It was a tough year for tabletop game Kickstarters in 2014, as the dollars raised declined 6%, even as the number of projects funded climbed nearly 40%, according to a report released by ICO Partners.

It was still a big number for dollars raised, though; around $53,677,000 was raised for tabletop game Kickstarters in 2014.  The 2013 number was $57,150,000, and both years were a lot more than the $16,418,000 raised in 2012.

The real signs of a tough year came in the number of projects.  In 2013, 961 tabletop game projects were funded, and 849 were unsuccessful.  In 2014, 1334 projects were funded, and 1385 were unsuccessful.

The upshot was that although the odds of successfully funding a tabletop game Kickstarter stayed close to the same (49% successful in 2014 vs. 53% successful in 2013), the dollars per project dropped over 40%.

Things may be changing this year, as the biggest Kickstarter in history just funded at over $8.77 million in the tabletop games category:  the card game Exploding Kittens (see "Top 10 Tabletop Game Kickstarters").