Been playing #TheGang, #Balatro and #SpiritIsland. Musing on a coop engine building poker-like…
Deal out a shuffled deck of cards (Math it so there is enough cards for each player and flop deck to play a full hand and work through them all)
Each player accrues points based on value of hand (valuation tbd)
At point thresholds, players select perks that boost scoring.
OK, ran a quick play-test at two players. It mostly worked.
Rather than any perks (which would have required more design time) we used a mechanic where we said what hand we "hoped" for and what we would "hedge" with.
Once the hand resolves, we took the cards that we scored into our shared "victory points" pile.
At the end, we counted up the cards in our victory points pile (26! 50% of a 52 card deck!); and tried to decide if that was a "good" amount.
Literally took 30m to grab a deck of cards, explain the game, and play through the whole deck for a single round.
That means 3x rounds w/experienced players would be between 30m to an hour.
A good pacing for a cooperative family-weight game that can be played with a deck of cards.
Draft rulebook:
Deal out 2 cards at a time to each player, and then 5 more cards to the "flop" deck. Do this until no more cards remain. If it is not possible to deal to everyone and the flop deck, set those cards aside as discard.
Players flip the top two cards of their deck. Each player states what hand they Hope for and what hand they Hedging with. (i.e. "I'm hoping for three of a kind but I'll hedge with a pair")
Like Texas Hold Em, flop into the river. On each flop, players may amend their Hopes or Hedges.
After the 5th card enters the river, each player scores a hand that matches their last stated Hope and Hedge.
Players may score the same cards from the river. Scored cards are set aside to be counted later.
Once you've played through the entire deck, count the total number of scored cards.
0 to 19 cards - Good start!
20 to 27 cards - Well done
28 to 35 cards - Excellent
36 to 43 cards - Incredible
43 to 52 cards - Trurly Exceptional
Maybe keep a record of your plays!
OK! Here we go!
The game is #WeTheWitchesOfTheWood, a 20-minute cooperative game of potion-brewing, individual risks and collective rewards; all playable with a single deck of cards!
I'm running a public playtest. Can you:
- Play a game (or three?)
- Provide feedback on pacing, scoring, writing, and player count?
(Boosts welcome!)
Zee