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Week 2 Playtest Questions

Munchkin Gloom

  1. Was it fun?

Overall, Munchkin Gloom was a fun game to play.

  1. What were the player interactions?

The player interactions included applying positive self-worth to other players’ cards, getting positive self-worth from other players, and interacting with event cards.

  1. How long did it take to learn?

Munchkin Gloom took about half an hour to learn. The game was really confusing at first.

  1. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?

The most frustrating moment of the game was when my characters would get killed with a self-worth score of zero.

  1. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?

I really enjoyed the event card where I could take one card off of one character that belonged to each player.

  1. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?

I wanted to revive my dead characters.

  1. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?

I would add a rare card that allows players to revive dead characters to try and get a lower self-worth score on them.

  1. Is this a game you would play again?

Knowing what I know now, I would play the game again. My greater knowledge will make the game more fun and interesting since I know how the self-worth system works.

Sushi Go!

  1. Was it fun?

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing Sushi Go!

  1. What were the player interactions?

The player interactions included passing the cards around until nobody had any cards left.

  1. How long did it take to learn?

The game took about 5-10 minutes to learn. However, the chopsticks card was confusing to me and didn’t make sense for a good bit.

  1. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?

The most frustrating moments were when I didn’t get a card that complemented another.

  1. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?

My favorite moments were when I was able to stack as many cards as possible to earn the most points.

  1. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?

There was nothing I wanted to do that I couldn’t.

  1. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?

I wish there were some sort of trading system in the game.

  1. Is this a game you would play again?

I would play Sushi Go! again. I have a much better understanding of the flow and how certain cards work. I think it would be even more fun than the first time playing.

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Week 2 Reading Questions

Madison Hurst

  • Question Set 1
    1. What Mechanics would you like to use for a game with a theme that revolves around being the size of a nanometer? – I think it would be interesting to make the players feel tiny, and very aware of the sizing throughout the duration of the game. I think it would be cool to make the players complete different tasks, and “going against” different scales.
    2. Who are you making games for? – This game could be played by 9-15 year olds. I think with this theme it could be used as a fun game to play in science class or just in general.
    3. Who will be your play testers outside of class? – My play testers could be my roommates or since my mom teaches 6th grade science she could let them play the game since they are within the age range.
  • Question Set 2
    1. Can you think of a game you were able to play without referring to the rules? – I am able to play UNO or BS without needing to refer back to the rules.
    2. How do you define what a game is? – I would define a game as immersive environment that encapsulates the player and keeps them interested in the game. A good game is when it is so fascinating that the player will not break focus from it. Furthermore, a game typically has a specific set of rules that users have to follow as they attempt to win in the end.
    3. What features can make your games more intuitive? – Some features that can make my game more intuitive is having a consistent rules, color scheme, and readable cards/boards.
  • Question Set 3
    1. What was your gateway game? What do you play to introduce others to gaming? – My gateway game was either UNO or SushiGo! I love both of these games and they are still a staple game my family and I play. I would play UNO if I had to introduce other people to gaming because it is an extremely quick game to pick up, and will keep the player interested.
    2. What features do gateway games share?- Some features that gateway games share is simple rules, engaging, able to understand or see who won easier, and approachable.
    3. What are the 10 beautiful mechanics and what should you aim for with your own? – Kingmaker’s Noblesse Oblige,  BattleTech’s Heat, Set’s Set-making, Magic Card Tapping, Battle Cattle Cow tipping rule, xXxenophile’s Popping, Bohnanaza’s, Mississippi Queen Paddlewheels, Times Up Communication breakdown, Dominions constant shuffling. These games are important because they are all considered to be extremely engaging and successful. By going off of how they were created and how they were designed is the baseline when making your own. These games give you reference points of what games have good mechanics.
    4. How does luck and strategy factor in to game play? – Luck and strategy play a big factor into game play because it can be out of your control. When playing, you are not in control of the cards you get or the action that another player does. Strategy is important because this is the part where you are in control of. This is when you are making plans and actions that is aiming to set yourself up to win. Moreover, I believe that skills is a factor as well. It is the knowledge that you had prior to the game, and are able to utilize throughout. Skills enable you to potentially make the right decision at the right time.

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5 Game Ideas Using Cards

  1. Bullsuit- Like the card game Bullshit, this variation would focus on suits rather than ranks. Instead of going in numerical order, players would take turns claiming to play a certain number of hearts, diamonds, spades, or clubs. Since it’s harder to track suits than numbers, this version adds an extra layer of difficulty and bluffing.
  2. Match Four- In this game, each player is dealt four cards, and the remaining cards form a draw pile with the top card flipped face-up to start a discard pile. Players take turns drawing one card from either the draw pile or the discard pile and then discarding one card face-up. The goal is to collect four cards of the same rank(numbers/face cards), and the first player to achieve this immediately wins the round. If the draw pile runs out, the discard pile is shuffled to create a new draw pile so play can continue. For longer play, players can keep score by awarding points to round winners, and the first to reach a set number of points wins the game.
  3. Chips– This card game is played with a standard deck and a set of chips, with one player acting as the dealer while the rest take turns guessing the value of the top card. On each turn, a player makes a first guess at the card’s value; if correct, the dealer must place that card’s value in chips into the player’s pile. If the guess is wrong, the dealer announces whether the actual card is higher or lower, and the player makes a second guess. If the second guess is correct, the dealer takes that card’s value in chips from the player, but if it is still wrong, the player instead pays chips equal to the difference between their guess and the actual card’s value. Each revealed card is placed face up so players can track what has already been played, and if the dealer avoids losing chips for three consecutive turns, the role of dealer passes to the next player. The game continues until the deck is exhausted or the players run out of chips.
  4. Power– This card game is built around bluffing and power plays using money. Each player starts with two cards that represent different real-life positions, such as a Politician, Banker, Lawyer, CEO, or Journalist. These cards determine which roles the player can claim to be. On their turn, a player can use the action of the role they claim, whether they actually have that card or not. For example, the Banker might collect extra money, the Lawyer might block someone from taking money, the CEO could demand money from another player, and the Politician might remove another player’s influence. Since players can lie about their roles, others may call them out, and if the bluff is exposed, the liar loses a card, but if the challenge fails, the accuser loses a card instead. Players spend money to “overthrow” opponents, aiming to knock them out of the game by removing their positions. The last player with a surviving role wins.
  5. Grocery Run!- Similar to the game Sushi Go! Grocery run would have the same actions of starting with a  certain amount of cards, picking one and laying it down, then passing the hand to the next player until the hands are gone. This continues until all cards have been played, simulating a fast-paced “shopping trip.” Unlike Sushi Go!, where the goal is to score the most points, the objective in Grocery Run! is to build the cheapest grocery cart. Each card represents different grocery items with varying costs, and players aim to minimize their total spending while still managing their cart wisely. Special coupon cards add an extra layer of strategy, allowing players to reduce the cost of certain items or cancel out expensive ones. At the end of the round, players tally up the value of their carts, and the lowest total wins.
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Animation Experiment 2

This is my second rendition of animating my sheep. I added more sheep, texturized the elements, and added movement to the flowers. My export settings washed out the color on the flowers, unfortunately. For my next version, I’ll have to fix that, add a shepherd, and smooth out the movements. What do you think? Any suggestions?

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5 Game Ideas On Campus

  1. CA Scavenger Hunt: This game takes place across the freshman dorms, with each residence hall competing as a team. The objective is: be the first dorm to take a selfie with every CA from the freshman buildings. By working together, residents not only bond with their teammates but also get to know their CAs and connect with other students across campus. There could also be a prize involved for the building that wins.
  2. Cafe Race: In this tame based game, players start outside Nicholson and race to build the best meal possible. Each food item has a point value based on effort and wait time. For example, a custom sandwich from the deli line is worth more points than a quick slice of pizza. The challenge is balancing speed with strategy: players must decide whether to grab fast, low-value items or risk waiting longer for higher-value choices. The winner is the player who assembles the highest-scoring meal in the shortest amount of time. 
  3. Capture the Coffee Cup: This campus twist on Capture the Flag replaces the flag with a coffee cup. Two teams are against each other, both representing a campus coffee shop: Saxby’s or Romo’s/Starbucks. The objective is to infiltrate the opposing team’s territory, steal their coffee cup, and bring it back safely to your side. Just like the classic game, teamwork, strategy, and speed are key to victory.
  4. Romo Hunt: Inspired by Pokémon Go, this mobile game would send students across campus in search of digital Romos. Using a campus specific app, players walk around to discover and collect Romos that appear at different locations. The more Romos a student finds, the more points they earn. To keep the game dynamic, Romos would respawn and move every few minutes or hours, encouraging students to stay active and explore new areas of campus.
  5. Foot-Volley: Played on the campus sand volleyball courts, this game combines soccer with volleyball. Students form small teams of 4–5 players to keep the game fast and engaging. Players aren’t allowed to use their hands or arms. Instead, they must rely on their feet, legs, chest, and head to pass, set, and spike the ball over the net.
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(9/4/2025 Meredith_B) Reading/Homework Questions

Question Set 1

  1. What Mechanics would you like to use for a game with a theme that revolves around being the size of a nanometer?
    • I think having a jumping or shrinking system would be cool. Jumping in context of jumping over/around household objects, or shrinking to open the opportunities to have a tall and tiny version of the game (Like Antman)
  2. Who are you making games for?
    • I want to make fun for ages 12+ as that is a good range to have some somewhat complex mechanics, but also to keep the game easy to understand, allowing for my game to reach wider audiences and be a generally family friendly game.
  3. Who will be your play testers outside of class?
    • Mostly friends/peers, since I am too far away from home to test board games on younger family

Question Set 2

  1. Can you think of a game you were able to play without referring to the rules?
    • Uno,Life,Cards Against Humanity, Blackjack
  2. How do you define what a game is?
    • A game is something that has a set of rules to push players into a state of mind for some kind of goal to be completed in some way.
  3. What features can make your games more intuitive?
    • Keep point values/ important information is placed on cards or game pieces so they are always visible and can be easily referenced.

Question Set 3

  1. What was your gateway game? What do you play to introduce others to gaming?
    • It depends on if its for tabletop or video games. For tabletop games my gateway game was Candyland, and Minecraft was for videogames. To introduce people to games, I would offer them UNO and MInecraft or Roblox, since they are easy to understand and can be adjusted and there are multiple versions and ways to branch out, and starts a good foundation for other games.
  2. What features do gateway games share?
    • Easy to pick up, simple concept and rules, and can be understood by 99% of the population.
  3. What are the 10 beautiful mechanics and what should you aim for with your own?
    • Kingmaker’s Noblesse Oblige,  BattleTech’s Heat, Set’s Set-making, Magic Card Tapping, Battle Cattle Cow tipping rule, xXxenophile’s Popping, Bohnanaza’s hand order rule, Mississippi Queen Paddlewheels, Times Up Communication breakdown, Dominions constant shuffling. As a gamemaker, you should aim to understand and use these guidelines as a bar to go above in order to make your game successful.
  4. How does luck and strategy factor in to game play?
    • It adds a factor that the game can always keep changing until the final moment and keeps the player engaged. It’s no fun when one person is always winning, so luck can help anyone win, and strategy can be used to push the factors of luck more to help someone win.

Homework: 

  1. Game similar to uno, but its collecting cards instead of getting rid of them
  2. Card game version of battleship?
  3. Dress up based card game, score points based on outfits
  4. Zombie apocalypse card game, have to pick teams
  5. Interior decorator card game, based on locations of decor gives points

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(9/4/2025_MeredithB) Playtest: Bohnanza

  1. Was it fun?
    • I didn’t really enjoy the game, it was a weird premise and the game itself was difficult to understand. We had to watch a video to understand it (I still did not understand it) instead of reading the rules, and overall I did not enjoy the game. It didn’t really have a major goal other than collecting coins, which was a very passive goal, and that was it.
  2. What were the player interactions?
    • There was, so in the game you either have to trade or donate cards if you don’t want them. This caused a lot of arguing and negation to be made in order to get the cards we wanted, but also to give away cards so we don’t have to deal with them.
  3. How long did it take to learn?
    • 1hr+, at least for me. I was still trying to understand and learn the game for the entire time, in comparison my peers understood it quicker, but it would have been closer to 20-30 minutes for them.
  4. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
    • Just trying to understand what a “turn” is within the game and how to properly play. It changed how many things could be planted and played depending on trades, and overall I could never tell if I accidentally played too much, or I was essentially skipping my turn.
  5. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
    • The premise and conceptual idea of the game was cool, but I just didn’t like any of it. The playstyle, the rules, and even the look of the cards weren’t for me, but I can understand how this game would be desirable for others.
  6. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
    • Buy more plots of land, you were only allowed to have 3 plots, I wish you could have 4 or even 5 instead. However I understand why players are not allowed to do this, as it would take away from the sacrifice that can be made based on trades.
  7. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
    • The artwork was not for me, and in general I would change the whole game so it isn’t Bohnanza. The game just isn’t for me like I have stated, so I would change the whole aspect of the game.
  8. Is this a game you would play again? Yes _____ No ______ Why
    • Nope, I didn’t enjoy the game or the concept of the game, so I would not go out of my way to play it.
  9. Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.
    • (Act 1: Start) The start was setting up plots, learning the rules and getting your starting hands. This section was the quickest since it was just distribution of cards and taking things out of the box. (Act 2: Middle) This was the longest section, lasting over an hour, and would have been longer if we would have followed the rules and went through the deck 3 times. This section, due to the nature of the game, was designed to be the longest. (Act 3: End) Although this section would have been longer if we played longer, it only took a few minutes since the only point system is whoever has the most coins in the end.
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5 game ideas that can be played using cards

  1. Similar to SushiGo, there would be a card game about books where you have to match the name of the book to the blurred-out photo of the cover, which you can then stack with the name of the author for more points. And the more of the series of books that the author has that you get within your set, the more points you have.
  2. Another card game idea I had was that every player has a theme and some cards, there are  Lego pieces you can mix and match, but each player must pull blindly out of the stack of cards as the person goes around and randomly selects a card, and at the end of the turn everyone has to find their designated Lego pieces and build something along the lines Of the theme and each player has to go around and put in their guess as to what the person built and the more people that guess correctly the more points that player collects.
  3. Again, taking the idea of picking up and putting down cards each round like SushiGo with a deck of cards, each player gets 13 cards, and you have to go around and put one card down each turn, then swap decks, but the goal is to get every card in order from greatest to least, the fastest. Whoever has Ace through 10 and double points for face cards gets the most points, and triple points for the same color and suit the whole way through.
  4. Blackjack, but 2 die decide what number you’re trying to reach, the number that comes out of the die roll, instead of hitting 21. 
  5. Tabboo, the card game, but your team must play deaf ( they all have headphones on with music), and only the other team can listen in.
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(9/4/2025_Meredith B) Playtest: Sushi GO!

  1. Was it fun?
    • Pretty enjoyable, it was simple and easy to understand, plus it was more of a luck based game rather than 100% skill, so the randomness made it fun.
  2. What were the player interactions?
    • Yep, it was at 1st confusion but it was more or less just the counting of cards, since the game is so luck based.
  3. How long did it take to learn?
    • About 5ish minutes, it was quicker than expected. The hardest part to learn was that stacking and point mechanic, but the cards showed you what to do so it worked out.
  4. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
    • Nothing was honestly frosting, except for the chopsticks card, cause if you have one left it’s worth nothing, so on the last hand there is a chance you don’t get any extra points.
  5. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
    • It was very cute, the premise was simple to follow and the artwork was very cute, which made it aesthetically pleasing to play.
  6. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
    • Not really, except I wanted the wasabi card to be worth more then x3 or nothing.
  7. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
    • Add a point value towards the chopstick and wasabi cards, just so they don’t become useless cards.
  8. Is this a game you would play again? Yes _____ No ______ Why
    • I would, it is a very easy game to pick up and play for a little, without dedicating hours towards learning a game. Almost anyone (except for kids under 5) can play and enjoy the game, so it makes Sushi Go! A very family friendly game, hence allowing it to be brought to more events and shared, which makes me more likely to play it.
  9. Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.
    • (Act 1: Start) This section was learning the rules/ point scoring for the game. It took maybe 5 minutes to learn the premise of the game, however we kept referencing the rules for the 1st few rounds until we 100% understood the rules. This section also included dealing the cards, so overall the start was the shortest section, maybe 30 seconds of play) (Act 2: Middle) Main part of the game, this is where we would actually play the game. This part was fun since it was the actual game where we were passing around cards and playing. (Act 3: Ending) This is where we would count points and totals. It went fairly smoothly as the point system was easy to understand, plus the cards had the values written on them. The longest part of this section was tallying up final points and comparing/adding them to previous rounds to determine a winner.
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5 Games that can be played using cards – Mathews

  1. I had an idea for a game that blended the rules of blackjack and spoons. Players take turns collecting and passing cards in order to get a hand of cards with a value equal to 21. Players must pass cards that they do not need to another player until a player reaches 21. When a player does reach 21, they can hit the table and remain safe. The last player to hit the table loses.
  2. I thought of a card-based game where players are given a random card from a standard deck, and tasked with sorting themselves in numerical order. Players can not state their number, or show their card, and must find unique ways of communicating their position in the order. Points are distributed to the players that can correctly identify their position.
  3. I had an idea for a card game called “Market Rush” where players own grocery stalls and draw cards with items to generate income. Each round is separated by two periods, the “open” time and the “buying” time. During the “open” time, players draw status or chance cards from a deck that influence the current or next day. After the markets close, players can draw cards from a separate deck to redesign their strategy. A player can draw a “lettuce” card, which generates 2 “coins” per day, but overnight a player can draw a “drought” card which halves the revenue of all crops. This would require players to evaluate their strategy.
  4. I’d like to make a card game that requires players to know a bit of information to make interesting plays. In my game “”, your goal is to unlock all locked elements and molecules using real chemistry methods. You start with a couple of element cards, some molecule cards, and some “machine” cards. Using this start, you can begin the puzzle of unlocking all elements. For example, a player can start with 1 “Water Molecule” card, “Yttrium Element” card, “Electrolyte Machine” card, and a “Chemical Reactor Machine Card”. A player can research the materials and learn that electrolytic water allows you to collect oxygen, which can be reacted with Yttrium to make Yttrium-oxide.
  5. I have an idea for a game called “Wager”, where players need to bluff their way to victory. Players have chips, which represent value that they must wager to make the plays needed to get rid of the cards that they need. The first to get down to 0 cards will win the game, but you lose if you run out of money.