Button Shy Micro Games: Summer 2026 Collection

Welcome!

Welcome to the second boxed Button Shy campaign! We’ve changed a lot for 2026 and we’re thrilled to get this going. Expect these campaigns quarterly, and if all goes well the format will be the same as here. 4 featured games, 3 reprints (one of them is a secret and revealed halfway through the campaign), and some add-ons of our other new boxed games. 

What’s Up With The Boxes?!

We’ve moved our production from our little office to the norms of the board game industry. These will be printed in a factory just like our recent collections you may have seen at Barnes and Noble. The quality is excellent, and as a company we put our focus on making the best games possible instead of spending all of our time hand assembling the games. It’s a big step for us, but we feel like it’s a very exciting direction. And with moving to a regular factory comes regular style boxes. Our games have never had boxes and were difficult to get into stores and specific markets, difficult to stand among other games, and difficult to really show everything off. These boxes will help solve all of those issues. 

Will The Wallets Be Inside The Boxes?

We tried to get the wallets into the boxes, but if you have any of our games you probably know how finicky the wallets can be. A little heat can cause the shape to shift, forever. A big drop could cause them to split open. Smudgy or crooked printing could just sour the whole product. But since we hand assembled every single one, we were able to have an extreme level of quality control with the wallets themselves. 

With them going into a box, sitting in a hot truck or on a boat, and then getting moved from place to place, there were way too many unknowns (not to mention a new printer doing these for the first time and all of the complications that comes with that). 

So we decided to move forward without wallets in the boxes. But they are still available. You can add them as an add-on here. We'll also occasionally do website drops of empty wallets when the demand is there. And yes if you get a wallet, it will fit in the box. 

The New Games

The Cursed Cat is up to no good again, making a mess of your lab and unleashing monsters everywhere. Move and stack monster cards across columns, using spell cards to break the rules. Get all the monsters on the portal column to banish them all for good!

Reawaken is the spiritual successor to Button Shy's fan favorite deckbuilding game At The Helm. Gain and play cards wisely to advance quests and manage your attunement while dealing with the ill effects of unclaimed relics. Recover all 3 relics to win!

In Forest Rivals, 2 players compete for control of hives in a battle of bears versus bees. Both sides take turns placing cards, using them to add new hives and surround hives with their chosen animal. Outwork your opponent to get that precious honey!

Crime Sprawl is the latest standalone game in the Sprawlopolis series. Build your supervillainous city with cards while balancing icons, roads, and districts. Instead of scoring points, simply complete your combination of three villain goals to win!

Let's take a look at each game individually:

The Cursed Cat

1 PLAYER 
DESIGNED BY SCOTT ALMES
ART BY ANDREA IVETIC VICAI

Banish the monsters your feline wizarding familiar has unleashed in your lab.

It’s the blessing and curse of every mage to have a familiar, and today yours is a curse. Once again it’s upended your laboratory and summoned an array of irksome imps. Clean up the lab and get that cat under control!

The Cursed Cat is up to no good again, making a mess of your lab and unleashing monsters everywhere. Move and stack monster cards across columns, using spell cards to break the rules. Get all the monsters on the portal column to banish them all for good!

[GAMEPLAY IMAGE]

[VIDEO REVIEWS]

Download The Cursed Cat Preview

Also included in the box is the expansion: Fickle Paws

Whenever monsters leave the spellbook, your cat acts out in unexpected ways. Work around their unpredictable whims which interfere with your own plans. Limit your cat's misbehavior or you'll never get everything done!

Reawaken

1 PLAYER
DESIGNED BY TED HEIDERSDORF
ART BY STEVEN DE WAELE

Use tools, vehicles, and spirits to recover lost artifacts across a magical world.

Ancient relics of power, long lost to the sands of time, are beginning to awaken – and with them, the world itself. Brave harrowing dangers, befriend newly-risen spirits, and return the objects to their rightful place.

Reawaken is the spiritual successor to Button Shy's fan favorite deckbuilding game At The Helm. Gain and play cards wisely to advance quests and manage your attunement while dealing with the ill effects of unclaimed relics. Recover all 3 relics to win!

[GAMEPLAY IMAGE]

[VIDEO REVIEWS]

Download Reawaken Preview

Also included in the box is the expansion: Ancient Islands

Expand your quests with this 6-card expansion. Two brand-new locations and relics can replace any other set, giving you new areas to explore, while the remaining cards provide new paths to recovering the lost relics.

Forest Rivals

2 PLAYERS
DESIGNED BY RYAN COOKE, STEVEN SMITH
ART BY MANON MERGNAT

Bears and bees battle through the forest for control of honeyed hives.

In the wild woods, conflict between animals is inevitable. Bees make honey, bears want honey: it’s only natural that they’ll fight over it. After all, whoever controls the hives gets the sweet rewards within!

In Forest Rivals, 2 players compete for control of hives in a battle of bears versus bees. Both sides take turns placing cards, using them to add new hives and surround hives with their chosen animal. Outwork your opponent to get that precious honey!

[GAMEPLAY IMAGE]

[VIDEO REVIEWS]

Download Forest Rivals Preview

Also included in the box is the expansion: Royal Guards

This 6-card expansion adds 3 extra cards per side, including 1 royal guard card for each. Royal guards nullify opposing creatures for the purposes of controlling hives, so place them strategically to steal a win!

Crime Sprawl

1-4 PLAYERS
DESIGNED BY STEVEN ARAMINI, DANNY DEVINE, PAUL KLUKA
ART BY STEVEN DE WAELE, FILIP POPOVIC

Complete sinister schemes for each of your supervillains to subdue the city.

Bam! Pow! Your team of maniacal supervillains is on the brink of realizing their most dastardly schemes. Make sure everything goes according to plan to take over the city and establish a new criminal empire!

Crime Sprawl is the latest standalone game in the Sprawlopolis series. Build your supervillainous city with cards while balancing icons, roads, and districts. Instead of scoring points, simply complete your combination of three villain goals to win!

[GAMEPLAY IMAGE]

[VIDEO REVIEWS]

Also included in the box is the expansion: Agents of Honor

This expansion adds 6 heroes: one blocks access to 3 city cards while the rest replace part of the deck. When you cover a hero icon, take a blocked card. Get all 3 to defeat them while still meeting your villain goals!

Freebies

We have a few freebies in this campaign! 

First if you back Astro ROVE you will receive the Lander Mode promo card, which allows you to finish a game of Astro ROVE and combine it with a game of ROVE. Lander will literally bridge the gap between the two games. There's full instructions on how to use it right on the back.

We also have a set of promo bookmarks, one for each of the new featured games. If you back any of those games you will receive its bookmark. But not only is it a bookmark, but there's a little game on the backside called Peruse! In Peruse you will choose a book (this part is very important), and then flip to a random page and see how many instances of the words you can find. Each bookmark has words that are associated with the game, so each will feel quite different. 

[FREEBIES IMAGE]

Rewards

The basic rewards are below. You can get each of the new games separately, or all 4 games as a bundle. Everything is discounted!

[REWARDS IMAGE]

Add-Ons

All of the Add-Ons are listed below. For our wallet fans, you can add the empty wallets. We also have 2 Featured Reprints, a Secret Reprint to be revealed halfway through the campaign, and a selection of additional Button Shy Games all now available in our little boxes. Everything is discounted!

Note on the wallets: These will not be readily available. We will order for this campaign, and then order in smaller website drops here and there. 

We do not have any of our previous traditional wallet game add-ons here, but we have a whole bunch at our site. During the campaign you can use the coupon code 0426backer to save 20% (usually 15, but we might as well go all out with this new campaign) at http://www.buttonshygames.com

Now, onto the Add-Ons!

[ADDONS IMAGE]

Shipping Costs

For this campaign we will be using Kickstarter's pledge manager and all backers will pay for shipping when the pledge manager is completed. Kickstarter will collect taxes due on pledges for backers in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and European Union when the pledge is completed and shipping is paid.

US SHIPPING - $6 for any number of games. 

(NEW!) CA SHIPPING - We plan to ship using Board Game Bliss, and you can order all games and add-ons. You will receive the freebies as well. We are waiting for final weights, but the expected cost for shipping is about $12-18 for one game, around $18-24 for the 4 game bundle and $1 for each add-on game. 

(NEW!) UK SHIPPING (Direct from Button Shy) - We can ship to the UK direct from Button Shy, and you can order all games and add-ons. You will receive the freebies as well. We are waiting for final weights, but the expected cost for shipping is about $22-26 for one game, around $42-46 for the 4 game bundle and $4-7 for each add-on game. We estimated the weights on the high end, and I imagine the larger packages will be cheaper. IF YOU WANT CHEAPER SHIPPING (BUT LIMITED OPTIONS), THEY WILL BE AVAILABLE. SEE BELOW

(NEW!) AUSTRALIA SHIPPING (Direct from Button Shy) - We can ship to Australia direct from Button Shy, and you can order all games and add-ons. You will receive the freebies as well. We are waiting for final weights, but the expected cost for shipping is about $24-28 for one game, around $42-46 for the 4 game bundle and $4-7 for each add-on game. We estimated the weights on the high end, and I imagine the larger packages will be cheaper. IF YOU WANT CHEAPER SHIPPING (BUT LIMITED OPTIONS), THEY WILL BE AVAILABLE. SEE BELOW

ALL OTHER SHIPPING - To be determined in the pledge manager, see below for full info. At it's worst, if these ship from the US, it would be $20+ for one game, and $30+ for two to four games... in most regions. Some even higher. But we're working with some partners to change that. See below for full info. 

International Backers

UPDATE: Canada - see above info, all pledges are now available. UK and AUSTRALIA - see above info, a second option is now available. 

With these new boxes, a new factory, pending partnerships, the uncertain world, growing shipping rates, and extended production timelines, we decided to handle international backers a little differently this time. 

We've created a $1 reward level that you can back. You will receive the ROVE Lander mode print and play as a reward. You will also receive access to the pledge manager, where we hope to be able to offer these games internationally.

Some quick notes about this:

• We will only offer a limited selection of games - it looks like it may be limited to two options: any one of the four new games, or all four of them. 
• We will not be able to offer any of the freebies (the Lander Mode card or the bookmarks).
• We will not be able to offer any of the add-ons (this includes the empty wallets and additional games).
• There's a chance that international shipping just becomes more impossible and we can't offer anything. 
• If you can order through the pledge manager we will credit you $1 towards your purchase. If you end up ordering elsewhere (IPA game shop for example, see below) or not ordering at all due to high shipping costs and complications, we cannot provide that credit.

The reasons for all of this are that we are printing the games in China and the extra stuff in the US, and looking to ship international rewards directly from China. The cost to ship things there, then combine them, and the complexities, all will force us to limit the options available. It stinks, but it's the best we can offer internationally right now.  

And some quick notes on regions:

EU - A handful of our packages are currently being returned from the EU with no explanation other than "denied at border" and we are forced to refund some previous backers for high shipping costs that we already spent. With this in mind, we are working with IPA Game Shop to carry as many of these games as possible on their site, and hoping they can start up pre-orders. It may end up being best to order from them when available, but we will keep everyone posted.

And there's always a chance we get these things sorted out during the campaign. If that happens we will adjust the campaign and let everyone at the International Reward level know what to do. Sorry for the uncertainty, it's just becoming harder and harder to get our games into the hands of players worldwide, so we're opening up to others that specialize in this. It just takes longer than we hoped to set everything up. 

Age Requirements

All Button Shy hand-assembled games and accessories will be in packages labeled for ages 14+. This includes our hand-assembled wallet games, promo cards, bookmarks, empty wallets, etc. The boxed games may end up with a lower age requirement, but for now let's assume they are 14+ as well. 

Board Game Of The Month Club

Want to receive all of these in your mailbox monthly plus some extra goodies? Instead of backing here, you can join our Patreon and you'll receive all of the new games, the extras, and a small additional monthly package with a brochure filled with playable games and interviews. Club members also receive a variety of discounts. US only, sorry!

Join us at http://patreon.com/buttonshy