The "Spotting" series has a new star, and it has four legs. Dog Spotting, the latest pocket card game from Australian designer Jason "ToToTam" Tam, has galloped to AU$13,833 against a tiny AU$2,000 goal, a tidy 691% with 277 backers, and the campaign closes on Friday 19 June.
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Set up your group for freeIt is a small-box, travel-friendly card game for two or more players where you race to spot a hidden dog in a crowd of hand-drawn pups, with six modes including solo and co-op play. If that sounds familiar, it should: Dog Spotting is the direct follow-up to Cat Spotting, which charmed 534 backers and pulled in AU$19,051 last year before landing in shops. Tam has built a neat little cottage industry of these rapid-fire "find the thing" games, including the print-and-play Peep Spotting, and he tends to hit his funding goal within hours rather than days. Dog Spotting was no exception, clearing its target in under two hours of launching on 29 May.
The appeal is the same reason the format keeps working. These are cheap, light, genuinely portable games you can deal out in a pub or on a train, with art doing most of the heavy lifting. Where a lot of the crowdfunding calendar is dominated by sprawling miniatures epics asking for three figures, this is the opposite end of the hobby: a fiver-or-so filler you actually finish, then immediately replay because someone swears they saw the dog first.
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Find events near youUK backers should factor in shipping from Australia and currency conversion (the goal and totals are listed in Australian dollars), so check the pledge tiers for your region before committing. With the campaign already wildly overfunded, the remaining question is how many stretch goals and extra pups Tam can pack in before the clock runs out. If you fancy a quick one to bring along, round up your group and see who has the sharpest eyes.
Sources: Kickstarter: Dog Spotting | Kicktraq | Meeple Mountain | BoardGameGeek
