Working name - Imperial Court
Category - Card game, medieval, trumping, deduction, manipulation
No. of players - 2 to 4
Playing time - Up to 20 minutes
Suggested ages - 7 and up
Languages - English (with proposed French, Spanish, Chinese)
The game is about influence. Your end goal is to influence the kingdoms vote in your party’s favour. In the game there are 5 tiers — The King is at the top, tier 5. Each tier has direct influence on the tier below. Cards of the same suit have direct influence (called Loyalty) on each other, and some other cards have an indirect influence (called Trust) on another. The purpose of the game is the build a row of loyal delegates, of the same suit, in ascending or descending tier order. Players can affect their opponent’s delegation (played cards) or hand by using either aggressive or passive functions on each card. These functions could prompt players to change hands, change delegations, bury cards, or rally cards from another delegation.
Winning the game is determined by the first player to collect 3 votes. Collecting votes can be achieved in one of three ways (in order):
- First to build a row of 3 delegates (ascending or descending order), or
- Whomever has the the King and Queen paired, or
- Whomever has the highest tiered delegate/card played last.
Game play rules will be provided shortly after initial play testing is complete.
Comments
Hey interesting concept but
Hey interesting concept but foggy on the actual procedure of play. How is turn order determined and how are cards laid out?
Hey interesting concept but
Hey interesting concept but foggy on the actual procedure of play. How is turn order determined and how are cards laid out?
The game procedure is coming up
I was in the middle of creating a journal for the game and the tab closed (due to a clicking error on my end). I'll be posting the proposed game procedure as soon as I have time.
To answer your question briefly, it is a turn based game. The 15 cards are shuffled each player is dealt 1 card. The deck is placed face down off to the right/left and this starts the round. Let's assume it's just 2 players. PlayerA and PlayerB (the dealer).
Standard "dealer goes last, clockwise order" starts the round. PlayerA draws a card from the deck, reviews their options and places a card face down in front of them. PlayerB draws a card, analyzes their option and then places a card down in front of them. The stack of cards created in front of each player is called the "delegation". Based on the 2 conditions each card has, the next set of draws now take those 2 functions into account.
PlayerA draws another card, decides their action and adds a card to their delegation. Keep in mind the top of the previous card played must be visible. That way you can see the succession of the delegation. The suit, tier and function must always be visible for all players to see.
Each player goes back and forth, playing a card and following the rules of the function as they go along. A regular round could take anywhere between 5-10 mins and every play can adversely affect your opponent's delegation.
I've redefined the first winning condition to make it a little easier and a lot more hectic of a game. Instead of it being 'must have the same suit in an asc or desc order' it is now broken into 'must own all of the same suit' and 'any 3 or 4 cards in asc or desc tier order'. I'm leaning towards 4 cards for a two-player game and 3 cards for 3 or more player game.
The game is literally all about interference and overruling. Stepping on toes and blocking the advancement of other players can help you get further. So is the life in an imperial society :P
There is always a default winner at the end of every round by the last winning condition, which is whomever has the highest tiered card played last. Once all even draws are played, any odd card(s) left over are not drawn and the game is called based on the last active card in each delegation.
Hope that helps. I'll have images and gameplay notes as I continue to play test my original theories. Right now the info I wrote is the first draft of everything I'd like the game to be. If my design history is any proof, things will morph into a hybrid of entertaining gameplay with a touch of spontaneous outbursts.