Week 5 – Game Design

Collecting-Type Game Ideas

  1. Toxic Collector – Board Game
    Compete against players for the most unique and dangerous critters. The more unique the find the more dangerous it is to keep it. Last one surviving with the most points wins.
  2. Secret Trend – Board Game
    Compete to win entry into Fashion Week. Tell share secrets and gossip to get through the doors and gain your seat by the runway.

Game Reviews

Catan is a trading and strategy based game where players must build settlements, cities, and roads across a map. The first player to get 10 victory points wins. Catan is similar to Monopoly in some ways. Both games have similar mechanics such as trading, dice rolling, and collecting. Like Monopoly, Catan also uses negotiation and strategy skills. Monopoly’s theme provides a backdrop for the economic downfall of the Depression era. With concepts such as mortgage and bankruptcy, players must be money cautious in a winner-takes-all environment. Catan provides a more recent and familiar backdrop with concepts of limited resources, trade imbalances, and connected fortunes. Overall I thought it was a fun competitive game but I did feel like the rules took some time to adjust too. I do not think this is a gateway game due to its complexity.

Splendor is a game in which players are gem merchants trying to gain prestige points. With enough prestige points, wealthy players can receive visits from nobles which provide more prestige points. This game has a Renaissance theme and mechanics such as deck building and card drafting. The game has a prominent beginning middle and end which is shown by the number of prestige points a player has and how far away they are from the winning score of 15 points. The game could easily be a gateway game due to its originality, ease of play, luck, and replay value. I enjoyed this game very much and would play again.