Local Startup Hopes to Raise $18K on Kickstarter
June 2, 2015
Greenville game designers create steampunk-themed card game
GREENVILLE, SC – Tantrum House, a Greenville-based board game company, launched a Kickstarter campaign for its game Steam Court on May 28. The campaign will run for 30 days and offers several pledge levels and rewards. For a pledge of $25, backers will receive a copy of the game and any unlocked stretch goals.
Steam Court is a card game for 3-10 players that takes 60-90 minutes to play. The basic gameplay is similar to the trick-taking game President, or Scum. But Steam Court goes beyond the basics and adds special cards and different character powers for each player. “We’ve found that Steam Court works really well as a party game” says the game’s designer, Will Meadows. “It’s easy to teach, and it’s flexible enough that if players want to drop in or out half way through it doesn’t mess up the game’s flow.”
In Steam Court, players take on the role of Court Engineers who attempt to catch the eye of the Queen and other high-ranking courtiers by displaying their mechanical prowess. Using their dealt hands of gear cards, players try to take tricks with the ultimate goal of being the first to play all their cards. The Queen rewards such displays of skill by snatching up the most successful engineer as her own. The player who engineers his way into the Queen’s good graces and comes out on top of the social ladder by the end of the fourth Quarter wins. For players who prefer a more strategic game, Steam Court has point tokens that can be used instead to determine the winner.
Tantrum House is a local board game company. They got their start after a successful Kickstarter campaign last October. “We’ve run one small campaign” says company COO, Ryan Pilz “and have hopes of doing that again on a much larger scale this time.” Tantrum House publishes high quality, but very concise video reviews of board games on their YouTube channel. They host monthly game nights at a coffee shop in Greer, design custom tabletop themed apparel, and have ideas for a number of new board games that they would like to bring to market in the future.
