Ames' syllabi

Out of the Woods

A board game where players must find their way out of a forest and avoid its inhabitants by moving, placing tiles, and rolling dice.

At Sea

A board game where players explore the ocean and find land by placing tiles, moving, and drawing and playing cards.

What Dreams Are Made Of

A card game where players look for their way out of a dream world by drawing cards and choosing which action to take.

The Road Home

A board game where players try to find their way home on a map of the world by drawing cards and choosing an order to play them.

Cavern Climbers

A board game where players make their way up and out of a cave by moving, placing tiles, and drawing cards.

Original Idea:

Zodiac

            You have to match the correct personality traits to their proper zodiac signs. There are 12 zodiac signs and there are a bunch of cards that match up to their zodiac signs. There are two decks, one for the zodiac signs, and one for the traits. The person who has the closest birthday picks the zodiac sign. The object of the game is to have most of the zodiac traits for that particular sign. Everyone gets 7 cards, and you are able to see which sign they belong to. You need to have 12 different traits for the zodiac sign to win. On your turn you can put down as many traits as you want, but you can only pick up one card at a time. You can also trade your cards on your turn. You can select a player and ask to trade as many cards as you want. Since you are trading the other person needs to accept cards from you, and they can decline. If they decline you need to pick up only one card.

Metaphor:

Zodiac is a card game where you will play with two decks and try to match the correct trait with the correct signs, and whoever has the most cards at the end wins.

1. There are two decks of cards. One will say zodiac traits and the other says zodiac signs. Shuffle the decks and deal all players 5 zodiac trait cards. Do not show your cards
2. Place the zodiac sign deck in the middle of the game and then flip over one card to reveal a zodiac sign.
3. Everyone except for one player will place the trait they think goes best with the sign and then pick up another card.
4. The person who sits judges first is the person who has the closest birthday, and then goes clockwise from there
5. There is a cheat sheet for all of the signs and the person judging can determine who made the correct guess. If no one made the correct guess then all of those cards including the zodiac sign gets discarded.
6. The rounds continue in a clockwise direction.
7. The person with the most cards wins.

Original Idea

War Game

            Every Player gets a deck of cards. The deck is a specific army in history and there are cards that have attack abilities, blocking abilities, and victory abilities. The higher the card the more attack power they have. There are also blocking cards that will help block against the attacks. If you get attacked and you lose, you lose those cards. If you block, you lose the cards you block with. There is a victory card that will grant you automatic victory if you are being attacked. However, there are only 3 victory cards in your entire deck. You can play with multiple people and chose who to attack. If you do not come across a victory card, but want to win, you will have to attack and the opponent and the opponent will have to use all their cards against you and lose.

Metaphor:

This Means War is a card game that uses real life armies to battle other players armies using specific attack, block, and victory cards. You win by playing an instant victory card, or until you lose all of your attacking cards.

Rules:

1. There are two decks of cards. Each player picks their own deck, and what army they would like to use. Each army has special attack and blocking abilities.
2. Everyone will select three cards from their deck and place them face up. You will also draw 5 more cards and not show anyone.
3. You can begin attacking immediately by using one of the three cards in front of you. Your attack power is indicated at the bottom of your card.
4. If you attack an opponent with a card, they must have the same attack power or less. If you use your attack card you will need to discard it.
5. Once you discard your attack card, you will select one of the 5 cards in you hand to place upwards for everyone to see. You will draw again from your own deck.
6. You may choose to block an opponent, but only if your blocking power is more than the attack power. The opponent will lose two cards in their hand and not pick up from their deck. Once you block you must discard and replace your card. Draw from your pile.
7. If you are out of cards in your hand you lose the game.
8. If you come across a victory card in your deck you must use it immediately during your turn and you win the game.
9. You can attack multiple cards if your attack card is high enough and equals the amount you are attacking.
10. If you remove all three cards from your opponent you win the game.

1. Help, We’re Lost! (Inspired by Birdbox)

This will be a board game will need to be played by at least six people. The board will be set up as a forrest. In this forest, there will be several things like trees, lakes, and even ditches. Each player will roll two dice. What ever number the player gets is how many spaces they will be allowed to move. Even though this seems fun people might be come into contact with things such as ditches or even coyotes. The spin of this game is only one player will only be able to see what everyone is doing. The other players will need to be guided by the one player that is able to see.

2. Wandering

This will be an VR game. When placing the VR headset on, you will get five hints to something you should be looking for. After every hint, you will get a notification to see if you are close to the object or far away from the object. During this game, you will get to experience a new reality while searching for something new. If you do not find what is trying to be found, you will lose a heart (you have a total of 5). If you lose all five hearts, you lose.

3. Lost in the Rules

This is a card game. During this game, a deck of cards will be laid out in front of everyone. On each card will be a new rule. Some involving new things, others discarding previous rules. While playing, you will read the rule out to the audience and then lay in face down in a discard pile. You will have to follow each of the new rules during the whole game. The first person to mess up, loses.

4. The Strays

A card game that involves two sets of decks of cards (10 cards in one deck and only 11 in the other deck). This will only involve 2 people. One deck of cards will involve personality traits and the other deck will involve a photo of a person. You will need to try to match the 10 personalities to the 11 cards offered. When finishing the game, there will be one stray card. You will be playing to try to figure out how the person you are playing the game with would match the cards. The goal is to try to end up with the same amount of matches and the same stray card.

5. Forgotten Hits

This is a card game. This card game will be played with a group of 6 or more people. There will be four decks of cards. Each deck of cards will have several 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s lost slang terms, songs, fashion, tv shows, and hairstyles on them. Each card will have a picture of that certain song lyric, outfit, etc and you will try to work together with your group to try and remember the forgotten hit. If you do forget and would like to know, a cheat sheet will come in the box to help spark you and your friends memory. There will be no winner or loser in this game.

1. Lost In the Sauce is a game about spending as much money as possible and having less than every other opponent at the end of the game. Each player receives an equivalent amount of money at the start of the game, and from that point the rules are as follows:
   -Each player may draw one card per turn. They do not have to play it, but can play up to two per turn.
   – Each card played will contain a transaction. Some are purchases, some are trades. Purchase cards will spend some of the player’s money and will be turned over to represent an item of value. Trade cards will give money to other players in exchange for one of their items. The catch is that each item has a value, and that value will contribute to the total amount of money that a player has at the end of the game. The game ends when the deck has been completely exhausted.
   – There are items with negative value, and some with positive. A player’s total value at the end of the game is a sum of their remaining money and the value of all their items.
   -Items may be pawned off to other players, but they cannot be thrown away.
   
2. Big Stonky is a game about being horrible at investing in the stock market. Players will start the game with one stock, drawn at random from a pile of stock cards. They also start with 100 stonks (money) to invest in stocks. Each turn, a player selected dealer will flip over two stock cards from the top for each player in the game. They will be able to choose to spend some money to invest in these stocks. Each turn, if another of those stocks is flipped over, and it is purchased by another player, it’s value goes up. Players need money to purchase these stocks, so selling them is the key to getting more, but players win the game by having lost the most money out of anyone else. Stocks will lose value if they are revealed and nobody else buys them, in which case they are sent to the lost pile. If a stock is flipped three times and never bought after the first, all other instances of that stock lose their value completely, so buying your opponent’s stocks is as important as making sure yours aren’t purchased, but you need money to purchase stocks, so you need to make sure some of your stocks ARE purchased.
   -players may buy and sell only one stock each per turn.
   -the game ends when one player has lost more money than they’ve earned.
3. Contraband is a game where the goal is to “lose” items so they can’t be discovered by the authorities.
4. Lost Realm is a game where players compete to be the last survivor in a forgotten world.
5. Unfounded is a game about finding your way back from a world where the laws of physics are very different from our own.

1. Prosperous
   1. Description
      • Players gather resources in order to build their city first., however, there’s someone among them who knows the ropes, and is trying to finish their city first or take others down with them.
   2. Rules
      1. Players can only act on their turn unless specified.
      2. Each player is limited to three moves per turn.
      3. Cheaters can only act out of turn once per round.
      4. You must meet the finish criteria in order to open your city.
      5. You can only call out the cheater on your turn. (This can be at anytime during your turn)

1. High Rollers
   1. Description
      • Players lay x amount of cards (normal playing cards) out in a pattern on the table. Each player then takes turns rolling an object down the table towards the cards, and try to land on the cards. Whatever card the object lands on, the player collects. At the end of the round, each player adds up the numbers on the cards, and the hight number wins.
   2. Rules
      1. Players can’t change the layout of the cards once the game has started.
      2. If you roll off the table/playing surface, you can’t re-roll.

Trick Shot:

Description: Trickshot is a game where the players compete to master trick shots into solo cups with ping-pong balls. Using the Throw Booklet (which also has visuals on how to perform each throw), players can choose between preforming a beginner, intermediate, or advanced throw. They have 3 practice shots before the big performance. If performed correctly and accurately, the player is awarded with 1, 2, or 3 points respectively. The player at the end of the game with the most points wins.

Materials:

6 solo cups

3 ping pong balls

water

6 “throw” booklets

Rules:

1. Players have 3 practice shots before shot that counts
2. Once a level/throw are decided, it cannot be changed
3. Elbows cannot go over the end of the table
4. arrange the cups in a 3-2-1 formation, forming a triangle

How to play: First person to have turned 21 goes first. From here, rotate clockwise. Distribute throw booklets to players. First player chooses a throw to complete, and, if completed successfully, they receive the respective amount of points. To classify your throw as a success, the ball must go in, and stay in, the cup. The goal is to either successfully compete all throws, between the 3 levels, or have he highest amount of points by the end of the game. At the end of the players turn, they return the ball to the table and it is now the next persons turn.

Can You See It?:

Description: Can You See It is a game where players try and decipher color while the lighting around them changes. The text on the cards are written in colors that correspond to each color on the led light strip that is provided. This is a speed game where the first to successfully read their card and complete the task wins a point. The first to 10 points wins.

Materials:

task cards

1 led light strip

score card

Rules:

1. Each player picks a different card and has to complete the specific task on their card.
2. the first to complete the correct task accurately gets one point

How to play: Person with the worst eye sight goes first (discuss amongst yourselves) and goes clockwise from there. The player who is up picks a color from the led light strip, this is the coordinating card color that everyone picks up. Once the led light is on, everyone simultaneously looks at their card and tries to decipher what it says. The first person o read and complete their cards task gets a point.

1) In this game, people start the game with 10 “virus” tokens, and gradually either get more or get rid of the tokens based on the prompt given on the card.
2) This D&D type game gives the players a chance to create their own reality leading up to them finding their way out of the enchanted forest.
3)Lost Dog is a problem solving game for children where they interpret clues to return a lost dog back to its owner.
4) Lose Yourself is an Eminem based trivia game with fact checks and questions about the rapper and his past.
5)Lost Cause is a game in which players compete to be the biggest pain in the butt, fighting over Misfit cards and trying to be the most destructive player.

Eurydice is a board game in which players must be the first to bring Eurydice back to the world of the living by traveling across the board where they only know their progress from the hints of other players, and choosing to “look back” when they think they’ve come far enough (and looking too soon will cause a complete player restart).

Rest In Peace is a board game in which we players must put all the ghosts of a haunted area to rest by traveling to different spots and collecting the ghosts in those spots, all while new ghosts regularly appear on the board.

After the Battle is a card game in which disgraced political leaders who have just lost a war must maneuver themselves back into power by collecting cards and playing different political maneuver cards at the right times.

Clean Up Your Room is a board game in which children must find a lost item that is hidden within one of many slots in the game board by using hints from other players to determine which slot their item is in.

Lost in the Woods is a collaborative board game in which players must escape from the woods by answering riddles to clear away fog pieces covering the board, and clearing away a path out of the woods.

Witchcraft:

Pieces:

            The Main Board:

                        Has seven spaces, each labeled with their name and with symbols:

                                    Swamp (with the Eye of Newt symbol)

                                    River (with the Toe of Frog symbol)

                                    Forest (with the Wool of Bat symbol)

                                    Road (with the Houndstongue symbol)

                                    Fields (with the Adder’s Fork symbol)

                                    Townhall (with the symbol of -D)

                                    Inn (with a star symbol)

            Power Meters (1 per player)

            Detection Counters (1 per player)

            Detection Sliders (1 per player)

            Power Slider (1 per player)

            Avatars (1 per player)

            Spell Cards

            Resource Cards: Come in five types, each labeled with their name and the symbol representing them:

                                    Eye of Newt

                                    Toe of Frog

                                    Wool of Bat

                                    Houndstongue

                                    Adder’s Fork

            Event Cards

            Six sided die

The Goal:

            Be the first to reach the top of your Power Meter to win. The game ends as soon as someone does this. A player loses if they are not the first to reach the top of their Power Meter, or if they reach the end of their Detection Counter.

Setup:

            Place the Main Board in the center of the players.  Next to each player, set up a Power Meter and Detection Counter.  Give each player a detection slider and power slider. The power slider should be on the first space of the Power Meter, and the detection slider should be on the first space of the Detection Counter.

            Shuffle the spell cards and put the deck face down near the Main Board. Separate the resource cards by resource and place them face up near the Main Board.  Shuffle the event cards and place the deck face down near the Main Board.

Turns:

            When it is a player’s turn, they will:

1. Move to any space on the Main Board.  If it is still the first turn, players cannot move to the Inn space.
2. Collect the resource indicated on that space. For example, collect an Eye-of-Newt card from the Swamp.  On the Townhall space, instead of a resource, the player moves their Detection Counter down one.  The Inn is different.  See Inn section.
3. Choose either:
   1. Cast a spell using a spell card and the recipes it lists
   1. Pick up a new spell card from the deck
   1. Repeat steps 1 and 2

After all players have had their turn, one player draws an Event card from the deck. This card applies to all players.

The Inn:

By stopping at the inn, the player can collect one of every resource.  It will cost detection points.  To determine how many, the player must roll the die.

1 or 2: If the player’s Detection Counter is at seven or less, they go up 7. If the player’s Detection Counter goes up 8.

3 or 4: If the player’s Detection Counter is at seven or less, their Detection Counter goes up 5. If the player’s Detection Counter is at eight or higher, their Detection Counter goes up 6.

5 or 6: If the player’s Detection Counter is at seven or less, their Detection Counter goes up 3. If the player’s Detection Counter is at eight or higher, their Detection Counter goes up 4.

Spell Cards:

            A spell card will say three things: the resources the player must give up to cast the spell, the action that will occur as a result of casting the spell, and the spaces the player’s Detection Counter will move as a result of casting the spell.

            For example, a spell card might state that it costs 2 Eye of Newt and 1 Toe of Frog to cast, will make the player’s power go up 1, and will cost the player’s Detection Counter to go up 1 as well. A different spell card might state that it costs 4 Adder’s Fork and 2 Wool of Bat, will make the player’s Detection Counter go up 2, but will make the Detection Counter of an opposing player go up 5.

            In general, the spells with stronger effects will cost more, in either resources or Detection Counter spaces or both.

            A player can have up to 3 spell cards in their hand. In order to be able to collect a new spell card, they must either discard or cast one of the spells they have.

Resource Cards:

            There are five resources:

            Eye of Newt

            Toe of Frog

            Wool of Bat

            Houndstongue

            and Adder’s Fork

            Each card represents one resource, and states what it is on the card. The player will know what resource they are picking up when they pick up a resource card.

            There is no limit to how many resource cards a player can have in their hand.

Event Cards:

            The event cards will have their instructions written on the card, and will contain an action that will affect either all players, or all players that meet certain criteria.  They may be good or bad for the players affected.  They also may involve chance.

            For example, one event card may tell all players with a Detection Counter at less than 5 to move their Power Meter up 2. Another event card may ask each player to roll a die, and to add the number they roll to their Power Meter.  Another event might ask players to collect certain resources, or add or subtract from their Detection Counter. An event may even put a certain space off limits during the next round of turns. In that case, the effect of the card will wear off at the end of that round.

Garden Growth:

Goal:

In twelve turns, earn the most points by making the best garden possible.

Pieces:

            Garden Boards (1 per player)

Each garden board is split into four sections. Each section has three plant spaces.  Connected to each plant space are three weed spaces and three water spaces. (The weed and water spaces are designated by the faint image of the weed and water chips.)

            Plant chips

Each plant chip has a colored image of the plant on one side and blackened image of the plant on the other side.

            Water chips

            Weed chips

            Plant Reference Cards (1 per player)

These cards display all the information for each plant contained in the Plants section for easy reference during gameplay.

            Turn Reference Cards (1 per player)

                        These cards remind the player what actions can be taken during their turn.

Setup:

Each player should have a clear Garden Board, one Plant Reference Card, and one Turn Reference Card. The water, weed, and plant chips should be set out for players to pick up as needed.  The plant chips should be divided into their appropriate types.  (Carrot chips should be kept in a separate pile from the strawberry chips, and so on.) The player does not start out with any plant-they will have 1 action to plant either a strawberry or carrot plant on their first turn.

Turns:

At the start of each turn except the first, the player must:

Remove one water chip from all plants, unless a plant has a bonus exempting it.  (See Plants)

Add a weed chip to all plants, unless a plant has a bonus exempting it.

If there are no water chips left to remove, or there are no weed spaces left to put a weed chip, then the plant is dead.  Flip the plant chip over so the dead side is facing up. The plant is not dead until the start of the turn where the weed or water action cannot be taken.  If in this step the player removes the last water chip from a plant, that plant will not die until the turn where they are unable to remove another water chip.

After doing this, the player should count how many healthy plants they have left.  That number plus one is the number of actions they can take.  They can:

-Water plants.  Watering one plant uses up one action.  When you water a plant, you add one water chip to that plant.

-Kill the weeds.  Killing the weeds of one plant uses up one action.  When you kill the weeds, you remove one weed chip from that plant.

-Buy/plant new plants. Buying and planting one plant uses up different amounts of actions depending on the plant.  See Plants for specifics.  When you plant a new plant, you put a plant chip on a plant space and put the appropriate amount of water chips next to it. Players may choose to put a new plant in whichever available plant space in their garden that they wish.

When the player has used up all their actions, their turn is over.  Each player may take their turn simultaneously or in any order.  However, no player may take their second turn until all other players have taken their first, and so on for the rest of the game. There will be twelve turns in total.  After each player has completed their twelfth turn, calculate victory points.

Plants:

            Strawberries

                        Costs 1 action to purchase

                        Starts with 1 water chip

                        Bonus: Strawberries only lose water chips on even-numbered turns

            Carrots

                        Costs 1 action to purchase

                        Starts with 1 water chip

                        Bonus: Carrots only gain weed chips on odd-numbered turns

            Broccoli

Costs 2 actions to purchase

                        Starts with 1 water chip

Bonus: Broccoli gives the player 1 extra action each turn for every two broccolis in the player’s garden

            Plums

                        Costs 2 actions to purchase

                        Starts with 2 water chips

Bonus: Other plants within the same section as a plum only lose water chips on odd-numbered turns

            Blueberries

                        Costs 3 actions to purchase

                        Starts with 3 water chips

Bonus: Other plants within the same section as a blueberry only gain weed chips on odd-numbered turns

Lemon tree

                        Costs 5 actions to purchase

                        Starts with 1 water chip

Bonus: A lemon tree allows the player to revive a dead plant once per game per plant.

Plant bonuses can be combined.  For example, if a player places a strawberry (which only loses water chips on even numbered turns) in the same section as a plum (other plants in the same section only lose water chips on odd numbered turns), the strawberry would not lose any water chips.

If a plant dies, any plants in its section will no longer be affected by the dead plant’s bonus.

Determining Victory:

1. Count up living plants. Each player gets 1 point for each living plant in their garden.
2. Add bonus points for types of plants.  Each living lemon tree gives a player an extra 3 points, blueberries give an extra 2 points, and broccoli and plums each give an extra 1 point.
3. Every player that has filled all twelve plant spaces of their garden gets an extra 5 points.  (If a player has filled their garden but some of the plants are dead, they still receive this bonus.)
4. Add 1 point for every 4 water chips still in the garden.
5. Subtract 1 point for every 2 weed chips still in the garden.
6. Subtract 2 points for every dead plant.
7. If a player has filled one section of their garden with all of one type of plant, they receive 1 bonus point.

The player with the most points wins.