Blogs

Recently I picked up a marble chinese cheakers set and thought about what to do about it, chinese cheackers is great but a bit dull, and I feel that colour needs to be used more, so I looked for a colourwheel and said, lets try this. So far ive two playtests and both went very simple and well.

"This game is super easy if you know how to mix colours. If you get confused because your trying to stop the opponents, it's probably best to do your own thing."

Id imagine it can have up to 20 players,?

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Take a chinese cheackers board,

I have literally been working on my wizard dueling game Order of the wand for years now. The first version was both component and rules heavy. The game contained the following.

90 cards;6 Wands, 6 Wizards, 2 Starters, 40 Spells – 2 each of 20, 36 Ether

2 Wands (Used chop sticks in testing)
1 Mini wand
1 Time wheel
4 Wizard figures; 2 of each
1 double sided duel hex map
32 Spell tokens markers; 4 sets of (1-6)
6 Ether level markers
2d4

I worked on version 1.0 & 2.0 for a long time trying to make it work out but the game was fiddly, confusing and took two long. I finally broke down and took out the time wheel mechanic in version 3.0 as it was causing much of the havoc but the game still ran way too long. I almost gave up on it when I decided to strip the game down to bare bones as my playtesters told me the part they like was the core mechanic, the Wands! I ran 4 playtests of V 4.something at Protospiel last weekend and the game not only worked, played in an hour or less but also received many compliments even though the game needs a great deal of work before its ready to show to a publisher. Based on the feedback I received I am making version 5.0 this weekend and will start with what I hope will be the final leg of playtesting.

I guess it must be something about your game that you figure out the more the game is playtested...

We have NAMED the problem the "Death Spiral" and both Joe & I have seen the problem. So let me start by explaining the problem!

• When one player get further ahead on the Treasury (Bank) and earns the right to a 2nd starship.

This is the catalyst for the "Death Spiral". Let me explain what happens next.

This weekend I am working hard in re-developing the game WITHOUT the "Mission" cards. This has had a BIG impact on the rulebook. Many concepts have been removed such as White d6s, Housekeeping, Tradeships, etc. In a way it makes for an easier game for a newcomer to play.

Our goal was to make the game "more accessible" to a broader range of players. In order to do this, we focused the game around "Space Battles". In doing so, even casual gamers said the game was FUN!

Finished 8 of the 9 classes! Everything is printed in full color, minis half painted, dungeon squares mounted ND painted. Haha. Adding it all up, I spent over 80 bucks on this game. Printing all the cards was about $23. Minis I didn't already have was about $40. Poster board and cork board: $15. Index cards straight cutter, and scissors: $20.