Playing Card Information
First Impressions of Fantasy Tavern Brawl
<div>Fantasy Tavern Brawl Summary: Your group of adventures encounter a tavern in the midst of a bar brawl. Guide your eleven, dwarven, orc adventurers/patrons and more to try to keep them all inside the tavern during the brawl. You’ll need … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2024/07/27/first-impressions-of-fantasy-tavern-brawl/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a></div>
Dale Yu: Review of Next Station: Paris
<div>Next Station: Paris Designer: Matthew Dunstan Publisher: blue orange Players: 1-4 Age: 8+ Time: 20-30 minutes Amazon affiliate link Played with review copy provided by blue orange USA Become the best metro network planner Paris has ever seen. Use overhead … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2024/07/26/dale-yu-review-of-next-station-paris/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a></div>
Free Yourself from a Curse, Take a Partner to Everdell, and Return to Rolling Realms
Each player has their own hand of cards, and at the same time, players race to name what a card in play has in common with a card in their hand, after which they add their card to the table. If you create a row of four cards in your color, you win the round, and if you win a certain number of rounds, you win the game. • Rolling Realms Redux is a standalone game from Jamey Stegmaier of Stonemaier Games and designer Karel Titeca that's compatible with 2021's Rolling Realms and the dozens of promo
Dale Yu: Review of Aquatica
<div>Aquatica Designer: Ivan Tuzovsky Publisher: Cosmodrone Games / Arcane Wonders Players: 1-4 Age: 14+ Time: 60 minutes Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4ffquID Played with review copy provided by Arcane Wonders Aquatica is a deep, but easy to learn family engine builder … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2024/07/25/dale-yu-review-of-aquatica/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a></div>
Designer Diary: What Kind of Board Game is The Fashion Game?
<div><p>by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blogger/15805/ryoko-yabuchi">Ryoko Yabuchi</a></p>
<div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/7137614"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/75rCEEUBPBTylpOK6hawvg__small/img/geRoSgjVQ-f0HT2I_nshcT4vLy4=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic7137614.png" border="0"></a></div>In this diary, I'd like to introduce <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/373060/the-fashion-game"><b><i>The Fashion Game</i></b></a>, a fashion-coordination game that was successfully <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryokoyabuchi/the-fashion-game?ref=bggforums" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">crowdfunded on Kickstarter</a> in 2022. I'll cover:
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<br>• An overview of the game
<br>• What makes it interesting
<br>• How it was conceptualized and developed
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<br>Excitingly, the game is currently being developed for the U.S. market and continues to evolve, so stay tuned! I'll also share some images of this new edition at the end. I hope you enjoy it.
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<br><center><b>•••</b></center>
<br>Hello, I'm <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/122889/yabuchi-ryoko">Ryoko Yabuchi</a>, a board game creator from Japan. As an indie designer, I handle everything from planning to art, manufacturing orders, and shipping. (By the way, this article was originally written in Japanese and translated by AI. If anything is unclear, please let me know!)
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<br><b>What Kind of Game?</b>
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<br>This game involves combining cards shaped like clothing with pattern cards to create fashion coordinates and enjoy them together. It already sounds fun, right? And trust me — it really is fun!
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/7137616"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/K97fxIVVb1YZBz1-sGxBRg__small/img/y6pFJ56dTK6hzfM8pXse7P3uFtM=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic7137616.png" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><b>Manga on How to Play the Fashion Coordination Game</b>
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<br>Curious about how to play this coordination game? Check out this manga for a rough guide on how to play.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8310267"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/yJVIvDRH0Atu2tgsIkMFjw__small/img/8jZiPCSVjfUYhRjihBinwqeV9UI=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8310267.png" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br>Looks fun, doesn't it? It certainly is! But getting it from initial idea to completion took some time...
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<br><b>When Did I Start Thinking about This Game?</b>
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<br><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/6492046"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/a3iInloJRkRolW6ygRG0zQ__small/img/_QtzbcwDrPdLGjdCp567JHhD8Tg=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic6492046.jpg" border="0"></a></div>It all started around 2019. While creating <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/296164/yura-yura-penguin"><i>Yura Yura Penguin</i></a> with a home cutting machine, I began to think about this game and experimented with card cutting. Although I found the idea of a fashion-coordination game intriguing, I faced challenges in mass-producing these uniquely shaped cards and determining the number of pattern cards required, so I focused on completing <i>Yura Yura Penguin</i>, my first game with uniquely shaped cards.
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<br>However, the allure of fashion coordination persisted in my queue of game ideas. In 2022, I realized I could create die-cut cards and produce them in large quantities. After prototyping and conducting playtests with family and friends, the game received positive feedback, prompting me to move forward with production.
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<br>There were trial-and-error phases in refining both the game rules and card production.
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<br><b>Rule Development 1: The Initial Version Was a Huge Hit, But...?</b>
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<br>During playtesting with family and friends, ranging from my five-year-old daughter to university students and those in their 40s, 50s, and 70s, we experimented with different playstyles. One version involved appointing an editor-in-chief to set a fashion theme, with others created outfits based on their hand of cards. The editor-in-chief then judged and awarded points for the best coordination. This approach survived as an alternative way to play.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8310275"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/6LNnkvYYzBi-MediJRvryg__small/img/PxFkGtb3EUuRjqUIuJDnpeP_N7A=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8310275.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br>Even my daughter surprised us with her ideas, skillfully layering and expressing herself cutely. We engaged in lively discussions, praising or critiquing each other's coordinations, discussing mismatched patterns, and why they turned out that way. The feedback — "You should definitely make this!" and "I love it!" — encouraged me, but also highlighted some issues...
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<br><b>Rule Development 2: Making It Enjoyable for Those Not Interested in Fashion</b>
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<br>One challenge surfaced during family playtests: Men showed less enthusiasm compared to women. Recognizing the need for the game to appeal to mixed groups, I delved into what caused this hesitation.
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<br>While creating and expressing ideas through cards appealed to both genders, not everyone felt comfortable presenting final outfits. To address this, I introduced a rule in which players guess the theme of the coordination, which became the primary gameplay rule. This adjustment eliminated the need for explicit fashion discussions.
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<br>This change made the game enjoyable for both men and women, even those less interested in fashion — a decision I'm glad I made. We also refined how themes are selected and shape cards are used, a process that took considerable time.
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<br><b>Production 1: Pattern Cards and Theme Cards</b>
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<br>The game includes sixty pattern cards.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8310284"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/ZD01YO79-V_1yvGuuqd0FQ__small/img/HJCi7qfoO31jRcIWJJneiTkaFJE=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8310284.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>Creating and selecting pattern cards</i></center>
<br>With countless patterns worldwide, covering them all is impossible. To balance gameplay and cost, we settled on sixty cards, categorizing general clothing patterns and selecting representative ones, including solids, characteristic fabrics, and fun patterns. Many patterns were created and rejected, honing my knowledge of their origins.
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<br>For those needing who want patterns unavailable in the game, I suggest printing or drawing your own! Different paper textures won't affect gameplay, so mix in your favorites. Kickstarter backers received original pattern creation sheets, and a printable PDF allows for custom patterns.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8310289"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/T1g6sUpn_3i71n5RnOhvrw__small/img/Op8jQfujX1n-zXUE_zObmlrh1rA=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8310289.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8310290"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/MvteTGmymMnEepdKDtCcqQ__small/img/o2EG4rj6zUaNJEnPWbZaAXYNYoQ=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8310290.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><b>Choosing Themes</b>
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<br>To cut costs, theme cards are on the back of pattern cards, their selection proving challenging. I delved into fashion magazines, books, and even bought some, blending serious themes with playful ones like "Meeting an Oil Tycoon", "Horror", and "Isekai Trip". Playfulness is vital — it's a game, after all.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8271958"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/ZV61VJKNewcCEXmjZ1yKAQ__small/img/aiB11c0DOSJDtOR84RxjeJnpsFY=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8271958.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br>Players explore creative ways to express themes with limited pattern cards through layering, rotating, and peeking. Experimentation is key.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8271965"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/antaD10qt7Vpy8eWcKfJVw__small/img/3Rwuk9Q4F0_NR1eUhG2H2sJzknI=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8271965.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8271966"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/2IB7gytPPX-oN_cCDacVEg__small/img/pjNLncRy-IRyNvp2mXSFZQr_b0Y=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8271966.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8271967"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/fF89K75zIoZeYlT1mTtHHA__small/img/lX_s1Oq9ej_8lD18LVZeWmFH9Ag=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8271967.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><b>Production 2: How Do You Make Uniquely Shaped Cards?</b>
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<br>Learning card mass production for <i>Yura Yura Penguin</i>, I discovered the need for die-cutting dies: Thomson or Bic, depending on region.
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<br>Japan hosts various processing firms, with options in Taiwan or China that often requiring minimum orders of 500 to 1,000 units. Opting for a Japanese firm offering die-cutting and combined printing, I prioritized stability despite higher costs, mindful of currency fluctuations and the occasional die-cut printing misalignment.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8310297"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/3zqDMavgcnTYQxBcppBeHQ__small/img/G__6KHlb-etdES3G7xlIa-AvnQw=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8310297.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8271961"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/JWdwk9300pvnf_TkLP_-vA__small/img/xuCqiGPS6H7fYAClOauwM1s3F8w=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8271961.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8271956"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/tybaqre1wxvd5VDppjDEwg__small/img/C1u-3qJebhcB3UmqsiYiVDVhhns=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8271956.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br>Using samples, I chose sturdy material to prevent bending. Though cheaper, printing on transparent cards didn't match die-cut cuteness. Cards feature a white back for use in black or white modes, enhancing versatility.
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<br>Don't discard the inner die-cut parts because they double as score chips and theme tokens!
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8271960"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/xu85cM9gmuft8i356Jlbhw__small/img/f96S3k7EqUkiELRRuj4tx-Cskhc=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8271960.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br>The game successfully funded on Kickstarter, so thanks to all supporters! I hope you enjoy it.
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<br><i>The Fashion Game</i> has now been developed for the U.S. market by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/46051/wonderful-world-board-games">Wonderful World Board Games</a> as <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/422373/fashion-police"><b><i>Fashion Police</i></b></a>:
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8239035"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/mDJhxtvAr4Wc4spmWJ5ReQ__small/img/xgPYgver4g0RbFJmjFsfmuWUXdU=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8239035.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8272035"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/Gqh_8qqhrTid8_XQ8FgdJA__small/img/u8apvkyvsPg85K0sUkG1KxekrDo=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8272035.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8310359"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/M2IyVMqtvJXHkkVzFZvZyQ__small/img/IIg_MH-22pbnUoEaLcFg8lBLfvU=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8310359.png" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8310362"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/orEdgTxBQSGdfVGlHGKe7w__small/img/7uJUliJcppV-cQMyjRbxKW1rvbI=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8310362.png" border="0"></a></div></center>
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<br>Isn't the card shape ingenious? Customization is rising — an exciting prospect!
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<br>Look out for the latest version of this design at Gen Con 2024. Thank you for reading this far. I look forward to meeting you again through my board games...
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8271970"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/6I4OAlzX-IuUQp4hOfJIQA__small/img/EGjWi6hVt_PWOns5qiw45onRcc0=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8271970.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center></div>
"Time Machine" outcome with special summoned monster - a scenario
However, I activate "Time Machine" - in order to get back "Chimeratech Overdragon" on my field (and attack again to Dark Magician - if "Chimeratech Overdragon" has its original ATK/DEF 4000 ATK that has before being destroyed by having its effects negated). Issue: Since "Forbidden Chalice" was activated, "Chimeratech Overdragon" would have its effects negated, making his ATK back to ?, then, destroyed by attacking a monster with higher ATK! I activate "Time Machine" for bring back "Chimeratech F
Josiah’s Monthly Board Game Round-Up – June 2024
<div>June 2024 Games I played for the first time this month, from worst to best, along with my ratings and comments. You Gotta Be Kitten Me – 6/10 You Gotta Be Kitten Me! is a card game that draws … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2024/07/24/josiahs-monthly-board-game-round-up-june-2024/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a></div>
Designer Diary: ContraBanter
<div><p>by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blogger/15736/phil-gross">Phil Gross</a></p>
<div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8013769"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/rbgjMZ_F68_sMyRGcb9gDA__small/img/uOizScySI2RMwypxyILKO5oNJ1c=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8013769.png" border="0"></a></div>I was reading <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/35585/cole-wehrle">Cole Wehrle</a>'s <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/359871/arcs/forums/68" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">designer diaries</a> for <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/359871/arcs"><i>Arcs</i></a> when a non-sequitur exploded in my mind: There ought to be a social-deduction word game. I dropped my breakfast fork. I prodded at the idea, or perhaps it tackled me. The idea held firm.
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<br>In the past, my dabbles in game design had fizzled out. A couple of dusty, stalled-out prototypes languished downstairs. For the first time, I had a recognizable, fully-formed premise — there was something inherently funny about needing to say secret words — and the premise sounded novel, maybe even unique. (Apologies to <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/6046/ted-alspach">Ted Alspach</a> as I still haven't played <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/219215/werewords"><i>Werewords</i></a>.)
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<br>I knew right away that I wanted <b>players to say multiple secret words repeatedly</b> so that players would be <b>forced to say them sneakily</b>.
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<br>As simple as that sounds, ideas have a funny way of needing to be de-synthesized. At first, my brain was too focused on social deduction as a matter of genre. My initial ideas involved hidden roles, with androids hiding secret words and humans being tasked with identifying their robotic peers — like a <i>Blade Runner</i> party game. But the hidden roles didn't survive beyond an alpha prototype. Crucially, my first playtest was with my extended family, who hasn't played <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41114/the-resistance"><i>The Resistance</i></a> or <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/925/werewolf"><i>Werewolf</i></a>. I felt instinctively they would not grasp the roles element, so I stripped the roles out of the prototype right before the teach. I had my first taste of the exhilarating kinship between playtesting and improv comedy performances; I changed the rules on the fly, and the game was a hit.
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<br>That first playtest with family was a revelation. Everyone was laughing, hard — and not in a nice "Let's appease Philip" sort of way. This was a comedic party game, and glimmers of strategic depth were already showing. I learned a couple of key lessons from the gameplay: first, common words like "shark" were more fun to bluff and smuggle than complicated, seldom-used words like "discombobulate". Second, listing words in the same category was a dominant strategy. Certain domains of words, e.g. foods, made listing easier, so I cut them.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8200623"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/ayJzi3mmVRsqvrb_eXSjDA__small/img/atco_oFWPsyPHJaF817ppFoFj9E=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8200623.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>Prototype elements from multiple iterations, including Connie The Word-Sniffing Dog, who you grabbed to make a guess</i></center>
<br>In that test, the core loop of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/413085/contrabanter"><b><i>ContraBanter</i></b></a> was established as you still see it today: Players sneak secret words into regular conversation in the form of Q&A rounds; you win by guessing your opponents' words or sneaking your own words past them.
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<br>Before the next playtest, another bold idea wrassled me, and I listened. It became the game's unique, playful hook: You're smuggling words, and you can hide words inside one another. To wit, the <b>sound</b> of a word can be nestled within a similar or larger word. A rule was born: <b>As long as I can hear the whole sound of your secret word, it counts.</b> It's my favorite kind of rule: dead simple, while opening up so much expressive play. Homophones, malapropisms...all manner of creative smuggling are legit.
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<br>I teach the rule with this example: if your word is "Con", you might say, "I'm in this for the long con", or "That's a contradiction", or, "The best <i>Star Trek</i> movie is...?" And after someone says "KHAN", I let them know I'd also accept <i>First Contact</i>.
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<br>When we first playtested with my improv buddy Dan, he snuck the word "Tokyo" right by us with a ridiculously dumb statement: "I was babysitting, and I Tokyo kids to the zoo." He manipulated the pronunciation just right, and the malapropism was so absurd, we couldn't believe what we heard and let it go. After every game there's a natural debrief session ("What were <i>your</i> secret words?"), and we still laugh about Dan's <i>toke-yo</i> over a year later.
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<br><b>Changes and Development</b>
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<br>I resisted making <i>ContraBanter</i> a team game for several months. When I tackle something new, my cursed instinct is to reinvent the wheel. I thought, "I don't want to copy <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178900/codenames"><i>Codenames</i></a>", as if that were at all relevant.
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<br>But when I finally made the switch to teams, the advantages were obvious. Introverted players who felt uncomfortable blathering on their own got to focus on listening and guessing, and teammates developed fun strategies, setting up softballs and bluffs within their conversation. Finally, humorously, players sometimes don't hear when their teammate has already said a secret word, and repeat the word unnecessarily — a welcome comedy of errors.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8013772"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/YNulXoojl81N9Di52lIuQQ__small/img/09SvO1xVd-hjPGA6aRkVck0ODKg=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8013772.png" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>A sample hand of words that you and your teammates will smuggle into a sentence</i></center>
<br>For over a year, the game operated with a different progression/victory mechanism than you see today. At the end of a round, players who said all of their secret words earned another word card. You could win in one of two ways: by earning a sixth card for a Long Con, or by guessing correctly three times for Confiscation. I loved the absurd comedy of needing to sneak four or even five secret words into a ninety-second round. This was far more challenging than the current system, and it could lead to a snowball victory for a dominant team.
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<br>I think the system survived so long because the core loop is enjoyable. Players didn't report on feeling snowballed. When a game is getting great responses and feedback (perhaps especially in a party game), it can be hard to see opportunities for improvement.
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<br>It took the wise input of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/109868/ben-kepner">Ben Kepner</a>, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/138114/dan-stong">Dan Stong</a>, and the rest of the <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/29307/skybound-tabletop">Skybound Tabletop</a> team to turn this ship around. Their insights led to the simpler point system you see today. Skybound also wanted to give players the opportunity to discard words they didn't say, an escape valve in case a word seemed too difficult. I remember the day I tested the new system with total strangers at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/flagconithaca/" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">Flag Con</a> in Ithaca, New York. I was secretly nervous the changes would defang the game. To the contrary, dozens of players showed me time and again the new system was challenging, snappy, and simple — without the old vulnerabilities.
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<br>Other changes made in development seem face-palmingly obvious now. It used to be that players could sneak their secret words into any part of the round, including questions and cross-talk. This offered neat strategies, but playtesters were confused about timing and what counted as a round. Now you can use only the timed answer section — simple. I also toyed around with advanced words, which were either harder to say or easier to hide, and both directions ruined the core play. Attaching more points to ill-fitting words didn't magically make them worth playing. The final advanced mode is bonkers, and I hope you try it and let me know what you think.
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<br>One of the last big changes was prompted by designer <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/119337/corey-andalora">Corey Andalora</a> in a playtest at <a href="https://www.cusecon.com/" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">CuseCon</a>. Originally, making an incorrect guess rewarded your opponent; the accused team got to discard and replace one of their word cards. Corey astutely pointed out he was discouraged from guessing — indeed, would never do it — because that penalty benefited the opponent too much. I never recognized the problem because I was too wrapped up in the positive reaction from players. On further consideration, I realized Corey was right about the imbalance; the guessing system was shooting my design in the foot! Replacing a card rewarded players for bluffing, but in a way that undercut the central promise of <i>saying secret words again and again</i>. Skybound and I went through a few iterations on the guessing resource system you can play with now — a nice, simple source of tension.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8206514"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/wFl2cSvXcSUxWx7W4PVs6w__small/img/8X1oCPn58a5EoweT0AqYpRqnLEY=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8206514.png" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>Guess cards and optional prompt cards were two of the final pieces added to the game</i></center>
<br><b>In Conclusion</b>
<br>
<br>I'm a gamer dork who reads <i>Arcs</i> diaries, shops on GameFound, and will try 18XX for the first time soon. I also love party games, playing them often with family, friends, and fresh acquaintances. I love many of the "low input, high output" party games that dominate the market now, but I also believe there's room for party games with a <i>little</i> complexity and teeth. I also believe chatting with friends old or new doesn't have to be "high input".
<br>
<br><i>ContraBanter</i> is a trojan horse design. The secret words and rules are the trojan horse. The real substance is the joy of conversation.
<br>
<br>It was liberating to make this game a year after the pandemic shutdowns. I've witnessed and taken part in so many delightful and enriching conversations that never would have happened without this game's provocation. <i>ContraBanter</i> has an agenda. This is a game that dares to claim that despite all of our anxieties, despite all of the ways our technologies and modern lifestyles isolate and separate us, we still fundamentally want to play at talking with each other. For thirty minutes, we can laugh and gab and spin yarns; we can exercise that fundamental human connection to spark joy.
<br>
<br>The greatest compliment I've gotten from testing <i>ContraBanter</i> is the same feedback I've heard a dozen times: "I forgot how fun it was to simply talk to one another. That was hilarious."
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<br>Enjoy,
<br><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/159443/phil-gross">Phil Gross</a>
<br>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8206515"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/_DXSQsLLuWjb-2vv1uQFlg__small/img/qQdesxZHEQSjhK8aR2pYvFJ02Gs=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8206515.png" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>The final game with art by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameartist/159442/curt-merlo">Curt Merlo</a></i></center></div>
Perform in Court, Search for the Minotaur, and Find What You Put Where in Wilmot's Warehouse
<div><p>by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blogger/17/w-eric-martin">W. Eric Martin</a></p>
<div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8327408"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/me8N7vrfzBRD83d0VcRM-g__small/img/9pTYnER8A_J83WcRJHvAB8TeVlI=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8327408.png" border="0"></a></div>• At BGG.CON 2023, I got to play a fantastic prototype from CMYK, and now I can finally talk about it: <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/424975/wilmots-warehouse"><b><i>Wilmot's Warehouse</i></b></a> is a co-operative game for 2-6 players from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/162908/david-king-ii">David King</a>, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/162910/richard-hogg">Richard Hogg</a>, and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/162909/ricky-haggett">Ricky Haggett</a> that's based on <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/videogame/245391/wilmots-warehouse">a video game</a> from Hogg, Haggett, and Finji. Here's an overview:
<br><font color="#2121A4"><div class="quote"><div class="quotebody"><i>In <i>Wilmot's Warehouse</i>, your team will work co-operatively to organize the warehouse, using memory, imagination, and silly stories you make up.
<br>
<br>Draw product tiles from the stack, discuss what they look like, and place them somewhere you'll remember. After you place each tile, you flip it over and can't look at it again until the end of the game, so your team has to remember where you've placed previous tiles as you decide where to place new ones.
<br>
<br>At the end of the game, in a five-minute rush, your team has to match all 35 face-down tiles with customer cards. Consult your performance review to see how well you did!</i></div></div></font>
<br>I've now played <i>Wilmot's Warehouse</i> 2.5 more times on a review copy from CMYK, and the game is a blast. Similar to <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/421199/link-city"><i>Link City</i></a>, which I <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/163185/game-review-link-city-or-okay-where-would-you-put">covered</a> in mid-July 2024, you have a final ranking based on how well you did in the game, but you will likely forget that ranking immediately because the thrill of playing comes from the ridiculous story elements you put together as you're trying to remember how everything links up and what exactly was in each warehouse stall...or sometimes outside of the warehouse as event cards present midgame challenges, as in the game below when we suddenly had to drop a day's worth of goods in a line outside the warehouse:
<br>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8327476"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/2u7fTIT1PDO6mPSX4UeMnA__small/img/hnaMwITbtVC325NjUr5_iCBioZk=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8327476.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br>I'm on the road right now, and this is one of only two games I brought on the plane with me — <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/209325/the-game-extreme"><i>The Game: Extreme</i></a> being the other for reasons explained <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/149079/game-overview-the-game-extreme-or-navigating-the-u">here</a> — because I want to experience this design with as many people as possible, both to see what they make of the challenge and to experience what we create together.
<br>
<br><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/7810156"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/fM0fZGolgZPx2d94a-lykA__small/img/PB6tzOsEWvbTh-FdZrZxifmfNGM=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic7810156.png" border="0"></a></div>• Co-operative narrative games have been a large part of Italian publisher <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/917/dv-games">DV Games</a>' catalog since the <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/48410/series-deckscape-dv-giochi"><i>Deckscape</i></a> line debuted in 2017, and it will feature three titles in this category at Gen Con 2024:
<br>
<br>— <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/404240/decktective-lock-up-sherlock-holmes"><b><i>Decktective: Lock Up Sherlock Holmes!</i></b></a> from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/76530/martino-chiacchiera">Martino Chiacchiera</a> and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/3272/silvano-sorrentino">Silvano Sorrentino</a> is the seventh title in the <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/65066/series-decktective-dv-giochi"><i>Decktective</i></a> series that challenges players to solve a crime. Here's the pitch for this release:
<br><font color="#2121A4"><div class="quote"><div class="quotebody"><i>A mysterious inscription stains the floor of 221B Baker Street. Does it have something to do with the theft at the Royal Palace? Is the arrest of the most famous detective of all time really the right solution?
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<br>First, you must discover what has happened to Sherlock himself!</i></div></div></font>
<br>— <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/422181/until-proven-guilty-the-starry-sky-necklace"><b><i>Until Proven Guilty: The Starry Sky Necklace</i></b></a>, a 1-6 player design from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/144093/enrico-procacci">Enrico Procacci</a>, fells like the start of a new game series, although it might be challenging to have the <i>Ace Attorney</i>-like protagonist pointing in a unique way on each cover. An overview:
<br><font color="#2121A4"><div class="quote"><div class="quotebody"><i><i>Until Proven Guilty</i> is a narrative co-operative game inspired by court-themed visual novels, television series, and video games.
<br>
<br></i><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8235232"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/7UHLOqJW40X4zakTWvsdSA__small/img/jgMwFjLK4wxQOgHOdU7EvNqOlNw=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8235232.png" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br>In the game, you take on the role of Peter, a brilliant lawyer who's still a rookie, yet now involved in complicated criminal trials. Can you help Peter defend his client? Each turn, read the trial card and choose an evidence card to refute it. Enter the evidence number into the web app and read the result: if it's correct, some jurors will side with you, and you can continue in the trial; if it's wrong, some jurors may side with your opponent, and you will have to try again. Depending on the evidence you choose, you may even receive personalized answers!</div></div></font>
<br>Using a gavel for the "T" is a nice touch...
<br>
<br>— <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/48170/marco-pranzo">Marco Pranzo</a>'s <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/422178/lost-in-adventure-the-labyrinth"><b><i>Lost in Adventure: The Labyrinth</i></b></a> is another 1-6 player design that launches a new game line, this one inspired by point-and-click graphic adventures:
<br><font color="#2121A4"><div class="quote"><div class="quotebody"><i>In the co-operative game <i>Lost in Adventure</i>, you and your fellow players will together explore an unknown world where your every action impacts how the story unfolds. You discover the game scenery as you go, placing cards side by side, talking to characters you meet, collecting clues, and using objects wisely. Your decisions will affect the adventure and lead you to one of the possible endings. Your goal is to fulfill all the prophecies and complete the adventure with as many favors as possible.
<br>
<br></i><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8236734"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/LhyA7QTrfSYdfEtdNXkgnw__small/img/QY1es3SXr-GcXjcNF1zP7-b0CBI=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8236734.png" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br>In <i>Lost in Adventure: The Labyrinth</i>, you take on the role of a legendary hero who is searching for the mythical minotaur at the heart of a labyrinth as well-known around the world as it is challenging to navigate. The game map reveals itself throughout the game, one scenario card at a time, as you progress in an adventure astride the edge of legend and reality.</div></div></font></div>
Patrick Brennan: Game Snapshots – 2024 (Part 1)
<div>Patrick Brennan: Game Snapshots – 2024 (Part 1) While the gaming has never stopped over the last year, there’s been a few things going on (all good) in my life that reduced time and motivation for writing about gaming. I’ve … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2024/07/23/patrick-brennan-game-snapshots-2024-part-1/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a></div>
Designer Diary: Rock Hard: 1977
<div><p>by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blogger/15779/jackie-fox">Jackie Fox</a></p>
<div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8288389"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/CrJdKWVGgg24btEKtxNyzA__small/img/iQkfQCZiXs2r4igjeAe_4bHgmks=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8288389.jpg" border="0"></a></div><b>The Five-Player Problem</b>
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<br><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/402679/rock-hard-1977"><b><i>Rock Hard: 1977</i></b></a> came about as the result of a common situation for board game groups.
<br>
<br>My regular game group had five people. Usually someone wouldn't be available, leaving us at three or four most of the time — but every once in a while, all five of us would show up, then we would all sit and stare at my 100+ game collection trying to find a game that we were all willing to play. One of us strongly preferred heavy Euros but disliked anything involving negotiation or bidding, another preferred lighter games, and almost everyone but me hated area control.
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<br>I'll play almost anything, but if there's too much downtime that doesn't involve planning my own move and I'm not engaged in what the other players are doing, I generally won't like the game. I'll start itching to pick up my phone and check email during other people's turns, and for me that defeats the whole purpose of playing board games, which is partly to give myself a break from all those screens.
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<br>I wondered why it was so hard to find a game that ticked all the boxes for me: the strategy of a good Euro; the "fun" factor of an American-style game; true integration of theme and mechanisms; quick turns even at full-player count. It was at that moment I decided to design the game I wanted to play.
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<br><b>Are You Ready to Rock?</b>
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<br>I am very much a "top-down" designer. For me, while the mechanisms are super important, theme comes first.
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<br>I have led an interesting life, to say the least. Perhaps nothing has been more interesting (at least to other people) than my having been the bass player in the "Famous Five" version of the all-female rock band The Runaways.
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<br>Worker placement is my favorite game mechanism, and the music industry is a natural fit. Everyone can wrap their heads around what rock musicians do: interviews, gigs, songwriting, making records, etc. These were natural action-selection spaces that would make it easier to learn and remember the game.
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<br>And, of course, my game had to accommodate five players with little downtime between turns and a lot of engagement in what the other players were doing.
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<br>With all that in mind, <i>Rock Hard</i> sprang into my head almost fully formed. I grabbed a notebook and started writing, keeping in mind the experience I wanted to create for players: what it's like to be a fledgling rock musician trying to break into the big time.
<br>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8280274"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/9acse56DIYRFE_yGhrPGaQ__small/img/E7-fnWryVJ5PWsmyXEtz_MvB_18=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8280274.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center><center>Rock Hard: 1977 <i>– the early days</i></center>
<br><b>Why 1977?</b>
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<br>1977 was a watershed year in music in which a variety of styles of rock music all co-existed and flourished, from what we now think of as classic rock to glam to funk and early punk and metal. Even disco was still around.
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<br>It's also a period people often feel they missed out on. "Cancel culture" was far in the future, and creative people were pushing boundaries in every form of artistic expression. In music, the era would come to be defined as that of "sex, drugs and rock and roll".
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<br>From a gameplay perspective, setting the game in the 1970s also eliminated the complications of later technologies such as music videos, Napster (early unpaid music streaming), social media, and YouTube. It streamlined the choices you could make and left those things for later expansions or standalone games.
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<br><b>The Basics</b>
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<br>There was still plenty to deal with in 1977. First and foremost, being a musician wasn't cheap, so I knew you'd have to work a "day job" until you could support yourself with your music. I also knew from the start that my game would have day, night and "after hours" phases.
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<br>As a musician, your life is defined by the clock. During the day, you rehearse and conduct business. At night, you mostly play gigs. And when the show is over, you hang out, have fun, and meet people, and in the era before home recording was common, you tried to get into a studio to record a demo on the cheap.
<br>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8280243"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/Cj1iFxWYblhobH4WXiu1AA__small/img/bNHsiNabC2uqjgFqsg6DRKfc8Do=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8280243.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>Jackie in the studio in the '70s</i></center>
<br>I spread the jobs out across the various phases, with pay on each averaging $2, but some being swingier and potentially more rewarding (like working on commission) and some being salaried and more reliable. Some had limitations like a demanding boss who could change when you had to work, and some had perks like free studio time if you were a recording engineer. I wanted each job to feel real.
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<br>And I knew that a big part of the game would revolve around managing when to blow off work: three strikes, and the boss would tell you to take a hike. Lose your job too soon, and you wouldn't have enough money to hire crew and pay your manager. Keep it too long, however, and someone else would get that record contract first.
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<br>At the same time, there would be things that the industry wanted you to do. You'd score fame (how the game tracks points) if you did those things best or first. These bonuses would change from game to game so that no two would play alike.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8280259"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/F0M30Qmw9jqLaj71Wy1hJw__small/img/otbmDtCfWcSmhjKliJU7Sc2nDGI=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8280259.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br>You'd also have personal goals that only you could score. Sometimes they'd synch up with the public bonuses; sometimes you'd have to choose between them or hire a manager who could help you do both.
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<br>I also knew you were going to need a player mat to keep track of things and that it was going to be in the form of an amplifier with knobs you could actually turn to track your stats. More on that later.
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<br><b>The Darker Side of the '70s</b>
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<br>While I wanted the game to focus on the sheer fun factor of the late '70s, I also wanted to acknowledge in some small way that the '70s rock scene could be hard for anyone who wasn't straight, white, and male.
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<br>As a woman, I faced prejudice that's hard to imagine nowadays. The review of my band's second album in <i>Creem</i> magazine (a huge rock magazine at the time) started with the sentence "These bitches suck" and went downhill from there.
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<br>And although David Bowie, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, and The New York Dolls had already gone a long way toward making androgyny acceptable — the word "non-binary" wasn't in common use then — that was mostly because they still read as male. Non-gender-conforming people weren't always treated well. Musicians who people thought "looked gay", whether or not they actually were, often got booed on stage and threatened with violence when off it.
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<br>In actuality, in the '70s all types of people played clubs in major cities. I wanted the characters in the game to look more like my friends and less like my period record collection.
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<br>The ten characters I created are loosely based on combinations of people I knew or know, though changed to reflect a diversity of characters who play one of five different instruments (drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, or vocals) and are one of three different genders (male, female, or androgynous). Each has a unique ability that gives them a slight edge in certain situations. By the time we emerged from the self-isolation of 2020, I knew these characters better than the people who'd inspired them.
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<br>While I was never going to include the rougher edges of the era, gender was definitely going to play a role. It became less important to the game as it evolved, but my thinking about it resulted in one of the more important mechanisms in the game.
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<br><b>Let's Have That Talk About Candy</b>
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<br>One of the first gender differences that occurred to me was that women almost never had to pay for drugs in the '70s. Men had a higher tolerance, and androgynous people better situational awareness.
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<br>But while drugs were the original inspiration for candy, they quickly morphed into something less specific as I realized that drugs weren't the only thing that got people pumped. It could be sex or gambling or the adoration of ever-bigger crowds. It could be video games or shoplifting or lying and getting away with it. It could be actual candy. (The book "Sugar Blues" had come out in 1975 and made a strong argument that sugar was as addictive as nicotine or heroin.)
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<br>So candy became whatever, in the infamous words of The Rolling Stones, gets you through your busy day. It was a thematic way to give players the ability to gain extra actions in a game in which you usually get to do only one thing per turn.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8281836"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/woYwUPXKP-UrVuZRR10K0A__small/img/ZA9Z0O-rdyy9PxFhT5WN1IU9Q98=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8281836.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br>But candy had to carry some risk because with any of these things you're always pushing your luck if you do it too often. You never know when that little switch in your brain is going to get tripped and that thing — whatever it is — becomes something you can no longer live without. It isn't going to happen the first time you do it. If you're careful or lucky, that switch may never get flipped at all.
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<br>It's risky behavior, however, and the more of it you do, the greater the risk becomes. I represented this with a stat called "craving", which would increase by one every time you consumed candy. You'd then roll a d6 to see whether you hit at least that number and satisfied your craving. If not, you'd need to spend some time recovering.
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<br>Obviously, you couldn't overdo candy the first time you used it, but your odds got worse every time your craving went up. It was a perfect representation of the push-your-luck aspect of the '70s — a small part of it to be sure, but definitely there.
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<br>In my first version of the game, candy was hard to get, and if you got a bad roll, you paid for it by having to spend the next round recovering. It was too punishing, especially in the edge case when you drew the one "sugarless" card in the deck and didn't even get any extra actions. After seeing how players reacted, I realized it was okay to sacrifice theme a little in order to minimize negative gameplay experiences.
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<br>I did this by putting an extra +1 action card into the "Sugar Rush" deck while reducing the punishment for a bad roll to losing a single action at the beginning of the next round. I also threw in some cards and abilities that could mitigate bad die rolls.
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<br>These changes took on additional importance when the game eventually got reduced from twelve rounds to nine, making every action count. Losing an action was still bad, but not so devastating that you couldn't still win. In the end, the mechanism felt quite balanced, yet still thematic.
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<br><b>Making a Prototype</b>
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<br>It's said that designers don't need to spend a lot of time and money on their prototypes.
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<br>I never got that memo.
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<br>I ended up spending a LOT of time on <i>Rock Hard</i>. Part of that was because I had never learned Photoshop; part because I didn't understand that you don't need anything fancy; and part because I was afraid to put my design in front of other people until I was sure it wouldn't "break".
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<br>By the time I had a game that wouldn't break and a prototype that looked halfway decent, Covid-19 hit and we went into isolation.
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<br>I tried to make the best possible use of my time in self-isolation by playing the game some one hundred times on my own at every different player count and with as many different combinations of characters as I could. Surprisingly, I never got sick of the game.
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<br>Part of that was down to the great temporary character art drawn for me by <a href="https://monaedwards.com/" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">Mona Shafer Edwards</a>, one of the top courtroom artists in Los Angeles. She literally cranked out the characters I had envisioned overnight.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8280256"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/0iB2jtvzyteeIHvz0FqmMg__small/img/KkBXBqw-G5MmyLSYx75bU6wr7_w=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8280256.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>Mona's prototype art for Kimmy Kim</i></center>
<br>I also entertained myself by using the zombies from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161936/pandemic-legacy-season-1"><i>Pandemic Legacy</i></a> as a stand-in for the roadie tokens. That still cracks me up, and I'm sure our former crew can relate.
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<br>And finally, designer <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/34517/geoff-engelstein">Geoff Englestein</a> generously gave me tips on using icons instead of text on my game board. That took my board from one with a ton of overwhelming verbiage to something that looked like an actual game board.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8280258"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/cdqfT_lvRZ6Ds6iWXnZitA__small/img/SDDHLTvfI_GUkIUiLCyw5f0gxPI=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8280258.png" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>An early version of the </i>Rock Hard<i> game board</i></center>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8280257"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/qeJBSnPrkMMuXbhjMADWNg__small/img/DPhJg4_3yUAPc-Lf_FjPkGtCtt0=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8280257.png" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>The game board after the first big overhaul</i></center>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8280260"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/kiTJURE7Uyl_FNjD-CF2AA__small/img/7xTHgHvz0fO9mu42twwcYmHjPCk=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8280260.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>The final board as re-designed by Devir and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameartist/119639/meeple-foundry">Meeple Foundry</a></i></center>
<br>But while the board was obviously important, the critical element for me was still the player mats.
<br>
<br><b>The Player Mats</b>
<br>
<br>I got the idea of using amplifiers to track stats after playing <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/78980/dan-blanchett">Dan Blanchett</a>'s <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/239472/abomination-the-heir-of-frankenstein"><i>Abomination: The Heir of Frankenstein</i></a>. There was something satisfying about the 3D look the spinners gave the player boards and how much they added to the feeling of being a mad scientist. I wanted to take that tactile interaction a step further and give players the satisfaction of cranking their amps to 11.
<br>
<br>Only...how do you actually make amps with knobs?
<br>
<br>I tried a lot of different things, from water bottle caps to replacement knobs for video game controllers. Nothing worked.
<br>
<br>Then one night while putting on lip balm, it hit me: Chapstick caps. Turns out they come in all different colors, and you can buy them in bulk on Etsy for a price that isn't too awful.
<br>
<br>While it wasn't a perfect solution — no type of glue works on polyethylene for long — the caps did prove that the idea was feasible and wouldn't be prohibitively expensive...and it was the wow factor that got people's attention.
<br>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8280273"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/doUpOmcGozPtd3rman4iAw__small/img/z0GBA4Sd0hzJEilufnK0gM-hb3g=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8280273.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>The prototype player mat in action</i></center>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8280237"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/0cQfIfH3Nt8g8l3I279OXA__small/img/FcHFJmepOtgnVLMbAb6y0q3IEAY=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8280237.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>The final player mat as designed by Devir and Meeple Foundry</i></center>
<br><b>Selling the Game</b>
<br>
<br>As I noted above, my Photoshop skills were pretty non-existent when I started designing <i>Rock Hard</i>. A friend found me a template that looked like a '70s concert poster, and while I wasn't crazy about the color scheme at first, the longer I looked at it, the more it grew on me.
<br>
<br>I read everything I could find about sell sheet design. The one thing that stuck out was that I needed to answer the question: "What makes this game unique?" I thought about it and realized that a big part of the answer to that question was me.
<br>
<br>It felt super awkward selling my game on that basis, but I knew that because of my history, it would grab people's attention.
<br>
<br>Once I had a sell sheet I was happy with, I plunked fake coffee stains on the "poster" and stuck it to a digital wall with a pushpin and some tape, slightly ripped and off-kilter. It was a bit rough, but it stood out.
<br>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8280246"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/miX24Jw4aIHJrWBoElgFvQ__small/img/M5R_w90KeefKfdQm-YQEhfFDgRM=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8280246.png" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><b>The First Major Changes</b>
<br>
<br>Originally I had two "after hours" decks: You could have a backstage encounter, which improved your reputation, or you could hang out and gain a random benefit. Things basically just happened to your character, and the first publishers who looked at the game at <a href="https://unplugged.paxsite.com/" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">Pax Unplugged</a> were adamant that players should have more agency over what their characters do.
<br>
<br>I redesigned the "after hours" phase on the flight home from PaxU by making backstage into just one of five different venues where you could hang out, adding an element of set collection. Four of the venues were likely to grant you a particular type of benefit (though the precise benefit wasn't guaranteed — hat tip to <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150376/dead-of-winter-a-crossroads-game"><i>Dead of Winter</i></a>). The fifth gave you no benefit, but could stand in as a "wild" for set-collection purposes.
<br>
<br><b>That Pesky "First Player" Problem</b>
<br>
<br>In <i>Rock Hard</i>, going first in a given round is a huge advantage. It means that for an entire round, no spaces are going to be blocked to you unless an event card makes them unavailable.
<br>
<br>My initial design had a "Go To Bed Early" space that let you use an "after hours" action to take the first player token for the next round, then play would proceed clockwise from them. Players didn't like this much, especially if they were seated to the right of someone using the space aggressively. Plus, it cost an action to use.
<br>
<br>I played around early on with having the first player token rotate clockwise to keep things simple, but it made planning ahead too hard. I then tried mixing up the player order by letting you get in line for the bar or the bathroom to go first (no pun intended) next round and taking your "after hours" actions when you were through. This change got me closer, though it still didn't solve the advantage that went to whoever went first in round 1.
<br>
<br><b>Enter Devir</b>
<br>
<br><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/7821695"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/ed6P8lweQRIDJt_9F6yC1w__small/img/tZ2VfGsMSMd9IZRI35HGfmY8bfM=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic7821695.jpg" border="0"></a></div>It was at this point that I brought the game to <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/2366/devir">Devir</a>.
<br>
<br>They weren't an obvious choice. Aside from the fact that they usually work with European designers, their "family plus" games are typically language-independent, which <i>Rock Hard</i> is not.
<br>
<br>But Devir is known for strong and diverse themes, and those player boards in <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/348450/lacrimosa"><i>Lacrimosa</i></a> just sang to me. I knew Devir would be able to bring my amplifiers to life. It didn't hurt that the Devir team are also die-hard rock-and-rollers and that they thought they could get everything ready in time for Gen Con 2024, which was super-fast.
<br>
<br>The tight schedule meant I'd be doing a lot more additional work than I'd planned for, however.
<br>
<br><b>Late Changes to the Game</b>
<br>
<br>One of the biggest changes Devir asked for was a game that was both shorter AND more complex. These two things don't normally go together. In my original version of the game, you started with nothing but $1 and a candy token and played for twelve rounds. Working was important, and there was a difficult choice early on as to whether to spend your first paycheck on a demo tape or a manager.
<br>
<br>The solution I came up with was to start you several months in. Your base stats would start at 2 instead of 0, you'd already have some notable life experiences, and most importantly, you'd have a manager, which you'd select in reverse player order, thereby balancing out the advantage of going first in round 1 and solving my first-player problem.
<br>
<br>Another smart change Devir made was to remove the life experience tokens and place the icons for life experience directly on the "after hours" cards. That saved on production costs, meaning the game could sell for a lower price, something we all considered important.
<br>
<br><b>More Cowbell, er, Cards!</b>
<br>
<br>Devir did, however, want more cards – lots of them. I doubled the number of cards so that the "after hours" decks would never run out during the game. Devir also asked for more variety in the bonuses. To do so, I divided the bonuses into three types that correlated roughly to what you were trying to achieve during each during phase and created eight in each category.
<br>
<br>While I was at it, I added more personal goals and had people draw three, keep two. This combination of bonuses and goals made every game play out differently and added more tension between the two while still keeping the game shorter.
<br>
<br>We also added a spot for random gigs of the type you wouldn't normally play, except that they usually paid better. At first, they might be bar mitzvahs or frat parties, but eventually you might get invited to play at parties in the hills and, after getting better known, on TV and at festival slots. These random gigs would earn fewer points but have greater benefits than you could otherwise get — and unlike regular shows, which would have limited slots, anyone could play a random gig.
<br>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8280239"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/kJzxd8yA9OmPlU09ZwZ4Wg__small/img/2U9__wcoHT2t5WkEOku0V5UX8tA=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8280239.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><b>There's No Such Thing as Too Much Flavor</b>
<br>
<br>The last change we made — and the one that almost gave me a meltdown — was to add flavor text to everything. This was very last minute, so I cribbed from things that had happened to my friends and me over the years I spent in and hanging around the music industry.
<br>
<br>I created so much flavor text so fast — I'm talking hundreds of cards in one night — I didn't have time to think about it too much. Without the time to edit, what popped out was much funnier than the few I wrote early on. Hopefully, people will find the sheer absurdity and the knowledge that most of it actually happened amusing.
<br>
<br><b>The One Change That Didn't Make It</b>
<br>
<br><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8280262"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/vFS5VbmEnVxi1cMpMrGnJw__small/img/G8cnyjx__mDXNAQ2OJuWCednhZ4=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8280262.png" border="0"></a></div>Devir had a cool idea at one point. Since the knobs went to 11, one more than on most amps, why not make it harder to push them from 10 to 11?
<br>
<br>Thematically, the '70s way to get that last little bit of volume was with an overdrive pedal. I introduced overdrive tokens and required players to discard one whenever they wanted to push any stat from 10 to 11.
<br>
<br>It was a great idea, but proved to be a bit too much to pull off in a nine-round game. But who knows? Maybe the overdrive tokens will make an appearance in an expansion someday.
<br>
<br>Instead, we decided to reward players with extra cash if they increased a stat that was already maxed out. Thematically this made sense as maxed-out stats would mean you were at the top of your game and therefore making more money...and since money converts to points at game's end, this change worked. You'd still be more incentivized to try to hit other goals, but at least you'd always have something to do at the end of the game that could make a difference.
<br>
<br><b>The Art</b>
<br>
<br>This was probably the most challenging part of bringing <i>Rock Hard</i> to life.
<br>
<br>We all agreed that the right artist for the characters and cover was Spanish artist <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameartist/93709/jennifer-giner">Jennifer Giner</a>. I urge people to check out <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jginerillustration" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">her art on Instagram</a>. She has a lot of followers for a reason.
<br>
<br>Jennifer, however, is young. She wasn't even born in the '70s, and she isn't a musician. She had to go through a crash course on '70s style as well as the workings of rock-and-roll instruments, all while she was moving and attending conferences to sell art.
<br>
<br>I had only one "conversation" with Jennifer as she doesn't speak English and my high school Spanish is limited. I managed to say "mas grande que la vida" (larger than life) and "sucio" (dirty), but I had no idea how to say things like "In the seventies, we flowed", so I sent a lot of photos of '70s artists to my editor <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/13141/david-esbri">David Esbri</a> at Devir, who ended up being the conduit between us.
<br>
<br>The process was frustrating at times, but the results were so worth it. The artwork is stunning. Making it even more amazing is that Jennifer did both the characters and the cover as original works in watercolor.
<br>
<br>Seriously, I've watched time-lapse videos of Jennifer painting characters, and I honestly can't imagine her creating images as complex as the ones in the game this way. One serious mistake, and the picture is ruined — and yet she created ten characters (eleven if you count my promo card) and one simply gorgeous box.
<br>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8280229"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/WyxVIFvNXvNg00QZFeKJUw__small/img/NcD47QdwNGlGj7etuhJBLirVySQ=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8280229.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>Jennifer Giner's final art for Kimmy</i></center>
<br>The last decision was the color scheme for the board. By 1977, fashion in music was moving toward the aesthetic of punk and metal. Metallic colors were big, as was black and white and bright colors such as red and turquoise.
<br>
<br>But people have an idea of what the '70s look like, and even though it tends to be based on the early '70s and late '60s, we took a cue from the band Nazareth's 1976 album "Close Enough for Rock and Roll" and went with the color scheme people associate with the '70s: avocado green, harvest gold, and warm orange/red.
<br>
<br><b>So...Are You Ready to Rock?</b>
<br>
<br>I've already gone on too long here, kind of like Tom Petty (RIP, friend) as an opening act. There's so much more I could write about this journey, but now it's your turn to take the spotlight. If you have any questions, pop them into the forums below and I'll try to answer.
<br>
<br>In the meantime – long live rock!
<br>
<br><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/157015/jackie-fox">Jackie Fox</a></div>
Dale Yu: Review of Cities
<div>Cities Designers: Phil Walker-Harding and Steve Finn Publisher: DEVIR Players: 2-4 Age: 10+ Time: 45 minutes Played with review copy provided by publisher You’ve been tasked by the city council to put together a plan to transform a whole neighborhood … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2024/07/22/dale-yu-review-of-cities/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a></div>
Game Review: Tether, or You Spin Me Right 'Round, Baby, Right 'Round
<div><p>by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blogger/17/w-eric-martin">W. Eric Martin</a></p>
<div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/7147104"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/25ZuQBRhk6FNWk0Z2dhe3A__small/img/isbPVsa6hwKSMPvT9eXzq0c1SJ0=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic7147104.png" border="0"></a></div>Although I'm neck deep in preparations for Gen Con 2024 and an prepping short videos of a few titles that will debut at that show, my attention took a right turn — well, a 180º degree turn — this past week thanks to the arrival of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/373544/tether"><b><i>Tether</i></b></a> in my mailbox.
<br>
<br><i>Tether</i> is the debut release of designer <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/81112/mark-mcgee">Mark McGee</a> through his publishing brand <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/52684/how-to-steam-broccoli">How To Steam Broccoli</a>. I backed his <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/howtosteambroccoli/tether-1?ref=bggforums" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">crowdfunding campaign</a> for this game in March 2023, my copy arrived last week, and I've already played eleven times, so let's talk about <i>Tether</i>.
<br>
<br>The game uses a "mirror deck", a design from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/5245/daniel-solis">Daniel Solis</a> that's used with permission here and that consists of 53 cards, with each card showing the mirror image of a number in its opposite corner. (The cards depict astronauts in space, so "up" and "down" are all relative to them!) A card is 25 held one way and 52 is turned upside down: 43 becomes 34, 10 becomes 01, and 77 stays just the way it is, thank you very much.
<br>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8323048"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/UYsdSx65SZpfua8J0weqUw__small/img/4ku2Qytj6I5wdHLhtRA26ARgdis=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8323048.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>The corner indexes show both values on a card</i></center>
<br>With two players, one player lays down adjacent cards horizontally and the other vertically, but as the game progress, groups of cards can merge.
<br>
<br>On a turn, you have two options:
<br>
<br>• Play a card from your hand to the table, then tether other cards to it from your hand, from the "adrift" section on the table (which starts with three cards), and from previously played groups. If you can't tether anything to a card, you can't play it.
<br>
<br>• Set an astronaut in your hand adrift (rude!), then pick up either another adrift astronaut or the top card of the deck.
<br>
<br>To end your turn, draw a card and add it to your hand...unless your hand already has six cards, in which case you don't draw.
<br>
<br>The nature of the mirror deck is that when you play adjacent cards vertically (34-35-36), I see them as being 10 apart from one another (63-53-43). If I play, for example, a 64, I can then attach the 63-53-43 group, making a larger group that's three cards tall and two wide. You could then play 47 on top of the 46 that you see, and so on.
<br>
<br>A group's size is important because when it contains at least six cards, we score it, with the horizontal player earning points equal to the group's width and the vertical player scores based on its height. A group scores again when it contains at least ten cards, then again at fourteen cards.
<br>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8323049"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/Ajh8ZxZdUxKp_nxYnLtyIQ__small/img/lscFNhfVhnU8pkHsH2kU-opFbxc=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8323049.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>Seven teensy groups, no scoring</i></center>
<br>The game ends after a size 14 group scores, after one player is at least 6 points ahead of the other, or after the deck runs out, with each player getting one final turn.
<br>
<br>Anyone who's a fan of gin rummy can see the appeal of this game: You want to run as wide (or as tall) as possible; you want to use cards that your opponent wants in order to block their growth; and you don't want to set astronauts adrift that the opponent can use, but it's challenging to track both the numbers good for you and those good for the opponent.
<br>
<br>As you play more, you realize that playing cards willy-nilly can be a terrible idea. Sure, I could add a 54 to the group above — but now the group has six cards and will score, with you earning 4 points and me only 2. I triggered the scoring, but I didn't make the group any wider in the process so that play didn't help me.
<br>
<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8323050"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/ksLgP8ZQD74suzNDC6HU7g__small/img/3z8TCVxTXHiEzLEmvEd8tB_m3JI=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8323050.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center><center><i>How the game above ended</i></center>
<br>You start assessing groups differently: Hmm, if I combine those groups, the height only goes up by one, but the width increase by three. You track cards that the opponent picks up, trying to figure out whether you might be able to play off of them in the future...but that will depend upon which side is up.
<br>
<br>You can also play <i>Tether</i> with two-player teams. Each player gets their own hand, and the active player keeps the scoring marker in front of them. When I play to the table, my teammate can play cards from their hand as well, drawing a card at the end of my turn if they do.
<br>
<br>We can't talk about which cards we have in hand — only general things like what to avoid or which play might be good — so the gameplay can be somewhat random, but <i>Tether</i> is a card game, so the gameplay is <i>always</i> going to be somewhat random. Sometimes you luck into a group that's six cards wide and one high, and sometimes you're staring at a card column like it's a stick ready to bop you on the noggin.
<br>
<br><i>Tether</i> is currently available solely <a href="https://www.allplay.com/board-games/partner/how-to-steam-broccoli/" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">through Allplay</a>, which is serving doing fulfillment and distribution for How To Steam Broccoli, but this little design is sharp, so ideally these astronauts will drift to other orbits in the future.
<br>
<br>To watch more gameplay examples and see the cards turn head over heels, watch this video:
<br>
<br><center><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KC-tzv4LC4">Youtube Video</a></center></div>
Designer Diary: Turnip
I needed some way to encourage players to bluff, but also to encourage players to call "Turn UP!", so I added turnip tokens to the game to keep track of whether you got caught lying or not. Honesty and discernment of others' lies would be worth points at the end of each hand. My friend Austin printed custom turnip tokens for me, which immediately made the game feel more real. He sketched them out with his mouse and had to print the body of the turnips most of the way before stopping the print to
Sky Team Wins the 2024 Spiel des Jahres; Daybreak and Die magischen Schlüssel Also Win
Sky Team from Luc Rémond and Scorpion Masqué (and from KOSMOS in Germany) has won the 2024 Spiel des Jahres — Germany's "game of the year" award — over the other two nominees: Captain Flip (from Remo Conzadori, Paolo Mori, and PlayPunk) and In the Footsteps of Darwin (from Grégory Grard, Matthieu Verdier, and Sorry We Are French). Looking over the list of previous Spiel des Jahres winners, I think this is the first time that a game strictly for two players has won the award, a restriction that I
Sky Team, Daybreak, and Die magischen Schlüssel win 2024 SdJ Awards
<div>The SdJ Jury has announced the winners of their awards for 2024. Here are the winners of all three awards for this year: Spiel des Jahres Sky Team Designed by: Luc Rémond Published by: Scorpion Masqué and KOSMOS Kennerspiel Daybreak … <a href="https://opinionatedgamers.com/2024/07/21/sky-team-daybreak-and-die-magischen-schlussel-win-2024-sdj-awards/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a></div>
Catch a Cat, Shake a Dog, and Bonk the Brainless with Burritos
• You Little Stinker is a dice game for players as young as four, who can shake the doggy-headed shaker to roll out dice in the hope of matching images on picture cards or producing lucky bones. • When Sip Hits the Fan is a drinking game that includes a spinner, so that will be fun on its own, I'm sure, but the hook of the game is that anyone can stop the spinner, and whoever does so first gets the reward or punishment. Cards will have players challenge one another or set up conditions that you
Designer Diary: Obelus
<div><p>by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blogger/15809/chris-williams">Chris Williams</a></p>
<div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/7910516"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/l5iflrgEupuYuSpv_FrABQ__small/img/gyPENKFuKgCHjzcjLmgUFln8ZBc=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic7910516.png" border="0"></a></div><b>Origins</b>
<br>
<br>In December 2020, I had just finished watching <i>The Queen's Gambit</i> and was inspired to design a two-player abstract strategy game that would be simple enough (both mechanically and visually) to allow players to visualize games in their minds, just like Beth Harmon was able to do with chess on that show.
<br>
<br>However, while chess is a classic for a reason, I wanted a game that was easier to excel at, with players being able to understand what's going on by glancing at the board. Getting to that level in chess can seem insurmountable, but with <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/370398/obelus"><b><i>Obelus</i></b></a>, I wanted players to feel like they could execute strategic plans and make clever moves after playing only a single game.
<br>
<br><b>Initial Development</b>
<br>
<br>For years, I had been making game designs with a circle of cards in place of a board, so I felt comfortable designing in that space. I also love the visual and mechanical aspects of having a continuous loop as a map.
<br>
<br>Because I wanted players to have those awe-inspiring moments from <i>The Queen's Gambit</i> when Beth could see the chess pieces moving on the ceiling, this game would need visually striking components with a simplistic shape. Pyramid-shaped four-sided dice — d4s — were perfect for this. Watching them elegantly glide around the circle of cards was exactly the visual I wanted. I would later find that <i>using</i> standard d4s was anything but elegant, but more on that later.
<br>
<br>I experimented using different-sized dice, but found that pieces became less usable, the larger their values. In <i>Obelus</i>, players move the dice around the circle of cards equal to their value; however, they can't move through opposing pieces. This meant that the larger the dice value, the more potential spaces another die could be placed to block their path.
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<br>This issue also showed me how weak 4-valued dice were and how strong 1-valued dice were. 4s could easily be blocked while 1s couldn't be blocked at all. Because of this issue, I landed on using eight cards and added a rule — the "rule of pairs" — that prevented players from having more than two of the same dice value. This rule was clunky and would later be removed, but the decision to use eight cards was one that I am particularly proud of. Having eight cards makes it so the 4s are the only dice value that can target the same card moving in either direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise). All other values target two different cards, but for the 4s you'd have to block them on both sides to prevent them from reaching their target. While this difference wasn't a huge advantage, it led to clever strategic moments.
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<br>The other major mechanism I wanted was a way for players to get their pieces back. In chess, players rarely finish an actual game and instead concede to their opponent once it becomes clear they can't win. This is something I've always hated in games. If the game is clearly over at some point, then the game should be designed to end at that time. Otherwise, players should be able to claw their way back. The ability to reclaim captured pieces, along with the circle of cards, added to the cyclical nature of the game that I had begun to fall in love with.
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<br>However, this cyclical gameplay also led to never-ending loops. One player would capture, then the other player would regain the captured piece just for it to be captured again. This was when I added portal tokens, which were placed on the most recent card players summoned their dice to, preventing summoning again on that card. This fixed the issue with most of the loops and forced players to strategize around how to break any of the remaining loops that occurred. At this point, I was happy with where the game was and moved on to the finishing touches.
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<br><b>From Dark Spires to Obelus</b>
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<br>Before <i>Obelus</i> was <i>Obelus</i>, it was originally called <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/340112/dark-spires">Dark Spires</a>, which I had released on <a href="https://www.thegamecrafter.com/" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">The Game Crafter</a> via a crowd sale under my self-publishing company <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/40471/alright-games">Alright Games</a>.
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<br>During the sale, I ran an online tournament with a few other designers from the TGC community. I streamed the matches and commentated on the gameplay, analyzing the varied strategies as they unfolded. This was when everything really started to click, and I realized that I wanted <i>Dark Spires</i> to reach a broader audience. The excitement from the players when they made a clever move and the variation in strategies I had never even thought of — that miraculously still didn't break the game — was the motivation I needed to start reaching out to publishers.
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<br><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/5418915"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/Ud2boxCfQBSZ_ZeUYUfrjA__small/img/XFx3ES1Vh0ip4Tkq7OBx4fuL1wU=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic5418915.png" border="0"></a></div>One of the first publishers I contacted was <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/40136/phase-shift-games">Phase Shift Games</a>. As I was browsing the <a href="https://cardboardedison.com/directoryinfo" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">Cardboard Edison Compendium</a>, I remembered they had published another game that had originated on The Game Crafter: <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/262208/dungeon-drop"><i>Dungeon Drop</i></a>. I reached out, we chatted about the game, and the rest is history. We worked together to determine what potential pain points <i>Dark Spires</i> had and how we could refine it even more to enhance my original vision of creating an abstract strategy game that anyone could play while still maintaining a depth of strategy.
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<br>We decided on a few things to tackle; game length, loops, overpowered/underpowered pieces, and easily forgotten rules. While most <i>Dark Spires</i> games lasted around 15 minutes, they would occasionally go on for much longer due to loops. Making these changes was a hard pill to swallow because some of my favorite moments in <i>Dark Spires</i> were those loops. I loved the challenge of trying to break the loop in a way that favored me over my opponent; however, I also understood this could turn people away as it would lead to a feeling of hopelessness, which was something I wanted to avoid. Luckily, the eventual changes made didn't hinder the gameplay at all and still allowed for similar moments but with much quicker outcomes.
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<br>The main change made to fix the loops was to the portal tokens, which coincidentally was also a rule often forgotten. Having only two tokens in play wasn't enough to prevent loops, so we came up with rift tokens that would appear any time a player brought back one of their pieces. These rift tokens would spread across the board and eventually prevent the summoning of new dice. Now, games had a definitive end in sight, making it so they could easily end in under ten minutes.
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<br>The next challenge was dealing with the overpowered and underpowered pieces, i.e., the 1s and 4s. 1s were clearly the strongest values to use as they were versatile, couldn't be blocked, and were quick to set up for attacks. On the other side, 4s were weak and useful only in the first couple of turns or under unique circumstances.
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<br>We first tackled the 4s, making them invincible except to another 4. We also had to limit each player to a single 4 to avoid shutting the game down as soon as too many 4s were played. We then discovered that because 4s could be attacked only by another 4, they could be used to block 1s, thereby providing players a direct way to counter a 1. Since 1s were no longer as big a threat, we removed the "rule of pairs" mentioned earlier, which was a clunky rule to begin with.
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<br>After making all those changes, we found that the rules players tended to forget had resolved themselves. Players no longer had to remember to place a portal every time they summoned a new die, and no "rule of pairs" forced them to track how many of each dice value they had in play. Eliminating the "rule of pairs" even opened up many new strategic possibilities, which was an added bonus.
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<br><b>Making the Game Accessible to Wider Audiences</b>
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<br>Now that we had refined the rules, our next step was to make it a game for everyone. I frequently had to remind myself during this time that this was my intention for the game all along.
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<br>First, we tackled how new players reacted to the game and found that until they'd finished their first game, many of them struggled with how to use their dice, particularly regarding which values to set them to. Because of this, we came up with "Chaos Mode" as an alternate way to play. Under "Chaos Mode", players rolled their dice during set-up (instead of choosing the values) and any time their dice were brought back into play. This took the decision out of their hands and, surprisingly, made for a unique experience. I was hesitant about adding this alternate mode as I felt rolling dice took away from it being an abstract game, but the more I played, I discovered this mode added a whole new kind of puzzle to solve, and I'm happy to say that I was wrong.
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<br>We also played around with the components to make sure they were high quality and felt nice to use. Since <i>Obelus</i> is such a small game, we wanted to make what was there something to be reckoned with. I had already dabbled with other types of d4s, and the shape that worked best was more of a rectangular shape reminiscent of an obelisk. Since obelisks and spires are similar, we could retain that dark and mysterious feeling using these new dice, while also changing to something easier to handle than the d4 caltrops. However, it no longer made sense to call the game <i>Dark Spires</i> if the game has no spires. A friend suggested the name <i>Obelus</i> as its origins relate to obelisks, and it had the right amount of mystery and uniqueness to it.
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<br>While amping up the components, we also felt the artwork needed to be redone. I had created the original artwork and liked the minimalistic feel, but hiring an actual artist would bring the game to life, and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/152316/asritha-nancharla">Asritha Nancharla</a> did such an amazing job. The final art pulls players into this dreary and weird world I always envisioned.
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8258233"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/C1AVQ1B0a-DwBKwui7EoTw__small/img/Xj56z69RMKPQCW1l0vnuL0IIqfI=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8258233.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center>
<br><b>Conclusion</b>
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<br>As I recalled all the steps I've taken with this game, it reminded me of how much I love this design. Of all my game ideas, this has been my favorite. Seeing my game out in the wild has been an amazing feeling. While I have self-published a handful of games, <i>Obelus</i> was my first game released by another publisher. (I also have another one coming from a different publisher, but I'll talk about that another time.)
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<br>Phase Shift Games has been incredible, as has everyone who brainstormed, helped me playtest, and supported me along the way. A huge shoutout to my wife Kalli Williams, and everyone in The Game Crafter community, in particular Brian LaPorte, Donnie Coleman, and Corey Andalora. They were all hugely instrumental in helping me bring this game to life. Thank you all so much, and I hope to hear everyone's stories about how you clawed your way back from the brink of defeat in <i>Obelus</i>!
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<br><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/90861/chris-a-williams">Chris Williams</a>
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<br><center><div style=""><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8258235"><img src="https://cf.geekdo-images.com/hOldlYbUMGyLpfwu5icLww__small/img/iXhkgZTc16MVxSrvei_6WDWqGPk=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic8258235.jpg" border="0"></a></div></center></div>
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