Ever backed anything on Kickstarter? Ever put up a project on Kickstarter?
What was it?
Only thing I’ve ever backed on Kickstarter was Wasteland 2, but I’m currently debating with myself whether to put $299 into “Fromaggio,” an automatic home cheesemaker that I just saw on Facebook. My wife eats almost nothing but cheese and she would love it. We’ve used home cheesemaking kits and while they work, it’s a lot of work.
Arsenal, a camera device to supposedly help people take better pictures. The first one I got never worked quite right. Just received an updated version, I can’t get the app on my phone to see my camera. I’m ready to pitch it in my box o’ camera junk that I will never use.
I’ve backed a few Board games. I just assume any invention is going to turn out to be junk/a scam.
A friend who is a chef told me about the concept of sous vide cooking and convinced me to back the original Anova unit. It was a success!
I’ve had pretty good luck backing board games and role-playing games (though one RPG that I backed wound up being heavily delayed, due to the author’s health, and I now suspect that it’ll never appear).
I’ve backed a few other projects, too, including a funky digital watch that, while it did materialize, wound up being kind of a piece of junk.
I have backed a video which never really got off the ground. A couple of books one of which is still pending, a kit to build a hurdy-gurdy which was cool but over my head, a Korean hot sauce, a solar powered device charger (which had very poor instructions), origami style cooking tools (which are still pending) and a small electric spinning wheel. One of the biggest problems I have seen is that the hot sauce company and the charger company now have my email address and almost spam me to buy other stuff.
You also have to understand that it is a gamble, the product could never come to fruition, the stretch goals promised so far have not been fulfilled when I did receive the main product. The actual product is sometimes a disappointment and sometimes absolutely amazing.
Only one thing: a new computer game by my favorite small game developer. He’s a guy about my age (mid-50’s) who started out producing games for the Mac distributed on the shareware model way back in the late 1990’s. He’s been doing his own thing, working solo with only his wife doing the business end of things (accounting, marketing) all these years. He’s moved on to publishing his games for the PC and iOS platforms but it’s still his own one-man-show. His quality has been impeccable and the games have great storylines. Last year he launched a kickstarter to develop a whole new game/story on a new engine. It should be out in the fall and I can’t wait.
My kickstarter “reward” level was to name something in the game. I asked him to name one of the NPC (computer players) after my beloved Ajax who I lost tragically a couple years ago. He was named after the Greek hero and friend to Achilles, and I asked Jeff if he could apply the name to an NPC that had a noble death if it was a killable character. I’m looking forward not only to playing the whole game, but also to seeing what he did with my Ajax.
I’ve backed any number of things of Kickstarter. I think the first one was Rich Burlew’s reprint drive for OotS back in 2012. Since then I’ve backed LICD books, Pixie Trix, alignment pins, a couple of neat gadgets and the like. All have been funded so far, and the results quite satisfactory.
Mostly RPG stuff but let’s see…
Legends of Dawn - My first KS, this was for a video game. Came out late if I remember right and was laughably bad. They tried to fix it a time or two but it’s still a pretty trash game.
Bard’s Tale IV - Came out late, if I recall, but good communication and it did come out. I still haven’t played it; it received so-so reviews.
Monster Dice - Large heavy metal dice in assorted monstrous shapes. Came out late and are very poor quality. They’re also so large that they’re impractical to use. My kid plays with them, enjoying the numbers, shapes and heft.
Wizard Dice - These are resin and more reasonably sized. Shipped on time and look/work nicely although I honestly tend to use my traditional dice because there’s always headscratching at the table when you pull out non-standard dice.
Leather Belt - One of umpteen Kickstaters for a handmade full leather belt. Looks and feels great; came on time.
Leather Belt - One of umpteen Kickstarters for a “ratchet-style” dress belt. Looks and feels great; came on time.
Gaming Minis - A small set of six figures for D&D. Look nice, shipped on time. Happy with them.
Music EP - Came out on time but I can’t say I especially enjoy the end product and never listen to it.
Pillow Playset - A nifty pillow that untucks and folds out into a playset for the sofa or bed based on the popular Sago line of kid’s apps. Bought for my niece and it shipped on time and is well liked by its owner.
Gaming Book - Book of town maps and adventure hooks for gaming. Looks nice and useful (have on PDF).
(Still in processing)
3D RPG Modeling Software - A competitor to HeroForge where you can design and print your own 3D minis for gaming. The software will be free but pledgers get some extra art assets for it.
Music EP - Over a year late and still not out; probably never will come out. Was only $10 so whatever.
Paintbrushes - Some fine detail brushes for painting miniatures; should be shipping soon.
RPG Map Book - In production now, a book of gaming maps where you can open it and have a quick battle map for a bandit camp, tavern, etc. PDF version already out; waiting on print.
Adventure Module - A book for RPG gaming. PDF version is already released; just waiting on the print version due out soon.
All in all, a decent track record. Only straight-up burned on one $10 item and a couple things that I got and was disappointed in. I don’t hold it against the EP I didn’t care for since that’s just a matter of taste but the dice were garbage and they had to know that they were shipping garbage. I only had two things not get funded; one for some minis where the producer wound up funding them off-site and giving those who tried to pledge a discount and once for a video game where the developer funded off-site and gave the pledgers a free copy.
I’ve backed quite a few. Some notable ones that come to mind :
Helix folding bike. Backed 3 years ago, and they are finally starting production.
Pimax 8k virtual reality goggles. Received 1 year after it was supposed to ship, and promptly sold on eBay because it’s almost obsolete already.
MOGICS Donut travel power strip / extension cord. Best travel accessory ever! I’ve since bought a couple of extras just for spares.
G-RO wheeled carry on luggage. It has huge wheels and rolls very well. It was a bit late but met all my expectations. I use it for every trip and get a lot of comments from people.
Superbook, a laptop-like thing that’s actually a monitor + keyboard for a smartphone. Complete scam, never received the item and many others didn’t either.
AuraVisor, an early self contained VR headset (like the Oculus Go). It worked but quality was poor. Sold on eBay at a slight loss.
Ottolock bicycle lock. Not bad, I still use it.
Several anthologies. Out of self-interest: if they run, it’s a place to send my stories.
Quite a few things - one cool thing, can’t remember if it was Kickstarter or Indiegogo - was NimunoLoops, a silicone Lego-compatable tape.
The only thing I’ve ever backed on Kickstarter was a reprint drive for the webcomic “The Order of the Stick”. It enabled the creator to reprint every book of the comic, including those that were exclusive to book form.
I have a few rolls of adhesive LEGO tape from another brand. Whoever I bought it from makes you buy 3 rolls, but I really only needed about an inch worth so I could stick a LEGO figure on my car’s dashboard. It was cheap, at least. I gave the rest to my LEGO-obsessed nephew. 
I’ve backed 25 different books/comics/anthologies and 95% of the time I’m completely satisfied and the turnaround is reasonable. I also backed two animation projects. The Little Witch Academia one was a roaring success, because not only did it deliver to the fans, it delivered in the industry and got the studio the means to create the entire anime series through proof of concept. Overall I basically only back printed media, because “inventions” tend to be a scam, and games tend to be mismanaged. People just don’t know how to manage funds and don’t realize how many things can go horribly wrong in their process. I’ve seen people take so long to finish a project that their original shipping estimates are now way too low for the current, new shipping costs, and so they have no money left to get finished projects to backers. I’ve also seen kickstarters get too successful and have their original quoted manufacturer say “that’s too big for us now, we’re only built to handle up to 1000”, and then they need to start all over with a new manufacturer, who has cruddy QC, who charges twice as much for shipping, etcetera and so on, until once again, all the kickstarter money is gone and no product is delivered. People just gotta scale back their ideas unless they’re experienced already, but kickstarter gives them a vision of endless possibility, and so…
I contributed to the successful Veronica Mars project. Besides getting bragging rights for helping the movie get made I got a couple of stickers and t-shirts, a DVD, and a PDF of the script. (oh, and I got some cute emails that Kristen Bell sent to all the marshmallows as well)
Not on Kickstarter, but on Indiegogo; I’ve funded the OptiShokz Revvez bone conduction audio sunglasses. They’ve raised ten times the fixed goal of $50,000 with three days left to go in the campaign.
I’ve backed a lot of board games and a few comic books and movies.
I’ve never started a KS project.
Only one, the Order of the Stick one others have mentioned. He’s still working on finishing all of the rewards, seven years later, but the way I figure it, I supported it because I wanted three books, I paid the price of three books, and I got three books (plus assorted other extras that are trickling in). So I’m satisfied.