About this project
JunKing
$28,519
838
Set in Artist Justin Hillgrove’s Imp Lands world, JunKing is a strategy card game for 2-4 players where you assume the role of Scavenger Imps as they sift through the massive piles of garbage in the Junklands looking for prestigious pieces of junk to raise their social standing with their tribe.
What is JunKing?
JunKing is a game about finding and hoarding junk. Everyone draws off the same shuffled deck of cards in the center of play, called the junkpile. Players are the Scavenger Imps looking for valuable pieces of discarded garbage from both our world and the Imp Lands that bestow prestige by their mere possession.
On your turn you draw a card, put a piece of junk into play from your hand, and then use one of the abilities on any of your cards in play.
All junk is worth something and the objective of JunKing is to amass the best hoard of junk. In the Junkpile, there is one card that is the most coveted item called "The Crown". Once a player draws that card, the game is over and everyone adds up the points displayed on the pieces of junk they have found or hoarded. The player with the most points wins the current round/game. The game only takes about 15 minutes to play, and is designed for multiple rounds of games, in much the same way you would play other fast paced games.
I designed JunKing with these three principles in mind:
- Simple Game Mechanics
- Short Gameplay
- Strong Strategic Elements
What this has resulted in is a game I can play with my two young daughters, teaching them about strategy as they read the cards and understand their interplay. JunKing is also a game that I can bring out at the office to play with my veteran gamer friends, creating a strategic showdown late in the game as we're jockeying for position to draw The Crown.
Note that Justin went all out on this project and has drawn unique art for every Junk Item in the deck.
We recently announced that we have added a FREE addition to the Mini-Expansion: 5-6 player cards and rules! Check out the update HERE.
JunKing Videos
Try the game out for free!
Rules - Download Here
Rules and Free Print and Play Demo - Download Here
As you can see, the rules are very simple and easy to learn. The variety and frequency of the cards in the Junkpile bring strategy to the game, much like many other strategy games.
We've already hit the $14,000 Stretch Goal, adding the Whu, Chu, and Thu characters to the Mini-Expansion. Check out the Update HERE for more information.
We also hit the $16,000 Stretch Goal, adding 5 new types of Event cards into the Mini-Expansion. Check out the Update HERE for more information.
Hitting the $18,000 Stretch Goal enabled us to add 24(!) new Junk items into the Mini-Expansion! Check out the Update HERE for more information.
We've added 6 new characters to the Mini-Expansion due to the $20,000 Stretch Goal! Check out the Update HERE for more information.
Hitting $22,000 Adds two variant crowns to the Mini-Expansion. Check out the Update HERE for more information.
We hit $24,000, enabling us to add a Linen Finish to all cards in JunKing.
Since we passed $26,000, we will add a Box Sleeve to the Base game for no reason at all, other than to just look cool. Which it will.
We hit $28,000 and will add a collector's coin to all pledges of $25 or more. The coin can be used as a first player coin which would move from round to round.
For this Bonus goal, head to Junk Spirit Games HERE and 'Like' the page on Facebook. Once we hit 500 likes, every backer at the $25 tier and above will get Deo added to their rewards.
The original pieces of art for the Cover and the Expansion are separate pledge levels with full details in our update HERE.
Want to see some of the items from the pledge levels and add-ons with more detail? Check out the video in our update HERE.
To add Add-On items to your pledge, just add the amount for the desired Add-On to your pledge total. After the campaign, we will send a survey asking which items you would like added.
Note: ALL the Imps and Monsters Add-ons (in Blue) are already produced so adding anything below will not delay the shipping of any orders.
Want to see some of the items from the pledge levels and add-ons with more detail? Check out the video in our update HERE.
David Gerrard owned and operated a brick and mortar game store enabling him to essentially play games for 12-14 hours a day for over 8 years. He has worked with Sabertooth Games and Microsoft in the past and brings his experience and pragmatic dedication to this project.
Justin Hillgrove has been able to do a lot of amazing things as an artist – to name a few he has painted murals for Facebook in Seattle and London, worked on toys with The Coop, Rampage Toys & Funko, and created covers for Cartoon Network‘s “Adventure Time” comic, in addition to all of his own well-known creations and exhibitions. Justin’s art has a lot of whimsy and humor making it very approachable and relatable. To learn more about Justin and Explore his paintings, sketches, toys and more, check out his site here.
Travis Torgerson, our graphic designer, has worked in licensed product development for brands like Adventure Time, Star Trek, and The Walking Dead. He loves typography, playing card games, and drinking copious amounts of black coffee.
Cog Gaming wrote an amazing honest review after playing JunKing for a few rounds. His insight into the endgame of JunKing makes this review a must-read. Thank you Ben for your attention to detail and your observations!
Inquisitive Meeple has an interview piece that gives insight into my thought process and goals in designing JunKing. My thanks to Ryan Sanders for the great write up!
Game Out Loud Podcast interviewed David Gerrard about the JunKing Kickstarter Campaign shortly after we were funded. Jordan does a great job of getting me to talk about some of the things I love most about JunKing and the Junk Spirit Games team.
Initiative: Tabletop was able to do a face to face interview with me and wrote up a great article that points out some of my thoughts on what kind of game JunKing is along with the game's strategy.
Gamer Testimonial
I don't have a link for this, but this is one of my favorite messages:
I just played the print 'n play version with my three kids (2 sons- 13 and 8, and 1 daughter- 7). We had a good time! They spent a lot of time giggling at the different cards, and they all said it was fun....they all asked when we can play again, which is always a good sign. ;)
- father of three gamers in training
If you are a Retailer and would like to feature JunKing in your store, contact me with a link to your site or other relevant information. We'll get you on 'the list' for getting your copies of JunKing before distributors have it available.
SHIPPING
Shipping for the core JunKing game with Expansion ($25 tier) -
- USA- Shipping from the US West Coast in USPS small flat rate box at $5.95.
- Canada - Shipping from the US West Coast by USPS at a cost of around $16.95 depending on where in Canada you are.
- Europe - Shipping from within the UK which will reduce the cost of shipping greatly and we will mark the value of the item at the manufacturing cost, not the retail cost. Shipping will be $16.95 and we are paying the VAT cost.
- Anywhere else - Shipping from the US West Coast by USPS at a cost of $19.95.
**Note about Add-ons and additional copies of JunKing or other pledge levels: All the Add-Ons and Prints are created in Washington State in USA and will ship from there as well. This will increase shipping costs obviously but we will work to reduce the cost to you as much as possible. Additional copies of JunKing will be consolidated into one shipping box so you will save on shipping no matter where you are if you buy additional copies.
At the end of the campaign we will send you a survey where you can choose to add additional copies of JunKing or other Add-ons and let us know where to ship the product. At that time shipping will be calculated. If you are overcharged in shipping, we will work with you to refund the difference.
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Risks and challenges
Our team has done a great deal of homework about producing our own game and we feel confident that our campaign to release this game will be successful. Our team has experience in creating toys and art but this is our first game. I have participated in multiple kickstarters and one thing that brings me almost as much happiness as having the product in hand is when the team is extremely communicative about what is going on in the campaign. I’m sure you've all had similar experiences as well. We are committed to being very open about our process.
As with turning any idea into a physical object, any number of problems can get in the way. While we can’t control the squirrel that gets fried on the power line feeding the printer’s warehouse, shutting them down for a week, we can control our communication to our backers. Delays may happen, dates may change. But, we will definitely let our backers know what is going on and keep everyone in the fold.
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Funding period
- (32 days)