McMillen was wary, knowing that digital-based Kickstarters could fail, but agreed to using it as long as they had a nearly-ready product to be sold at the start of the Kickstarter, and that he could expand on the game by adding new cards when extended Kickstarter goal tiers were met. Studio71 had suggested the Kickstarter route for gaining funding for the game, as they had used that successfully for Joking Hazard. After prototyping enough of the game for about two months, he recontacted Studio71 to work out the fuller details for the game. About a year later, McMillen had gotten the flu, and during his off-time, came up with a card game variant for The Binding of Isaac. At that point, McMillen was still focused on developing The End Is Nigh and The Legend of Bum-bo, and declined the offer. The game started development around 2017 when Studio71 US approached McMillen Studio71 was in the process of making the Cyanide & Happiness card game, Joking Hazard, and had asked McMillen if he was interested in a board game variant of The Binding of Isaac. The game ends when one player gets 4 souls. If the player died during their turn, they pay the death penalty. if a monster was attacked but not killed, their health is restored and the next player starts their turn. If the player manages to kill the monster, they will either win a soul or get treasure or money.Īt the end of the players turn, they turn their character and its starting item sideways and end play. Depending on the number, it will either attack the monster or miss, resulting in damage to the player for the rest of their turn. To attack, the player must roll a number higher than the one on the card. Each monster is handled differently with some having counters and some denying certain number rolls. On a players turn, they may either buy a item for 10¢ each or attack a monster.
Loot cards and treasure are used to improve the player's health and attack so they can survive monster attack's and kill monsters faster. Each player picks a character and their starting item and start with 3¢ and 3 loot cards. The game is played like Magic: The Gathering.