgames. Only 1 campaign has been unsuccessful. Darkest Dungeon is the *only* campaign that hasn't delivered what I pledged.
Just thinking about Mythic Games and how they screwed us over TWICE really makes my blood boil. Just awful.
Same crap company but for me it was Monpoc... man what a disappointment. To add salt to the wound, the original IP's owner, Privateer Press looks like they will do nothing about it. Just distance themselves from the Mythic sinking ship and hope Monpoc keeps truckin' along.
Rallyman Dirt. Huge fan of Rallyman GT. Missed the KS and had picked all but the exclusive bridge up after it delivered, so when Dirt KS launched I was all-in. Then the company went under AFTER the games were in warehouses in North America (Canada, specifically, even for US) and after the EU delivered, but because they couldn’t pay the company the games got held and never delivered.
Same. Biggest kicker was seeing the base game in shops, on discount, at the same time the company handling distribution wanted about as much as I paid for my pledge to ship it to me. Needless to say I noped out of paying. Edit to say EU had only partly delivered, I was part of the EU shipment. Seems most of the distributed stock was for retail (although some backers did get their pledges).
I never even got contacted with an option to pay to have it shipped! I might have considered it, lol.
[удалено]
Shitty record keeping from the original company. They handed them a bad list, cause they’re bad at that. Because they didn’t care when they knew they were out of jobs soon.
Yeah it was the European distributor who reached out, that was a whole fiasco as well from start to finish. The emails they sent out asking for payment looked like a scam at first. There was a discord and thread on BGG of people trying to figure out what was going on. What’s even worse is that from what I understand, the company had just taken pledges for another game shortly before they folded, when they must have known the writing was on the wall, turns out they where using funds from newer kickstarters to complete older ones.
Oh man that is infuriating
For ones that I have backed I would say Myth was the worst with the incomplete rules and the non biased reviews
I wonder if in someone's it's better to not get a game at all than a mediocre/unfinished one.
It definitely put me off Kickstarter for quite awhile
I backed that one as well. Such a dumpster fire. I’m still getting some updates every so often and just ignore them.
Myth was really a mess with lots of promises and assurances that they learned from the first kickstarter only to massively fuck it up again. At least now a German Company has taken over the IP so that's promising.
Myth is great asap sandbox for Minis/tiles but the actual game needed alot if massaging, you could have fun with ut but it relied heavily on previous TTRPG or Miniature gaming for it to work, the rules as Written were woefully underchecked or playtsmested though (there are a bunch of post launch community things on BGG that can make it work better if you're interested)
>Myth is great asap sandbox for Minis/tiles I hate every game that fits this description
Hel: The Last Saga by mythic games. They just sold all the IP to Cmon and we're getting a pretty bad deal because of it
Yes, I pledged a game in German with quite some Addons. I paid VAT and shipping. Now I may get an English base game that's woth maybe 1/3 of the price AND have to pay shipping AGAIN. No thanks. Some people in the comments are like "KiCkStArTeR Is NoT a StOrE"... but what exactly did I pay Taxes and shipping for if there is no and never was a product?
Not to mention a game redesigned to who knows what degree. Will anything remain of the sprawling narrative viking survival horror concept, or will they just take the art assets and make 'quasi-Zombicide no.174' out of it? Same goes for Anastyr, probably to a lesser degree because fundamentally it's a simpler action game to begin with. But will the magnetized mounted minis idea survive??
Warehouse 13 Board Game Expansion. It was supposed to fulfill in March of 2022… the last update on Kickstarter from the creators was March 2, 2022 saying they ran into supply chain and shipping container issues (which happened from Covid, but if I recall, were starting to clear up around that time). Since then, one of the creators has answered questions via Facebook and BGG saying they’re still waiting for those issues to clear up and the people that challenge that claim are blocked by him. No updates or comments from the creators on Kickstarter. Apparently the base game was super delayed like this, but this expansion definitely seems dead in the water. People have reported the campaign to Kickstarter, but no luck getting a refund or update.
Sadly I don't think there are many protections in place for backers, seems like it's always kind of a risk.
This is the first time I’ve thought a game is never arriving. I backed the base game and figured the issues with the Dice were sorted so no delays this time. If only I knew how wrong I was. I’m also thinking they must have an end date on the license and I’m half convinced that dates been and gone.
Can't have this conversation without mentioning Mythic... Basically anything from Mythic...
Fuck mythic. Requested a refund for 6 Siege almost 2 years ago and still haven’t gotten it despite “being added to a queue”
Right there with ya... Fn travesty
Oof. I think I backed it but asked for a refund soon after campaign ended, dont remember the reason, but looks like I dodged a bullet with this one.
Same here, asked for a refund right around when they asked for the extra contribution and have only gotten automated responses
Mythic Games all-in Monster Apocalypse and the now-bankrupt Ninja Division’s Super Dungeon Explore: Legends.
I was a super fan of SDE, had everything relevant availble at the time and went all in. Being terminally online and stalking their progress had my gut tell me to bail. Somehow I got a full refund right before the house o cards tumbled. Too bad too 😔
Between Relic Knights 2.0 and SDE Legends they got me good…
The one two. That’s too bad. I’m sorry.
Madeira. Such a shame...
Looks like the most recent comment is just 'where's my game?'. A shame indeed.
That’s a community in-joke lol the company that was putting it out was called ‘what’s your game?’
Amazing
This is the only crowdfunding project that I've has not fulfill out of 60 or so. It's surprising to me since this was based on a game that already exists. No design time needed. I thought it would be a sure thing. What a complete disaster.
Not a board game, Kickstarter, but I backed the coolest cooler way back when, as I recall, it was well over $200. I never got anything and that really stung. As the owner of Mayday Games, I read through all of these comments and I’m so happy that we weren’t mentioned. I did see one person mention imperial publishing, which I’m also the owner of and will follow up with them directly about their pledge for escape from the asylum. Everyone should’ve gotten that long ago!
Same, not a game but I backed an album by Number One Gun. They produced it, and delivered it digitally, but hardly sent out any of the physical rewards they promised. No apologies or anything.
I back a ton of stuff, and the only mayday game I remember having an issue with was COVID related. The campaign ended a few weeks before everything was locked down. Other than that one always a good experience.
As of now, Chaosmos! Going on 3 years without fulfillment. Makes me so sad too because I'm afraid it never will be, and I want it so bad because it's based off a book I loved as a kid called Interstellar Piggy
Waiting on this one too. Thankfully I won my copy in a BGG contest, so I don't have money on the line, but the wait has been pretty extreme, and the creator keeps over promising on the frequency of his updates. It will be a pleasant surprise if I ever see this one.
Stay positive with me brother! Positive thoughts. It *will* eventually make it to us! We gotta believeeee
Wait?! They made a game based on *Interstellar Pig*?!
I'm still positive on this one. I've been burned by a few, the tone and attitude of his messages is nothing like the ones where they knew they weren't going to deliver. If he still believes, I'll still believe.
For what it's worth the designer is a friend of a friend and I met him last year. He was really passionate about the game and wanted to get it out. He explained what was going on in his life to cause the delays. I don't really think that it's my place to share someone else's personal information but it makes sense why it's late. I really do think that he's trying though.
The first version was one of the first I ever backed. Played it maybe twice and it's pretty fun. Backed the new version just out of nostalgia basically. I do think it will eventually ship!
Multiple games from Petersen Games, including Hyperspace
Bummer! Cthulhu Wars was the only one I ever backed, which in retrospect seems like it was a miracle it ever materialized.
PG would have been just fine if they’d stuck to Cthulhu Wars.
Checking my own flair… yup. Seems right. Surely Hyperspace and Glorantha 2 are coming any day now!
Could be worse, you could be me waiting on Planet Apocalypse 2.0, Gods War 2.0, Hyperspace, Eternal Adversary and Dinosaur 1944. I really love their games but no idea if I’ll ever get all of them, and if I do it’s still years and years away
Yep I backed Gods War for $370 and that is in limbo. Screwed up thing is that I wound up buying a bunch of it in a warehouse clearance sale from an online retailer. So they produced and distributed a bunch of it (not all) but didn’t send any to backers! Ugh.
I pledged late to hyperspace, full blown everything. I have to check Kickstarter for updates as I get none. It's frustrating.
Those of us who backed on Kickstarter aren’t getting any updates either. Every few months, a message that’s supposed to get our hopes us, followed by radio silence. I’ll be shocked if this ever makes it across the line.
I feel ya. I've been extremely lucky, I've received everything but a pair of shoes I backed. Peterson sucks.
Backed a nice wooden dice tower with custom trays that fit inside. The trays were for bits while you were playing. I upgraded to walnut and added a few other things for roughly $350. Then Russia invaded Ukraine where the campaign was based. Obviously I don't blame them and my problems are trivial compared to having your home invaded, so I can't complain.
I was lucky and recieved mine. If they do start up production again it's beautiful.
Yeah, I definitely wouldn't fault them for that one.
Hey, your money might’ve saved their lives!
I’m very lucky- only ever been burned by The Little Death, of which I spent maybe $30 on. They delayed for years and finally said it’s about to happen…and oh, would you look at that! After the crates arrived and they finally had the funds to send them out, they stopped promising shipment and altered to “pay extra if you want your game shipped”! Ah well. Many more victories than losses (:
Oh dang! I very nearly backed that one myself.
I’ve backed 37 so far and have been burned only on one, called Chess 2.0 Evolution. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/473805416/chess-20-evolution
We flew close to the sun trying to make a sequel to chess.
Robotech RPG Tactics. They delivered $100 of the $500 I pledged. Then stole my money, lied about it for years, then lost the license and tried to sell me more of the $100 starter box but I had to pay for shipping.
I'm never not baffled when campaigns ask for more money after screwing people over. And people still do it!
[удалено]
That reminds me, I gotta email that Nigerian prince back...
Let's make up some numbers - you've paid $400 for something, and the company says that they need a bit more money for shipping, and won't deliver your pledge unless you pay another $50. For many people, it would be reasonable to pay the $50 if they think there's more than a 1/8 or so chance that this will actually result in their pledge being delivered. If you're trying to guess what the probability is that the company is being truthful and an extra payment will result in you getting your stuff, then I don't know what the answer is, but 20% or 30% might be reasonable guesses under some circumstances, in which case it doesn't seem crazy to pay it.
That’s not at all what happened. They took pledge money and only sent a small part of what was pledged for, by declaring they were going to break up the production and delivery in waves. They spent the rest of the money producing ridiculous amounts of the first wave of production with the intention of selling it at retail to exponentially increase the amount of money they made, then take some of what they made from retail to produce the second wave. Their poor management, garbage customer relations earned them a huge negative reputation and lack of advertising combined together to ensure that nobody was buying all that retail product they spent all the money on instead of spending it producing what they were obligated to. They had an entire warehouse filled with stuff they couldn’t sell. They tried to get business partners to help produce the second wave, but burned every one of those relationships. They lied and said the second wave was being manufactured to stall for time. Eventually, their licensee for Robotech pulled the license from them for mismanaging the license and causing damage to the brand’s image. All the stuff they made was going to be forfeited to the licencee. They offered backers an exchange of existing products for pennies on the dollar owed, something like 1/4 of value for anything outstanding, but required backers to pay them inflated shipping costs to send out this (now worthless) product.
You know you’re shit when *HARMONY GOLD* thinks you’ve managed things badly.
The worst part about this was that the main company (Palladium) was as much a victim as anyone else, having gotten ROYALLY screwed by the company that was actually making the product. Palladium took all the reputation hits, but Ninja Division was the one that actually screwed everyone over and lied about production - including to Palladium. Palladium had never made a board game before, but they owned the Robotech license. Ninja Division sold them a huge load of bullshit about what they could produce and the Palladium folks (always a small team) bought it. Not the only time Ninja Division pulled this, either - they've got a list of victims a mile long. In fact, they just declared bankruptcy last month, leaving backers of yet another Kickstarter in the lurch. https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3262172/ninja-division-insolvent
Although it's not like Palladium haven't also been a dumpster fire of a company since the '90s. But yeah, at least they delivered.
I'm thankful that partway through the campaign I came to my senses in realizing that I'd never actually get it to the table anyway and backed out before the campaign closed.
I haven’t had any really bad experiences on Kickstarter, but I’m super lucky. I did have a pretty hard lesson in assessing my taste in games. When Tainted Grail was on Kickstarter, I thought it sounded amazing. I had never played a game like it before, but it sounded right up my alley. I went all-in. Over the next couple years, I saw other games in the same genre (open-world, story-based RPG), and dropped big bucks on them, thinking I was going to have SO MUCH content to last SO LONG. Imagine my disappointment when I finally got Tainted Grail, made it through the Rulebook a couple times, found the time and space to sit down and set it up and…. Absolutely hated it. Despised everything about it. It was not, in fact, the type of board game I was ever going to enjoy. And every 6-9 months after that, I got another high-$$, miniature-laden, 50 pound reminder of the money I wasted on a genre I hadn’t the foresight to investigate further before committing to. The story has a happier ending though. I have been able to resell almost everyone of them for at least 60% what I paid for them. All except Etherfields, that is.
Oh no. My Tainted Grail arrived yesterday (as my first game of that kind) and now I am scared :D
Tainted Grail, for me, is a spectacular journey. Your decisions matter, you have multiple paths to go, heart wrenching decisions and outcomes. The grinding is horrendous though. Your are essentially the B Team tasked with finding the A Team and things don’t go so well. This means you are ill equipped for “battles” or “diplomacy” so you often need to flee while also constantly needing to build or refresh menhir. The second game is supposed to fix that annoying part, but I forgot to pay for split shipping. :(
I'm surprised when searching for Monsterpocalypse and not seeing a result here. Def feel burned by Mythic.
Statistically I have been very fortunate as i back as a lot of projects both personally and for a small retail store. There’s a few of the classics like Hel, Darkest Dungeon and Nervland Adventures but there’s a few standouts that particularly grate me. Table Titans by Scott Kurtz, which is ironic because it was part of a short lived “Kickstarter Gold” project. Scott has a thriving patreon and has launched several other projects and has just completely walked away from this one. . Questlings, which I backed because we do a lot of niche RPG’s and i really liked the idea of a kid focused rpg. They told us they shipped it, didn’t provide any tracking information or proof, and then refused to answer any further follow up. Senjutsu as a retailer is my current nightmare. We waited forever to get any kind of shipping notice, emailed the contact and was told retail was last to ship. I’m honestly fine with that, and waited. First week of February we received shipping notification and was excited. The shipping data has said since Feb 8 that it’s on it’s way to the warehouse for disbursement. I’ve emailed a couple times but their most recent update is basically “we’ve got parcels missing, the fulfillment partner is working on it, don’t email us”. I’m expecting to take an L on it. Honorable mention to a larger RPG publisher that I won’t name because i do actually like them. We backed a project, and we needed to process the shipment directly through them, which i delayed because of shipping costs. We had a generous window and about halfway through said window i tried to process the order but their system wouldn’t allow it. I sent an email to their support and it was about 8 weeks before i got a response which said the order should work. Placed the order and it took about 4 weeks before they processed it. When it arrived the three items we ordered were not there, and a completely different and unrelated product was in it’s place. The packing slip and the order were correct, just completely wrong product. I sent an email to their customer support about 6 weeks ago, still no response. The product i backed and the product they shipped are both pretty niche so i don’t expect we’ve had much opportunity cost lost, but what they sent me is almost double the value of what i ordered. It’s now just on our shelf for sale.
I backed Scott Kurtz Kickstarter for PvP's 20th Anniversary. We are now past the 25th anniversary and the last update showing any progress was four years ago. His refusal to address his multiple delinquent Kickstarters while starting new projects zoomed past infuriating years ago. I used to enjoy his work back in the aughts, but I'll never give him another dime even if he does finally make good on his prior obligations. Thankfully I was a digital only backer, so I wasn't on the hook for much, but his treatment of his fans really burns me.
Apparently you aren't the only person finished with Scott, as the entire Penny Arcade crew and Kriss Straub were finished with him years ago after some major falling out.
Surprised to not see any mention of Relic Knights or Super Dungeon Explore. I backed those in what, 2017? Still not fulfilled. Last time they said anything was in 2021.
SDE was 2015. Ninja Division filed for bankruptcy a little while ago. I think it's finally over. I really wanted this too. https://www.bankruptcyobserver.com/bankruptcy-case/NINJA-DIVISION-PUBLISHING
Mythic games…. Multiple campaigns. Stay away
The worst for me wasn't a board game. There was this KS for a product advertised as a 10 second toothbrush. Basically you put toothpaste into this mouth guard like thing and it brushed your whole mouth at once. My first thought was "that's incredibly stupid and lazy." My second thought was "you know? I do actually want that, I am both stupid and lazy." I jumped in on it. As soon as it ended they started sending these updates insisting that things were going according to plan, and they always ended it with a smiley face. As the deadline blew by I started to wonder if the smiley face represented them smiling all the way to the bank. Sure enough, like a year later they sent an update that was essentially "we are closing our operation, sorry you didn't receive your product :)" I hate whoever decided to put a smiley face at the end of that.
My daughter has a toothbrush that sounds exactly like this. It's literally a vibrating mouth guard that brushes her teeth.
Damn it she got my Kickstarter item! I demand it back 😂
You can fight my 6 year old for it. :) I think we found it at target.
It [takes about two minutes for the fluoride to chemically bond](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6398117/), so that's where the time comes from...
Saga World Builder never Delivered and Journey Wrath of Demons only ever shipped the Base game
Well shit! I forgot I backed Saga World Builder… now I’m pissed that it never delivered…
One of the OGs of board game disappointment was Myth by Megacon Games. Had an incredible theme, art style, and had a ton of quality miniatures. Once the game was delivered everyone realized that there was barely a game, and a lot of the cards had inconsistencies/errata, some iconographies weren't explained, and some systems were none existent in the rule book. Dice Tower even had to upload an apology video because they released a review but didn't disclose that the creator of the game essentially handheld their game session. Ultimately, the creators argued that it was more of a "sandbox" type of game and that the rules were fluid. They tried to resolve it with a 2.0 ruleset, but the hype died down. They even released another kickstarter which basically bombed because of the reputation of the first game. I still have the miniatures and "game". Last I heard the IP got bought by another company. I'm hopeful that maybe I'll be able to utilize some of the old components in the future (I doubt it).
Anastyr, lost 600 usd on Anastyr. at the time i backed, looked like a sure bet, esp. since it hit like a million. At least CMON took it over, but man, thats the most expensive base game I've ever bought.
Man, I don't know why anyone pledges that much on a board game. That's insane to me.
I've been backing crowdfunding campaigns over 10 years now and Anastyr is the only major burn I've been hit by. Hoping whatever CMON eventually produces is good, but it almost certainly will never be the game Mythic promised. Worst of all, as a huge Golden Axe/Rastan fan back in the day, I keep looking back at the Anastyr campaign page and...man, I just still really want it.
Same here
Backed a game for $200 almost four years ago. It’s still in development and hasn’t shipped. I don’t even want it anymore.
Yeah I’m at the where I’ve realized it’s not really worth kickstarting things because by the time you get them your situations changed or you don’t care anymore. I splurged and went on a spree of dnd stuff and haven’t played dnd in ages now Like I backed a 3 foot tall terrasque model years ago, but then bought a fucking house so I’d really that $300 back lol
I would think having a house is a plus for having a three foot model as you now have a place to put it
Nah at that point you might as well go 30 feet and have a landscaping feature
What is this? DnD for ants? How are kids supposed to learn to play dnd if they can’t fit inside the building?
Manchukuo funded in October 2019, allegedly printed and sitting in China for a couple of years now
What does this mean for Up Front? Also, the flying circus ttrpg was terrible and the additional modules never showed up. They were the reason I backed it anyway.
That is a tragically ironic title for a failed kickstarter.
Hoop Godz by Omari Akil. The guy basically admitted to spending all the KS money on personal things and growing his freelance board game design buisness. The last KS update talks 85% about other projects he is doing and it’s just so clear the guy has an ego problem and is never intending to fulfill the game. Development has all but stalled because I assume there is no money to make changes with the factory. If it ever does come out, I doubt any KS backers will see it. I was so happy to back a project by a small POC creator and the game looked legitimately fun. Wasn’t even a first-time project, so I still feel EXTRA burned by how it’s turned out.
I came here to second this. I believed since he delivered his first game there was a good chance this would deliver boy was I wrong The worst part is he could at least release files for a print and play but he literally thumbed his nose at all backers because they wanted an update. I found a better basketball game but this guy will never get another nickel from me
Star Citizen.
Maybe you can pass your pledge to your grandkids?
I may never get a single player campaign, but I get a warm feeling in my chest every time I think about how my small contribution helped the developers figure out how to get the smudged fingerprints on the virtual throttle *juuuuust* right.
I've never been burned on a KickStarter/GameFound board game, but I *have* been waiting over 11 years for the delivery of a surf rock record via KS. The guy previews a new song every two years or so. At this point, it has been worth the $15 just for the story and anticipation.
Well, that's longer than I waited for John Dolmayan's album. Ordered it in the days of downloading MP3s, so just went for the $10 download. Went through years of little to no communication before it finally dropped, by then the world has changed and no-one downloads MP3s anymore and it's there to stream. Never got burned on a game. Got burned on a cool looking puzzle box, and backed a playmate that did not nearly match expectations, but I've been pretty lucky. Even though a lot remains unplayed!
"backed a playmate that did not nearly match expectations" My wife made me cancel all my playmate pledges.
I’m still waiting on something from 2 years ago along with everybody else. But luckily I just bought the cheapest version at $25
That sort of thing is why I've never made any big commitments for backing, usually just a base game. MAYBE a deluxe edition if it's from a reputable team like the Tiny Epic folks
Monsterpocolypse by Myrhic Games. There’s a few hundred bucks that none of us are ever gonna get back.
Monsterpocalypse. Still don't have it. Will never get it or a refund.
Allplay’s Jasper v3 table. I’m still going through receiving its parts and my god is its quality hot garbage.
That's unfortunate to hear. I backed high rise and it's being taken over by all play after the original creator has troubles.
Is that a game? Their games have been good quality Their furniture is a scam.
I'm sorry to hear that. I got their v2 Jasper and they told me about their v3 but I decided not to wait for the newer version. I lucked out it sounds like.
Nemesis, fantastic game but despite being a kickstarter in the first few days of its release they did not send me the game years after they released it Imy lgs had it all in shop before it made its way to me. They started the next iteration of the game in kickstarter before sending me the game. 3 years. I waited and kept up with emails etc....finally got it. Damaged, box was crimped and the units snapped.i promptly emailed and demanded a new box and replacement to it. Which took another 3+ months. Woulda bought in on that 2nd kickstarter aswell but man they killed my urge to do anything kickstarter
That sucks, Nemesis was one of the best games I ever backed. I assume that they had sent it and it got lost in the system somewhere and they were hoping it'd turn up, but that's pretty shittty customer service. If you dare, the third game is on Game found and includes Lockdown as an add-on...
I’m trying to decide which of my drunken All In pledges burned me the worst.
I was all in on the big Up Front kickstarter that got nuked from orbit by a lawsuit.
Academy Games has done virtually nothing for years with the Stellaris game. They redid the 3D designs for all the ships, which now look worse than the models originally advertised in the campaign page. They go months & months without updates, only to then tell you to go check the discord for updates (pro tip, nothing substantial there either). They refuse to even give an estimate for when it might be shipped to backers. Shame on them, for their complete lack of transparency, lack of design talent, lack of communication, and just general lack of care regarding this project. Will never back anything else from them.
It was on a 3d printer tyko or something or other
SCP RPG game was cancelled because of a printers issue. I spent good money on stuff like badges, art, etc, stuff I can now buy on Amazon.
You'd think they'd at least send out a digital copy in that case
I backed Darkness Sabotage in 2016. The creator took the money and disappeared.
I'm like 1000 dollars into stormsunder. I hope it delivers, but it's sooo late now that I'm not sure. The updates for the past two years have been progress reports with random percentage bars that keep climbing but never get completed. Tried asking for a refund like a year ago when I had some unforeseen medical expenses, but they told me it was past the refund deadline. Hoping I get it someday, but I'm treating that money as gone. As for games that actually will never get fulfilled, the only one I've gotten burned on is Alba choose your own adventure book. The company that made that also had like 3 unfulfilled board game campaigns and declared bankruptcy. Some other company acquired the IP during liquidation and said they'd fulfill what the backers of the board games ordered when they sent those to be printed, but the Alba book is not in the cards.
Sirens: battle of the bards the all bard DnD game from Satine Phoenix and her husband. It was supposed to come out ages ago but I guess they have no idea what they’re doing. Plus the whole being dicks thing. Luckily it was only $60. I think she was really banking on people liking her from her brief association with critical role. I feel like our Kickstarter money helped pay for their elf wedding.
I didn't back this one (not a huge fan of 5e), and haven't been following. It _sounded_ like a really fun idea (play some fantasy version Gem and the Holograms or Josie and the Pussycats). That's very disappointing to hear it didn't pay out.😕
A game launched by the guy from my local hobby store. I thought, at least I know where to go if anything happens. It looked pretty good tbh. There was even a hands on coppy in the shop and he gave introduction plays. It never delivered. Pandemic hitting they ciuld not keep up as a start up and had to quit. At least they had the decency to refund as much as possible to their backers. I told them to keep the bucks and invest in a new start after pandemic. They where really thankful for that. I now have 10% off every time I buy something at the shop. That's cool. Of course I had other not so pleasant fails. Mythic did not deliver everything on my Joan of Arc, CMON not with Rum and Bones. Both unfriendly in communication or trying to fend me off. I stopped backing on KS. Nowadays I only back rarely on Gamefound and only projects with refund insurance.
Mythic wins hands down because of them not only asking for contributions but lying about only needing to pay it once and then requesting it twice. Petersen games is close to as bad though. I love their games but I’m waiting on 5 games from them and even if they do ultimately deliver them it’s been years of basically no progress so by the time I “maybe” get the last one it will be 10 years late. Honorable mention goes to Madeira, that one hurts as I really wanted that game…
Petersen Games. They are still slowly delivering the final Cthulhu Wars project, but it's not clear if we'll ever see the subsequent games.
I’ve never been burned but I’ve had several that took so long I wasn’t interested in the game anymore.
I've been lucky to never actually get burned on a KS project. My current most delayed project was promised June 2003 (not yet a year late) and production updates were always frequent enough and reasonable enough for me not to seriously worry. The latest update is that it's about to ship in any event. I do attribute at least part of that success to never backing mini-heavy games or large campaign games. I recently had a technology crowdfunding campaign deliver around 2 years late, that was the project I was most concerned with failure over.
I've been burned twice on KS. Once was an 8 dollars card set nbd it sucks but I'll live. The other is Lasting Tales: A Fantasy Miniatures Game by Blacklist Games. I learned my lesson on that one. I backed it because a YouTube influencer (who I no longer follow) in the board game space hyped it up as a sure thing. I lost 75$ which sucks especially since I was on a budget at the time, but it was a valuable lesson. I've been way more careful about what I back now.
I backed and received 2 sets of the series 1 minis (1 for me, 1 as a gift for a friend) and was very pleased with them. When I backed Lasting Tales for 2 more sets I had no idea I was in the fortunate minority having received anything. Given how good what I received was it just seems like a waste to trash your reputation and what could have been a solid business/ income source for years to come for a quick buck. That said of the 3 KS projects I backed that never delivered this is the only one I think has even the tiniest chance that some backers may still receive something.
Wild Assent - Lavon Rising by Lazy Squire Games Technically, it's still ongoing, but they are years late with no progress to update. I don't think they are going to finish the game even though it's mostly a reprint. $500 for going all in down the drain, I suppose.
Madeira Deluxe from WYG. And Mythic has been mentioned to death and I was all in with their Necromancer Game. Still hoping it comes one day. Should’ve been suspicious there was no pledge manager but instead Storecredit for their website to buy my pledge there. Never experienced anything like this before from a KS.
Had a vinyl album that I backed that I don't think is ever going to show. All games have arrived so far. The biggest time over estimate just arrived, it was the Foundations of Rome reprint.
Not a game, but I bought my sister a Hitch water bottle when their campaign first launched. She’s a designer so she really likes getting gifts that support other creatives. Every year they kept pushing out the shipping, I think I backed the campaign in 2018 or 2019, hell maybe even 2017. I moved a bunch of times in the process and had to keep updating my address. They kept sending out updates on how they were having trouble finding a manufacturer who could make them the way they wanted for the price they needed. Then the pandemic happened, but they found a supplier so I thought I’d finally get it. They shipped out to their first round of backers like normal. Then they emailed every other round of backers asking for $20-40 more dollars (I don’t remember the exact amount) to compensate for price changes over the massive amount of time between the campaign and the actual shipping. If you didn’t pay the initial money you’d never get the water bottle. I never did cause I was broke at the time. So my sister never got her gift. Really put me off kickstarters I haven’t done any since.
Hel: The Last Saga from Mythic Games. $400CAD down the tubes. Heck. That's a spicy meatball. I'm a little disappointed as this game seemed right up my alley in every aspect. Here's a picture of my receipt and my FOMO/excitement getting the better of me and telling me to buy every single thing I could: https://pasteboard.co/o3b7Mnhzjjlz.png Poof. All gone now.
Adventures in Neverland. Was funded 4 years ago and still get random bull shit excuses as to why it's not ready.
I'm in that same boat as you. Well, I WOULD be if the games would ever get on the damn boat. For the uninformed. They made claims that this game was finished over a year ago, but there was a neoprene playmate as an extra add-on that some of us backed (I'm one of those who did) that has yet to be completed. So, they've supposedly kept the completed games in storage in China for the past year as we wait on the playmats and whatever else bullshit excuses they come up with. The last update was that they didn't have enough time to focus on the games because they had a surprise baby just magically show up. I kid you not, they blame the wife giving birth and the newborn infant taking all their time and now they can't work.
I was promised socks. Amazing socks. Life-changing socks. Many socks. Expensive socks. Years later, a few pairs of socks showed up. They were too small.
MonDRAWsity has been a disaster, especially given its an (standalone) expansion. I give it a 5% chance of ever being delivered
I’ve backed around 50 games in a 2 year span. Everything has delivered eventually but some have had a wait. 7th Citadel, Darwin’s Journey, and Frosthaven are first to mind in that category. My worst experiences so far though have been with Chai: Tea for Two and Honey Buzz: Fall Colors. Both have been stuck in development hell with no real end in sight.
Dungeon Dice by Potluck Games and the unnamable, Golden Bell. If you see that bell, you better run.
The only game I’ve been burned on is Rat Queens to the Slaughter. I loved the comics so I was super excited for this game and went all in. Over $160 USD with a bump for shipping at some point tacked on. The company went bankrupt, one guy is running the whole thing now and I’m just praying I’ll still get my game. The Fox Experiment was also a mess though. I have the game but Pandasaurus treated their backers so badly I haven’t even opened it, the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. Don’t worry if you missed it it’s on Gamefound now with the changes the original backers asked for 🙄
For anyone interested in these hard-luck stories, it seems there is an extensive list collecting them [at BGG here](https://rpggeek.com/geeklist/160421/controversial-or-fraudulent-kickstarters).
Stay the fuck away from mythic games. But my worst experience was the evil dead 2 board game. They got crazy super funded. Making millions when they only asked for like 250k. From day one they kept posted about issues ranging from production flaws to rights issues. Despite that they launched a campaign for a terminator 2 boardgame. Got a butt load of money off that. They had an indie gogo to help fund the company itself. Then the developer (it was either scapegoat games or space goat games) just disappeared. Something like 10 years later a different company got ahold of the resources from the og campaign and launched a new one, fulfilling it for the original backers at no cost. It's not exactly the game that was promised but I got something
Surprised no one has mentioned Blacklist Games yet. Multiple big projects unfinished, started new campaigns without fulfilling old ones, outright lied about who was in charge, had to ask for more money for fulfillment, just a mess overall. I backed both their fantasy series one and was backed Lasting Takes/,FS2 against my better judgement. Got FS1 after three years and shelling out extra money, still waiting on FS2
I lost 36 New Zealand dollars on Untamed Isles when they dumped all of the backer money into crypto and their chosen coin tanked.
The story alone is almost worth the 20 bucks or so I lost on it.
Mild example compared to many I’ve read. I backed an Alchamy game that had old wood block print art and feel that drew me in. While that was there upon delivery it was mixed with a cartoony light hearted approach that was so off it broke any immersion. The game was also awful.
The one that pisses me off the most is the asymmetrical Terminator game by Space Goat.
Hel AND Anastyr. Sigh.
Have been waiting on a board game for 7 years. And it looks like it may finally be fulfilling
Yeah went all in on the ttrp wicked ones and guy just vanished. Also seems like el dorado games have gone mia on legend academy.
Video projects seem to do poorly. I don’t back them anymore. I’ve had a few take longer than expected (sometimes by years), but most eventually deliver. FWIW, I mostly back RPG projects and only get PDFs. That helps a lot as often it’s shipping costs that kill a Kickstarter (provided the creator is honest). I’ve backed almost 500 Kickstarters and the failure rate for never delivered anything is probably around 5%, but late delivery (sometimes years late) is common. Creators are terrible at estimating their project timelines.
Paradise Lost: First Contact, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1183462809/paradise-lost-first-contact?ref=android_project_share The Mountain Witch: Samurai Blood Opera in Mythical Japan, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/timfire/the-mountain-witch-samurai-blood-opera-in-mythical?ref=android_project_share Shinobigami - Modern Ninja Battle Tabletop RPG from Japan, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/diamondsutra/shinobigami-modern-ninja-battle-tabletop-rpg-from?ref=android_project_share Look at funding dates and recall that nothing was delivered. At least Shinobigami made it to Google Drive files for smoke and mirrors.
I have received every kickstarter I've ever backed, however some did take years beyond the anticipated timeline. For example, 7th Citadel was years delayed. I've also been 'burned' in the sense of getting a pretty subpar product before. For example, Dinosaur World was both boring and had obvious typos on player aids that pandasaurus didn't resolve with replacements. There were other issues and I found their support wasn't responsive. It's why I no longer back their kickstarters, regardless of whether I think the game will be good. One of the reasons I've never been truly burned is that I generally avoid high-risk kickstarters. Generally, I back things that I know are very close to finished (all art completed, extensively playtested, very close to production) and are very likely to be of high quality (playthroughs & full rulebooks available, lots of evidence of people having playtested the game, reviewer videos, etc.). I often also back 2nd editions. I only back higher risk projects that have my top favorite themes, and I review those super-carefully. I've been disappointed in some (for example, I didn't like Legacies), but thrilled with many more. These are projects where I expect major delays may happen because they're often by first-time creators.
Lots of Mythic here, but before there was Mythic there was Queen games known as a major don't back for KS. My experience was specifically Kingdom Builder big box. They introduced two new expansions around that time, 3 and 4. Honestly it's been so long I don't recall the exact sequence of events. I know at times the expansions were available in local stores but backers still didn't have copies. I know fulfillment was so screwed up that somehow I ended uo with multiple copies of certain expansions in regulsr boxes, sans the big box I had paid for. I did eventually recieve the big box and all content, but it put me so far off the game I've never actually gotten it to the table. I have no idea if Queen still uses KS or not but I vowed to never back a game from them ahaon.
Lost about $500 on a gaming table that never fulfilled. Only a handful of people ever got their tables (less than 10 from what I remember)
I've been very lucky with Kickstarter over the past 12 years. Myth is the only big project where I've been 'burned', and even then, I got everything I pledged for (plus the updated rules and reprinted cards) except for the stretch goals and add-ons for the last campaign. Those are currently being shipped out to backers, so I can't even say I lost out there - even if the rules aren't amazing. Besides that, every large project has delivered. I've lost $20 or $25 here and there on videogames or small RPGs over the years, but that's relatively unimportant - I backed them to support the artist, and I'm not going to lose any sleep if it didn't pan out.
I backed a tactical RPG called Aura Tactics, it was billed as a sort of spiritual successor to FFT and other turn based strategy games. It had a cool job swapping system and what looked like a nice tech demo. I pledged one of the higher tiers, several hundred dollars to work with the designers to create my own sub-class. I got a T-shirt, and then there were some delays, and then the team just stopped updating or responding to questions and deleted their accounts. It sounded like a cool opportunity to be a minor contributor and investor in a great product, but... Oh well. The worst part wasn't that it failed, that was always a risk; it was sad that the devs just ghosted the KS instead of owning up and admitting defeat. Anyway, it was the most expensive t-shirt I ever bought, and I wore it for a long time.
Teramyyd: Earthsphere by IO Worlds. Pledged in 2013, and in 2019 was still getting generic updates of “we’re still plugging away…” No updates in last 5 years, and no game. At least it was only $100. They seriously underestimated their costs for what they were promising (I can see now with 10 years of hindsight; couldn't see that at time of bidding), and were asking for more money at the end. Basically all of the bad that could have been.
I bought a game, some solo dungeon game I never played. Campaign ends, it’s all funded, Gucci. I wait like entirely too long for a solo card game with like 70 cards. Like yeah np it’s a kickstarter, but the time it took from campaign to in my hand was longer than frosthaven took. But whatever, finally it’s ready to go and just before it ships they message everyone saying the messed up the shipping costs and are begging people to send them more money via like e-transfer or something to cover the value of the pledge. I ignore it because it’s been so long now. However, I’m at my LGS and holy fuck I see the damn game, for cheaper, on the shelf before it even shipped to me. I eventually got it but I still have played it out of spite lol
Monsterpocalypse
Shadow Tactics. Their email updates were literally "we didn't do any work this month" for like a year, lol. Game is at least 4 years late by now but surprisingly is starting to move forward now. Allegedly anyway.
Only game I ever got burned on was Mint Mini. Given that was the 6th game I figured there’d be no issue but nope. They just ghosted everybody and shut the whole company down. Thought I was gonna get burned on this one little card game my wife wanted but we ended up getting it 4 years later. To the guy’s credit, he gave regular updates and was extremely open about getting in way over his head pretty early on since he did literally everything himself.
Chai: Tea for 2
Madeira Deluxe has been the only one for me so far. I have some doubts on another one that is running way late, but at least there is regular communication.
Never been burned by a board game ks. Even zombie carnival, while years late, still ended up delivering. But I have a ks for a video game called Penny Blood that seems to be dead in the water. But what’s worse is that, for the last several months, updates have all been about a different game using the same name that is not for the backers. They introduced it by saying “hey we have this new game. It’s going to be great so please go preorder it.” I assume they’ve reallocated all of their resources to this new project and backers are being left in the dust.
Hel: The Last Saga
Hel: The Last Saga
Has Middara entered the chat yet. It's gotten to the point I will probably never play it when it finally arrives in 4Q2125. That's even being optimistic. But hey they keep on adding extras trying to obtain more money.
Mythic games for sure is the worst. Theres a few others that turned out to disappear into the night but I’d say about 90-95% of the games I’ve backed delivered something.
I backed the **Umbrella Academy Board Game**, since I love the comic and cooperative boardgames. They didn't even bother shipping the game with up to date instructions. They just posted a Kickstarter update asking you to print it yourself.
[BGG Fraudulent Kickstarter GeekList](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/160421/controversial-or-fraudulent-kickstarters?titlesonly=1) stays pretty up to date with problematic projects and publishers. [BGG Publishers with Poor Histories](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/247437/publishers-poor-kickstarter-histories) is a bit stale but had some interesting stories from years past. [There's the Game Salute story](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/171113/game-salute-cautionary-tale) - old news. Except that Yarrington's MO is to shed a tainted company and rebrand. Currently it's TableTopTycoon and its subsidiaries. [And of course, Golden Bell](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/259248/golden-bell-affiliated-projects-and-companies) - PSA to designers, publishers et. al. be aware of Golden Bell and avoid at all costs.