Japanime Games, in cooperation with Kadokawa and Arclight Games, will release a new cooperative dice and card game based on the first season of the popular anime series Sword Art Online. Sword Art Online The Board Game: Sword of Fellows will release to trade in August.

Sword Art Online (SAO) is set in the future, in a world where virtual reality has been perfected. The world’s first “VRMMORPG” (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) has debuted, and as the first players enter the game, they are informed that they must finish the game to exit, or die trying, which also means they die in real life.

Sword Art Online The Board Game: Sword of Fellows is designed by Senji Kanai (Love Letter, Lost Legacy). In the game, players take the role of one of six characters trapped in SAO. Working together, or alone, they must face a series of tests to defeat the game. Each character has unique skills, which can manipulate the roles of the dice to determine how much damage their attack does to an enemy. Players are encouraged to team up and launch chain attacks for more damage. Defeat the final foe and the players escape the game.

The game is for 1 – 4 players, ages 10 and up, and plays in 30 minutes. MSRP is $25.00. Japanime is funding the game through a Kickstarter campaign which has already surpassed its goal of $10,000. The Kickstarter offers the basic game, as well as a deluxe edition which will only be available through the Kickstarter, Japanime’s webpage, and at the company’s booth at conventions. Trade release will follow Kickstarter fulfillment, and is tentatively set for August 16.

Sword Art Online began as a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by Abec. The manga series, published in the U.S. by Yen Press, has been very popular, spending several years on the bestseller charts (see “Top 10 Manga Franchises--Spring 2016”). Yen also publishes the light novels, and both manga and light novels for the spin-off series. Aniplex of America licensed the anime for North America. Sword Art Online the Movie – Ordinal Scale – was released in U.S. theaters earlier this month (see “IHigh-Profile Anime Invading U.S. Theaters”). A live-action TV show is also in the works (see “'Sword Art Online' Optioned for Live-Action TV Series”).