Collaborative Game Ideas.

Game 1: This game involves two people trying to escape a maze. each player has to do certain things to help the other player advance, so you need to work together and communicate to reach the end of the maze 

Game 2: This game intails two players that are up against the two best basketball players of all time. Michel Jordan and LeBron James. they have to try and beat them in a two v two. this could also just be a side game mode to 2k25. 

Game 3: This game involves two players that have to work together to keep a really busy restaurant running. As the night progresses it gets faster and faster. players get bonus points for doing certain tasks quicker. 

Game 4: This game is where two players have to go down a ski hill doing tricks and could possibly invent some new collaborative moves. your points add together so you both have to be at the top of your game.

Game 5:  Two players assume the roles of time-traveling agents trying to repair a broken timeline. Each player has different information and abilities depending on the era they’re in, and they must work together to solve puzzles.

Sara Estus – Pandemic Game Review

Was it fun?

I do think Pandemic was fun, although the aspect of reading a lot of rules and conditions in a game is often pretty daunting, it was interesting to see the different aspects of how we can win and lose in the game. I think what would make it more fun would be to win the game

What were the players’ interactions?

We spent a lot of time trying to plan out our moves before we decided to follow through with them. Collin made a lot of good choices throughout leading the team, but I think our flaw was just not fulfilled playing the game with confidence

Would you play it again?

Yes, though the irony of the Covid Pandemic was a little goofy, it is an interesting game to play and collaborate on

How long did it take to learn?

We spent about 15 minutes trying to figure it all out but got the hang of it in the first 10 minutes of genuine playtime.

Analyze the game using the 3-act structure.

Act one was primarily about us getting our roles and firsthand of cards, we went around and figured out what our roles allowed us to do Act two was when the game got into the spreading of the disease cubes, and we were losing a lot of confidence in winning. By Act Three we were succumbing to losing, which we did.

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

The pandemic is very collaborative! The only way to win is to team up and take out the disease cubes.

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

“Can you save humanity?”  The biggest mechanic that stood out to me was only certain player roles could travel the board in specific ways, I have not seen that mechanic used in board games before.

Week 2 Question Sets (Carson Bauer)

  • 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?
  • If I had to design a game that revolves around being the size of one nanometer (roughly), I would make a game about being a piece of bacteria. In the game, you would have to basically infect and try to multiply and spread bacteria to everywhere you can before you are stopped in some way. It would basically be a big role playing game. Your movement mechanics would be just as you are a piece of bacteria, moving ever so slowly.
    1. Who are you making games for?
      • I would like to make games for people like me who hate reading instructions. I want to be able to design games that are so simple that you do not even need instructions (even though they would still be provided).
    2. Who will be your play testers outside of class?
      • My play testers will be my fraternity brothers that live inside my 10 person suite.
      • Question Set 2
    3. Can you think of a game you were able to play without referring to the rules?
      • The only game I have ever been able to play without reading the rules was Uno. Obviously I didn’t understand the game fully at first, but I figured it out very fast just by watching other people play the game.
    4. How do you define what a game is?
      • My definition of a game is some sort of exercise that influences your brain in the way that you want. For example, if you want to challenge your brain you will play a puzzle game. If you want to get your creativity going, you will play a game with a creative aspect. Another example is a game that makes you mad on purpose, so you play Overwatch.
    5. That features can make your games more intuitive?
      • Simple rules, Simple features, wide player-base, open to all ages, little amount of pieces.
    6. Question Set 3
      • What was your gateway game? What do you play to introduce others to gaming?
      • My go to gateway game is Minecraft, who doesn’t love it? For shooter games, I’ll point people to Call of Duty black ops 2, and for action sport games I’ll point people to Skate 3.
      • What features do gateway games share?
      • I believe that all gateway games have to be simple, but also a very good game in their category. For creative players, Minecraft has kept us entertained for over a decade and the player-base is still getting bigger. Even Call of Duty Bo2 still has online servers going all the time. These gateway games have to be truly legendary games to keep players hooked.
      • How does luck and strategy factor in to game play?
      • Luck and strategy have a huge factor in gameplay in certain games. I’m personally going to use Minecraft as an example. In Minecraft, you have to get lucky in order to find biomes and resources you need, but strategy comes into play for Villager trading, attacking, etc.

Sara Estus – Game Ideas Week 3

Art School is a card game where players must collaborate to create a piece of art that fulfills a specific category. However, the difficult part is that only one player knows the category, for example, “Mythical Beast” and the player who knows the category can only give one-word hints. The drawing must be done in a quick passing style, with the player who knows the category only getting 10 seconds to draw, as the round progresses, each player gets 10 more seconds added until 3 minutes is up. After the time is up, players must write on a separate paper what they think the category was, and the closet gets a point.

The Journey is a tile-placing game in which the players will randomly select a role in which they must work together to escape an area (the tiles) think escape room, but it is super small, and each player has a different skill and ability, like players who pull a ‘water’ role card can move things on the tile that are blue. The tiles are around 1’x1’ and have a multitude of random obstacles that limit players from passing through and only certain players can move certain things. This game is meant to go off the saying “It’s not about the journey, it’s about the friends we made along the way”

Convince Me! Is a card game where players must collaborate to convince the “Founder” player to fund their creation. The players who are the “Makers” are given a spread of 10 cards face down that all have bizarre pictures of creations on them, the creations are machines or products that aren’t real, and the cards contain 3 things that the creation can do, players who are “makers” must pick ONE card and ONE of the purposes of their creation and convince the “Founder” The players who are the “Makers” must agree on one of the cards to pick, and can ‘reselect’ their creation based on voting in the group. The collaborative part begins when players must agree to the different prospects of their creation, and they must agree on when the price for their creation is fair.

Stow Away is a fast-paced card game where players are split into two teams, the stowaway and the security. The game is set up with one side sitting across from each other. The setup begins with one side taking a ‘place card’ for each player and that will be where they are hiding. The place cards have a picture of the hiding location, a visibility score of 1-5 (1 being out of sight and 5 being practically out in the open) and they have a perk written on them that explains the abilities positive and negative of the spot. The security players’ setup begins with receiving their specific security roles as well as their ‘location cards’ that will give them a general location that they are securing. The idea of the game is for the stowaways to remain hidden without causing suspicion and for the security to find the stowaways before the cargo is delivered. Through the gameplay, stowaways will attempt to help each other hide by giving up their hiding spots, creating diversions and distractions, and staying completely silent! For security, they will team up to search larger areas, use perks like flashlights and search dogs to find clues and find the stowaways, all while openly communicating the whole game!

Trial by Combat is a board game with four corners where players must compete in a rock-paper-scissors style fight to cover the most spaces on the board with their color, the winner will not only need to have the most color on the board but also be able to beat at least 2 other players in combat to win the game. The rock-paper-scissors comes into play as each player will have a draw pile and discard pile where they will pick up three cards with random items, food, tools, and animals that they can use to win a battle, an example being, drawing a lion card, and being able to beat sheep, pig, and deer cards, versus picking a pig card, and beating a stew card, versus picking a stew card and being a freezing cold card. The list goes on!

Game Review: Forbidden Island (Carson Bauer)

Was it fun?

I do believe that forbidden island was a fun game, although it was difficult to understand at first. But after the learning curve was gone, I enjoyed playing it and avoiding the flood.

What were the player interactions?

The player interactions consisted of handing your teammates different artifacts, and moving your teammates with an action if you are able to.

Would you play it again?

I wouldn’t go out of my way to play it again, but if someone else asked me if I wanted to play it, I would play.

How long did it take to learn?

It took us about 15 minutes to understand the rules and get the game setup. After about 5 minutes of gameplay, we were more or less smooth sailing.

Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.

In the beginning, everything starts out easy and you are moving around the board to collect artifacts. Middle of the game, locations start to flood and the clock is ticking to get out. At the end of the game you get to the helicopter pickup spot, and leave the game in order to win.

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

The whole game is collaborative rather than competitive, since you are working together to gather all the artifacts and leave the game board. To collaborate, you can give your teammates different artifact cards in order to get 4 of the same card to collect the artifact. Once you have all 4, you can go to the landing zone and take the helicopter to leave and win.

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

The metaphor to me is that you are on a “Forbidden Island” and that you aren’t allowed there so the different locations start to flood as you gather the artifacts. For the mechanics that standout, I like the aspect of the water level, and however deep the water level is is how many flood cards you have to draw, making the game move even faster and making it more intense.

5 Collaboration Game Ideas

  1. End Goal– a game where each player has a different task where the all have different roles for example (detective, strategist, and medic), and work together to complete the goal or task.
  2. Quest Map– a game where the group of players is given a map with clues and mysteries and they have to work together together to figure out where the finally destination is on the map to slove the mystery.
  3. War of the Survivors– Each player has to rely on the rest of their team or their oppenants to get questions right so they can gain rewards and move along to their quest. Wrong answers will cause one of the survivors to die off.
  4. Can I find my way– all of the players have to work together to find there path through the board. The game has no physical instructions so they have to figure what the objective is without really knowing one.
  5. Build a Bridge– Each group is stuck in a random room or place and they have to find a way to build the bridge or structure that the card they pic says, by only using objects that are currently in that space. Twist: the card may have further restrictions.

Review of Pamdemic

Was it fun?

  • The game was not very fun in my opinion. I like games where you compete against each other instead.

What were the player interactions?

  • This game was very interactive for each player had to be apart of each others turns (acting as a whole).

How long did it take to learn?

  • The game at first took awhile to learn because the instructions were rather long and by the time you went onto page two you already forgot what was mentioned in page 1. When we ginally decided to just start playing then it wasn’t so bad. The instructions a very wordy and make the game seem a lot more complicated then it actually is. All you have to do work as a team to try to end all the diseases.

Would you play it again?

  • It defiently wouldn’t be at the top of my list, but I may play it again just to see if I can beat it.

Anaylze the game using the 3 act structure?

  • We started out by trying to figure out how to play the game by reading the instructions (was not working out very well). Then we finally started to figure out how the game works and that we had to play as a team in order to have a chance at winning. As the game was coming to a close, we realized that we had no chnace at winning due to the lack of cards that we had left.

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

  • This game requires a ton of collaberation. Each player must converse about each of their moves to make sure that everyone is on the same page. There is no such thing as defend for yourself or single play in this game.

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

  • The game’s metaphor would probably have something to with how things don’t always go as planned even if you try to come up with a solution to the problem. The different charcter cards stood out to me because for example, I was the medic ans I can cure all diseases for that city in one action.

Week 3 game review and ideas

Alana Tush

Tokaido Review

Was it fun? Yes, the game was fun because of the slight competition. The game wasn’t too competitive because you all have a turn, but there is a lot of strategy involved.

Would you play again? I think i’d give them game another round…

Is it interactive? Yes, this game is very interactive, for example, if you pick a spot on the board where someone else wants to go, you mess their chances up of having that spot.

Was it easy to learn? It was fairly east to learn, like any game once you start playing you get the hang of it.

Game Ideas

  1. Translator is a guessing game in which the players collaborate by using hints that the game provides to translate a word or sentence in a foreign language.

    2. Years ago is a guessing game in which the players compete by using their memory to guess how many years ago certain categories (songs, movies,…) came out.

    3. Guess the professor is a guessing game in which the players compete by using clues written on cards to guess which professor the card is describing.


    Evelyn Game Ideas

    1. GoCook is a card game in which chefs (the players) face off to make the biggest feast by collecting ingredients to build recipes.
    2. Dare the Deep is a Push-Your-Luck game where the deep sea divers (the players) must compete to collect the most ocean treasure by risking their treasure and oxygen tanks to dive again.
    3. Dynasty is a simulation/education/strategy game where players can explore the consequences of political actions by joining or creating a nation, work your way up in rank, and set political goals (conquest, environmental, etc)
    4. A Pirate’s Pact is a strategy game where each player is a pirate fleet that must conquer the seven seas and collect pirate booty by exploration, deception, alliances, and more!
    5. Renaissance is a roleplaying game where each player is assigned an archetype (artist, inventor, merchant) and must work their way up in the kings court by using their resources, according to their skillset, trading, and alliances.

    Evelyn: Review of Firework Game and Italian Risk

    I don’t remember what the games’ actually names are.

    1. Was it fun?
      • The Firework Game was fun depending on who you play with.
      • Italian risk was so intimidating we didn’t even play. It seemed similar to Risk but tinier.
    2. What were the player interactions?
      • In the Firework Game, players had to help each other choose the best cards to play in order to complete the firework card sets (they resembled Solitaire). The catch was you never see your own card until you play it! The game is all about your “verbal resources.”
    3. How long did it take to learn?
      • The Firework Game was easy to learn.
      • The original directions for Italian Risk were in Italian. We never learned to play.
    4. Would you play it again?
      • Maybe I would play the Firework Game. I would definitely choose others over it.
      • Definitely not Italian Risk
    5. Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.
      • First Act was learning the rules and beginning to play. Second Act was developing a strategy with your teammates. Third Act was either completion of the “firework sets” or defeat (if the time ran out).
    6. What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game?
      • This game was purely collaborative. You had to help each other choose the best card to play without looking at your own. You all won or you all lost.

    Game Ideas Week 3- Colin Kenny

    FAVORITE FACE is a STRATEGY game in which PLAYERS WITH BLANK FACE CARDS COMPETE TO MAKE THE BEST FACE by DRAWING FACE PART CARDS AND PIECES FOR POINTS.

    RECORD SCRATCH is a PARTY game in which PLAYERS SLOWLY SCRATCH A “RECORD” TO TRY AND GUESS A SONG WITHIN THE SHORTEST AMOUNT OF TIME, BUT IF THEY PLAY THE RECORD TOO MUCH BEFORE THEY ARE ABLE TO GUESS THE SONG CORRECTLY, THE RECORD WILL SCRATCH AND THEY LOSE.

    TYPE TEST is a PHONE SKILL game in which PLAYERS TYPE WORDS WITH THEIR PHONES AS FAST AS THEY CAN IN UNIQUE AND CHALLENGING WAYS, SUCH AS WITH ONE HAND OR WHILE UPSIDE DOWN.

    NAIL BITERS is a STRATEGY CARD game in which PLAYERS TRY TO BUILD THE BEST (OR GROSSEST) NAIL MEALS by DRAWING INGREDIENT CARDS AND PLAYING THEM LIKE RUMMY.

    INFECTED: ZOMBIE OUTBREAK is a SOCIAL DEDUCTION game in which HUMANS MUST ROOT OUT WHO AMONG THEM (IF ANY) HAS BEEN INFECTED BY THE ZOMBIE VIRUS by WATCHING TO SEE WHO ISN’T DOING THEIR JOB IN THE SURVIVAL BUNKER.

    Pandemic Response Questions- Colin Kenny

    Was it fun? It was moderately enjoyable. Strategizing and collaborating was fun because that’s something I can really sink my teeth into when I play games but the impending doom of knowing you probably weren’t going to win was just kinda meh.

    What were the player interactions? As I usually do in group activities, I took on a leadership role because I thought I understood the game the best and tried to help everyone else make the best moves. Everyone did try to share there ideas too which i didn’t shut down which I think made it a positive social aspect.

    How long did it take to learn? Hard to say because we left for Saxby’s in the middle of setting up but in total I’d say it took about 30 minutes.

    Would you play it again? Yeah I would say I would. I’m interested in seeing how much better I could do with more experience.

    3 Act Structure: We started by making small moves and following directions closely. When we got more comfortable we talked a lot more about our options and planned accordingly to account for the epidemics. We then got to a point where we realized we couldn’t win, but we reached a satisfying conclusion by eradicating the virus throughout North America.

    What are the collaborative and competitive aspects to the game? The game was fully collaborative, as everyone wins or loses together. We were able to share ideas and thoughts in a somewhat stress-free way.

    What is the games metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? I think the metaphor is that without experience, really hard problems like curing a pandemic are almost impossible. And even with experience, things don’t always work out as expected. The one mechanic that stood out to me was the forced epidemic cards which made things harder throughout the game, but what I liked specifically was that the directions had us shuffle the epidemic cards into the deck in a way that spread them out across the game.

      Week 3 Lauren Yunk

      5 Collaboration game ideas:

      1. Dusty Derby is a western game in which the players compete by racing to the finish line with their horse by rolling a dice but if you roll doubles you have to go back that many spaces.
      2. Alien Invasion is a sci-fi game in which the players must work together by battling the aliens to save the world by collecting special weapons along the way.
      3. Tidal Wave is an adventure game in which the players must collaborate by surfing along the wave, collecting sea artifacts, and talking to sea animals to see if you fall off your surfboard and have to start over.
      4. Rockstar Roulette is a pathway to fame game game where the players must compete in order to achieve their dream of becoming a future rockstar by spinning the wheel to see how many spaces you move and the spaces will have you pick up a card to determine your pathway to fame.
      5. Darling Dino’s is a historical game in which you are collaborating to avoid the meteor heading towards earth by rolling a dice and moving across the board while completing special tasks.

      Tokaido questions

      1. Was it fun? – Yes I enjoyed playing
      2. What were the player interactions? – The player interactions were that everyone had a different character that gave them a special ability during thegame, you collected coins, food, hot springs, and more.
      3. How long did it take to learn? – About 15 minutes. Once w emade it to the first hotel we were all pretty comfortable with the rules.
      4. Would you play it again? – Yes, I thought it was very entertaining
      5. Analyze the game using the 3-act structure. – The beginning was learning the rules and doing a practice run of the game. The middle was actually playing the game by collecting points, gold, food, and artifects, traveling to different places, and donating to the temple til you make it to the last hotel where the game is over. The end is where you tally up all your points and see who will win the game.
      6. What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects to the game? – The competitive aspects were trying to collect certain artifacts and beating the opponents to different places on the map. There were no collaborative aspects in this game.
      7. What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? – Tokaido doesnt have a specific metaphor but if Id have to give it one Id say it would be “Journey across Japan” because you are traveling through japan and stopping to get food and collecting many things along the way. The mechanics that relate to that metaphor would include moving your piece to travel, collceting coins at banks, and obtaining meals when you stop at the hotels.

      Week 3 Game Ideas – Competitive and Collaborative

      Amber Holt

      1. House Hustle (originally Fixer Upper; name donated by Chat GPT) is a card game in which real estate investors (aka the players) compete to earn the most money by renovating and reselling houses.
        • OR ALTERNATIVELY: House Hustle (originally Fixer Upper; name donated by Chat GPT) is a card game in which real estate investors (aka the players) collaborate to renovate houses before they are condemned by using incredibly specific building materials and tools.
      2. Afterlife Errands is an adventure(?) board game in which players collaborate to stop ghosts from overtaking the mortal world by completing the ghost’s strange and wacky errands. 
      3. SOS: Shipwrecked is a survival (?) board game in which a ragtag shipwrecked group of people collaborate to be rescued from an island by completing specialized tasks unique to each player’s character and role. (Game idea inspired by Giligan’s Island)
      4. Invading Insects is a legacy(?) board game in which the players collaborate to stop the invasive bug species from taking over by killing bugs in strange but effective ways.
      5. Hectic Holidays is a party(?) game in which holiday-anticipating players collaborate to pull off successful holiday celebrations by completing various holiday-specific tasks like decorating and cooking food or else the holiday is RUINED.
      6. Garden Sabotage! is a card game in which gardeners (aka the players) compete to have the best garden by planting plants and sabotaging others with bugs.

      Tokaido Review

      Amber Holt

      What was the competitive/collaborative nature of the game? Tokaido was a competitive game where players competed to score the most points. Players also wanted to be the first player to complete certain actions so that they could earn more points than the other players, such as completing a panorama. It was also competitive in the fact that the first player who reached an inn gets first pick on the cuisine that they can buy. Additionally, another layer of competitiveness is added due to the fact that some spaces get taken up by other players and players must skip that space to the next available space.

      What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? The game’s metaphor is a travel throughout Japan. You collect souvenirs, food, and pay visits to a temple. One of the standout mechanics of Tokaido is the fact that the person furthest away from the end has to go first every turn and that determines the order of the players. I have never played a game with a mechanic like this and I thought it was really interesting, but hard to get used to.

      Bonus Questions:

      1. Three Act Structure
        • The first act would have been the beginning of the journey up until the first inn. At this time, all of the spaces and the actions required on them were unfamiliar and were still figuring out the order of players (more so that the last player in line goes first). By then, most players understood what their character’s special ability was and how they could take advantage of the spaces to earn the most points by the end. 
        • The second act would have been a majority of the “journey” that we took and all of the stops in between—visiting hot springs, making panoramas, collecting souvenirs, visiting the temple, etc—where, of course, players earned points. 
        • The third and final act would have been when we approached the last inn and began to tally up all of the miscellaneous points and award the bonus points. 
      2. Was it fun? Yes, this game was really fun. I really enjoy these peaceful but competitive types of games. 
      3. What was the interaction with the other players? Some of the player interaction occurred when players moved their player to the space of their choice, limiting where the players behind them could move to. For instance, some players took up the spaces where you collected coins and that created problems for some of the other players. Additionally, the first player to reach an inn, had the first pick at the food they bought, limiting the options for the players to follow. 
      4. How long did it take to learn? The basic premise of the game didn’t take very long to learn but there were a few things that made the game experience harder to fully understand. It was definitely a learning curve having to have the player who was the furthest behind take the next turn instead of going in a set order. There were also a lot of different points that you had to keep track of that made it more difficult to leisurely play the game. 
      5. Would you play again? Yes, I would definitely play this game again. I will probably say this about every single game I play this semester.