[GDS] OCTOBER 2015 "A Game for Everyone" - Critiques

Thank you so much, everyone. I completely did not expect this. I think I hit on a good theme, but the game mechanics and the brevity of the rules rely on a fairly broad knowledge of trick taking games.

>> when does the bidding happen? How does it work?
Bidding is single-round, number only. It would happen immediately after the bidding rule card was revealed.

>> when scoring, do you have to apply all the rules that affect scoring? If so, how do the rules blend?
Yes, all rules, if possible. Some rules such as "Oh, Dickens!" (adapted from the game "Oh, Hell!", which requires an exact bid to score, and "Heart Break", which score negative might seem to cancel out. However, how I interpret this would be that you score the negatives even if you miss your bid. If you hit the bid, you would get the normal amount of points from a trick to offset the -2 score penalty.
When I put together the finalized PnP, I will likely include a matrix to clarify each combination.

Grats to the winners. I think the top 3 were same order I voted them in. I picked the winner because it's a universal theme but it did leave some rules a little vague and I'd need to see all of the card effects in play to determine balance.

My game bombed, but was fun to come up with and write in 30 min lol.

I didn't vote for the Magic Trick , also I got a little lost in the rules . But now that I have re-read it , seems very interesting , we are gonna play it this weekend for sure :D

The rules will have to specify that dealer alternates.

Another thing is the balance/complexity: I really need to find a group of experienced and enthusiastic players of trick taking games to serve as playtesters.

Is "Don't Count Your Chickens" going to get a PnP? I want to try that one out. I like the bidding mechanic. It has some of the challenge of the currency bidding in High Society, but being able to refresh your currency is a nice twist.

I'm going to have to troll the local craft store to see if they have pentagonal tiles to make my own Rockfall.

First off, personally, I didn't feel a solitaire game hit at the essence of this challenge, so I did not consider it for a medal. As for the game, I like the formula of a simple action with a couple of basic restrictions, so that it's no so easy in the end. I like the rainbow order matched with the numbers. I wasn't quite clear on how the rps element fit in. I think it needs a clear win/loss goal rather than just have as few cards as possible left.

Hey everyone! First, I wanted to apologize that I did not participate in the voting for this. This was my first entry to one of these, and it just slipped my mind. I'm sure I was penalized for this, and rightly so. In the future, if I enter these, I will make sure to come back for the voting and critiques.

Second, thank you for the kind words about my game. I have been playtesting it pretty vigorously in the past couple weeks and it has already begun evolving into a different game. I will definitely make it available for PnP in the future, as I'll be looking for more feedback, but I don't think it's quite ready for that at the moment.

Thanks again, and congratulations to the winner!

The game sounds interesting. I like the use of pentagons. I did not vote for it as I felt the mechanics weren't quite simple enough. With the different phases, actions and tiles it made for a bit too much to remember. Also, I feel like having miners dying in a collapsed mine could turn some people off (although it is a good inclusion relative to the gameplay). Overall, definitely a solid idea with potential just not as a "game for everyone".

Thanks. I agree that Chompers might be a little too fiddly. What I really like myself was the idea that you get Tooth meeples. Well i'd still like to hear others opinions on it.

Fall fait got my gold because i saw a lot of potential to a family game. It's a great theme - guess it is a matter of selecting which rides giver you the most points. I think it is great. It could be fun if it was a bonus to take a slow ride after a fast one or. bonus to get all three dragon rides.. or some interaction with the others. But a wonderful theme.

I also liked Divide by Pie- fun and seems like a smart gameplay..

Storm chasers also got my vote.. great with teamwork,. great idea. For gameplay im missing a little more "storm" . The wild and dangerous side to chasing storms..

Thanks. I agree that Chompers might be a little too fiddly. What I really like myself was the idea that you get Tooth meeples. Well i'd still like to hear others opinions on it.

Fall fait got my gold because i saw a lot of potential to a family game. It's a great theme - guess it is a matter of selecting which rides giver you the most points. I think it is great. It could be fun if it was a bonus to take a slow ride after a fast one or. bonus to get all three dragon rides.. or some interaction with the others. But a wonderful theme.

I also liked Divide by Pie- fun and seems like a smart gameplay..

Storm chasers also got my vote.. great with teamwork,. great idea. For gameplay im missing a little more "storm" . The wild and dangerous side to chasing storms..

My challenge with this one is that there weren't enough examples of the actions and objectives to get a good feel for it. Standing the cards up is a nice idea and so is playing in teams. The preamble made me think there should be an array of cards face down representing the storm that are flip over as players approach the storm. These could give things like wind speeds or volume of rain or hail. Anyway it's a nice call as far as theme.

I voted bronze for this one. I think it did a great job of hitting the essence of the challenge with an approachable theme and really simple mechanics. I like the exclamation point idea. I don't think you need separate crazy cards. In other words, just deal everyone two cards face up plus a hand of five cards. I think the effects need to revolve a little more around the face up cards. Since the object is to get rid of them, there should be lots of action surrounding them. Nice job.

I like that the goal is to have the least money. I didn't like that family members all go to different places. Maybe you could have more family members and they get allocated in at least pairs. As the goal is to have the most lavished vacation, it'd be nice if there was an element of trying squeeze a bunch of stuff in. Something where you pick a bunch of things to do, but there's a chance you don't get them all in.

I thought this was the game that will win :o
I like this game overall ,because of the mechanic of votes , very very original.I dont know any game that uses it.
I have to try this kind of mechanic in some of the future games I would like to design.

Funnily the games I liked the most this month ended low on the list.

Mystery guess: Great theme - Miss some special guest effects. I think it will be hard to be the first one guessing.. so everyone will wait playing their last pair ? I liked the idea but a bit unsure if it would be work.

Going crazy: Good theme idea. I was a bit unsure how you actually got rid of the crazy cards in front of you (except that one card effect Hot Cofee.)

Ruling Houses: I like this one - and I was very close giving it a medal..I could see it work and I really liked the idea.

Vacation. This one got my silver. It seems a bit random where you put the different family members. you can use grandma on expensive sites but you can't see where other players placed who and where. if the family was tokens played upside down . I like the fact that you can play one concede or one fight on each round. I think a great add-on would be the sites have different effects if you win or lose. e.g. loose the Museum and take an extra fight for the check card. or someting. I could really see some fun art for this game :-)