- Details
- By Coyote & Crow Games
The Native creators of the award-winning game Coyote & Crow are back with a new tabletop game, Wolves, which is crowdfunding now on Kickstarter. This is a family-friendly game for 3-6 that has players take on the mantle of leaders of agrarian communities, working together to share resources and make it through winter.
llustrated and designed by Indigenous creatives, the game follows in the footsteps of the company’s first game, Coyote & Crow, which has not only been nominated for numerous awards but broke multiple Kickstarter records when it crowdfunded back in 2021.
Now the creators want to use modern tabletop game mechanics to highlight cooperative play and gifting economies. The game encourages players to work together since if any player fails to meet their community’s needs, all players lose the game. Only if everyone makes it to the end of the game can there also be an individual winner.
In addition, Coyote & Crow Games, the publisher, is producing this game without any plastics and their components are FSC certified, meaning that all items are recyclable and sustainable. There are also pledge levels available to donate copies of the game to schools, libraries, and community centers that serve Native communities.
Wolves launched on Kickstarter on July 10 and runs through August 7, 2023. The game met its base funding goal in under five hours but is now looking to reach numerous philanthropic stretch goals. First up is a free digital version of the game to be released through Tabletop Simulator, a game emulation software available on Steam. The company also has plans to donate money to Illuminative, create a grant program for Indigenous creatives looking to travel to conventions, and more.
The game was designed by Connor Alexander (Cherokee Nation), who was also the creative force behind Coyote & Crow, the roleplaying game. In addition, both Ovila Mailhot (Sto:lo / Nlaka'pamux Nation) and Sadekaronhes Esquivel (Kanyen'kehà:ka/Mexican Indigenous) provided art for the game.
“We wanted to create a game that spoke to the idea of sharing,” said designer Connor Alexander. “Most games have a winner at the cost of everyone else losing. I think the tradition of gifting shows that everyone can make it to the finish line and we’re all better off for it when we do. The game promotes cooperation while still providing an incentive for individual players to do their personal best.” Wolves also allow players to manage resources and push their luck to gain more while penalizing them if they overstretch those resources. In addition, there are Knowledge Cards that allow players to gain special individual benefits along the way.
Coyote & Crow Games is a company dedicated to bringing Indigenous concepts to modern tabletop games by lifting up Native writers, designers and artists within the board game industry. They also aim to provide positive, accurate, and uplifting depictions of Native Americans in the gaming space.
You can watch the full trailer video here:
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