What’s faster: a dragon, phoenix or Pegasus? Find out in mythological racing game Divinity Derby

You’re at a party with a few deities and end up knocking back a couple of drinks, only to find yourself arguing with friends and strangers alike over which fictional creature would win in a race. We’ve all been there.

That’s the setup for Divinity Derby, a new title from War of the Ring publisher Ares Games that plonks players in the winged boots of gods as they bet on a menagerie of winged creatures – dragon, gryphon, lamassu, Pegasus, phoenix and sylph – and proceed to race the beasts around a track, laying down movement cards to spur them along.

One interesting point about the game’s relatively straightforward gameplay is that it features a card-sharing mechanic, where each player has two sets of hands, each shared with their respective neighbours. This opens up the chance to plot against those next to you – or work with them to outperform the rest of the group.

Ares has already smashed its modest $12,000 (£9,800) target for the game on Kickstarter, raising over $33,000 (£27,000) at the time of writing and unlocking stretch goals including unique abilities for each god and adding Lovecraft’s tentacled monstrosity Cthulhu to the roster of deities, joining Anansi, Horus, Marduk, Odin, Quetzalcoatl and Yù Huáng the Jade Emperor, with Greek overlord Zeus as the judge.

$30 (£24) (with shipping added after the campaign ends) will net a copy of the standard edition, with the $45 (£37) deluxe edition adding hand-painted variants of the six creature miniatures, plus extra cards. You’ll have until March 24th to back the campaign.