Prospector — I decided to have a dedicated BLOG for this "Expansion"

I had time to "sleeve" the Expansion cards and ADD the five (5) Dice plus the "Bandit" Pawn and Token... I will conduct playtesting over the weekend (Friday, Saturday or Sunday) depending on how things work out (in terms of timing and availability) and see if the game has good POTENTIAL or if it needs Fine-Tuning.

I really feel as if the cards for "Prospector" are good AS-IS ... But I want to be certain that the Point Values are "reasonable" too.

The playtesting will tell me if the values are BALANCED and don't need any further tweaking... TBD.

So I'll post up news regarding this "Expansion" most probably on the evening that I manage to get "Prospector" to the table...

Kind regards.

It seems like the BLUE is just TOO DARK for the "Prospect" Cards. It's HARD To distinguish between BLUE and BLACK... I'll need to use ANOTHER shade of Blue which is a bit closer to CYAN or a LIGHTER Blue... This was not done on purpose it was done by accident because ON-SCREEN the colors look different but in PRINT there needs to be some additional DIFFERENTIATION.

All things that need to be done to PERFECT the "Prospector" Expansion.

In my games most players are RESERVING Level 1 cards which is good because there have been quite a few RESERVATIONS (I think like 4 or so...) which means that Level 1 Prospect cards are almost done.

I will continue my playtest to see the impact. But for now I don't foresee an issue TBH. Much like when there are no more Gold Tokens, you can still RESERVE but get no wild token... In this case, when the "Prospect" cards run-out, that means you can still reserve using the NORMAL method of playing... And the BONUS "Prospect" cards that have "1" Prestige Point will be exhausted giving those players extra points (but not necessarily everyone or it being even either...)

Minor EDIT and some more playtesting to get a better feel for the "Expansion"!

Regards.

I have come to some EARLY conclusions regarding this Expansion. Here are some of my thoughts on the game:

1> While the "1" Prestige Points on the lowest level FEEL "Good", they don't add to a player's Engine. While this all makes sense for the 1st Level... They introduce a bit of a "blockage" with the "Prospect" Card.

2> The "Golden Nuggets" are VERY COOL. But are usually won in the LATE MIDDLE of the game. And so their benefit is a bit "diminished". Yes players do make use of them... But I have more ideas (I will explain later).

3> One Dice Card was won and it was the White Dice which proved to be TOTALLY USELESS for the player who acquired that dice. Too bad, so sad.

There is still potential in the game. But I feel like I will need to RE-THINK the "Standard" one-type fits-all method HOW the expansion was created. What do I mean???

Well if you look at the design, it seems like the game is DIVIDED into THREE Decks and the decks go from "0" Prestige Points to "4" or "5" on the Third Level. My DICE the cool chance concept was also designed for the THIRD (3rd) Level too... So in principle there are "5" Dice and they are ALL Level #3.

Again this makes sense from a DESIGN perspective... But TBH not from a GAMERS perspective. Remember I got "1" White Dice and I've never rolled anything for it. Similarly the "Golden Nuggets" are on the SECOND Level and there is much less odds of "Prospecting" on Level #2 than on say, Level #1.

And so my thoughts are (and I still need more evaluation) is to REDUCE the "Scores". Too much "Prestige" Points for the 2nd and 3rd Levels. Secondly I think we need to MIX-IT-UP a bit and make it LESS DE-FACTO like the "core" game... Otherwise nobody gets anything of value and it feels all "pointless".

Don't get me wrong, the expansion is NOT BAD; it just needs some TWEAKING to make it more "exciting".

So what am I thinking exactly???

A> Make the Dice accessible in the lower levels (1st and 2nd).

B> Make the "Golden Nuggets" accessible in all tiers.

C> "Bonus" Prestige Points could only earn various Points and make them random in all tiers.

D> The Dice and Nuggets add "0" Prestige Points. Why because they already serve a purpose and TBH I want to make scoring a bit harder.

I'm still THINKING about it. Everything was NICE-AND-NEAT and now I am proposing a dramatic "re-shuffle". And trust me the game needs it... Because as is, it feels like LANDSLIDE Victories and not enough in game MEAT PLAY... It all feels a bit "theoretical" ATM:

1> Yes you CAN get dice... But only on Level #3 when and IF someone reserves a card... How often will that happen??? Not very often and so therefore nobody (maybe one player) will earn a dice and then it could be highly likely that it's not USEFUL because there are few cards of that color in play...

2> Yes the "Golden Nuggets" help. But currently as Level #2 rewards... the EXTRA "+2" Prestige Points is TOO MUCH.

3> Same goes for the Dice at Level #3 with "+3" Prestige Points... Again TOO MUCH bonuses leading to too easy of victory or a very lopsided play favoring one or two players (2 in my first test).

I know the SYMMETRY was there from a DESIGN POV... But it honestly DOES NOT WORK sufficiently well. Like I said CONCEPTUALLY "not bad" but still not ENOUGH in terms of draw. I wanted a more "inspiring" type of game style and right now... The game is not there - YET!

Like I said, breaking-up the symmetry is something that I am thinking about, I'm just not 100% sure on HOW to do it. It's all a bit "yucky" in terms of how I feel like I must "break apart" the design so that the game will be MUCH better.

I will conduct more analysis over the weekend. It's already Friday evening and I stuck to my "guns" and manage to playtest the "prototype" and I've learnt a LOT from the 1st official playtest (with the PRO-Prototype).

And if you are wondering had I playtested the "concept" before... And my honest reply to that is: "No... I was waiting for the prototype to arrive and take it from there..." That may seem ODD... But know that this is an EXPANSION and not a game in-and-itself. That makes a HUGE difference because the DESIGN concern is primarily HOW(?) do I make something that feels balanced and is not violating and commercial branding. So a lot of thought went into the PHYSICAL design of matter and some things were made based on CONVENTIONS much like in the ORIGINAL game...

Let's leave it there... And I'll continue some more thinking in my NEXT comment.

That most of the time, your FIRST (1st) ATTEMPT on making you Design IDEA a REAL Game ... Hardly ever works out. There are always issues which make it that for some reason the CONCEPT sounds better and the overall game experience does NOT match-up to expectations.

But with over 10-Years of making games, I know ... What is required is to RE-FOCUS and RE-IMAGINE the aspects of the game that are NOT 100% correct.

Just like I've done with the "Golden Nuggets", they've RE-BALANCED the game a bit... And yeah... Dice at Tier #3 sucks sh!t. You'll hardly ever get a dice and it will hardly affect the game... And it will just down your overall expectation about what this Expansion is meant to be.

Don't worry we'll do some rectification tonight and see where that leads!

Again positive thinking and being energized that we have a FRESH and NEW distribution of cards! And so we'll wait and see...

Keeping you all in the loop.

But from my playtesting so far... The "Bandit" sometimes prevents a player from acquiring a card but it's a temporary delay. Usually most players wait a round and get the card that was held and do not have to pay any tokens to the Player who was acting on behalf of the "Bandit".

HOWEVER... The TURN-ORDER is FANTASTIC!!!

The Black Chip let's everyone know who is first during a Round and that yields a huge amount of variability. It even has changed the odds of getting a "Prospect" card such as the "Green" dice in this re-boot (2nd official playtest).

It really matters a LOT. It makes simple clock-wise order a bit obsolete and with the Black Token you know who is FIRST and who will be LAST. And play goes from FIRST to LAST, meaning if in a Round you were the FIRST Player, the very NEXT Round, you will be the LAST Player.

That impacts the flow of the game and makes it just a BIT more CHAOTIC and LESS predictable. Let me tell you always going around clock-wise as the default Turn-Order sucks... Once you TRY the "Bandit" and adopt this method of managing the Rounds, you'll never want to go back to clock-wise play...

Remember the "Bandit" Role means clock-wise play but when you reach the player currently assigned the "Bandit" Role, the Token is passed to the NEXT player in-line and he must change the current position of the "Bandit" (Pawn) onto any card except the current one (meaning the "Bandit" MUST change his position). And subsequently that player is now the FIRST player in the Round.

It may seem a bit NON-SENSICLE just reading it... Or maybe frivolous or trivial ... But trust me, once you start to experience the game using this sequencing, you'll quickly adapt and not want to go back. It makes the game all that more "Chaotic" and less predictable...

Trust me... It's VERY COOL!

It makes my life harder to PLAYTEST ... But at the same time, it makes the game harder to predict so even when I'm playing all 4-Players oftentimes I will not know who will get what card based on the re-shuffling from First to Last.

This simple change makes a big impact.

More on the playtest as it continues... I've played only a couple Rounds but already ONE (1) Player has BOTH the "Green" Dice and the "Red" Dice is too... So two (2) out of 3 dice have already been flushed out. And one player has BOTH of them already. This is a bit extreme ATM, but know that's how the game is more chaotic... And remember a player may only use 1 Dice at a time. So even in a Player has 2-Dice, he has NO "Prestige" Points and can only use one of the dice per turn when matching the remaining gems to acquire another card from the area of play.

BTW if anyone has any comments, feedback, suggestions, concerns or anything else they'd like to share with regards to my efforts to "perfect" this design, feel free to respond.

I feel like the "Dice Play" isn't as OVERWHELMING as I thought it would be. My original thoughts when putting them into the Tier #3 Deck was because I was thinking: "It'll make things too EASY and a player that acquires a Dice would rule the game..."

But even with 2-Dice the game is still not overly consumed by what I thought could have potentially been a "run-away leader" issue. So far it is NOT and from what I see, I doubt it. Yes, it does inject an element of chance but the cards in play must also match the dice you want to roll.

And for now, it seems like there are NOT too many Red required Development cards in-play and so ATM there doesn't seem like a REASON to roll (other than that stupid roll for a "5" Red Tier #2 card...) But I've proven that you need far better ODDS when using the dice.

It simply is NOT TRUE that the dice create any OVERLY POWERFUL synergy ... From what I have seen so far.

Maybe later in the game when we reach the Middle of the Game ... Maybe the dice may have a TAD BIT more influence. However from what I am seeing is that the one player who has 2 dice has no Engine-Building cards (so far...) Meanwhile the other three (3) players each have THREE (3) Engine-Building cards so far!

So I can feel reassured that mixing things up the way I did has not yet led to any type of game-related problems (with the "Prospector" Expansion). And there is so far little to no interference with the "core" game itself.

I'm going to wait until I get a bit further along and see the impact at the later stages of the game (middle or so...)

Best.

Well it definitely FEELS more "Solid". The experience in the previous playtest was very disappointing. But like I said in the earlier comment, it is most probably very RARE that a design "crystalizes" and is "production-ready" in the first playtest.

This second playtest feels MUCH less "Random"... Because all the Tier #1 were "+1" Prestige Points they really did NOT ADD much to the game. Now that you get a variety of cards per Tier... They are many times more attractive.

I'm really feeling confident that with some of the minor issues (like the Blue Color, the Dice and Golden Nuggets...) the game is feeling more "cohesive" and things are working better together.

The "Bandit" is still being played but has not really had that much of an impact except for delaying a round or two the acquisition of a card in-play. The reason that I like him (the "Bandit") is because he is very THEMATIC. But in some cases I wanted to PAY the "Bandit" but did not have the correct Gem and so therefore that's something TO CONSIDER:

I know we like things to MATCH and LINE-UP with things like: "Use this Gem only ... Because that's what is on the card..." But sometimes you need to COMPROMISE and make a mechanic just a bit more FLEXIBLE. TBD. I'm just putting this "out-there" and see what happens as the game goes on.

That MAY be something to consider if the "Bandit" is just not working out as planned because of TOO RIGID rules (sticking with symmetry and the "core" game...)

Also there is a 2nd VARIATION: Pay the Destination Gem to the acting "Bandit".

So there are TWO (2) OPTIONS:

1> Pay ANY Gem/Gold Token to move the "Bandit"

2> Pay the Gem/Gold Token at the destination location to the "Bandit".

Always something that needs to come up with the original design. It's how we improve the OVERALL "Gaming Experience" by playtesting and playtesting some more... Can I not stress how important it is for PLAYTESTING (LOL)!

More to review and re-think. Definitely a design which is coming together rather nicely (but NOT "perfectly"). I always give up on perfection because nothing ever is. But if the DESIGN is "tight" well then players will appreciate the time and effort put in to make an improved game in the end.

So be it... More to tackle maybe on Sunday!

For now I want to finish this 2nd Playtest... I takes like 3+ Hours to play especially because I'm not playing Turn after Turn after Turn. I'll play a Round or two and then break. Maybe BLOG about some of what is happening LIVE (well sorta) and it helps me gather my thoughts together to ensure I'm working on resolving ALL ISSUES not only the pressing ones.

Small stuff like the Blue Color and such all need to be handled. I will definitely be making a new prototype SOON. Maybe even get it before 2024... Maybe... We'll have to wait and see.

Note #1: Again doing a COMPROMISE between symmetry and something more functional. So I think the DESTINATION "location" will be the Token that gets paid to the "Bandit" to move.

We really don't need a random Gem/Gold Token... It's sorta like Monopoly: the property you LAND ON you pay RENT for. Similar in that vein sort-of-way.

Clearly this "Expansion" ROCKS!!! It's gone from ZERO to HERO in a single NEW playtest given all that's been worked on.

But CRAZY as all this "Expansion" ADDS ... The winner won by NO "extraordinary" results: No Dice, no Golden Nuggets ... Just some more "Prestige" Points to squeak up to 14 points and then one color grab to win in the end.

The rest was just SET collection as usual. No Nobles visiting, not even ONE (1) Tier #3 Development card was bought... (Ergo the dice being badly designed in the original concept!)

So the two (2) Golden Nuggets in Tier #3 were not used...

And clearly the improvements make the game more EXCITING. I enjoy the NEW rules for ROLLING the dice and I must admit it did help a bit to acquire like 3 cards in-a-row using dice rolls. Same goes with the 3 Golden Nuggets that another player had... They too manage to start collecting more cards but... it was just too late.

Super stoked ... It really means what I was TRYING to accomplish:

Sounds super to me! Haha.

Well it's almost 11:30 PM over here. I'm glad I finished the game when I did and this time I knew that the corrections were what was needed and I will FINE TUNE the cards on Sunday! AMAZING!!!

Can't wait to share this Expansion with the OTHER "Hard-Core" Splendor Gamers. Will they be like me and embrace the added flexibility or will they shy away from the glitz of all the gold in the game??? TBD.