A tabletop game about agriculture has met full Kickstarter funding with plenty of time to go in the crowdfunding campaign.
APE Games’ latest game is a challenging farming simulator about harvesting rice as a Balinese farmer in Spirits of the Rice Paddy. The game is in the middle of a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign and has met its initial goal of $16,000.
Farming isn’t easy. Not only will players need to be mindful of weeds and rocks, but they won’t have water at all times without effort. Players may also find spirits will bless them, so not everything will be bad. The farmer who produces the most rice in seven rounds is the winner.
Spirits dictate when players receive water for irrigation, but more powerful spirit cards (determined by a numeric value) will place you later in the queue for water. APE Games states on the Kickstarter page that the interaction between Spirit cards and player order is what determined it wanted to publish Spirits of the Rice Paddy.
Players can also hire laborers to build paddies, plant, weed, and harvest, and players can also buy livestock to build paddy walls, remove rocks, remove pests, and fertilize the fields. However, taxes will hit you when you get multiple items in a turn, so it’s a balancing act of getting what you can while navigating around taxes – but also being aware of late-game taxes.
The Kickstarter allows interested players to preorder the game. Be aware that different pledges exist for preordering the game depending on where you want the game shipped. For example, the $40 reward is a copy of Spirits of the Rice Paddy for US backers, but the $70 reward is a copy of the game to countries in the European Union.
If you’re interested in Spirits of the Rice Paddy you can read the rulebook before committing to the Kickstarter.
