Today I was brainstorming an idea for a game and I'd appreciate thoughts if you think it has any potential, what you foresee as some issues that could arise, and if you feel the game is too free-flowing.
----------------------------------
target game time 30-45 min
3-10 players
OVERVIEW
The game is played not just at 1 table, but in several different adjoining rooms that represent different islands. If the game is being played in one large room, before the game, players must decide where the location of each “island” is located in the room. Throughout the game players will be freely moving to different islands (rooms) and taking actions at those islands. The goal of the actions will be to collect cards that when traded in as sets will give you gold. The player with the most gold at the end of the game is the winner.
COMPONENTS
120 Treasure cards
10 Treasure Map Rule cards
200 gold pieces (with a value range of 1 to 20)
50 player tokens (5 of each color)
6 treasure chests
10 personal bags
SETUP
3-4 players use 3 islands (rooms)
5-6 players use 4 islands
7-8 players use 5 islands
9-10 players use 6 islands
Give each player 5 gold and a small bag to store their gold.
Shuffle the TREASURE CARDS into piles equal to the number of islands and place one of these piles at each island.
Place 1 TREASURE MAP RULES card at each island (room) along with a treasure chest. Each treasure chest will contain 5 gold at the start of the game.
Establish one room as the mainland. This is where players will return when they wish to play a set of treasure cards.
There is no deck/treasure map or treasure chest at the mainland. Only a place to place completed sets and a stash of gold used to pay players who complete sets.
All players will begin at the mainland. Once the game begins players may travel to any island to take actions.
ISLAND ACTIONS
EXPLORATION – Pay 1 gold to the island chest to look at the top 2 cards of the room deck and choose 1 of them. Alternatively, you may pay 2 gold and look at the top 5 cards of the room deck and choose 1.
CARTOGRAPHY – If you are able to add to the map of an island you gain gold based on the type of card played plus 1 gold from the treasure chest for every card already being used in the map. If you complete the map by placing an X card on the map gain all the remaining gold in the chest.
To add to a map you must meet the criteria of placing a card on that island’s map. If you cannot meet the requirements of that map you cannot take this action. Also, a player cannot place an X on the map until all the criteria have been met.
If a map is completed the island receives a new treasure map rules card.
TRADING WITH OTHER PLAYERS – All players involved in a trade must each pay 1 gold to the island’s treasure chest.
You may only take 1 EXPLORATION action while on an island, but there is no limit to the number of other actions you can take while on the island. You must then go to a different island to take an action before returning to the same island take another exploration action.
Once a player has a treasure set they may return to the mainland to claim their reward. (Each treasure card will show how it can be formed to create a set and how much that set would be worth.) Once you arrive at the mainland play your set face up in the main play area and place a token of your color on your set to claim it. Once another player enters the mainland and confirms your set collect the amount of gold indicated on the treasure cards for the set you completed. You cannot play a set if someone else has already played an identical set.
If a player is ever alone at an island they may look at all the cards in the island pile and they can rearrange the pile, but they cannot take any actions until another player arrives at the island.
The game continues until one player has completed 5 sets or when one of the island decks is depleted.
Players will then count up all the gold in their sack. The player with the most gold is the winner.
Thanks for the thoughts.
Well, you can't actually take any actions unless you are with another player so in theory you would be spending most of your time with other players. You would want to spend some time alone so you could see what was in a deck, but I guess there could potentially be an accountability issue like you said, if someone decided to just start taking cards when no one was looking.
My concern with having everything at one location is it could be a little chaotic determining who is at which "island."
Also, I sort of like the idea of things going on in other rooms that you don't know about, so there's a little bit of a surprise when you get back and see how the map has changed, or when you get back to the mainland, seeing how many and which sets are on the table.
Also, I'm wondering if there is enough room on a table for a game like this.
I'm certainly not opposed to playing it all on one table if it will work.