Author: brady

Elemental Battle

Game Overview: Players use cards representing the four classical elements—Fire, Water, Earth, and Air—to battle against each other. Each element has strengths and weaknesses, and players must strategically play their cards to defeat their opponent’s cards. The goal is to win the most rounds by having the stronger element in play.

2 to 4 players

Objective – To win the most rounds by defeating your opponents’ cards using elemental strengths and weaknesses.

Card Types 

Fire: Beats Earth and Air, but loses to Water.

Water: Beats Fire and Earth, but loses to Air.

Earth: Beats Air and Water, but loses to Fire.

Air: Beats Fire and Water, but loses to Earth.

*Each deck contains an equal number of cards for each element.*

Setup

1. Each player receives a deck of 12 cards (3 Fire, 3 Water, 3 Earth, 3 Air).

2. Shuffle the decks.

3. Decide who goes first by drawing a random card (highest value goes first).

Gameplay

1. Each player draws three cards from their deck to form their hand.

2. On each turn, players simultaneously choose one card from their hand and place it face down.

3. Both players reveal their cards at the same time.

4. The winner of the round is determined based on elemental strengths and weaknesses:

   – Fire beats Earth and Air, loses to Water.

   – Water beats Fire and Earth, loses to Air.

   – Earth beats Air and Water, loses to Fire.

   – Air beats Water and Fire, loses to Earth.

5. The winner collects both cards, and a new round begins.

6. After each round, players draw a new card to replace the one they played.

7. If both players play the same element, it’s a tie, and both cards are discarded.

Winning the Game

The game ends when all cards have been played. The player who has the most cards collected is declared the winner. In case of a tie, the player with the highest total number of Fire cards collected wins.

Variations

Power Cards : Add special power cards, such as “Double Attack” or “Shield”, to make the game more complex.

Elemental Combinations: Create dual-element cards “Water + Air” that can attack with the strengths of both elements but can be vulnerable to a wider range of weaknesses.

Participants: 4 friends who have a more advanced music taste. 

Setting: Dorm 

What Happened:

• They loved debating which song truly fit the vibe.
• Got competitive and creative, sometimes creating mashups or improvising lyrics.
• Requested a way to “steal” or swap song cards during play.
  

What I Learned:

• Some advanced players wanted more strategy and interaction.
• The idea of card trades or game twists added energy.
• They wanted deeper scenario prompts “You walk into a dystopian rave run by robots”).

Changes to Consider: 

• Introduce special action cards like “Swap a card,” “Steal a win,” or “Play two songs.
• Consider a “Wildcard” card that lets a player pull a random song from a shared playlist.
  
  

Participants: Parents (mid-50s), younger brother (17) , Me , Older brother (23)

Setting: Family game night

What Happened:

• Some family members didn’t know newer songs.
• Lots of laughter but also some frustration due to generational gaps in song knowledge.
  

What I Learned:

• There needs to be a balance between old and new songs.
• Including more universal or well-known tracks would help bridge age differences.
• Having a quick way to play a song snippet (YouTube or Spotify) helped a lot.
  

Changes to Consider:

• Add QR codes or song snippets in a companion app so players can sample songs they don’t know.
• Make a “Family-Friendly” version with more PG scenarios and songs.

Create genre-based decks ( Classic Rock, Pop Hits, Kids’ Favorites) that players can choose based on group type.

Participants: 5 friends, ages 18-21 

Setting: Dorm 

What Happened:

• Everyone quickly understood the rules.
• Song choices sparked laughter and discussion.
• People leaned into humor, often choosing ironic or unexpected songs for a breakup scenario like a victory type song .
  

What I Learned:

• Players enjoyed making ironic or funny choices more than sincere ones.
• Some song cards weren’t recognizable to everyone, which slowed the game down.
• Players wanted a way to “argue” for their song pick or explain why it fits.
  
  

Changes to Consider:

• Add an optional 15-second pitch/explanation round where players can defend their choice.
• Create themed expansion decks “Throwbacks” “TikTok Hits” “Love Songs”.
• Add symbols or genres to song cards to help people unfamiliar with a track
• Someone had an idea where you have category scenario cards so they could pick a love, hype, or chill scenario. 

Objective:

Play the best song to match a scenario. The player with the most points at the end wins!

Setup:

1. Shuffle the Song Cards deck and deal 5 cards to each player.
   
   
2. Place the Scenario Cards deck face down in the center.
   
   
3. Choose the oldest player to start as the first Vibe Judge.
   
   

How to Play a Round:

1. Vibe Judge draws the top Scenario Card and reads it aloud.
   
    Example: “You are driving with the windows down on a beautiful summer day”
   
   
2. All other players choose one Song Card from their hand that best matches the scenario and place it face down.
   
   
3. The Vibe Judge shuffles the submitted cards, then flips them over and reads each song aloud.
   
   
4. The Vibe Judge selects the song that best matches the vibe. The winning player earns 1 point and becomes the next Vibe Judge.
   
   
5. Each player draws a new Song Card to maintain 5 in their hand.
   
   

Winning the Game:

Play until someone has 7 vibes cards. Or  just play for fun with no final score!

Created by: Brady Erdos 

You pick up a card and depending on that cards color, you make a joke. If someone laughs at it you get a point.

A lot of people are looking jokes up or asking chat GPT. Someone asked if they could pick what one you wanted to do instead of just randomly picking them from a pile. Rounds take a minute because people need to look them up. Maybe have a sheet with a bunch of jokes on them for people to pick based on the category. Someone made a joke and no one laughed and then i said something about his bad joke and someone laughed. Maybe you can have a system where you can steal a joke like that.

What was the most frustrating part of what you just played? The most frustrating part was how I was not witty enough to come up with a joke on the spot and had to look one up.

What was your favorite moment? My favorite moment was when someone told a good joke that made everyone laugh.

Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? No not at all.

If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change one thing what would it be? I would probably make it so that you can pick whatever kind of joke you wanted instead of randomly picking a category and not being ready to make a joke for that.

What should be improved with the next version? For sure it would be to make it so that you can pick your category.

Describe the game in 3 words. Funny, Witty, and Suspenseful .

Overall this was a very cool game idea and was very fun to play!!

What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? the most frustrating part was how I was dealt with a pretty bad hand to start. The good part about the game though is that even if you are dealt a bad hand you can still play smart and end up winning the game.

What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?My favorite moment was when i took three of his guys worth one of my players. Games that have big momentum switches are really fun and always keep you in it.

Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?No, I was able to do everything I wanted to do.

If you had a magic wand to wave, and could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? I don’t think this is really doable but i would love sound effects when you take over someone’s spot. You could just make it with your mouth but it would be cool if something played when you took over someone’s spot.

What should be improved with the next version?Next version should just include more spikes and more characters. The more players the more different outcomes there can be.

Describe the game in 3 words. Fun, Exciting, Competitive

• What are the challenges a team faces when working on an educational game?   It takes a village to get all the parts right. The text states, “Typically such teams consist of game designers, pedagogy experts, and content experts, each of whom must resolve significant and often fascinating ideological disagreements resulting from disparate disciplinary values, vocabulary, and culture.” Getting all of these right is the biggest challenge teams face. 

• In the case study team members vetoed each others game ideas, what were the scientist’s, pedagogy expert’s and designer’s issues? some issues were that initially they had levels but that would affect the students ability to learn or access all the content because if they did not beat level one they would not be able to advance to level two where more of the   content was. The scientists could not understand games and game designers and the game designers did not understand evolution. 
• What did the team learn from play testing their prototypes? They learned what types of games that don’t work such as the levels that got vetoed. 
• How does play testing resolve conflicts among team members? Each test helps them understand each other better and what they need to fix for the next iteration. Every time they had to make a change they got to know and learn from each other to work better for the next one. 

1. Student Simulation Game

Go through a college campus of your choice. Pick from being the star QB to a frat brother on the coolest frat. Go around college life how you see fit for your choice.

2. Celeb Simulation

Be any celeb of your choosing and live in his or her shoes and see if you can keep up with their busy lifestyle

3. Judge Simulation

You are the best judge for a bunch of high profile cases. Whose side are you gonna take? And how is that going to affect the world in the long run.

4. Presidential Simulation

You are the president of the United Crates. You will be presented with very intense situations. How will you deal with them. Will you keep the Crates safe of will you start another World War with Crusha.

5. Mob Boss Simulation

You are the mob boss of the biggest mob in NYC. Try to stay away from the police. Deal with the mob and the business while trying to raise a young impressionable daughter.

I really like this game. I remember watching this on YouTube a couple years ago when I watched markiplier play games. These collaborative games are really fun. This game is really stressful and requires a lot of clear communication. I played it with my friend today and there are a lot of complicated steps to each module. We played up to 2.2 “Double your money” and we got so much better at it throughout each bomb. The module with the two dots and the maze were the hardest for us because it takes a lot of visualization for the person with the manual, trying to guide the person with the bomb through the maze without hitting any lines. I also love that there is nothing repeated. When you fail and try again, nothing is the same as it was before. 10/10 game. Would highly recommend playing with a friend. Definitely worth the 10 dollar purchase.  

1. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? Trying to figure out who done it.
2. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? The fake poisonous glass with the fake label on it. I thought that was a good touch.
3. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? No
4. If you had a magic wand to wave, and toy could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? I would probably just add a timer so it feels more intense.
5. What should be improved with the next version? I think you can add some other characters that said they saw stuff but aren’t sure to get the players heads al twisted.
6. What was the games message? Never trust anyone
7. Describe the game in 3 words. Fun, Interesting, Frustrating.

This Game was very thought out and well done. I loved it because it seemed like every character had some kind of motive whether it be small or large, which made it difficult to specify one person that did it. 

There were so many props and fully written up interviews with several people that we had fun bringing to life with some role play. 

Overall this was a very fun game. I especially liked the fact that we all won! Points for everyone!

Rules: Slap down on the cards when a color or a word matches the previous color or word on the next card. If you slap down and it isn’t a match you get that many cards taken from you. If you see a wild card placed down it is a free slap! If a wild card is placed down at the start of a round then the color in the top right is the color you have to match a word or color to. The person with the most cards wins. 

Correct matches

Ex : Red and Red Match //// Ex : Green and Red Match

Incorrect Matches

Ex : Blue and Green //// Ex : Red and Orange

Notes on Observance. 

– I like the concept of battle ship. 

– struggling to understand how the rules work. 

– I’m sneaking the Mexicans across successfully 

– kinda slow, the Americans can not catch me. 

– I’m too good at sneaking across. 

– Kinda unsure of the rules still the Americans are just letting me cross. 

– No winner because I didn’t realize I had to look for green cards to declare citizenship. 

– My partner also didn’t have enough time to play as a Mexican so we don’t know who could’ve won. 

– creative game in general. I liked it. Wish we had more time to play it. 

(Climate Change Game)

Players take on the role of a climate refugee navigating a world devastated by environmental disasters. They must manage limited resources, form alliances, and make moral choices such as whether to share dwindling supplies or hoard them for survival. As players progress, they learn about the causes of climate change and its disproportionate impact on marginalized communities.

Mechanics: Dynamic weather disasters (hurricanes, wildfires, droughts) that force players to adapt. A morality system where choices affect relationships with NPCs and long-term survival. Interactive storytelling that presents real world environmental case studies.

Message: The game highlights the urgency of climate change and the human cost of environmental neglect.

(Immigration Game) 

Players assume the role of an immigration officer in a fictional country experiencing political turmoil. They must make decisions on asylum applications, refugee status, and deportations while balancing their personal ethics, government policies, and public opinion.

Mechanics: Case files inspired by real refugee and immigration stories. Limited resources force tough choices: Do you approve a questionable application or follow strict policies? Multiple endings based on how compassionate or strict players are.

Message: Encourages players to think about  the challenges of immigration policies and their impact on human lives.

(Mental Health & Stigma)

Concept: emotionally driven game where players step into the mind of someone struggling with anxiety and depression. Each level represents different mental health challenges, such as social anxiety, burnout, or trauma. Players must navigate these challenges through puzzles, dialogue, and interactive storytelling.

Mechanics:  A  world that changes based on the character’s mental state. Mindfulness and coping mini-games that educate players on mental health strategies. A branching story where choices impact how the character seeks support.

Message: Raises awareness about mental health, reducing stigma and promoting empathy.