Kids on Bikes is a

tabletop role-playing game A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participa ...

system, and a series of games that use that system. It has won multiple

ENNIE Awards The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World i ...

History

The first game in the series, ''Kids on Bikes'', was inspired by 1980s coming-of-age movies like ''

The Goonies ''The Goonies'' is a 1985 American adventure comedy film co-produced and directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by Chris Columbus, based on a story by Steven Spielberg. In the film, kids who live in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astori ...

''. Cass Marshall for ''Polygon'' recommended it for fans of ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Prod ...

''. ''Kids on Bikes'' won the 2019 Gold

for Best Family Game / Product, and ''Kids on Bikes: Strange Adventures! Volume Two'' won the same award in 2020. In 2022, the second edition of ''Kids on Bikes'' raised $182,049 on

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

from 2,793 backers. 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. On February 10, 2023, the designers held a charity sale of ''Kids on Brooms'' with all profits donated to

transgender rights A transgender person is someone whose gender identity is inconsistent or not culturally associated with the sex they were assigned at birth and also with the gender role that is associated with that sex. They may have, or may intend to establi ...

organization

Sylvia Rivera Law Project The Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) is a legal aid organization based in New York City at the Miss Major-Jay Toole Building for Social Justice that serves low-income or people of color who are transgender, intersex and/or gender non-conforming. ...

. This was part of a larger boycott movement against ''

Hogwarts Legacy ''Hogwarts Legacy'' is an upcoming action role-playing game developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment under its Portkey Games label. The game is set in the Wizarding World universe, based on the '' ...

'' due to the

anti-transgender Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...

activities of author

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and Philanthropy, philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to ...

Gameplay

''Kids on Bikes'' character creation involves assigning standard roleplaying dice to each of six

stats STATS may refer to: * Statistical Assessment Service * STATS LLC, a former name of Stats Perform Stats Perform (formerly STATS, LLC and STATS, Inc.) is a sports data and analytics company formed through the combination of Stats and Perform. T ...

. Players and

gamemaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...

construct the setting together. The game features a mechanic to allow for a "powered" character like those from ''

E.T. ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dub ...

'' and ''

''. While Powered characters are similar to

non-player characters A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...

, players are able to exhibit some narrative control over the actions these characters take.

In popular culture

The Kids on Bikes system has been featured on multiple seasons of the

actual play Actual play, also called live play, is a genre of podcast or web show in which people play tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) for an audience. Actual play often encompasses in-character interactions between players, storytelling from the game ...

series ''

Dimension 20 ''Dimension 20'' is a tabletop role-playing game show produced by CollegeHumor, and generally hosted by Brennan Lee Mulligan as the show's regular Dungeon Master. Most of the games use ''Dungeons & Dragons'' 5th edition. Seasons of the show ...

'', including '' Misfits and Magic'' using ''Kids on Brooms,'' ''Mentopolis'' using "a 'noir-ified' version of Kids on Bikes", and ''Never Stop Blowing Up'' using a system "heavily inspired by" ''Kids on Bikes.''

References

{{Rpg-stub ENnies winners Fantasy role-playing games Kickstarter-funded tabletop games Tabletop games