'Feed the Scorchpot,' a new title developed by the two-person team Moravian and published by WhisperGames, made an appearance at BIC 2026 ahead of its August 21 release.

'Feed the Scorchpot' combines the classic engine-building structure of a board game with dice-based deckbuilding and roguelite combo mechanics. The premise is clear: you have signed a contract to provide the dragon with dinner every year for 20 years in exchange for it protecting your island. If you fail to satisfy the dragon's palate, you and the island's residents will be eaten instead.

The gameplay is straightforward. You build structures on a hex-tile island and roll three 'fate dice' to determine which areas you can harvest. The harvestable areas correspond to the sums of any two dice. For example, if you roll a 3, 4, and 5, you can harvest materials from tiles marked 7, 8, and 9. Since farms and other facilities near those tiles provide bonus effects, you must choose your building locations carefully based on food distribution. When rolling the dice, you need to aim for numbers that align with your crop distribution and facility layout. You can reroll up to four times, and you don't have to reroll all the dice at once; you can keep the ones you like and roll the rest.

Another key feature of 'Feed the Scorchpot' is how it integrates familiar auto-battler shop mechanics into its board game structure. After each year, the remaining harvest is converted into ducats, which you can use to build or upgrade structures and acquire useful items and recipes. Recipes are particularly important because they apply multipliers to your base ingredient values, making it crucial to present the right recipe for your current supply situation.

While you might satisfy the dragon's appetite with honest play at first, the requirements soon increase, and you will eventually need to focus on building synergies. At that point, simple formulas involving basic dice rolls and recipes will no longer suffice. Fortunately, the dragon isn't entirely heartless; it grants a grace period of two seasons at first, and later three. This means you only get a 'game over' if you fail to meet the requirements after two or three consecutive attempts.

From that point on, the various artifacts and dice available in the shop become vital. There are 20 types of dice, including odd-numbered, even-numbered, and special dice with all sides showing a 6. By securing your desired dice combinations and using artifacts like the 'Quill'—which temporarily doubles recipe effects—you can see your scores skyrocket through multiplicative bonuses.

The demo time at BIC 2026 was a bit short to explore every mechanic, but it was enough to feel the thrill of carefully calculating dice probabilities like a yacht racer and strategically planning your island's development like a management simulation. The satisfaction of seeing your score jump exponentially was significant. Furthermore, the charming, hand-drawn medieval-style dragon, food graphics, and UI kept me immersed throughout the session.

'Feed the Scorchpot' will be released on Steam on August 21. You can try it out now via the Steam demo or at the BIC 2026 venue.