Button Shy makes minimal tabletop card games that come packaged in slim, compact vinyl wallets — and right now they're running a crowdfunding campaign to reprint some of their most popular offerings.
We previously featured one of Buttons Shy's most recently produced games Naturopolis, and from now until May 27th they're offering discounted pre-orders on 6 different out-of-print wallet games from their back catalogue in addition to a bunch of expansions to go with them. The games run around $10 USD each and are all made within the limitation of a maximum of 18 cards. I've been a fan of their games and the shelf-space-saving format for some time, and it's very impressive that their designs manage to be so unique and thinky despite consisting of such a small number of physical components.
The reprint campaign allows backers to pick and choose which of the 6 games they're interested in: 3 very popular titles that were announced at the start of the campaign, and 3 more returning games that were voted in by fans. I've played most of the featured games, and below I'll share summaries and thoughts about the ones I'm familiar with, but more details about all the games and expansions can be found on the campaign page.
Circle the Wagons — One of the older games on Button Shy's roster, Circle the Wagons is a 2-player game of competing to build the most prosperous and point-scoring western town. On one side, the cards are broken into quadrants featuring various landscapes and western accoutrements: mining picks, cattle, bottles of moonshine. You'll be assembling these little territories into your town over the course of the game. On the reverse, each card features a unique scoring condition which could be "have the most cattle" or "create trains of wagons." Every time you play you'll deal out 3 of these scoring criteria — giving the game a huge amount of variability and replayability. With a juicy card-drafting system to boot, I've found Circle the Wagons to be way more fun than such a tiny game has any right to be.
Count of the Nine Estates — Single-player tabletop games have been growing in popularity the last few years, and Button Shy is well known for producing some excellent little solitaire puzzles you can carry around in your pocket. Count of the Nine Estates is a relatively recent release in this style: using the deck of multi-use cards featuring buildings and resource icons, you need to slowly build landmarks that increase the value of your estate and aid you with labor and resources to help in the construction of future cards. The game has a very classic Renaissance-strategy-game theme and aesthetic. Although I've only played Count of the Nine Estates once or twice, I found the resource management and to be quite thinky and satisfying, and I'm looking forward to playing more.
Liberation — This one is a fascinating asymmetrical Star Wars-esque game for 2 players. One player plays the "Dynasty" and the other the "Liberation", and each of the planet cards you'll be playing has different uses depending on which side you represent. The tyrannical Dynasty will be occupying bases, gathering and exploiting resources to launch attacks and fire superweapons, while the rogue Liberation hides in the shadows, moving their secret base from planet to planet and striking back using guerilla tactics. Four map cards make a randomized galactic layout each game, giving the strategy a lot of variability. If you're skeptical that all of this could be delivered in a satisfying way using a measly 18 cards... that's exactly how I felt, but Liberation sure did impress me.
Pentaquark — Another solo game, Pentaquark holds the reputation of being one of the more challenging and brain-burning puzzles in Button Shy's line-up. You're working in the realm of quantum physics, trying to gather the appropriate quarks and anti-quarks into the detector of your particle accelerator, collecting cards from the deck in very specific sets while not allowing too many to be removed from the game (aka annihilated.) I love how the theme pairs with the thinkiness of the gameplay. The expansions for Pentaquark have been hard to find for quite some time, and I'm excited that they're also making a return in this reprint campaign.
The last two games available during the campaign are Forest Sky, a game of hand-management and clever scoring featuring some gorgeous avian illustrations, and Making Manhattan, which has you competing to arrange the districts and famous locales of New York City to maximize adjacency bonuses and the best spread of amenities. I haven't yet had a chance to play either of these, so your best bet is to use the campaign page information or YouTube to learn more about how they play.
If you're new to the world of minimal and solitaire card games, I hope you'll give some Button Shy games a try: I think anyone who likes puzzling things out could get into their myriad offerings, many of which are great solo or with a partner. It's nice to play a little thinky game now and then without staring at a screen. Also available as add-on purchases are some of their best-sellers such as Tussie Mussie, Sprawlopolis and Skulls of Sedlec, all of which I've enjoyed. Way down on the bottom of the campaign page you'll find information about shipping prices, including international options. Button Shy is a small business operation, and shipping things worldwide is tough for anyone these days, but they try to be as inclusive as possible.
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