Race To Market!!

Due to international trade and green houses the vast majority of fruit and vegetables are available year round so the average person has no knowledge of when these fruits and vegetables are available locally. We have been tasked with creating a game that teaches players when fruits and vegetables are available locally (within Ontario).

We decided to go with a card game as it seemed the most capable of handling the multitude of different fruits and vegetables that are grown within Ontario. We wanted to make the players remember the months in which certain fruits and vegetables are available within Ontario. We wondered how best to do this and decided that the best way would be to make the game fast paced in some way. So that the players would find it in their best interest to memorize when these vegetables and fruits were available. The team decided to make the game about matching the produce to the months in which they are available with a time limit which would drive the players to memorize when vegetables and fruits are available so as to make themselves more  proficient at the game. 

Design wise, we wanted to keep to a simple layout for the card design so as to not take away from the focus on the matching aspect of the game. We wanted players to recognize right away the things depicted on the cards so we decided to go with a white background and a solitary image of the fruit or vegetable in the center with its corresponding name underneath. The design is the same for the months only that they just a say a month, the months run from May to December as the fruits and vegetables we have chosen for the game are available within those months. 

Hopefully this game teaches players when Ontario produce is available fresh and bring recognition to the farming industry within Ontario. 

Game Pieces:

• 1 x Produce table
• 1 x Produce/Month card deck (60 cards)

Set Up:

1.         Shuffle the deck
2.          Deal out 5 cards to each player
3.          Place the rest of the cards face down in the center of the four players and spread them out to make a pile
4.          A timer is set for 5 minutes, or shorter for a higher difficulty.                                                                                         

-          Game Play

•      There are no turns; all players begin at the same time the timer is started.
•           Players must match the cards of the fruits and vegetables to the cards of the months of which these fruits and vegetables are available.
•           A fruit or vegetable card can only be matched to one month card and vice versa.
•           When a match is made, those cards are placed in front of that player face up.
•          A player may take a card from the pile and place it in their hand at any time
•           A player may also discard a card at any time but must then draw two cards.
•           The goal is to match all the cards in your hand before the timer runs out. 

Party! Chaiya ChaiYEAH!

The team, Jazz and Awol, and I have recently been called upon to create a party game revolving around the a certain scene in the Bollywood movie, Dil Se. the scene is more commonly know the Chaiya Chaiya scene.
The scene involves a man and a woman singing to each other all the while they and just about everyone else with them is dancing on top of a moving train as it travels through the country of india. We discussed what made a game a party game and came to a conclusion that a good party game involved the possibility of a lot of players, a lot of interaction, and quick pacing. We then discuss how best to to incorporate the the elements provided by the the chaiya chaiya scene and incorporate them successfully into our definition of a good party game.

Initially, we came up with the idea that players would perform for the other players, either dance or sing or whatnot. But the goal was to perform badly, so badly that the other players would throw tokens at the performing player to make them stop and that the person with the most tokens at the end of the game wins.

But this idea didn't sit too well with me. I like the idea of players performing silly things for others but i don't like how the focus is on bad performance and how much of it players can take. Performing badly in front of others may be a little embarrassing, annoying, even a little amusing but I doubt it is enough to FORCE players to give you their tokens. So the performing player must keep performing worse and worse until they cross the line and resort to screaming and even invading the personal space of players just to make them flinch . This not ok for a party especially if its between complete strangers. So ultimately we scrapped that idea.

Our second idea more closely adheres to the elements of chaiya chaiya by having the game revolve around dancing. All the players must dance to the chaiya chaiya song according to cards drawn by ta dealer. every turn the dealer draws a card  and the dance becomes longer by one dance move, which is depicted on the cards. When players make mistakes they are out of the game and join the dealer in keeping an eye on the other players making sure they they get kicked out of the game when they make a mistake. So the game revolves around players dancing this silly random dance. We liked it and decided to go with it.

We decided to go with a deck of cards as oppose to a spinner because with a deck of cards it is easy to keep track of which moves are to be performed next where a spinner requires an outside material to keep track of its outcomes. The split the concentration of the players as they not only have to memorize the dance moves but also keep track of the beat of the song as well as keep an eye on the other players just in case they can call them on losing. This makes players prone to making mistakes, and it only gets harder as the dance gets longer and longer with every turn.

We had a hard time coming up with what to call our game. The title still had to tie into chaiya chaiya yet be different enough not to have exactly "chaiya chaiya" in it. The one of our friends suggested the name "Chaiya ChaiYEAH!" and it just stuck.

Game Set:

-          Dance move card deck

-          Chaiya chaiya music CD

-          Cd player and speakers (not included)

Game Rules:

1.  Place CD in CD player
2.   The group of players decides who of the group will become the dealer
3.    The dealer shuffles the card deck and places it face down in front of him/her
4.     The rest of the players line up side by side, at arm’s length away from each other, in a semicircle in front of the dealer.
5.     The dealer then draws a card and places it face up in front of him/her
6.     The dealer then demonstrates the dance move depicted on the card in front of the other players
7.      The dealer then starts the music from the beginning
8.     The players start to dance on the 4^th beat after the beats begin in the song
9.      The players then dance the move on the card while keeping to the beat of the music
10.   When the move has been performed the turn is over
11.    Repeat from step 5

Additional Rules

•        All proceeding cards after the first card is placed to the right of the previous card drawn
•        The players must perform all the moves in the face up cards in the right order
•        The players must keep to the beat of song while dancing
•        If a player does not keep to the beat they are out of the game
•        If a player does not perform the dance moves correctly, they are out of the game
•        The job of the dealer is not only to draw cards and demonstrate the dance moves but to also watch the other players and kicking them out of the game should they not follow the beat or perform incorrectly
•        A player wins when they are the last player standing 

A Wonderful Rogue

This is an interview between my character, James Alexander Filigree, and an independent reporter who just so happens to be named after me.

James typically wears a cotton button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The shirt is tucked into a pair of black wool pants which are held up by black suspenders. Over the shirt, he wears a black silk vest with a gold pocket watch and chain tucked in its pocket. He is also often seen wearing black leather gloves.

So without further ado, let the interview begin.

Jonathan:    Hello, my name is Jonathan and thank you for taking time to see me for a interview. I have heard you name passed around a few times but just for the record what is your name?

Filigree:   My name is James Alexander Filigree, I am a man of 22 years and... hmm... there was a fancy word for it.... hmm....oh yes, that's right... Caucasian.

Filigree:   Is there anything else?

Jonathan:   Oh no no we will start the more serious questions now.

Jonathan: Oh bugger, I forgot to write down the date, do you happen to remember what the date is today?

Filigree: Yes, it is November 9th,1875.

Jonathan: Ah, thank you. Now that everything is finally in order, lets begin.

Jonathan: Where were you born, Mr. Filigree?

Filigree:   Mind you, due to the manner of which I came to inhabit this isle I can not be sure as to where exactly I was born, though from what little i could find I know that I was born somewhere during the journey from Paris, France to London, England.

Jonathan:   That seems like quite the trip for an infant, what did your parents think?

Filigree:  They're dead.

Jonathan: Are they still alive?

Filigree: ...didn't i just say they were dead?

Jonathan: Where, if i may ask, do...umm... where do they lay?

Filigree: somewhere at the bottom of the English Channel, I think.

Jonathan: What?!

Filigree: Well, I told you that I was born while traveling from Paris to London correct?

Jonathan: Yes, of course.

Filigree: Well, in order to reach London you must first cross the English Channel. I have my doubts that my former parents were able to purchase space on those large ocean faring ships and instead chose the more economical choice, to their undoing, as I'm sure that the day they embarked  was a particularly stormy day.

Jonathan: But how did you survive?

Filigree: Luck! Good sir. Blind bloody luck! You see, when I was born  my parents had the good sense to purchase some sort of covered basket to put me in, and it just so happened that that basket floats. Though how I got shore is nothing short of miraculous.

Jonathan: What happened after that?

Filigree: Well I washed up onto the shores of Brighton, and there I was found by a Madam Archer, the owner of a relatively well know bordello, here in London. Whom, out of the goodness of her own heart, took me in and raised me as her own.

Jonathan: hmm... I wonder, what was Madam Archer doing in Brighton when her business was in London?

Filigree: hahahaha! Yes well... Whenever I asked her that, she would say that she was on vacation! But I am pretty sure that the only reason she was there was to recruit new girls for the business. hahaha!

Jonathan:  Must have been hard for you while growning up.

Filigree: You do remember the part where I said I was raised by a Madam and her girls right? So of course it was! Don't think that they mistreated me or anything like that, they raised me as their own and I love them as my mother and aunts. I had quite the "colourful" upbringing, as I learned quite a number of things from not only the girls at the brothel but from their patrons as well.They were eager to teach when they were "satisfied" and in a good mood. Much of what I learned was absolutely necessary for my current occupation. 

Though not all of it was good, my mother wanted me to get something of an education and so sent me to school. You can imagine how the other children treated me when they found out that I was raised by prostitutes. It was then that I learned how to defend myself, and defend myself well.

Jonathan:After all that's happened, do you believe in any religion?

Filigree: well I was raised protestant, but honestly i don't know how anyone could adhere to that hogwash

Jonathan: At a glance how do people stereotype you?

Filigree: well I would like to believe that people see me as a common bloke making his way in the world. But, as you can see (gesturing to a gold pocket watch and chain)… my occupation is incredibly lucrative and hence have taken part in some of the privileges of the rich. Which do not really fit the image of the common man.

Jonathan: do you have a romantic partner?

Filigree: Sigh… no…. no I do not. But regardless of whether I had one or not, I would not tell you.

Jonathan: Why?

Filigree: Because, my good man, my occupation, though lucrative, is very dangerous and has a tendency of making people rather cross with me.

Jonathan: So you wish to spare them from being used to get to you.

Filigree: Precisely.

Jonathan: Surprising... I didn't think of you as the noble type.

Filigree: Hmmpff!

Jonathan: Oh! I’m sorry; I didn't mean to insult you.

Filigree: No, of course not.

Jonathan: well, instead of a lover, how about a best friend? Do you have a best friend?

Filigree: Yes, I do. But due to the same reasons as before I cannot divulge that such sensitive information.

Jonathan: Oh don’t be like that. At least tell me what they are like.

Filigree: Well… (his eyes drift to some distant part of the room, focusing on nothing in particular. A small smile upon his face). She is... like fire, beautiful and warm as a well lit fireplace, yet can be as fiery destructive as the most hottest infernos. 

Filigree: (focusing once more as if coming out of a trance) Quite frankly, she is and annoying woman who does not seem to know the meaning of "no" and "go away!". 

Filigree: (Once again, looking off into the distance) And yet.... I cannot see my life without her. 

Jonathan: Could it be that there was a lover after all? 

Filigree: (Looks at Jonathan with eyes showing slightly veiled anger) ....

Jonathan: Umm... moving on....What is your economic situation?

Filigree: I do not like publicizing my "economic situation" as you put it, it's bad for business.

Jonathan: But... before you said... sigh. You have often mentioned you "occupation", what is your occupation?

 Filigree: Lets just say I provide a service to those looking to... "relieve" others of their unneeded goods, if you know what I mean. heh heh heh

Jonathan: Would you steal?

Filigree: Obviously, you didn't know what I meant.

Jonathan: How do you feel about lying?

Filigree: I feel absolutely awful about it. I would never lie. I am a very honest man. really.

Jonathan: Do you have any other vices?      

Filigree: What man doesn't ?

Jonathan: What makes you happy?

Filigree: What makes ANY man happy? what IS happiness? can any one of us ever truly obtain it? But if you ask me, a nice sum of money, a high class whore, and some wonderful wine seem to do the job quite well. hahaha

Jonathan: Then what makes you unhappy?

Filigree: (His eyes wander once more, his mind drifting to some other... to some other person) Losing something valuable. 

Jonathan: What is the one secret that no one must know about you?

Filigree: If I told you it wouldn't be a secret now would it? hahaha And if I did tell you I'd cut your tongue out and nail it to your head.

Jonathan: ...uh

Filigree: (a sinister smile creeps across his face)

Jonathan: Are...Are you afraid to die?

Filigree: Die? no. Leaving things unfinished or unfulfilled, yes.

Jonathan You must be afraid of something, a phobia perhaps?

Filigree: Hmm... not that I know of, no. But then again, I have always felt uneasy around water. I mean, I'll touch the stuff, I even know how to swim. But I have always felt a little off whenever I am around it.

Jonathan: Are you quick tempered? or patient?

Filigree: HAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm sorry, I was just laughing at how droll that question was. My good sir, if I was quick tempered, you would already be on the floor basting in your own blood! HAHAHAHA!

Jonathan: Oh...um... colourful. Well that concludes our interview. Thank you once more Mr. Filigree for taking the time to see me... and for not...umm....basting me in my own blood as you say. 

Jonathan: (He shakes Mr. Filigree's hand, packs up his things and turns away towards the door is about to leave the room when he notices that he feels lighter. Patting himself down to find what was missing) Umm... I appear to have misplaced my wallet... Mr. Filigree have you, per chance, seen it anywhere? 

Jonathan: (Turning around only to see an empty room) Mr. Filigree? 

Tic Tactician!

A new and improved version of the classic game of Tic Tac Toe! The game revolves around the core idea of Tic Tac Toe where there are two sets of markers representing the two players in the game. The players then proceed to take turns placing their markers onto a 3x3 space board trying to create a row of 3 before their opponent. In Tic Tactician, some mechanics were added with the intent of creating a new challenging experience for the players. These mechanics include:

• Power of The Dice - A D6 is introduced into the game, where 3 of the 6 sides dictate what you do during your turn either it be placing 2 markers instead of one, or removing one of your opponent's markers, or removing one of your own markers. The other 3 sides allow you to place markers as usual. This not only adds luck to the game but also adds to the strategic characteristics of the game as players must now decide which markers to remove or where to place their markers. 
• Bigger Board - The original board of Tic Tac Toe is a 3x3 space board. This is somewhat unfair as the center space provides the most combinations for creating a row of markers and therefore the most valuable. Now, this wouldn't be a problem if both players had a chance at the center space but since the game is turn based, it is always the first player who takes the space. Even if the space is not a part of their strategy, they will take it just to deny the other player of having it. So, to deal with this problem the board has been increased in size to 4x4 space board so that there no longer exists a center space and there is no single space that provides a significant advantage over one's opponent. Of course, with a board this size the players must now create a row of 4 markers as oppose to a row of 3. This not only levels the playing field to allow for more balanced play between players but it also also provides more places to create rows adding to the strategic elements withing the game.

Pieces

• X pieces x16
• O pieces x16
• 4x4 space board  x1
• D6 x1

Number of Players: 2 

Setup

1. The board and the dice are placed in front of both players, where they are easily accessible to both players. 
2. Players choose which set of pieces they want. One player being the X and one being the O. 

The Rules

1. Players decide who goes first. 
2. The player taking their turn rolls the D6 and must follow what the outcome of the dice dictates. See Dice
3. After the player has finished it is now the other player's turn. Repeat from step 2. 
4. The game continues until either a player has created a row of 4 of their respective marker, in which case that player wins, or all the spaced on the board have been filled (cat's game).

Dice

The outcome of the dice determines what a player does during their turn. 

Outcomes:

• 2 - player removes 1 of their own markers from the board. If there no markers for the player to remove, that player does nothing for their turn. 
• 4 - player places 2 markers as oppose to just 1 for their turn. Player MUST place 2. 
• 6 - player removes 1 of their opponent's markers from the board. If there are no markers for the player to remove then that player does nothing for their turn.
• 1,3,5 - player places 1 marker onto the board. 

Additional Rules

• Players can only place markers on spaces where there is no marker currently places there. The space must be empty.

Play Test 

During play testing i found that the play time for the game was greatly extended as markers were constantly being removed from the board, sometimes almost completely clearing it. This allowed for players to replace their markers in different ways trying to achieve victory. The "place 2 marker" mechanic definitely gives the players an advantage but not so much so that it breaks the game as this mechanic is evened out by the fact that the other player can achieve this too as well as remove their markers from the board. Originally the game was played on the original 3x3 board and although it still had the prolonged game play, the "place 2 markers" mechanic was too powerful and the players became focused on obtaining the center space. So increasing the board size to the 4x4 board was definitely the way to go as it provided many more ways to achieve victory and no one space was more power than the others.

Alpha-Male 2!

Alpha-Male! was designed by me, Jonathan Virly. It was the first board game I designed for the Game Design and Production tutorials. The game revolved around the idea of a pack of wolves attacking a defenseless family wandering through the woods where the pack's leader, the alpha male, was killed and now the members of the pack must compete to determine who will take his place.

In the original game each player had a wolf piece and would move their wolf piece around a circular track all the while collecting alpha tokens, each space the players landed on could give them tokens, take them away, or affect what space they or their opponents land on. When a player reaches a certain number of tokens, as decided by a dice roll, they must land on the finishing space to win.

The game was very much dependent on dice rolls, not only did dice rolls decide how many tokens the players needed to collect but also whether or not they would win. So as a change to the game all aspects of randomness was removed from the game and replaced with mechanics that promoted more skill based play.


The game is played as such: 

1. All players begin on the starting space. 
2. Players must have a minimum of 10 alpha points before the end square becomes available to them.
3. Player with the orange marker goes first.
4. The players then spend alpha tokens to determine how far they can move, each alpha token paid gives one space moving clockwise around the board, unless effected by "interference". See interference. 
5. All instructions on the space landed on must be carried out. 
6. The game is won when a player with the correct number of alpha-points lands on the end space. 

Interference

• Head-butting/Lunging: a player can pay 3 alpha-points to “push” either another player’s or one’s own piece to go one square farther than their movement roll indicates. 
• Tail Biting / Backtracking: A player can pay 3 alpha-points to “pull” either another player’s piece or your own which decreases the movement phase.
• These techniques must be called out after a player rolls for movement but before they reach their designated square. It must be spontaneous, no planning allowed.
• A player may only choose to play ONE of these moves at a time per turn ( this includes the other players as well). Example: Jimmy CANNOT lunge 3 times on his turn but he CAN lunge on his turn then tail bite on Gary's turn.
• There is no limit to the number of players who can use these moves at one time. Example: Gary pays 6  tokens but before Gary can move 6 spaces Timmy calls tail bite, Cindy calls head-butt, and Jimmy calls tail bite (6-1+1-1=5). So now Gary moves 5 spaces. 

Additional Rules

• All players start the game with 10 alpha-points.
• Should a player land on the end square and does NOT have the required number of alpha-points then the end square does nothing and the player must continue around the track. 
• The players must land on the end space EXACTLY. If your movement role dictates that you pass over the end space then you must continue around the track.
• When a player runs out of tokens they are out of the game.
• When only one player is left within the game, that player is the winner.

As one can see by the rules the game has been changed from focusing on dice rolls to more resource management as one must pay tokens in order to move around the board and obtain more tokens but at the same time one must not spend too much, else they run out of tokens. At the same time you can tamper with other people progression but this comes at a cost but can very well ensure that a player gets knocked out of the game. 

Playtest 

Immediately I found that I had to change some of the instructions on the board as they involved instructions about dice rolls, which of course was taken out of the game entirely, they were replaced with instructions using tokens paid instead of dice rolls but the affects of the space remained the same. Further testing revealed that additional instructions on the board spaced need tweaking as the punishments for some of the spots was too severe, knocking players out of the game early on as they did not posses many tokens in the beginning. Other than that I found there was a good level of resource management but i would have like to have seen more interaction , or "interference", between players, so the cost for interfering with other players was decreased. 

Light and Darkness Cascading in a Flurry of Colour

Our team, Jazz and Awol, have come up with a game called Duality. The game revolves around the concept of the Van Gogh painting "Starry Night" and its tossing and turning look and the flux between light and dark. We wanted to try to create a game that addressed this and made the players take part in it by allowing them to examine a piece of art and giving them the chance to express their opinions on the nature of the piece. We felt that competitiveness took away from the focus of the game, which was the swirling duality of light and dark and the player's examination of it, as the players would care less for the art and more towards winning should there be a competitive aspect to the game. So instead we decided to have the players work cooperatively which slowed down the game for the players to fully take part in examining the art and expressing their ideals while at the same time kept them rooted in the game so that the game doesn't become arbitrary or "floaty". There are a couple of mechanics within the game that change, or attempt to, change the alignment of the pieces of art forcing the players to thing in new of seeing the art and forcing them to dig deeper into their imaginations.

The Game Contents:
- Bag of light/dark tokens
- Binary Dice
- Art cards
- Duality board

Players: 2- 6

Gameplay:

1) Shuffle the art cards and place them in the center of the board
2) Choose a player to act as the Dealer, usually the youngest among the players.
3) Dealer then draws a card, presenting both sides of the card to the other players.
4) A Player then rolls the binary dice, players then decide which side of the card best matches the result of the dice.
5) When it is decided which side best matches, the card is placed that face up, on its corresponding side.
6) The Dealer then turns his/her back to the other players and the other players then examin the card and write one word on a piece of paper reflecting their feeling they get from the card. Players are not alowed to talk during this stage.
7) The scraps of paper are then put into a pile on top of the card.
8) the Dealer turns around and must now guess who wrote what
9) for every right guess the dealer places one token of the corresponding colour into its pile.
10) the player to the right is now the Dealer.
11)The players must try to keep the number of tokens in each pile even, should one pile grow 7 tokens bigger than the other the players lose.
12) When each pile has a number of tokens equal to double the number of players, the players win.

Liar's Dice: Alternative Roll!

The Positive Feedback Loop

After a few playthroughs it became evident that the positive feedback loop was that every time you bet correctly or call out another player correctly, making them lose a dice, it becomes easier to continue betting/calling out correctly as the number of possible outcomes for the collective dice rolls decreases and therefore making it easier to predict. It doesn't even matter if you are the one who loses a dice because as long as SOMEONE is losing dice the possible outcomes becomes easier and easier to predict as the number of the possible roll combinations decreases with every dice lost.

Below, you will find the original rules as well as a modification to said rules. This modification, call hubris, is geared towards counteracting the innate positive feedback loop of the original game. Hubris, essentially, forces a player to reveal a dice on all subsequent dice rolls every time they win their bet. The number of dice they are forced to reveal increases every time they win their bet. This makes it harder for winning players to lie and easier for losing players to call their bluff. 

Original Rules

1) all players roll dice in their cups

2) players look at their dice roll, taking care to keep it concealed from the other players

3) the first player then bets on how many of a certain dice outcome has occurred in all the dice rolled between all the players.

   Example: Jim rolls his dice, and he rolls one 2, one 3, and three 5s. Jim is also the first player and bets that there are

 at least three 5s in the group, meaning that out of ALL the dice outcomes of all the players there are at least three

 5s.

4) The next player can then increasing the bet placed by the

previous player (See Increasing Bet). 

   Example: Gander takes his turn after Jim, so he has the choice of either increasing the bet of Jim OR calling Jim out on his bet.

5) Players can Call Out another player on their bid (See Callin'em Out) after the bid has been made. Players can only call out another player on their bid from the time the bid has been made to the time the next player takes their turn.

6) When a player loses all their dice they are out of the game.

         
Increasing Bet:

 A player who chooses to increase the bet of the previous player may do so by increasing the amount of the   certain outcome

they named, OR increasing the outcome named, OR both.

Example: Jim bet that there was at least three 5s. So Gander can bet that there are FOUR 5s, or three 6s, or four 6s.

Calling'em Out:

1) A player who chooses to call out the previous player on their bet forces all players to reveal their dice rolls and the collective outcome of the dice rolls is counted to see if the bet is true or false.

Example: Gander calls out Jim on his bet that there were at least three 5s. So both Jim and Gander reveal their dice rolls to each other and see if Jim's bet is accurate or not.

2) If the bet turns out to be FALSE, the player who betted loses 1 dice but if the bet is TRUE the caller loses 1 dice.

Example: If Jim's bet was true Gander would lose 1 dice but of it was false Jim would lose one dice.

Modified Rules

Hubris

- If a better is called out, all players reveal their dice roll, as usual.

- The players then look at the collective dice rolls to determine if the bet is true or false.

- If the bet is TRUE the caller loses 1 dice, as usual. BUT the player who betted must now reveal 1 of their dice to the other players right after they roll their dice before they bet, every time.

Example : Jim bets that there are at least three 4s and is called out by Gander. They both reveal their dice and it shows that the bet is true. So Gander loses one dice BUT Jim must reveal one of his dice after every time he rolls. So right after Jim's next dice roll, he must reveal one of his dice to Gander before he can bet.

- The number of dice the player who betted must reveal after every time they roll INCREASES by 1 for every bet they win.

Example: Jim has won 2 of his bets so he reveals 2 dice right after every roll before he bets.

- If the bet is FALSE the player who bet loses 1 dice AND DECREASES the number of dice they must reveal by 1.

Additional Modified Rules

- If a player has only 2 or 3 dice left, that player then has the choice of forcing another player to lose a dice.
- Loser's Pity: The player with the lowest has "leeway" of +/- 1 dice when calling out other people's bets.
- Should a player's dice be the only reason their bet is true then they gain an additional but wehn they next cought lieing they lose 2 dice.

The Results of The Playtest 

The playtest proved to be quite enlightening as it showed that in a two player game when a player is forced to reveal all his dice because he has won his bets 5 times in a row, the other player has lost. Hubris didn't really extent the duration of the game but definitely made things harder for the winning players but did not necessarily make things easy enough for the losing players. The other modified rules definitely added additional depth to game making things more challenging for players, especially if they begin to win.  

Galaga: The Card Game

The classic game of Galaga now in a card game! Face off against your friends in your goal to be the last player standing. Send barrages of ships to reduce their lives to zero and claim supremacy over the galaxy.

The team reviewed the games provided to us and decided to go with Galaga as it seemed to provide a enough content to be turned into a card game. We were unsure of how to turn Galaga which is a single player game and turn it into a card game that can be played in a group, specifically with up to 4 players. We came up with a few ideas, one being that the players be split into sides, one playing the enemy ships and the other playing the white ships. But this idea went against the original game as it did not support cooperative play, it was a single player game. So we then came up with the idea that each player would play the "main character" or the white ship.

 But then how to utilize the enemy ships? Would we create a system that would "automate" the enemy ships so that all 4 players were trying to survive the attacks of the enemy ships and the player who survives the longest wins. But creating a system that properly simulates the overwhelming onslaught played out in the game would not only take too long but would also be too hard to explain to the players. We decided to have the players attack each other, allowing them to create the overwhelming attacks ,posed by the enemy ships in the game, that the other players would face. We wanted to play off the competitiveness of the players to have them create truly terrifying attacks for the other players to defend against.

The original goal was still the same: the player who survived the longest wins the game. So fire your lasers, obliterate your enemies, claim your place as the winner.

Parts:

20 x Offensive Cards

20 x Defensive Cards

5 x 1UP Cards 

17 x Life Cards

Setup 

1) Each player takes three Life Cards and places these cards in front of them face up.

2) The rest of the Life cards are then placed to one side. 

3) The Offensive, Defensive, and 1UP cards are all combined and shuffled. The resulting deck is then placed 

    at the center players. 

4) Each player then draws 5 cards from this deck and holds them in their hand.

Gameplay

1) Players decide who goes first.

2) Player draws from deck. 

3) Player can play any of the cards in their hand and target any of the other players with offensive cards. See  Combat.

4) When player has finished playing cards, the player to the left goes next. 

5) When a player runs out of Life Cards they are out of the game

6) The game is won only one player is left in the game (i.e. they are the only one left with life cards.

1UP Cards

When played they gain 1 life. That player takes a life card from the life card pile and places it face up in front of them. The 1UP card is then placed in the discard pile. 

- A player holding a 1UP card can only play it during their turn.

Combat

1) Offense

Player targets another player with an offensive card

    - Should that card possess an "offensive #" that is that player's offensive. Players can play any number of 

      these numbered cards. These numbers are then added up, creating that player's offensive. 

      Example: Jimmy plays 3 offensive cards that have offensives of 3, 5, and 6, so 3+5+6=14 so Jimmy's 

      offensive is 14. 

   - There also exists cards that can be attached to these numbered cards to augment their values. These   

      cards are placed below the targeted card so that both cards can be seen. 

   - Special offensive cards that directly effect the targeted player or their defensive  possess some instructions.    These instruction are to be carried out immediately unless negated by the targeted player, see Negation. 

2) Defense

When targeted by offensive cards, targeted player plays defensive cards

      - Should that card possess a "defensive #" that is that player's defensive. Players can play any number of 

      these numbered cards. These numbers are then added up, creating that player's defensive. 

      Example: Timmy plays 3 defensive cards that have defensives of 3, 5, and 6, so 3+5+6=14 so Timmy's 

      defensive is 14. 

   - There also exists cards that can be attached to these numbered cards to augment their values. These   

      cards are placed below the targeted card so that both cards can be seen. 

   - Special defensive cards that directly effect the targeted player or their offensive  possess some instructions. These instruction are to be carried out immediately unless negated by the attacking player, see Negation. 

3) Results of Battle

When both the attacking and defending players have finished playing cards and all the instructions for special offensive and defensive cards have been carried out, the resulting offensive number and defensive number are compared to each other and the player with the largest number wins.

 - If the attacking player wins, the defending player loses a Life Card. Put that life card where other life cards are. All the offensive  and defensive cards played are put in the discard pile. 

- If the defending player wins, all the offensive and defensive cards played are put in the discard pile. 

4) Negation

When a card is negated it is placed in the discard pile. 

5) Interference

Players not involved in a battle can play offensive cards on the attacking player's side and/or play defensive cards on the defending player's side to "help" them. 

Additional Rules

- Players can only attack other players on their turn.

- Players can only attack one player at a time. 

- When a player is out of the game all their cards in their hand are placed in the discard pile 

- When the center deck runs out simply reshuffle the discard pile and place the resulting deck in the center. 

Mechanical Mayhem

Lightning strikes a lightning rod, illuminating the night sky of a dense city! You laugh maniacally as energy surges through your lab sending life to the robotic monstrosity that lied in the center of the room. It begin twitch and shudder! "YES!" you scream in delight as thoughts of destruction and world dominance race through your head. Lost in your day dreams of power you lean on a button, a very big red button that reads "Self Destruct". You look on in horror as your creation EXPLODES sending its pieces flying all over the city!

During your search of the pieces you find out that you are not the only mad scientist whose robot had blown up that night. "NOOO!NO!NO!NO!" you yell in a fit of rage. The only one who deserves to destroy this city via mechanical monolith of massive mayhem is YOU! Not any of these PRETENDERS! You decide then and there to grab as many of their pieces as possible so that they will NEVER be able to complete their robot! "MUAHAHAHAHAHA!" you laugh as you run into the dark streets of the city.

The idea behind Mechanical Mayhem is that you play a mad scientist and that you must collect as many robotic pieces as possible by the time all the pieces have been collected and the player with the most pieces wins. Initially though the idea was that each player had their own set of robotic pieces to collect, they could not collect other players' pieces, and the player to collect all of their own pieces first wins. But thanks to my team we were able to see the fault in the initial design which was that it possibly went against the instruction set down by the assignment in that it involved players trying to reach a goal first (collect all 4 of their robot pieces). We resolved this by changing the robotic pieces from player specific to generic and made it into a sort of Hungry Hungry Hippos thing where the player who gets the most wins. Though every other mechanic in the game has stayed the same from the cards to the game board.

I really like the idea for the board where it is broken up into 9 tiles as this allows players to generate a different board every time they play the game. Of course, the tiles must be placed in a certain pattern, detailed in the rules. Though this does little to effect the number of combinations that players can create.

Collecting itself would be too easy so we have some cards that the player can choose to draw in exchange for their movement, so instead of moving that turn they draw a card. These cards can benefit you, deter others, as well as hurt you as well. So there is always some risk in sacrificing your movement.

Overall the game is very simple and easy to learn. It has proven to be fast paced and exciting right to the moment the winner is decided. So I hope you have fun playing our game and by all means let the mechanical mayhem begin!!

Pieces:

- 4 player pieces
- 16 robot pieces
- D6 dice
- 9 board tiles
- 26 gadget cards


Rules:

1) Shuffle tiles then place them in a 3x3 formation as shown: [*][*][*]
                                                                                                [*][*][*]
                                                                                                [*][*][*]
2) Place all place pieces in the center square of board.

3) Each player places 4 robot pieces on any square of any adjacent tile.

Gameplay:

1) Player has the choice of either drawing a gadget card or moving their piece.

2) If the player chooses to move their piece they must role a D6 and move that many spaces.

3) If the player chooses to draw a gadget card, they draw from the top of the deck and can either play it the card immediately or hold it in their hand.

4) When a player lands or passes over a square containing a robot piece, they claim that piece and add it to their robot pile.

5) the game ends when all the robot pieces are collected and the player with the most pieces wins.

Additional Rules:

- Players can move any direction except diagonally.
- Players can hold a maximum of 2 cards in their hand.
- Should players have more than 2 cards they must either play or discard cards until they have, at most, 2 left     in their hand.
- Cards are placed in the discard pile after they are used.
- When gadget deck is finished, reshuffle the discard pile and draw from the top of the new gadget deck.
- When targeting a player for a card, announce the card played and the target of said card. Then place that card in front of that player. The target player then discards that card when its duration has ended.

PaARRide and PaARRejudice!

The game our development team, Jazz and Awol, created revolves around the story of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen but mixed in with pirates and is called, Pirates and Prejudice. We deliberated on how best to emulate the intertwining and sometimes hectic story of relationships and first impressions between the large caste of Pride and Prejudice. We eventually came to the conclusion that a card game most mimics these characteristics as a card game offers a great interaction between players as well as mimic some of the haphazard events that happen to some of the players (such as when Elizabeth suddenly receives a letter saying that her sister has the cold) with the shuffling of the cards.

We then had to decide how to include pirates into the mix. We then came up with the idea that we would reverse the perspectives, meaning that we would, instead, focus more on the men's side of the story where as the book more focused on the woman's side (mostly Elizabeth's) so that the players now took the role of suitors for the five Bennet daughters. We then analyzed the Bennet daughters and came up with what each of them were looking for in a marriage and it turned out wonderfully as each daughter's needs fell into three categories, love, wealth, and violence but were in different combinations for each. With our concept put together, we went to work creating the mechanics and assets of the game described below. The idea was to have a polished looking game so we opted to have the cards professionally printed with laminated surfaces much like those found on store-bought card games.

Game Pieces:
The game consists of two decks, a pride deck which contains 68 cards and a prejudice deck which contains 56 cards, as well as numerous tokens representing to amount you have accumulated of each category (love wealth, or violence).

• Pride cards - These cards mainly yield positive benefits for the player who draws them such as additional wealth or love. 

• Prejudice cards- These cards on the other hand provide a means to interfere with the progression of other players by allowing you to do a great number of things to them such as force them to lose tokens or allow you to steal tokens from another player. 

• Event cards - These cards revolve more closely around the happenings of the story and are special as they are neither Pride or Prejudice cards but are hidden within both decks. When an event card is drawn it is played immediately and the player who drew it must resolve it or face the consequences. 

• Tokens - These represent the three "resources" that a player can collect within the game and are simply a visual reminder of the amounts they have. 

Rules:

Setup:

1. Players pick which of the five Bennet girls they aim to court.
2. Players then decide who goes first.
3. All players start with ZERO love , wealth, and violence.

Gameplay:

1. The current player draws either a Pride card or a Prejudice card.
2. If the card the player draws is an Event card, it must be played immediately, unless otherwise specified, and that player is forced to resolved that card or face the consequences. 
3. If the card they draw is NOT an event card, that player has the choice of playing it immediately or to hold it in their hand. 
4. The player then has the choice of playing cards from their hand, trading, or ending their turn. 
5. Should they acquire "resources" from the playing of cards, that player takes tokens from the token pool and places them into their respective token piles representing Love, Wealth, and Violence.
6. After the player has finished playing their cards, their turn has ended and the player to the left goes next.
7. The game ends when a player achieves the required amount of love, wealth, and/or violence needed to woo their selected lady.

Additional Rules:

• Each player has three token piles representing Love, Wealth, and Violence.
• Played cards are placed into their respective discard piles.
• Pride cards in a player's hand can only be played on THEIR TURN. 
• Prejudice cards in a player's hand can be played at anytime. 
• Cards in a player's hand can be traded with other players BUT can only be traded with the player who is currently taking their turn. Example: Wally is currently taking his turn therefore the other players can only trade with him but Wally has the choice of trading with any of the other 4 players. 
• Should a deck run-out, simply reshuffle the discard pile of that deck, and place it face down on the spot of the run-out. 
• Each Daughter requires a different amount of resource(s) for you to court her.

The Ladies and Their Needs:

• Lydia requires 20 violence
• Elizabeth requires 20 Love
• Mary requires 20 wealth
• Catherine requires 10 violence & 10 wealth
• Jane requires 10 love & 10 wealth
• Lydia requires  20 violence

Territory Acquisition Game: Pirate WaARRs

"Raise the anchor!" you cry as the wind fills you sails and men dash to and fro on the deck of your great galleon! The Great Wall, separating East and West, stand before you. Beyond, lie the mysterious lands, filled with untold riches and ripe for the taking! The world belongs to those take it! So raise the colours and conquer what is rightfully yours!

You play a captain of a pirate ship bound for the mysterious lands beyond the wall with full intent on making them yours. But at the same time you must protect the lands you call home from those who intend to do the same. Solidify your reign in your own lands? Or rush to the bounty beyond the wall? The choice is yours.

Pieces:

• 1x Pirate WaARRs Board
• 16x Ships (8x Red, 8x Blue)
• 28x Island cover tiles
• 24x Treasure cards 
• 84x Island Cubes
• 1x D4 dice

Setup:

1. If there are 4 players, each team covers 14 of their own islands, in any formation they wish. At least 1 island must be covered on each row.
2. If there are 2 players, each player must cover 21 of their own islands, in any formation they wish. At least 1 island must be covered on each row.
3. Each island has 3 slices, each has one island cube on it with the green side facing up representing that it has yet to be conquered.

Gameplay:

1. Each player starts with 2 ships and places their ships on their respective docks (the brown spaces). Players located on the same side of the center “border” are on the same team.
2. Roll a D4 to determine who goes first.
3. That player then rolls a D4 to determine how many spaces they are allowed move in total. Example: If Alex has 3 ships and rolls a 3 he is able to move 1 ship 3 spaces or move all his ships 1 space.
4. That player can then move their ship to any adjacent blue spaces on the board.
5. Once movement has finished play continues clockwise.
6. When a player is placed adjacent to an island that player has the choice of conquering that “slice” of the island. Unless it is already conquered by another player, in that case see Combat.
7. When you have conquered a slice of an island turn the island cube so that your affiliated colour is on top.
8. The game is won when all the islands on the opposing side are completely owned by the players of the opposite side. Example: White wins when all the islands on the Red side are conquered by the Blue team.

Additional Rules:

• Each island is broken up into 3 “slices”. Each “slice” is worth 3 gold.
• Gold is the currency of the game and can be used to purchase additional ships as well as be used to bargain with other players for slices of island.
• Use paper to keep track of your gold.
• To pass to the adjacent blue spaces on the other side of the "wall" (signified by grey spaces) a player must pay 5 gold to pass.
• Each player can command a maximum of 4 ships total.
• Players must pay 20 gold to obtain an additional ship.
• New ships always start at their respective docks.
• No more than 8 ships per team.
• Treasure chests are scattered throughout the board, placing a ship over a treasure chest allows a player to draw a single card. 
• These cards have the ability to give gold to the holder, take gold from another player, forcibly take a slice of an island, allow a player to pass the border unchallenged, and to take over an entire island at once, wipe them clean of their previous owners, and destroy opponent’s ships, and destroy your own.
• These cards can be held in your hand and can be played at anytime unless specified.

Combat:

• Two players, an invader and a defender, combating each other for a slice of an island must roll a D6 and the player with the higher roll keeps their slice. In a tie defender always wins.
• If the invader loses then they are sent to one of the red spaces on the “border”, the opposing team’s choice of which space they are sent to.
• If the defender loses then they lose that slice of the island. 
• When a ship is destroyed it is taken out of play and must be repurchased back into play and counts as a new ship.

The game so far, from a design perspective, seems to be rather exciting as it makes the player to make numerous decisions during play which affect the out come of the game. I look forward to play testing it and hopefully it does not require too much tweaking.

I thought when we convened on Tuesday morning that the game would be complete and that all we needed to do was play it, I was wrong. We still needed create the cards that were obtained when a ship is placed on a treasure icon as well as put the title of the game on the board. "Lucky" me that I just so happened to bring some of my paints from home. Originally, I brought them to touch up some of the game pieces i painted last night (that took a long time) but since we needed to get the title on the board I volunteered my services. So I got to work painting the title, mere hours away from submission. Though there was one mishap in the painting of the title. I had accidentally wrote them words in reverse, meaning that instead of "pirate WaARRs" it read "WaARRs Pirate". It was a good thing I wrote out the title in pencil first before painting or I would have been in trouble. As for the cards we quickly came up with proper titles for them and places wrote instructions for each, we simply needed to print them out. Sadly, we have yet to do a proper play test of the game. But it should be alright, right? :(

Alpha-male!

The sun sets and darkness falls upon the forest. A family wanders through the trees searching for their way home. Beasts lurk in the dark, sniffing, hunting, the family's sent is caught! Howls rise up through the dark. The creatures dash through the trees homing on their prey. The family walks through a clearing, the beasts silently circle the area, the family is trapped. One of the beasts bears down on the father of the family, "wolves!" he cries. A gunshot cuts through the night, both fall to the ground lifeless.

You are a member of the pack, your leader, the former alpha-male, is dead and the family is defenseless. Now who will lead the charge? Who will get prime choice of the spoils? Will it be you? Compete against the other members of the pack by circling the track and collecting alpha-points. But be careful as just as there are spaces that give you points there are also ones that take them away.

The game is played as such: 

1. All players begin on the starting space.
2. Players role a D20 to determine the "alpha-level", the minimum number of "alpha-points" that each player must attain for the ends space to become open to them.
3. Each player then rolls a D6 to determine who goes first, highest role is first.
4. The players then roll a D6 and move that number of spaces clockwise, unless effected by "interference". See interference. 
5. All instructions on the space landed on must be carried out. 
6. The game is won when a player with the correct number of alpha-points lands on the end space. 

Interference

• Head-butting/Lunging: a player can pay 5 alpha-points to “push” either another player’s or one’s own piece to go one square farther than their movement roll indicates. 
• Tail Biting / Backtracking: A player can pay 5 alpha-points to “pull” either another player’s piece or your own which decreases the movement phase.
• These techniques must be called out after a player rolls for movement but before they reach their designated square. It must be spontaneous, no planning allowed.
• A player may only choose to play ONE of these moves at a time per turn ( this includes the other players as well). Example: Jimmy CANNOT lunge 3 times on his turn but he CAN lunge on his turn then tail bite on Gary's turn.
• There is no limit to the number of players who can use these moves at one time. Example: Gary rolls a 6 but before Gary can move 6 spaces Timmy calls tail bite, Cindy calls head-butt, and Jimmy calls tail bite (6-1+1-1=5). So now Gary moves 5 spaces. 

Additional Rules

• All players start the game with 0 alpha-points.
• Should a player land on the end square and does NOT have the required number of alpha-points then the end square does nothing and the player must continue around the track. 
• The players must land on the end space EXACTLY. If your movement role dictates that you pass over the end space then you must continue around the track.

The game was first played on September 18, 2012 by four players, Zee, Patrick, Basm, and myself. The beginning of the game was a little rocky as none of the other players had played the game before and I had to explain the rules. But things quickly picked up after that and I found that they enjoyed the fast pace of the game with alpha-point tokens flying from their piles, to the point pool, to other players's piles, and back again and vice versa. It was a beautiful chaos. I also found that they liked the competitive interaction between the players and were genuinely engaged in the game as they seemed to feel some sense of loss when forced to give up tokens and annoyance when tokens are stolen from them. The game proved to be a success, and the players looked forward to playing it again. 

Despite the general enjoyment of the game some issues came up during play. Such as the size of the spaces, I found that the spaces were not big enough to accommodate the size of the player markers, especially when more than one were on the same space. In addition to that, the instructions written on each space appeared "fuzzy" and were not easily read. I also found that the balance of the game was off as players were progressing too slowly. The amount at which players lost tokens, though lower than the rate at which they gained  tokens, was too close to the amount they gained slowing the progression to a crawl. Even a player who was able to attain 10 tokens, with a few bad moves, was left with a measly 2-3 tokens. Despite all these unfortunate revelations, there was one pleasant discovery. A player, Zee, suggested that the tokens be placed in the center of the board for easy access by all players. Even though I initially intended for the center to be a space depicting the "defenseless family" where, upon victory, the winning player would place their marker. But this proved to be a much better used for the space. 

To fix these issues I would need to employ the use of a bigger board so as to make enough room for the bigger spaced or to expand the spaces inward toward the center. The problem with the "fuzzy" printing can be easily fixed by either printing out the instructions via computer or simply using and ink pen as oppose to a marker, which would create much crisper lines. But as for the balancing issues, I think i would have to decrease the amount which players lose tokens and the amount they are forced to give away, probably by 2 tokens. 

Other than these problems the game was a rousing success. 

The Game I Played

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Recently I played a game called Ligretto, the object of the game was to get rid of all your cards before everyone else. The Game supports up to 12 players and takes a relatively short time to play; around 15 minutes.

The game itself is very simple and as a result uses very few rules. The rules that do exist are as follows:

1) Each player gets 40 cards, ten of each of the four colours (red, green, yellow, and blue).
2) Players shuffle their cards and place 10 of their cards facedown in front of them along with three cards           placed next to it face-up.
3) Now the game begins where players simultaneously discard cards into the middle of the table in accordance to their colour and rising numerical order.
4) The goal is to get rid of all your cards in the 10 cards "stack" you placed in front of you via the three cards you placed face up. It is these cards you discard into the middle.
5) Once on of these 3 cards is discarded it is replaced by the top card in your 10 card "stack"
6) First to discard all their cards from their "stack" wins!

*if you cannot discard any of the 3 cards in front of you then you may look at every third card from your hand and discard from there only until you are able to discard from your "stack" again.

I very much liked the simple system of rules and its lightning fast pace which kept the game exciting. Though i disliked how even though you were "competing" against other players there is little to no interaction between the players. I would have designed that aspect a little differently, implementing some sort of system that allowed a player to directly influence the other players cards such as the use if "special" cards that bestow certain powers to their owners. But then again, the implementation of such a system would effect the simplicity of the game as it would require additional rules and regulations.

Either way, the game was fun and I look forward to playing it again with a group of friends.