| Kids on Bikes | |
| Designer: | Jonathan Gilmour and Doug Levandowski |
| Publisher: |
|
| Genre: | tabletop role-playing game, adventure |
Kids on Bikes is a tabletop role-playing game system, and a series of games that use that system. It has won multiple ENNIE Awards.
The first game in the series, Kids on Bikes, was inspired by 1980s coming-of-age movies like The Goonies. Cass Marshall for Polygon recommended it for fans of Stranger Things.[1] Kids on Bikes won the 2019 Gold ENNIE Awards for Best Family Game / Product, and Kids on Bikes: Strange Adventures! Volume Two won the same award in 2020.[2] [3] In 2022, the second edition of Kids on Bikes raised $182,049 on Kickstarter from 2,793 backers.[4]
There are two other games in the series, the space-themed Teens in Space and Kids on Brooms, a game about a school for wizards and witches.[5] [6] On February 10, 2023, the designers held a charity sale of Kids on Brooms with all profits donated to transgender rights organization Sylvia Rivera Law Project. This was part of a larger boycott movement against Hogwarts Legacy due to the anti-transgender activities of author J. K. Rowling.[7]
Kids on Bikes character creation involves assigning standard roleplaying dice to each of six stats. Players and gamemaster construct the setting together.[5]
The game features a mechanic to allow for a "powered" character like those from E.T. and Stranger Things. While Powered characters are similar to non-player characters, players are able to exhibit some narrative control over the actions these characters take.[5]
The Kids on Bikes system has been featured on multiple seasons of the actual play series Dimension 20, including Misfits and Magic using Kids on Brooms,[8] Mentopolis using "a 'noir-ified' version of Kids on Bikes",[9] and Never Stop Blowing Up using a system "heavily inspired by" Kids on Bikes.[10]