CAPTCHA Chaos!: Playtest / Rules 2.6 + RANT

I just lost all my typing work due to a fucking acrobat update so I'll make this rant quick. GET THOSE GODDAMN WIP MONTHLY PNP CONTEST OFF BGG!!! FUCK! That's what BGDF is for! I want to read about people's problems and questions that need answering for a game they have been working on for months and I don't want to wade through all those contest posts. We had 2 whole goddamn entries last month! Is it so much to ask to bring it here?

I've said all that I wanted.

Playtest Bitchfest Rules Change.
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So, this went a lot worse than I ever thought it could be. One of my friends bitched from the end of Round 1 at the new mechanics and scoring which brought the game to a halt, rather than waiting until the end of the game to voice his concerns like a proper playtester should.

He had a major issue with getting 4 words while everyone kept the word they were working on and grabbed 1-3 new words thus giving an advantage to the other players to finish the round while he only gets a single point for the trouble. He wanted at least 3 points for finishing. I explained that 1) He is up a whole word, thus ahead on points PLUS a point. 2) 3 points was ridiculous. Playtesting showed 1 point was more than enough. (He won the game with 8 points over us, 3 from finishing first in each round. Boy did he look stupid when I showed him that after all that bitching and moaning he did from the end of the first round til the end of the game.)

At the end, I asked what they didn't like about the game.
They all voiced opinions and agreed with each other.
I asked what they would do to fix it.
"I dunno, but I didn't like it"

GREAT.

Big frickin help YOU were. It's like naming places to eat and your buddy says, "No" each time. Then you ask, "Well, where DO you want to eat, then?" and he responds with, "I dunno, just not those places." Frustrating. He spent so much time wailing about the problem, he never bothered to think of a solution.

Finally, suggestions came out:

• If a player finishes all his words, the round ends. No bonus points are given. All players who didn't finish, must return their tiles to the pile. All players draw CAPTCHA Sticks until they have 4 Sticks. Sticks from previous rounds cannot be returned.

I REALLY don't know how to feel about this. I think this would really hurt (penalize) all the players rather than give a bonus to the winning player. Playtesting will find out.

• If 2 people complete a word at the same time, the player who hit the timer first, shows his work, shuffles, etc. The second player who completed his word, shows his work. All the other players may look at 1 tile in the pile. If it is a letter they need, they may take it. If not, it is returned to the pile. The aforementioned second player then shuffles.

This was made to cut down on the chaos of hitting the timer, showing work, then starting the timer only to have it immediately stopped again by another player who finished at the same time. Within those precious seconds, players can usually get a peek at 1 or 2 tiles before the second player hits the timer. I find this rule ridiculous and will most likely not add this for future playtesting. The other option was "Even Steven". Both complete, both show. Dump, shuffle, start. I like this idea. It's easy and doesn't bog down the game with more rules.

• Instead of having players align their letters properly (ex: B-A-T-T-E-R-Y) in front of them, my gaming group wanted to allow the letters to be placed any way they choose. If they stop time and the word is incomplete, that player's tiles are gathered up and 1 tile is randomly selected to be returned to the pile and the pile is shuffled. Play resumes.

My gaming group didn't like the idea of taking the time to align their letters correctly in front of them. It took time away from gathering tiles. In a game of dexterity and memory, I think NOT taking the time to have your letters properly spelled detracts from the concept of the game. You are only punishing yourself if you do not take the time to put the tiles in order when you found them. In the heat of the moment, you have to have a clear enough head as well as fast enough hands to achieve your task. I think they are missing the heart of the game by neglecting this. I DO think the rule of returning a tile if the word is misspelled, incomplete, or has additional tiles, is a great addition. They wanted the group to decide what tile is returned. I agreed with them, but ultimately, that will take too much time due to group-think and if one of the tiles isn't a Wild Tile, it might as well be random.

• With the removal of bonus points, there is no need for a timer. When the 4th word is completed, the round ends. Stopping of "time" when completing a word will remain. The timer will be replaced with a bellhop bell.

It speaks for itself. I see no flaw when added with the adjustments above.

• After the bell is rung, all hands must be placed (or slammed, whatever) quickly on the table. After the bell is hit, the player who finished can slap any hand which is still moving. It will be noticeable if the hand is not flat on the table. If the slammed hand is still in motion, a penalty is incurred.

There are a lot of hands still moving after the timer stops. I need to stop this. I don't know what penalty there should be. Possibly when play resumes, the penalty would be something like count 3 "Alligators" as fast as you can before resuming play.

• Erik (the complainer) said he liked the game like it used to be; Fast, dumb fun with a timer and random-ass scoring. He said there were too many rules now. The other group wanted more strategy to it, which is why I added the color-coded difficulty.

I think Erik's just impatient due to the "end of Round 1" incident. Likewise, I'm wondering about the other group. They had no problem with scoring, rules, or the timer, yet my group did. I need more playtesting groups to find out which way I should go with this thing. I really think the interruption at the end of Round 1 ruined any input I could have gotten from it.

Arbitrary Add-on: With all the mention of "tiles" and "the Pile" and "Wild Tile" during rules reading and explanation, I'm thinking of changing the name to "TILE PILE" or "WILD TILE". It's just a thought.