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The story of Bang!

Bang! is a social deduction game mixed with elements of resource management (your health) as well as other abilities and weapons you have to keep track of. Bang! immerses the players into its world of a spaghetti western, by the theming of all the actions and cards that you partake in, as well as the characters that you become. All of the actions from the primary means of damage; the bang! card, to other utility cards such as the beer card add to the western world that you become a part of. The greatest element I believe however is the addition of characters and their unique abilities. Not only are there a lot of different characters you can play (adding replayablility to the game), but combined with their abilities the immersion these characters add greatly enhance the game. For example in the one game we played, one of the players was El Gringo. This character conjured a western world in my mind as I inserted each character into my imaginative story. In addition, El Gringo dying at the beginning conveniently played into my expectation of who El Gringo is, and overall it became hard not to become immersed in the world of the game.

The acts of the game were pretty straight forward, however act 2 of the game tended to last the longest with act 3 either lasting equally as long or very short. To start, act 1 would be the beginning of the game as each player grows accustomed to their individual roles and characters they were assigned. Then begins act 2 which would progress until one of the characters, or the sheriff in particular was brought to 1 health. This meant that act 3 could last a long time if the players couldnt finish off the player with one health, or it could last a couple minutes as all it takes is a bang! card to finish someone off. Add in beer which can save you at the last second, as well as miss cards that can save you from dying, act 2 and act 3 are in constant flux and can constantly shift back and forth.

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5 Game Ideas 1/28 Frankie

1: A super-condensed RPG type game where two or more people compete to build a kingdom first. Progress is achieved by completing “quests” that are on a deck of quest cards. These can be real world tasks, like doing jumping jacks with one leg, or little dice-oriented combat encounters in the game world where you face off against the enemies of the king. Each quest will grant some kind of progress, whether it be new structures for the kingdom or just upgrades for your character.

2: A game about making players do questionable things in the name of victory. Players will draw a task card that determines the objective of their game. The goal is to get another player to do that task, which will usually be some obscure or random innocuous task like scratch their face or do a push up, but the stipulation is that they are not allowed to directly reference the task in any way, trying instead to manipulate each other into doing so. Every turn, players will pick a card that allows them to make other players do specific things, and these cards can be held or played immediately. Additionally, more than one of these cards can be played at a time, but the player’s goal is to use cards and persuasive competence to get at least one other player to do one thing.

3: A sci fi game intended for 2 players where each player has a capital ship, and the game is set in a space battle. Each player will draw cards from a pile that they may play one of per turn, unless otherwise specified. These cards will let them do things like sabotage their opponent, but the goal is to destroy their reactor, which can only be done by exposing it through at least 5 different successful sabotages.

4:A card game where the goal is to reach a total of 21 points exactly. The catch is that your opponents can subtract or otherwise manipulate your score.

5:A game where players battle to be the last one standing. Each player has seven cards that include attacks, defenses, and redirects. Each attack and defense will do different things as described on that card, and redirects will allow a player to redirect some damage to another player of their choosing.

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5 Game Ideas: 1/21

1: A game that’s a hybrid of risk and chess. Different units can move through the map differently, but they have power levels that allow them to capture or deal damage to other units. The objective is to either take over the map or capture the enemies’ leaders.

2:A game played with dominoes that is more of a head to head experience. Each player will gain points for matching numbers, but will also be able to subtract points from their opponent based on the difference between non-matching dominoes that are connected.

3:A head to head card game with one deck of cards between two players. Each player’s goal is to reduce the health of the other to 0. Each player starts with 5 cards, and takes turns drawing one and playing one from the deck. Cards may include weapons, attacks, armor, or other means of interrupting or otherwise defeating your foe.

4: Similar to battleship, but designed around the idea of ground units. Pieces can only attack in a range in front of them, or they may move a certain number of spaces in a turn, but not both. The game ends when one side has no units left.

5:Doodle war: A fight game using drawings. Players will draw(ha ha) cards that tell them what kind of weapon to doodle for their characters, and then they have to prove that their weapon is better than their opponent’s to deal damage. The winner is the one who hits the enemy a certain number of times first.

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Jackbox Review:Frankie

The Jackbox game titled “Patently Stupid” is in a few ways just that, but it is an overall entertaining game and I would say that it is fun. In this short review, I’ll discuss some of the positive and negative aspects of this game, and try to delve into how it succeeds, and where it doesn’t.

The game is relatively easy to play. One person acts as a host, and other players connect with either mobile devices or internet enabled computers. The benefit to this format is that most people have a cellular device, and if not, they probably do have a computer that they can use to fulfill the same purpose. The game is explained by a pair of narrators straight out the gate in very simple terms, yet the explanations themselves are very in depth and make sure to touch on the object of the game thoroughly. That being said, I did notice some slight confusion on my classmates’ faces at some points throughout the game. A disadvantage to this game specifically is that you are simply thrust straight in, and there is a surprisingly large amount to this game. It comes in 4 distinct steps, and each one is slightly different. The long and short of it is the creation of an invention to solve a nonsensical problem that is chosen by other players. Once you have finished your invention, the players convene and vote for their favorite. Only inventions that get a certain number of points are allowed to progress, or succeed, as the game puts it.

The game’s positive aspects outweigh the negatives in a lot of regards. It’s simple, the narrators employ comedy to keep it lighthearted and make sure nobody is getting too bored, the UI is clean and it matches the theme of the game, and there are two rounds, so even if you lose the first, you have a second chance. One of the advantages to this second round is that it’s slightly different than the first, and this means that everyone is competing more directly to see who can solve the problem most effectively, or in the funniest way.

Overall, I think that this game is a lot of fun, but the major downside to this particular format is that it can get repetitive during the second round. Hearing the narrator introduce the same prompt eight times is a bit much, and even though the inventions were funny and they kept interest high, this takes away a little bit from the overall experience.

Additionally, interaction with the game is done solely through a device. Though this allows for people to play remotely, as in our case, it may limit the amount of interaction that players have with each other throughout gameplay. Perhaps it was just our case, but playing over a video call made it impossible to gauge the reactions that other players had to the inventions displayed. In a more personal setting, discussion may be had about why they were good or bad, and a player could use this to their advantage during the second round. This is less a criticism of the game itself and more one of the manner in which we played it.

To conclude, I think Jackbox’s “Patently Stupid,” was an entertaining game and is fun for what it is.

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The Story of Star Fluxx

The game starts pretty innocuously. There are five of us, each with a hand of three cards. There’s a draw pile in the middle, and the rules are simple. Draw a card, then play a card. With the first draw, we begin act one of our tale.

There’s not a lot of difficulty to playing Fluxx. It’s got one main rule: that the rules change depending on the cards at play. The goal of the game is also changed by the cards played. Each player takes a turn laying down cards, changing the game, changing the rules, and as we continue into act 2, things begin to heat up. Cards are exchanging hands, people get ever closer to completing the goal, only to have it ripped away as the goal changes, and still nobody knows when the game will end.

Act three comes almost before anyone even knows it. The end of the game, as eloquently put by Professor Ames, is only really visible to the one who sees victory in sight. At the end of our game, the goal was to get two of three different cards in play. One of those cards was slowly being rotated around the table, and I had the other in my hand. As the turn passed to me, I set the rule that would allow me to win, then played the card that would give me the victory, and after multiple rule changes like draw 4 cards or play 3, the game finally ended.

Star Fluxx is an interesting game where the rules are defined by the players, but even this game can be divided into a beginning, middle, and end, it’s just difficult to see where you are until it’s too late.

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Love letter Game Review

This is a card game played with 16 cards and they all have different abilities. The object of the games is to remove all opponents by using the cards to exclude them from the game. When you are the last person standing you win a token. The person that has 4 tokens at the end wins.

This game is based on medieval characters like a prince, princess, wizard, knight, etc. All of the cards have special abilities and rules that come into play with the game. This game allows you to use deductive reasoning and strategy to play against your opponents.

In the matter of reviewing the Acts of this game, there are multiple acts throughout. The first round is essentially one act, but you play multiple rounds in order to get your tokens to win the game. Therefore, there is a larger act being completed while playing in the smaller acts. The learning curve with this game is not very difficult, but the first round is definitely helpful to understand how the game is played. Once you learn how the game is played you are able to come up with a strategy and go into the second act. Once you are in the second act, this is a very confrontational part of the game. Anything goes, and this part of the game goes quickly. Towards the end there are the rates where you feel the alarm of victory or defeat, but you are really not sure who is going to win. It all depends on how the cards are played out. So, initial game is quick, but when you play multiple games in order to get tokens the conflict lasts longer. This is where you can really drag out act 2 because multiple people can win the small games. Once you hit act 3 towards the end there can be either a clear winner, or other people can attempt to play and get more tokens. There is some strategy to winning, but there are some curveballs in there to really give you that alarm at the end.

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5 Game Ideas 1/28/2021

Kahoot and drinking combined

This game is played on a mobile device or a computer. This is where the player will fill out a questionnaire and those answers will become the questions. Once the questions are made then people will start answering the questions. If you get a question wrong you have to take one drink. If you get 3 wrong in a row you finish your drink. The person who gets the most questions correct wins.

Meme Generator

This game is also played on a mobile device. You will have a meme saying come up and you will have to go through your camera roll or your photo library to match the meme. Every person takes a turn to not play and to vote on the funniest meme created and continues. The person who reaches 21 points wins.

Mad Lib Creator

This game is played on a cell phone. This is where you have a paragraph or a story with a bunch of blank spaces in it, and you can only click on you suggested text messages. You are not allowed to type anything, but you must select the middle suggested text every time. Everyone takes a turn doing this until you finish the story.

Race Game

Mobile game or a video game. Single player or multi-player. A horse racing game where you can bet money that you earn by answering trivia questions. Once you get enough money you can bet on a horse to win the race and if you win you double your earnings. If you lose, you lose 10 points.

Shot Roulette

This will be a virtual board that you can spin and share your screen with others to show. Theres a wheel where there are different types of alcohol shots on the board. Everyone selects their guess. You bet on which one you think the arrow will land on and then if you lose you drink the shot that was picked.

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Five Game Ideas: Social Distancing

Hidden Objects

What is in the box? In a group of 4 or more people, you are given four plastic boxes and a bag of items. Each box is labeled: Person, Place, Thing, Idea. You are placed in teams. The goal of the game is to help your team guess what is in the box. One person is the clue giver and the rest of the people on the team are the guessers. The guessers have to guess what is in the box all at the same time. They cannot guess each box individually. Each team is trying to guess what is in the boxes before the other team does.

Similar to: Code Names, Clue, Taboo

Stolen Identity

Someone stole your identity in the group of people you are playing with and the goal of the game is to be the first one who finds out who. You stole someones identity in the group as well. You want to make sure you do not get caught by the others in the group.

To start, each person writes their name on a piece of paper and puts it in a bowl. Each person picks their new identity from the bowl. There is a deck of cards that have questions in the middle. Each time it is your turn, you pick up a card, read off the question and then answer the question how you think the your new identity would. You might have to be creative with your answers because you do not want people to find out who you are. After three rounds of answering questions, each person takes a guess who they think stole their identity.

Similar to: Bang, Clue, Guess Who

Build Your Way Out

This one needs some development but the theme is you and the people you are playing with are given a scenario where you are physically stuck somewhere (in a jungle, out in the ocean, underground, etc.) The goal is to be the first one to break free. I have not fully figured out what steps would be taken in order to get out and the different obstacles that would be included. The picture I have in my head is to have different questions you have to answer. If you answer incorrectly, it will be a struggle to try and get out.

Color Changes Everything

Color is important. It can be informational, emotional, exciting, scary, etc. It is time to see how other people see and feel color. You are given a color wheel. When it is your turn, you spin the wheel and land on a color. The other players do not know the color that you landed on. Your goal is to try and explain the color without saying what color it is. This game needs some obstacles because for most people, explaining colors can be easy. You win by guessing all of the colors on the color wheel.

Sell Yourself

How good are you at interviews and making yourself fit a role? For this game you are given a dice and a role (stay at home mom, grounds keeper, college student, etc.). In the game, you are applying for a new role. Every time it is your turn, you role the dice and depending on what number it lands on, you pick the card associated with that number. The cards are characteristics about your person. Once you pick up three characteristic cards, you then have to sell yourself with your characteristics to your new role. The people playing with you are the judges and have to determine if you got the job or not.

Similar to: Fun Employed

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Week 1 Game Ideas

  • Alike an upscaled version of the game cyclone in arcades. (Circle of lights that go around and you must time the button click with the light) With more players and instead of pressing the button when light comes, you must jump off a button that is underneath you. Much like a game of jump rope.
  • Each player has a different color button. You get a pattern alike simon says/ bop it and must repeat it as a team. Time slowly goes down while patterns become increasingly more challenging.
  • Shuffleboard like game with golf/hockey sticks. There are tiers of the goal. Closer to the middle is better.
  • Reaction time game where each player has a button. The game says go and you must be the fastest. But it can also fake go and if a player presses then. They get a penalty.
  • Game where each player has a hoop near them. Each person rolls dice to see how many shots they get to take at each other’s hoop. Start at a certain score and the last one knocked out wins.

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Jackbox Split The Room Review

Describe interactions between players? – There would be more of a social interaction if we were all together instead of over meet. That would add a lot more to the game. Also having more of a connection with the players would allow for people to play with inside jokes to better “split the room”. This would allow for much more to be said if the players know each other’s barriers of what can and cannot be said.

How long did it take to learn? – It took the first round as a learning curve. But after the first round I understand this game mode fully.  I may have been slightly frustrated with the learning curve if I was trying to be more competitive at the time.

Would you play it again? – Yes this is not the first time I have played and will most likely not be the last.

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Week 1 Game Ideas

Thro Fish – Played like “Go Fish” but the players are ~6 feet apart and cards are thrown. Only caught cards are added to the hand, the rest remain in the center pile.

Simple Ball Bounce – Players stand in a circle, six feet apart. Players bounce a bouncy ball to other players who try to catch it. If a player misses a ball, they are out. More balls can be added for extra difficulty.

6ft Laser Tag (AR) – A laser tag system that can be played anywhere, but players cannot shoot other players that are less than six feet away. Could include various game modes.

Infection (AR) – Similar to tag in that one player starts off “Infected” and must try to “Infect” other players. Other players are infected when an infected player is less than six feet away. Infection isn’t instantaneous, rather a progress bar slowly fills and fills faster the closer the two players are to each other. The progress bar would slowly deplete once the two players are far enough apart. Last one standing wins.

Snowless Snowball Fight (AR) – Players have targets attached to them and a set of balls. Players throw the balls at the target’s on the other players to score points.

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Jackbox Game review- Zeeple Dome

I really enjoy a lot of Jackbox games. I always find myself having fun regardless if I am in the audience or not. However watching people play Zeeple dome was not enjoyable at all. It was very frustrating. A lot of the players were not able to hear the rules announced so they did not know that they were supposed to match the colors until the game was almost over. Even though the bag guys were glowing a matching color to specific players it was still hard to catch on unless you heard the rules announced through the TV. Two of the players were also very close in color which made for some more confusion. It was also not immediately clear that you could revive other players by touching them. This is a type of game that you would have to play once first to understand if you did not hear the rules. The character design is very cute and likable however when it comes to the bad guys it was a little hard to notice their colors. This game would most likely be a game that I only play a few times just to see all of the stages and then never really play again. There is a lack of satisfaction when it comes to playing this game.

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5 Game Ideas- Social Distancing

Target Ball

Players wear vest with led targets, team members must hit opposing team members targets with soft tennis balls/foam balls. When all targets are hit you are out. The team with the last player standing wins. Can be a group game or individual.

Parachute Toss

People pair off into teams and take turns using a parachute to launch a ball into various baskets. Each basket is worth a different amount. First team to reach a certain score wins.

My Spot

Flat target with various divots is placed in the center of all players. As the start signal all players must roll balls simultaneously and try to get their balls to stay within the holes. The holes are shallow enough where players have the ability to knock other people out. Round of play lasts a certain amount of time and the person with the most points wins.

Zombie

Players must stay away from the infected. Players are given some time to hide and the zombie must find them. All players wear a band on their wrist. The band notifies hiders when a zombie is nearby(6ft). If a player and zombie make eye contact while the band is going off then the hider is now infected and becomes a zombie as well. Game ends when time is up or all hiders are found.

Shhh

Players take turns. On the table there are various items. In the center of the table is a machine/sleeping character. Players draw cards that say various different tasks they must complete. Players are given a certain amount of time and must complete as many tasks as possible without going over the sound limit of the machine. The person who completes the most tasks wins.