Ukrainian board game Aridnyk raised $130,000 on Kickstarter

The Kickstarter campaign for the English version of the Ukrainian board game Aridnyk from the boardova studio has ended.

The project raised over $132,000, which is 13 times more than the initial amount of $10,000. Over 1,500 people wanted to participate in financing the English edition.

As a reminder, the board game "Aridnyk" was developed by Ukrainian science fiction writer Volodymyr Kuznetsov from the city of Severskodonetsk (until 2024 Severodonetsk), who currently lives in Lviv.

Aridnyk in Hutsul mythology is considered the supreme spirit of the Otherworld. He is older than the world and, according to legend, together with God created Heaven and Earth. This plot, as well as the characters of the game, was borrowed by Volodymyr Kuznetsov from the Ukrainian painting "Aridnyk" from the UA Comix publishing house, in cooperation with which the game was created. Another source of inspiration was the ethnographic work of Volodymyr Shukhevych "Hutsulshchyna" - the most complete publication about the customs and beliefs of the Hutsuls.

When you lay out this game and immerse yourself in its plot, you will be able to find out how creative our ancestors, the Hutsuls, were. Here, on the cards, both elements of clothing and everyday life, and proverbs are written in dialect (which were also a challenge for translation into English). All this, moreover, only complements the game mechanics, because in the process you will have to compete with other players for flocks of sheep, meet Carpathian spirits, fulfilling their tasks.

Volodymyr Kuznetsov

The English version of Aridnyk will feature the same elements as the Ukrainian version: 45 brightly colored playing field tiles; 104 game cards; wooden figures of spirits and shepherd players; sheep tokens, and rulebooks for competitive, solo, and cooperative modes. The game is designed for players ages 10 and up. The card, tile, and character designs are by Ukrainian artist Lyudmila Samus.

What touches us the most is that so many people who supported us have Ukrainian roots. They write that they are waiting for the game to play with their families and share their heritage. There are no less than those who have never heard that Ukraine has its own mythology. For them, "Aridnyk" is the first attempt to get acquainted with our culture. We received more than 1,500 orders: from the USA, Canada, Australia, Britain, Japan and other countries. It turns out that the game is our little cultural diplomacy.

CEO of boardova studio Zholud Dobrovolsky

Recall, it recently became known that the board game based on Max Kidruk's novel New Dark Ages. Colony is already being prepared for release, which will take place in June 2025.