Board Game inspired iPad App via Kickstarter

Have you ever heard of the board game RoboRally? It’s a board game that was introduced in 1994 and reprinted in 2005 and has received numerous awards as well as a fan following. It’s about moving robots through factories filled with obstacles – conveyor belts, crushers, flame-throwers, pushers, teleporters, oil slicks, pits, and such – not to mention crossing paths with other players robots as well.

Have you ever heard of Kickstarter?
If you haven’t heard of Kickstarter before, then you ought to check it out. Kickstarter is a funding platform that gives projects a way to get off the ground and running. People or companies that have products or services that they want to launch post their project on Kickstarter and then other people that are interested in those products put up pledges to fund the projects.

And over the last year a number of small board game publishing companies have tried using Kickstarter to bring their game to market. People interested in the game pledge funds and when the funding goal is reached and the board game published, those people get a copy of the game. It’s kind of like prepaying for a game before launch. However, if the funding goal isn’t reached, then the game doesn’t get produced and the people who have pledge funds don’t have to pay anything.

So there really isn’t any risk. If it works out, you get a game that you were excited about. But if it doesn’t end up happening, you’re not out anything (other than your anticipation).

Have you head of iPhones and iPads?
Ok – that’s a silly question.

So what do these three things have in common?
RoboArena
RoboArena is a new game in development for the iPhone and iPad that’s based on the popular RoboRally board game and is being funded through Kickstarter.

RoboArena is a turn-based strategy multiplayer action game that has you pre-programming your Robo to travel through levels. You pre-program up to 15 moves each turn and then watch it play out. We can already imagine playing with 6 players – equipping our Robos with weapons and armor to compete in random battlefields where everyone else is pre-programming their Robos as well. Trying to anticipate the other player moves and traps sounds like great strategic fun to us.

We know we’re all about board games – but this just looked too fun to pass up talking about.
And if you haven’t noticed a number of popular board games have already made their way to iOS apps like, Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, and Roll Through the Ages – all games that are on our Family Favorites list.

If RoboArena sounds like fun to you, then we recommend you check out the videos and make a pledge on the RoboArena Kickstarter page.