I am looking for playtesters for Sensational Stories, a light party game about assembling cards into hilarious tabloid headlines and then voting on them. The voting mechanic is the meat of the game - you get points (subscriptions) when people vote for your headline. However, you also get points for voting for a popular headline! The objective is to win the most new subscribers for your tabloid rag by the end of the game. It really is that simple, and if you are looking for a complicated financial simulation of the tabloid magazine industry then look elsewhere. If, however, the prospect of hand-crafting sensational news headlines and sharing them with friends sounds like something up your alley, then read on!
The game is already set up and ready to sell on www.thegamecrafter.com. I am holding off on publication only because I am a perfectionist who would like some sort of constructive criticism before I invest a little piece of myself in my game and it is rejected by the Board Game Geek community. Yes, I really am that insecure! Plus, it seems like the professional thing to do.
What will my playtesters get in return for their services? Only a crisp, colorful, professional-looking card game which they are under no obligation to return. I will order and mail the thing myself. My expectations are that my playtesters (this game supports 3-5 players) will play through the game twice and report on their experiences.
Here are the specifics of the game:
# of players: 3-5
age range: 8+ (basic reading ability required)
time investment: 30-60 minutes
If you're interested, send me a PM.
Yes, I am familiar with Man Bites Dog. That was even the operating title of the game at one point, before I did a search on www.boardgamegeek.com and discovered that there was a similar game with that very title! I guess there are only so many good print-media themed titles out there.
I've never played MBD, but from what I've been able to gather the points are printed on the cards like in Scrabble. Your headline can be disqualified by other players if it is ruled to be "nonsense", but there is no particular reward for being creative or funny. It's a very unstructured, arbitrary experience, which is why it isn't ranked particularly high on BGG.
Despite obvious overlap in theme and structure, I don't think Sensational Stories (SS) will play much like MBD. The voting mechanic rewards creativity, humor, salesmanship and good taste - rather than using all of your cards. In SS you have a bit more control over your final hand, whereas in MBD it is purely luck of the draw. And there are some nice innovations in the cards themselves that make them easier to handle, scan, and read from any angle.
I'm still convinced that two headline-making games can co-exist on the market, especially when they play so differently. How many "loot a dungeon and get out alive" games are there, anyway?
I'm back from vacation and ready to mail out some games! These things should be ready to move in the next few days.