Hey everyone!
For the past few weeks, I have been working on an idea for a card game. The original idea was to make a variant on blackjack/21, but the idea has grown since then.
Currently, the goal of the players is to make "sets" of cards totaling 21 points from 2 different decks of cards: crew and officers. Officer cards are numbered from 1 to 6, and crew cards are numbered from 1 through 10. Each deck has 3 suits.
All of the cards have positive numbers, but I am considering adding negative numbers to some of the crew cards. That way, a player could actually make a set totalling more than 21, but bring the total back down with a negative card. I'd probably keep the negative numbers limited to -1 or -2, to keep things simple.
I remember reading somewhere that subtraction is more difficult to process than addition, and so I am wondering if adding subtraction is a good idea. Do you think that subtraction is harder to do than addition? Would you be put off by a game that included subtraction as part of the mechanics?
-Ed
Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like I need to explain the game a bit more, so that we are on the same page.
The theme of the game (currently called "Boarding Party", but that may change) is this: the players are all co-captains on a ship. In the middle of the night, the ship comes upon a derelict treasure galleon. The captains have woken the crew and officers, and ordered them to break into squads and go investigate. Any money found by a squad is brought back to the captain that organized it, so both quantity and quality of the squads is important.
The game consists of 2 decks of cards: Officers and Crew. The Crew deck is approximately 3 times as large as the Officer deck. Both decks of cards have 3 suits: currently Swords, Guns and Bombs.
During a turn, there will be 2 Officer cards laid out on the table, and a pool of 5 Crew cards. Players draw cards from the Crew deck into their hands, and then try to make "squads" of Crew. Each Squad needs an officer to lead them, and those are drawn from the Officer deck. The Squad, including the Officer, must total 21 points. Completed Squads are placed in a player's score pile. If a player is able to make a Squad of only one suit (all Sword cards, for example), they get a bonus of an additional Officer card in their score pile. The game ends when either the Crew or Officer decks run out, and the winner is the player with the most cards (not points) in their score pile. Players subtract cards left in their hands from their total score.
My initial idea was that the value of a card represented a Crew or Officer's effectiveness (in battle, in boarding, etc). Then, some Crew are very ineffective (lazy, drunk, etc), and so have negative value. But, in thinking about this, I'm not sure that fits my theme, because negative value cards will actually add to a player's score pile (if they can use them). Instead, maybe all of the Crew cards have negative values, and players have to balance them against the positive value of the Officer cards (Squads would have to total 0pts to score)? That could simulate an effective Officer motivating a group of unmotivated Crew.
-Ed