The Theme

My first impression on seeing your picture there is, "oh no, another Monopoly-like game". From your description it sounds like the objective and gameplay are not like Monopoly (please tell me you don't roll dice and move that many spaces around the board), so I think your board design might prevent people taking you seriously.

Good luck with the game, though. The idea of a game about trying to make a good Christmas is charming, and even though it probably wouldn't be an all-year-round favourite, it could prove popular around that time of year!

Don't let these guys scare you: this is a great place to get good (honest) feedback about your game designs. If you really want to make a great game, this is a good place to go!

That said, it appears that a large portion of the game that you're proposing is based on chance (you move randomly, draw cards randomly) with the central objective of acquiring the most valuable gift set. Is my summary of your game thus far accurate?

Chance is a fine thing, and an important ingredient to many good games. However, to make a game truly excellent, I suggest you look at the idea of "choices" in your game. On a player's turn, what do they get to choose? Do they get to choose between different gifts at a certain store? Are some gifts more valuable as a set than alone, driving you to seek out sets?

Then, consider what interactions players can have with each other. Can they prevent others from taking gifts they want? Can players auction off gifts they don't want when they arrive at a store, leading to a bidding war between players?

The reason that the others may have a somewhat negative outlook on the game as it's presented here is that those elements (choice and interaction) don't appear to be a prominent part of the game design (much as it is in Monopoly). I recommend looking at some of the games that have come out recently as you begin the journey as a board game designer to find inspiration on how to make your board game more engaging (and attractive to the gaming crowd). Check out the list in the above post for some great suggestions.

Best of luck!

Looks like a lot of work and effort went into this. Great job! I'm going to pile-on and say that, while there's nothing inherently wrong with Monopoly-clones, but the modern board game landscape is a varied and diverse place, and if you're not familiar with any of the "new" style games I'd suggest you check some out to get ideas for your next project.

Also, looking at your history it seems that you're interested in printing your game more professionally. I'd suggest checking out this Board Game Geek forum. It has a lot of great information on prototyping, printing, publishing, etc.

I've read through the first part of your rulebook (notes will follow later) and, to be honest, I'm not really sure about the theme now I've read more about it. All the following is just my opinion, of course...

So, if I understand this right, the aim is to have loads of valuable gifts and stuff bought, with those values offset against the amount of debt you have amassed through the game, with the twist that if you amass enough debt, that debt is written off. Is that about it?

So my problem with it is that you appear to be trying to satirise the way that certain businesses get to be so big that they are immune to repercussions from the market (the whole "too big to fail" thing) but you are doing this in a game about people trying to have the best possible Christmas.

In a world where people really do go heavily into debt trying to provide a memorable holiday for their family and society seems to be set up to encourage this over-spending, having a game where the aim is to spend as heavily as you can and hope that you can get away with the mountain of debt you will build seems to be a bit "on the nose". I'm not sure it is something that would give most people a warm, fuzzy family feeling, instead it might be a little depressing really.

By way of contrast, the one Christmas themed game I really enjoy playing is James Ernest & Mike Selinker's "12 Days". It's a much smaller, simpler game being effectively a trick-taking (and set collecting) card game, but it evokes Christmas partly by being built around the gifts in the song (2 turtle doves, a partridge in a pear tree, you know the stuff) but also because each round players give each other gifts.

I think the thing to consider is what feelings you want to evoke in your players. If you do actually want to have players hating the dice rolls and getting annoyed with each other, going for a capitalist spend-fest might be right for you after all I have said. If you want players to have a nice time with their loved ones, I'd argue for taking a look at the theme (and the mechanisms too).

Hi Evan,

That's fair enough -- it's good that you have a vision of what you want to achieve with the game. I guess the thing now is to make the game reflect that with its mechanics as well as you can while being enjoyable to play for your target audience. Compromises may need to be made to achieve that.

I sent you an email directly with some thoughts about the game from having read through your materials. I'm happy to discuss any of that.

As for my games, thank you very much. I will be doing some playtesting of one of my designs over the weekend, after which I will be thinking through the feedback I get and then plan to post here about it. Expect something next week... ;)

Rob