Crowdfunding Spotlight - Clear The Decks!

Clear The Decks! is a cooperative card game for 1-4 players set in the Age of Sail where you and your friends try to sink an enemy ship before all of your cannons are disabled. I got to meet developer Chris Pinyan of Crispy Games Co. in person at Play NYC 2018 where we were able to talk a bit about his game and its Kickstarter campaign.

Mr. Pinyan spent a good portion of his early life reading the Master And Commander books, so much so that he was able to speak at length about what the film adaptation got wrong in terms of the characters and setting. He's clearly a big fan of the Age of Sail & naval warfare, and that passion has been translated into the creation of Clear The Decks! The Kickstarter campaign for the title is in its last few days, so let's look over what you can get for pledging and the project's stretch goals.

Each of the 1-4 players take command of three cannons as they do their best to sink the enemy ship, repel boarders, and send out marines to board the enemy vessel. A core component of the game is its adjustable difficulty; players can make the game easier or harder by setting up ships of varying sizes. The ship size effectively determines how many card stacks there are on the gameplay board for everyone to overcome.

The pledging structure for Clear The Decks! is relatively straightforward. There is a $1 "Midshipman" pledge to simply support the project and a $5 "Admiral" pledge for prospective retailers who want to arrange receipt of copies for their store. A $29 "Captain" pledge nets you a copy of the game and all of its stretch goals, and a $55 "Commodore" pledge will get you two copies of the game plus all stretch goals at a slight discount.

As for the Stretch Goals, they are short and sweet. Reaching $12,500 will add in three extra cards to the box and the $15,000 mark will add in an additional three cards. At the moment, Clear The Decks! has not yet surpassed its goal and so none of these stretch goals have been unlocked just yet. If things were to pick up in pace, Crispy Games Go. will cook up additional stretch goals beyond the $15,000 mark.

Clear The Decks! is currently arranged as a cooperative experience for 1-4 players, but I brought up the idea of PvP combat. This is the first project for Mr. Pinyan and Crispy Games Co. and he was wondering why so many people were showing an interest in that particular area. I explained that PvE and PvP were two sides of the same coin, and many games that feature one will often feature the other in some form. A game that focuses on either PvE or PvP will inevitably see fans clamoring for the other half of the equation.

This is Christopher Pinyan and Crispy Games Co.'s first Kickstarter project. It still has a little bit to go to meet its goal of $8,000. If Clear The Decks! sounds like the sort of game that you would be interested in playing by yourself or with your friends, you should head on over to its Kickstarter page and consider pledging before it's too late! The Kickstarter campaign for Clear The Decks ends on Thursday, August 16, 2018, at 9:30 AM Eastern Time.

Does Clear The Decks! seem like the kind of game you'd to play? What do you think about the possibility of a PVP ruleset for the game? Let us know in the comments below! Check out what else we saw at Play NYC by going to our Play NYC 2018 Coverage Hub.