The Matchbox Collection is live (Matchbox collection part 1)
Update: The Matchbox Collection that consists of 15 Days, EIYO, Rebis, Space Lunch and Golems (one solitaire game, four soloable) is live on Kickstarter, and the campaign will run for 10 days. You can only acquire the games as a bundle, and choose either the standard or the limited edition. The limited edition includes a big box (shaped like a suitcase) to store them in, and 4 playmats. Sleeves and achievement booster packs are available as add-ons.
Our preview post below was published on February 28.
Thundergryph Games will launch a series of five small soloable games on Kickstarter on March 3. This is a preview of the 1-4 player games 15 Days and Rebis, and the solo game EIYO.
In the solo mode of 15 Days, you play against a bot and try to score more points by arranging your cards in ascending or descending order. You first create two Season decks and a market of 9 Season cards. On your turn, you perform two out of four possible actions: a) take two Season cards from the Season decks, b) take one card from the market or the discard pile, c) play cards from your hand in your play area, or d) take a wild card after discarding two identical cards from your play area.
When you take a card from the market, you have to also discard a second market card. If you collect 3 cards of the same Season in your play area, you take the corresponding animal token, and gain its bonus.
During the bot's turn, you draw 3 cards from the Season decks, discard one and keep the other two for the bot. If the bot earns an animal, it triggers a negative effect on you. When any of the Season decks runs out, you proceed to scoring. If the bot collects 6 cards of the same Season, you immediately lose.
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In the solo mode of Rebis, you are trying to score more points than the bot by having the highest value of books on your shelf. You begin with a hand of 4 cards and a face down card that signifies your shelf. The bot begins the game with 4 face down cards that represent its own shelves, and a number of mixture tokens. In the multiplayer game, you draw a card from the common Library deck and either place it in your own shelf or your opponent's. In the solo game, however, you are forced to place a card in the bot's shelf first.
Every Library card has a book weight, a positive and a negative point value. You may place two cards in your shelf, if they have the same number but the total weight of the shelf must not exceed 13 points. If it does, you must open a new shelf, and take a mixture token from the bot. The game ends when either the Library deck or the mixture tokens run out. (If you play multiplayer, the first player is the person who last drank a beverage with a particularly strange taste. Make sure you respect this rule in the solo game too).
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In EIYO, you are a samurai fighting several attacking enemies. You have to manage your weapons in order to survive until the end and tally up your honour points. You begin the game with a weapon deck. The enemies will be divided in four stacks, each containing a boss. You then reveal the top 3 of each stack, draw four weapon cards and start slaughtering.
On your turn, you will first draw cards, then fight. In order to fight an enemy, you must check their position according to the diagram shown on your weapon, and use the weapon accordingly. You may exhaust all the cards in your hand or save some for later turns. Some weapons allow you to attack multiple enemies in one go, and other weapons allow you to deflect enemies. If you take the Concentration action, you can rotate a weapon card 90 degrees, and hit the enemy that corresponds to the position of the rotated diagram - but you have to discard weapon cards from your deck equal to the times you rotated the card.
When enemies attack you, you take damage by discarding weapon cards. If you run out of weapons for 3 times, you lose the game. If you manage to kill all the enemies, you add your honour points, and win if you have earned at least 40.