An Absurdist Board Game for an Absurd World.

Take on the role of a cryptozoologist who has fallen madly in love with the very creature you set out to study. However, you’re not the only researcher in town who has fallen head over heels in love, and now you’ll have to compete for the affection of the cryptid of your dreams and prove you are the one worthy of its heart.

Crushing on Cryptids is a card-drafting, sentence-building game for 1-6 lovestruck cryptozoologists. Listen closely as your cryptid crush reveals its deepest desires, then draft cards and piece together the perfect response. The researcher who best captures the cryptid's tone, feelings, and desires will earn a date, uncover valuable insights, and perhaps even win a coveted Cryptid Rose.

After three rounds, only one researcher will have earned the affection of the cryptid, and all the others will end up alone, because love is hard…

How to Romance a Cryptid

Step 1: Choose Your Cryptid

The world is full of mystery and unexplained phenomenon, but you only have leads on a few of the cryptids in this world. Choose which of the six cryptids included in the base game of Crushing on Cryptids you wish to romance.

Bigfoot

Chupacabra

Dingbat

Loch Ness Monster

Mothman

Oggie

Step 2: Listen to Their Words

Each Cryptid is unique with their own perspectives, personalities, and interests. Listen to their conversations and get to know them, truly. Learn about their lives, the misconceptions of their species, and their deep rooted beliefs as you form an unbreakable connection.

Step 3: Respond to the Cryptid

It takes two to have a conversation. The cryptid has shared their soul with you, and now it is time that you respond. Draft sentence cards to create the best possible response, one that matches the tone and traits of the cryptid’s conversation.

Step 4: Get a Date

Cryptids are very busy creatures, and so, they can only ever go on one date at a time. The researcher who best connected with them with their response will win a date.

If you’re lucky enough to win a date, then enjoy it! This is a great time to gain insight into your potential love’s characteristics, or even gain a coveted Cryptid Rose if the date is really successful!

Step 5: Live Happily Ever After?

After a couple weeks of being courted by a variety of researchers, the cryptid is finally ready to pick who they like best. The researcher who has gained the most Cryptid Roses by going on dates or understanding the Cryptid’s Characteristics best will be the winner and has gained the admiration of their crush.

If you are the lucky lovebird, enjoy your new life of happiness and bliss. Your love is strong, and you two might just be soulmates.

Read the Full Rulebook

Commonly Asked Question

  • Crushing on Crytpids is on schedule to launch in March of 2027.

  • The very first iteration of Crushing on Cryptids was created in an Adobe Illustrator file back in 2022. I had just came back from a UFO Festival, and had been inspired by some of the stories I had heard. 48 hours later, I had a working prototype.

    Since 2022, Crushing on Cryptids has undergone a variety of changes, both cosmetically and mechanically. It has been playtested hundreds of times and in multiple countries. The version I am bringing to Kickstarter has been polished and perfected as much as humanly possible, and I am quite proud of the game.

  • The Changeling is a special bonus cryptid for Crushing on Cryptids, available for free to supporters who sign up for our email list!

    Unlike the other cryptids, the Changeling allows players to mix and match conversations and dates from different cryptids, opening up new combinations and gameplay possibilities without creating inconsistencies.

    The Changeling comes with its own double-sided cryptid board, featuring a scientific journal entry on one side and a personal diary entry on the other.

  • Yes, Crushing on Cryptids has a dedicated solo mode. The gameplay remains consistent, but the scoring is much different.

    You may be the only person interested in the cryptid, but they still have standards, and you need to live up to them.

  • Crushing on Cryptids is chocked full of cards and tokens. In the base game, there are six cryptids, each of which has 23 conversations, 17 dates, and a board with a scientific journal entry and a diary entry. Then, the game includes a trait board, 220 sentence cards, 35 Cryptid Roses, Researcher Tool Cards, six sets of trait tokens, and more. We did our best to make Crushing on Cryptids full of content, top-tier components, and whimsy.

  • Crushing on Cryptids was, ironically, designed entirely by humans. No robots, cryptids, or ghosts were used to create the world within the box. All of the text was written or typed by me, the designer, and the artwork was brought to life by my extremely talented grandmother. Keeping the game human from start to finish was always important to us.

  • You can sign up to be a part of the Cryptid Researcher Team on this website, this will send important updates, like when we launch, directly to your email. You’ll also gain the Changeling Cryptid for free with your Kickstarter Pledge if you do sign up!

    You can also follow along on instagram for some behind the scenes looks, videos, and other content at @boardgame_boardroom

    We also have a Crushing on Cryptids BoardGameGeek page that we will be keeping up to date!

  • Crushing on Cryptids is a particularly text-heavy game, with its core gameplay relying on tone, nuance, and emotion. As a result, translating the game into other languages presents a real challenge to keep the game functional. Combined with the financial aspect of producing an independent game, there are no current plans for additional language editions.

    However, I would absolutely love to bring Crushing on Cryptids to as many languages as possible. Depending on the outcome of the Kickstarter, I'll explore the possibility of working with professional translators who can preserve the humor, personality, and subtle nuances that make the game what it is.

  • The base game of Crushing on Cryptids will retail at $50, but supporters of the Kickstarter will get special pricing at $40.

  • Yes, Crushing on Cryptids will become the third game in my portfolio that has made it to the Kickstarter stage. My other two games are Unyielding Universe and Flags, both of which you can learn more about on BoardGameGeek, or Instagram.

  • Once you join the Cryptid Research Team, you will be among the first to know all of the big news for Crushing on Cryptids, such as when we go live on Kickstarter. Even more exciting, you will gain the Changeling Cryptid free with your pledge (please sign up with the same email you support the game with so we can easily reward you).

Love is Strange… But So Are You.