Mighty Boards' Yotei has wrapped its Kickstarter at €215,531, more than ten times its €20,000 goal, after 4,321 backers signed up to build charming Hokkaido towns and pay for everything in potatoes. The Deluxe Edition campaign closed on 5 May after a 21-day run, and the Malta-based studio is now heading into pledge management for delivery later in the year.
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Start organising for freeDesigned by Huy Pham, Yotei is a 2-4 player engine builder set in Niseko, the snow-sport region on Japan's northern island. Each round you place characters on cards, then resolve a harvest phase. Potatoes are the currency for everything from bidding wars and town tiles through to victory points. Games run 30-60 minutes and the cute risk-reward bite, where you commit to a card before knowing if you can afford it, gives the table proper agonising decisions without dragging the runtime.
The thematic detail is where this one wins hearts. Tokens are made from Hokkaido-sourced wood, the artwork is by a Japanese illustrator drawing on real Niseko people, landscapes and seasonal events, and the game name-checks regional food like ramen, wagyu and sushi. There's something Tokaido-adjacent about the warmth of the setting, but the engine-building backbone gives it more chew. Mighty Boards is the same studio behind Vagrantsong and Excavation Earth, so the production-values pedigree is solid.
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Set up your group for freeLate pledges are typically opened after a successful Kickstarter wraps, so if you missed the campaign, keep an eye on Mighty Boards' channels. In the meantime, this is the kind of cosy Saturday-afternoon game that suits a slow brunch and a board games club. Browse local communities on Backseat Gamer and pencil it in for autumn.
Sources: Mighty Boards Kickstarter | Opinionated Gamers Preview | Punchboard Review
