Kickstarter has been raising money for entrepreneurs and wannabes since 2009, funding such fascinating projects as an ostrich pillow and, um, potato salad. All told, Kickstarter has put the fun in fundraiser by raising $2.4 billion since its inception. And it turns out a large wedge of that cheddar comes from boardgames.
According to News-Republic, crowds earmarked half a billion of those dollars toward gaming in general—a full fifth of Kickstarter’s total earnings. Of that $500 million, a whopping $265 million has come from board games. This makes board games the most crowdfunded group in all of Kickstarter.
The news that Kickstarter is a source of board games doesn’t come as a surprise to many of the readers of Geek & Sundry. We’ve been finding cool games there for years, and we’ve discovered games like Zombiecide and The Captain Is Dead just from random browsing.
What is a surprise: the amount of money some Kickstarted board games have brought in. According to Boardgame Geek, Secret Hitler, Scythe, Sentinels of the Multiverse: OblivAeon, and 7th Continent have all earned over $1 million. Conan earned over $3 million. Zombiecide: Black Plague earned $4 million. But Dark Souls: The Board Game out-earned them all, taking in a whopping £5.4 million. That’s $7.6 million in USD.
News-Republic writes, “What’s perhaps even more impressive about these totals, though, is how much individuals have given. That $265 million was generated by just 2.2 million backers, which means that, on average, they pledged over $120 a piece.”
Future business tycoons, take note: create a board game, and make it a good one. That way, you can claim you’ve had a successful Kickstarter project… which you can then parlay into your “real” goal. That interpretive dance performance art project ain’t gonna fund itself, ya know.
Feature Image Credit: nbcbayarea.com