Crowdfunding Spotlight - Plot Twist

Ever feel like telling a story with tons of twists and turns thrown into the mix? That is the name of the game with Plot Twist, a storytelling card game by independent board game designer Darrell Stark. 

Stark, unlike most developers on Kickstarter, has been self-producing Plot Twist on his own since 2013. A graphic designer from New York City who creates and posts webcomics, Stark  dove right into the world of board game creation and for three years has refined the design of Plot Twist, to the point where it is near completion. In fact, most of the components for Plot Twist are done, according to Stark. The final push, and the reason for the Kickstarter, is to fund a base minimum print run of the game through publishers AdMagic.

Stark describes Plot Twist as a storytelling card game that "provides all the tools you need to tell hilarious and creative stories to entertain your friends." In practice, the game plays similar to several storytelling card games on the market, such as Once Upon a Time, with shades of Cards Against Humanity thrown into the mix as a direct influence. As a storytelling game, Plot Twist has cards that prompt your story tropes, basic frameworks to tell stories such as your worst day ever, your superhero origin story, or what you do with your lottery winnings.  

Using over 400 different plot cards that provide the big moments in your story, players simply play a number of plot cards from your hand to tell the tale and be as serious or silly as you want to be with how you string together your story. Plot Twist provides enough cards to make serious or outlandish stories easy, and even players who may not be comfortable reciting stories in the moment can be guided through the game quite easily, providing accessibility to all players and all ages. 

Plot Twist is simple and fun party game, allowing 4-6 players to combine plot cards to tell their story. The final mechanic is scoring: whoever you felt told the best story gets a point card, which gives Plot Twist a competitive edge to tell the best story. In total, over 500 cards would come with a set of Plot Twist, offering a lot of replay value by the sheer volume of the plot and scenario cards you can combine together. 

As far as the Kickstarter goes, Plot Twist is near the end of it's run, with less than a week to go before it ends. Rewards are simple, including a $10 PDF read-only version of the game, a $25 physical copy, and for $40 players will get a copy of the game and a bonus pack, containing five Kickstarter exclusive cards.

Other rewards include an A Story About You tier—for $65 you not only get a physical copy and the bonus pack, but a customized plot and trope card with the players name on it, while a limited supply of the $250 pledge tier gets you in on the ground floor of the writers room for Plot Twist, where you work with Stark to create a card for the game, along with earning all of the previous awards. 

Plot Twist is nearly 50% funded, yet with only six days to go hopes are still high that the independent game will make it through. With a goal of only $14,000 to cover Kickstarter fees and a minimum print run, anything can happen at this point for the game. If storytelling games or fun party-style games are your cup of tea, definitely check out Plot Twist today. 

Personally, I think Plot Twist is a really fun game. I love storytelling style games and there are very few out there on the market, fewer still that get widespread attention. I think it's worth backing, but what about you? Leave your comments below.