Category: Game Ideas

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Anansi Web of tricks Second Playtest: Observations and Adjustments

Second Playtest: Observations and Adjustments

Feedback:

After the changes implemented following the first playtest, the second playtest revealed several positive improvements and areas for minor refinement:

1. Improved Game Flow:

• Players noted that the simplified turn structure (one major action per turn) made the game much smoother and faster.

• The pacing issues from the first playtest were largely resolved, with rounds progressing quickly without feeling rushed.

2. Balanced Offense and Defense:

• The rebalanced Mischief Cards and character abilities created a satisfying interplay between offensive actions (e.g., Steal, Forced Draw) and defensive strategies (e.g., Tiko the Tortoise’s ability to block Mischief Cards or Zari the Owl’s ability to draw and discard strategically).

• Players felt that they had meaningful choices each turn, contributing to a sense of control and engagement.

3. Card Readability:

• While the game mechanics were praised, players suggested improving the visual design of the cards for better readability.

• Specific Issues: Fonts for numbers and card effects were sometimes too small or overly stylized, making them harder to read at a glance.

• Impact: This caused minor delays during gameplay, particularly for new players unfamiliar with the card effects.

4. Character Abilities:

• Although the abilities were better balanced compared to the first version, some characters still felt slightly overpowered or underwhelming:

• Overpowered: Anansi’s ability to swap a card remained strong, particularly when combined with certain Mischief Cards.

• Underwhelming: Fari the Hyena’s ability to skip an opponent’s turn by making them laugh felt inconsistent in effectiveness.

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Ananasi Web of tricks(Version 2)

Version 2: Developing the Game

Changes Made:

  1. Streamlined Deck:
  • Reduced Trick Cards to 20 and renamed them Mischief Cards to avoid confusion with the Trick suit.
  • Removed Wild Cards entirely.
  1. Simplified Turn Structure:
  • Limited each player to one major action per turn:
  • Play a Number Card OR
  • Use a Mischief Card OR
  • Activate a character ability.
  1. Balanced Abilities:
  • Adjusted character powers to be fairer and more strategic:
  • Anansi: Changed from “swap hands” to “swap one card with another player.”
  • Tiko the Tortoise: Adjusted to block one Mischief Card per round.
  1. Improved Card Effects:
  • Mischief Card effects were focused on individuals or small groups, reducing group-wide disruptions.
  • Example: “Wild Distractions” was changed from forcing all players to pass cards to targeting one player.

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Anansi Web of Tricks, 1st version

Initial Version

The initial design included 30 Number Cards, 40 Trick Cards (now Mischief Cards), and 10 Wild Cards. Concerns were raised during playtesting:

  • Pacing Issues: Too many options per turn slowed the game.
  • Unbalanced Rules: Powerful Mischief Cards (e.g., Wild Distractions) targeted all players, disrupting flow and frustrating younger participants.
  • Unclear Design: Fonts and text placement on the cards needed adjustments for readability.

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WEEK 6

Concept and Rule Set: Anansi the trickster
PROTOTYPE 1
• Theme: Inspired by Anansi, the trickster spider, with gameplay focused on outwitting opponents.
• Objective: Be the first player to discard all cards while using abilities and trick cards to sabotage others.
• Deck Composition:
• Number Cards: 30 cards across 3 suits (Trick, Trap, Action), numbered 1-10.
• Trick Cards: 40 cards with various actions (e.g., stealing cards, reversing turns, forcing draws).
• Wild Cards: 10 cards to match any suit or number.
• Character Cards: 10 unique trickster characters, each with special abilities.
• Turn Structure:
1. Play a card to match the top card on the discard pile by suit or number.
2. Play a Trick Card or Wild Card at any time.
3. Use character abilities at any time during a turn.
4. Draw a card if no playable options exist.
• Winning: First player to discard all cards wins.

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Cat Game (Looking For Opinions)

Some of you guys played my cat game and left some awesome suggestions. Here are some updates I’d like to add to it, and Character ideas I would like for people to have.

Character Ideas:

  • King Cat (White Siamese)(can smack anyone they want down one level, only once)
  • Ragdoll Cat (Prone to falling over, but can discard other disadvantage cards)
  • Black Cat (Best luck in the whole game!(Can pick 2 cards from activity )
  • Orange Cat (Can steal out of anyone’s deck, but cant see which card they get)
  • Trash cat(Can steal one treat from one person each turn)

Character cards will always be picked randomly (Need more character Ideas, feel free to tell me if these need changed too!)

New Ideas:

Instead of Treats moving you up a level, you can spend/eat your treats on different items and abilities to help you move up a level.

Card Ideas:

  • Cat Fight- Two Players roll dice, whoever gets bigger number gets to pick something out of other players hand
  • Laser Pointer- Distract other players (need an idea for the rest of this)
  • Vacuum Cleaner- Everyone looses treats (Play Immediately)
  • Eat your treat- Forced to discard 3 of your treats (Play Immediately)
  • Biskets- Benefit card

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Collecting Games

Hungry Hungry Chopsticks

In this game, it has a base sort of like hungry hungry hippos. In the game though, you have to put the small balls in your corner by picking them up with chopsticks. You must pick up the ball and not roll it back to your side. The whole point behind this game is for it to be funny to watch people try and pick up spheres with chopsticks.

Mega Jacks

For a while, I have wanted to create a very large jacks game. Jacks is a simple game that involves you bouncing a ball and grabbing small metal “jacks” before the ball hits the ground. To make this big, you would need a ball roughly the size of a dodgeball, and jacks that are similar sized. When it comes to collecting games, this in an interesting take on a classic game.

Luck of the Lottery

This game is a traditional board game, but the catch is that the only way to collect money is by “scratching” a lottery ticket after each turn. These lottery tickets would just be not scratched on one side and scratched on the other so you may reuse them. Most of the cards would be losers, with some giving a bit of money and some giving a lot.

RMU Runners

This game is more or less a joke (for legal reasons). In this game, all of your players start in one room. You each draw a card from a standard deck of cards to determine order in which you go. If your turn is up, you must run around campus and take parking tickets off of peoples cars so the police force does not administer more tickets. The key is going first because you will have to run farther to find tickets when close by ones run out. The player with the most tickets at the end of the round wins, and you play to the first person to win three rounds.

Ground Hog Hunt

The aim of this game is to collect photos of groundhogs. All players will meet at the Gazebo, and will start the round with a timer for 5 minutes. Each player will run off and attempt to get photos of groundhogs. The player with the most photos of separate groundhogs at the end of the 5 minutes wins. Photos taken withing 5 feet of the groundhog rewards double points for that photo. If you manage to capture a groundhog, you instantly win the game (legally never said this).

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games on collecting

  1. relic seekers

a game revolving around collecting artifacts found around in caves and maps. you travel around the map and when you land on certain spaces you spin the wheel and see what artifact you collect, you want to get the artifacts that have the best value to sell to the museums and you want the most money at the end of the games.

2. critter garden

each player has a garden that they can inhabit with multiple different creatures. each critter needs 2 of a kind to be placed to live in the garden. the first to fill their garden wins.

3. galaxy collector

it starts with getting all of the different components from the draw pile to make different parts of a galaxy form planets to stars to meteors to moons. their are different kinds of planets that you can get and each set of planets and moons make different types of galaxy’s

.4. time traveler gallerys

its is like your playing as doctor who, you travel through time with the board and their are different things to collect to get out of each time and specific things you can take with you to put into your gallery. each time has its own cards and the first o get an item from each time wins.

5. fruit salad

people draw cards and try and collect the same types of ingredients for salad, whether it be fruit, veggie, pasta salad they all have certain cards that go to build them, you must take and hold on to cards without others knowing what you have. you try and get the most ingredients to get points and certain ingredient can have multiple to get more points.

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Game ideas(Collecting)

  1. Anansi’s Web of Tricks is a trickster strategy game in which players collaborate and compete to discard their hands by using character abilities and trick cards to outwit and manipulate each other. Players collect trick cards, action cards, and number cards, which they use strategically to discard their hand and manipulate the game.
  2. Temple Path is a tile-laying adventure game in which players collaborate to build paths toward the center of the temple while using action cards to assist each other or overcome obstacles. Players collect path tiles and action cards that help them build routes toward the center of the temple.
  3. Corporate Espionage is a strategy board game in which players act as rival executives in a high-stakes corporate world, collaborating with or sabotaging others to secure the most resources by using underhanded tactics, corporate spies, and bribes. Players collect resources, such as money, insider information, and influence, by using spies, bribes, and underhanded tactics
  4. Sabotage Heist is a real-time card game in which players compete as thieves on a heist, secretly sabotaging each other’s plans while trying to pull off the perfect crime by using bluffing, deception, and carefully timed traps. Players collect valuable loot during the heist while using bluffing cards and sabotage tools to prevent others from succeeding
  5. The Saboteur’s Ball is a social deduction party game in which players are attendees at an elite gala, trying to identify who the secret saboteurs are while undermining each other’s efforts to influence key figures by spreading rumors, planting evidence, and setting traps.
    Players collect rumors, evidence, and influence as they try to identify the secret saboteurs and undermine other attendees at the gala
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Carcassonne Review

Was it fun?

Personally, I thought this game was a lot of fun. It had a lot of strategy involved, which to me is fun.

What were the player interactions?

The player interactions includes us bartering to place pieces in certain spots if we needed them, and placing pieces in spots to make the opponent have a disadvantage.

How long did it take to learn?

This one was pretty easy to learn, but it took a while to understand how the point system worked. The farmers, roads, etc all have different values so I did not understand how bad I was doing at first.

Would you play it again?

No, simply due to the games length.

Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.

In the beginning, you start by placing your first cards and slowly start to build small structures. In the middle, you start to place bigger structures all while screwing other people over. In the end, you finish your structures and the game ends. Once you count your points, the one with the most wins.

What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game?

There aren’t really any ways to collaborate other than working together with another player to finish a structure. For the competitive aspects, it is basically the same in reverse by working with players in order for someone not to finish what they were trying to build.

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout?

The metaphor that I think of is that it is a game of life, and each tile you place represents your future. But each tile you look back on is the past, and it cannot be changed.

The game mechanics that stick out most to me are the builder pieces, which is a nice addition that makes it easier to finish structures. But also, I find it interesting how once the game is coming to an end, everyone is looking for that one specific piece they need, basically gambling on whether or not they will ever find it.

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Game Ideas: Red Solo Cups

Battle Cups

Battle Cups is a game Owen and I worked on last year, and I still believe that it is flawed and needs a revisit. The concept of the game is that you are playing battleship, but instead of trying to guess exact spots, you are shooting a ping pong ball into the cups. It adds a sense of skill to battleship, which others and I seemed to enjoy last year.

Cup Darts

This game is a teammate game in which you switch positions every turn, while also playing against another team. In this game, it starts by having a dartboard on the ground like a cornhole board, and you have to throw a red solo cup with a dart attached to the bottom at the board. It behaves much like normal darts, but your teammate that did not throw the dart has the chance to throw a ping pong ball at the cup. If the hit the cup, it is a 2x multiplier, and if you make it inside the cup it is a 3x multiplier. You can play this with any traditional dart game, such as cricket or 301.

Structural Integrity

In this game, you are given a deck of cards that are custom made for the game. On each card, is a different structure that you have to attempt to make out of red solo cups. In a separate deck of cards, there is a required weight that your structure has to hold. (EX: One pound, 1/2 pound, etc.). The way you win the round is by your structure being able to withstand the weight you have drawn. First player to 3 rounds won wins. To wrap this game up, why not add a classic sand timer as well.

Towers

In this game, you are given a large stack of red solo cups. The objective of this game is to create the largest or most creative structure out of red solo cups possible. You have 5 minutes in order to make your structure. At the end of the 5 minutes, the person with the largest or most creative structure wins.

Flip Cup Race

In this game, it is much like a normal game of flip cup. But instead, you will line 10 cups on the edge of the table and be on teams of 2. You will start about 10 feet away from the table and when the buzzer sounds, you run to the table and attempt to flip your first cup. If you do not land the cup, you must try again until you do so. If you do land the cup, you must run back and tag your teammates hand to let him go flip a cup. You keep alternating turns until the other team finishes first, or you finish your cups first.

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Sara Estus – 5 Collecting Games

  1. Forager – This game is about gathering different types of mushrooms, using a board and little tokens with small mushroom drawings on them, the idea of the game is to collect similar edible mushroom species. However, there are many chances to stumble upon toxic mushrooms! If you accidentally gather a toxic species, you will lose several mushrooms in your basket written on the token – i.e.: Ink Cap Mushroom = Lose 3. The board is set up with multiple sections where mushrooms will grow, these “Forests” can provide more opportunities for gathering similar mushrooms, but you can only be in the same forest for two turns. This game is very similar to Takenoko
  • A Box for my Trinkets! – This game is about collecting trinkets, each player has a unique box where they will collect and hold their trinkets, however, you are given one “style card” that will vaguely tell you what size, style, and type of trinkets you can collect. Don’t worry though, there will be dozens of trinkets that can fit these requirements, it’s all about trading, bargaining, and gifting your fellow collectors (other players). Such as when they want to trade you have to give them something in exchange. Other players will not be able to tell what trinkets you have, and you’re meant to keep them a secret! The goal to win the game is to have a box full of trinkets that fit your “style card” and a special trinket that is golden – your most prized possession.
  • Green Thumb – A game about having a lot of houseplants, but only a little bit of room! The idea of this game is that you start with 4-5 house plants, You’ll begin with a room space with a window and some shelves, At the beginning of the game, you get a few plants that will tell you where your plants go in the room if you have the space, correct lighting, and proper temperature, your plants have a good chance of surviving. Now the idea of the game is to fill the space and keep your plants alive, the greener the better! Once you have filled your space and feel that your plants are of the highest quality of life, you win! However, there are many opportunities for pests to infect your plants, plants of optimal quality will begin to flower and spread – or cuttings will need to be harvested. This factor will be decided by chance, and each player will have a different affect happen every two turns.
  • Media – Mediums – A game about gathering up different experiences through trying new art mediums. Each player will begin the game with one art medium that they are good at, and throughout the game, they will have to gather different unique art mediums that can not only benefit the medium they have already mastered but also create something that represents all mediums and their uniqueness. (This game is more of a long-term commitment, so I’m not sure how well this would work irl)
  • To be a Frog – Though this game a self-explanatory, this game is about being a frog. You must establish an area in the pond where you will eat, sleep, and lay your eggs. The way to achieve this is to collect lily pads for your pond and ensure you have eaten enough flies to establish your area and avoid predators. At the beginning of the game you will start with a card that explains what your frog has as skills, are you able to eat more than 4 flies? Are you a poisonous frog that can ward off predators more easily than others? The way to win this game is to establish your home, create future generations, and establish a food source.
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King of Tokyo & Bonanza Game Response/ Collecting Game Ideas- Colin Kenny

King of Tokyo Response

Was it fun? It was, but not my favorite.

What were the player interactions? It always felt like we were attacking each other no matter what.

How long did it take to learn? 10 minutes

Would you play it again? Yes

Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. Start of the game we decided whether to go for points or taking out other players. Then people started to be killed and it became a battle between just two people and then one eventually came out on top.

What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? It was purely competitive, but it was quick enough to make you want to try again

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? I guess there was no real metaphor except for giant monsters trying to kill each other. The dice rolling mechanic for points, healing, or attacking combinations was the main focal point and a fun alternative to always just drawing cards.

Bonanza Response

Was it fun? Not really

What were the player interactions? We spent so much f*cking time trading and talking that we only got through the deck once and had to end the game.

How long did it take to learn? 10 minutes, with help from Ames

Would you play it again? Nah

Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. 1. Figuring out how the game works and the best bean combinations, 2. Getting the hang of the order of operations and beginning to trade better. 3. Realizing the game is too close to call and finding out who has the most coins

What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? Trading was a key element and as I said we spent much more time than we probably should have trying to trade and team up.

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? The metaphor I got from it was “Don’t play games with the theme of f*cking dumb*ss beans.”

5 Game Ideas

You’re a Geologist! – Players take rocks from a limited selection and try to keep the other players from stealing them.

Ooh Shiny- Players must avoid being distracted by shiny objects and get out of the treasure cave alive.

Swap Meet- Players buy and sell good to and from each other to get the best collection sets for the most points.

Tooth Fairies- Players draw card sets and compete to try to collect an entire set of teeth.

Knick Knack Tower- Players play card in their hand to build their knick knack tower the highest or with the most pieces.

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Game Ideas – Collecting

5 Games about Collecting

  1. Beach Collecting – The goal is to have the most points by collecting the most valuable items that you find on the beach. Cards will have pictures of different treasures found on the beach like beach glass, different types of seashells, and beach garbage. You get negative points every time you find beach garbage, because of the extra effort of having to get rid of it. When you draw a card, it automatically goes into your collection. However, you may also choose from the face up cards (more rare), but you have to pay for it using coins. Coins are obtained by selling your treasures. 
  2. Extraterrestrial Expedition – In this game, players travel across the galaxy, stopping at various planets where they must leave with a souvenir. The planets could be fictional or nonfictional. Players must complete challenges when they arrive at the different planets, making it difficult to obtain souvenirs. Souvenirs are worth the most points but players can also obtain points by collecting stars throughout their journey. 
  3. Taste Trek – This is a collaborative game where players must work together to reclaim an evil creature’s sense of taste. Otherwise, they will be eaten because he won’t know how bad the players taste. Players must travel to different dimensions representing different elements of taste like sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. Players must complete challenges to collect each element of taste. 
  4. Plushie Collector – A game about collecting different plush stuffed animals. Every player has their own goal that they are working towards for their collection and they want to complete their collection before the other players. 2-3 goal cards are dealt to each player at the beginning of the game, players select one goal to work at for the entirety of the game, and the others are discarded. Plush must be purchased using resources that include stuffing and characteristic tokens that represent the personalities of the different plushies. 
  5. Crystal Collector – Plastic “Crystal”s are jumbled around in a box or bag, like you are panning for them. You randomly select 3 out of the pan to add to your collection. The goal of the game is to be the first person to complete 7 objectives or phases, which involve collecting certain amounts of crystals. The mechanics of this game are like Phase 10, where you can advance onto the next phase or objective when you complete it, but not all the other players will be able to move on.

Some other collecting games from previous weeks

  1. Scavenger duck (thanks to Sara) – students are encouraged to collect 1 duck of every color across campus. Students bring the ducks to a centralized hub where they get a punch card of sorts that marks that they collected that color of duck. Ducks are collected so that cheating is eliminated. For completing this, the participants could get a stuffed animal duck (to give incentive to play and not just keep the cute ducks). 
  2. Art Collectors (Billionaires Purchasing Art) – 
    • Art masterpiece cards (that don’t resemble other pieces of art to avoid copyright issues)
      • Below the painting on each card is the art description plaque that lists relevant details such as how much the art is worth, it’s period or movement (Renaissance, contemporary, etc.), the year/years the artwork was created, and maybe a little made up artist name for funsies
      • Players bid on pieces of art by laying face-down a combination of up to 3 Asset cards (cards that represent wealth but are just random objects that a rich person might own like Yacht or Personal Jet). Each Asset Card has a number of points that correlate to the value of the object (not the same as money). If all other players do not choose to bid (after the first player who is bidding has already laid down their bid), the bidder automatically claims the art masterpiece card and all of the Asset cards are discarded. If another player bids on the same art card, the player with the highest bid wins (the total number of points when adding all cards layed down). In the event of a tie, the auction closes, and that art card is discarded. 
      • Collection objective cards are how a player scores points in the game. These will say something like “collect one artwork from the Baroque period) or “collect one artwork that has a value of $X”. Depending on how difficult the collection objective card is, points earned from completing collection objective cards will vary. 
      • Like my Fixer Upper Idea, and the currently existing games DiXit and Bob Ross Art of Chill, players would have a token that represents them that moves along a spectrum of points, with whoever reaching the end of the spectrum winning. 
  3. Garden Sabotage! is a card game in which gardeners (aka the players) compete to have the best garden by collecting cards, planting plants, and sabotaging others with bugs.
  4. Bug Collector
    • Bug Collector is a card game in which players compete to complete their bug collection first by collecting bugs that fit certain requirements for their collection.
      • This is a card game where players race to complete their bug specimen collection first. There are certain requirements to their bug collection like they must have one arachnid, one moth, etc. These requirements are player specific and are determined by randomly dealing requirement cards to players. When players collect an insect, they can play it by placing it on their own board. I’m open for suggestions about how player  can possibly obtain these cards in a unique way to make it a little more interesting and challenging. I see this more as a “cozy” game, if that makes sense.