Game Design Showdown April 2006: "Money-Mobile"

Entry #2 - MassaCar

The cars in the small town of Slothville have had enough. Humans talking on cell phones, babies in car seats vomiting in them, the horrors drive time radio and podcasting have all combined to drive the normally placid automobiles into open revolt. Some just seek the gentle rest of the junk yard, others are looking for blood!

Your goal in MassaCar is to help the cars and trucks of Slothville to either bankrupt or murder their drivers.

# of Players: 3-6

Contents:

Poker chips to represent Money
78 Victory point counters
1 Garage Board
6 Garage Tikis
1 Deck of Car and Driver cards (40 cards)
>> Car and driver cards have several pieces of information on them. The first is a portrait of the passengers in the car. Along with this portrait is the number of VP you get for killing that passenger. Most Cars have 1 passenger, some have multiple. Then there is Cash amount representing the amount of money the driver gets, just under this is a VP amount, representing the amount of VP a player gets for bankrupting the driver. Finally they have a portrait of the car, and any special ability that the car may possess.
1 Deck of Ailment and Accessory cards (80 cards)
>> Ailment cards have the title of the card, a little cartoon, a repair cost, and a small chart of possible outcomes for the revolt roll. Accessory cards generally have a cost and a special ability printed on them.

Game Play:

Set up: Each player is given 3 starting victory points. A pool of victory points is put on the garage equal to 10 times the number of players.

Step 1: Any players without a car and driver card draw one from the deck. Players take amount of Cash indicated on the card. This represents the budget of the Car’s owner.

Step 2: All cars not in the shop are considered “On the road”. The players flop over 1 Ailment card for every car on the road that turn. All the players who are on the road look at the cards. These players must then negotiate and decide which player gets which card. Each player must take exactly one card. A majority of players must agree on the card division. If no agreement can be made, the player with the least number of victory points divides the cards as they see fit. If there is a tie for least victory points, then the cards are distributed randomly to the players. Cars in the shop do not vote or receive cards.

Ailments and Accessories are then put on the cars. Accessories must be paid for at this point from the pool of money left for the cars owner. If the player cannot afford to pay the car is repossessed, and the player gets victory points from the garage for bankrupting the driver.

Anyone “In the shop” during step 2 pays 1 buck from their driver to represent car rental. A driver may be Bankrupted this way.

Step 3: Roll and Resolve Ailments. Each player on the road rolls a d6 for each ailment on their car. They consult the charts for all ailments currently on their car. There are three possible results.

Running Smooth: The car doesn’t break down just yet. A car running smooth stays on the road.

Breakdown: The ailment gets so bad that the car has to go to the shop. A player rolling Breakdown takes one of the garage Tikis. If more than one Breakdowns are rolled, you don’t take multiple Tikis. The Tiki just represents that the car is in the shop.

Death!: A death result means that all the passengers in the car are killed in a horrible wreck. When the passenger dies the player receives a number of VP as indicated on the card. Some people are more horrible than others and need to die more. Some are nice enough that the car actually feels bad, and you loose VP when they go.

Step 4: Fixing the cars. The Slothtown auto shop is rather overworked and they can only handle one car per turn. Players use a blind bid to determine which car gets fixed. They take any number of victory points in their hand, including zero. The players all reveal at the same time. The player who bids the most pays those points back into the garage. The other players keep their VP.

If 4 or more cars are in the shop at the same time the top two bids are taken instead of a single bid. These two cars are repaired this turn.

The winner of the auction gets his car repaired. They must pay the garage the cost of repair on all Ailment cards. If this bankrupts the driver they get the Bankruptcy VP shown on the car and driver card.

Repaired cars are on the road for the next turn.

All other players remain in the shop, and are not considered “On the Road” next turn.

End of turn: After all four steps are done, go back to step one. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Ending the Game: The game ends when all the VP are taken from the Garage.

Entry #4 - Lemon Lots

(4 players):

Objective: To earn the most points by successfully repairing automobiles

Bits and pieces:
-Automobile cards: Each card has on the front a picture of the car, a value point for that automobile, and the cars “ailments” and required repairs.
-Tool Stamps: Rubber stamps representing various automobile repair shop tools. There are 2 of each tool type. Each tool stamp is labeled with a monetary value from $50-200.
-Repair bill record sheets
-Money
-Customer’s wallet held by the banker

Playing the game:

Each player receives $2000 cash to begin; the remaining cash is placed in the customer’s wallet.

Each player draws one tool stamp from a box without looking, that tool is placed in front of them where all other players can see it, and the remaining tools are placed in the center of the table

The top 4 automobile cards are placed in the middle of the table, picture side up with points visible

The player with the crappiest real life car goes first.

On a turn a player can do one of the following:
Purchase tool stamps
Bid on a car repair
Obtain repair services

To purchase tool stamps:
A player chooses the tool stamp they would like to purchase and pays the banker the amount listed as the stamps monetary value. A player may elect to purchase 2 of the same stamps if they choose. Only 1 tool may be purchased on a turn.

To bid on car repair:
The player selects any one of the 4 cars in the middle of the table and gives a repair bid for that car. Once the repair bid for a car has been offered other players around the table may try to underbid the player and take the car away from them. A bidding war then ensues and the car goes to the player with the lowest bid. Play then proceeds to the next player.

Once a player wins a bid to repair a car, they place the car in front of them picture side up. They get a repair bill record sheet and fill in the amount of their bid on the repair sheet and place it with the car card in front of them. The next car card from the draw pile is added to the 3 remaining in the center of the table. Play passes to the next player.

To obtain services:
The back of each car card will list the tool stamps required for repairing that car.
Once a player has won a bidding war they must obtain the tool stamps needed to repair that car before they can collect on their bill or count the car’s points toward their score.
If a player has the stamp for a required tool they may simply stamp the repair bill. If they do not have the stamp, but a stamp is available for sale they may purchase it. If the stamp is in possession of another player they negotiate a price to “rent” the stamp for their bill or they may trade a stamp or offer to stamp another player’s bill in return. A renting player may not charge more than the monetary value of the stamp to rent it.

Repairing a car:
Once a mechanic has all stamps needed to repair the car they turn the bill into the bank to receive payment. They can now count that car as “repaired” and its points count toward the players score

Play ends when the amount of money left in the customer’s wallet is no longer enough to cover existing repair bids

Player with the highest total number of points in his “repaired car” pile wins the game.

Sample hand:

Player one bids “I can fix that yellow Volkswagen beetle for $300”; player 2 bids $250 and wins the bidding war. Player 2 fills in the bid amount on the repair bill. The Volkswagen has a flat tire and will need a jack and a tire iron in order to be repaired. Player 2 owns a tire iron stamp and stamps his repair sheet. Player 3 and player 1 have a jack stamp. On his next turn player 1 asks to rent the jack, Player 3 asks the value amount on the stamp, player 1 asks 5 dollars less. Player 3 pays player 1 and 1 stamps his repair sheet. Player 2 now has everything necessary to repair the car. He submits the bill to the banker and is paid from the customer’s wallet for the repairs. The repaired car then goes into their stack of repaired cars and the points count toward their score.

Entry #6 - Lemon Aid

3-6 players

Contents:
4 Car Damage Dice per Player marked with the following 6 sides:


5 auction/point tokens per Player marked with '5','4','3','2','1' on front and '1 VP' on back
4 Car Tokens per player (in player colour)
Score track and player score markers
52 Deck of Repair Option consisting of 13 of the following cards:

Theme:
The players take the role of hobby mechanics who love to fix up their old Lemons and take them to the monthly hobby gathering, down at the malt shop. The Lemons barely pass as functioning and must be under constant repair. Players will score Victory Points depending on how repaired their lemon is, which will require help from the other players.

Mechanic Overview:
Players will roll their 4 dice to show what damage their car has. A number of repair options will be turned up and auctioned to the players. The players will then negotiate with each other for the ability to use the repair options. They will use remaining auction chips, now VP, and their own repair options as collateral. When negotiations are done players score based on the state of their 4 dice. The next round begins by re-rolling undamaged dice and discarding used repair options.

Setup:
Each Player takes Bidding Tokens and Car Tokens or one colour, 4 Damage Dice, and then places their score marker on Zero on the score track. A start player is chosen and shuffles the Repair Option Deck and places it face down within reach.

Game Turn:
Roll for Damage - Initially players roll all four dice to determine their cars damage. On future turns they will roll only the dice which show the Check Mark. These dice are kept open and face up until a die is repaired. When repaired a die turns to the Check Mark.

Bid on Repair Options - Turn over a number of Repair Option cards equal to the number of players plus one. The start player places one or more bid token (number side up) on any repair option card or passes. This continues clockwise until all players pass. Following bids must be higher then the total bid tokens of one player on that Repair Option. Once a player passes they cannot re-enter the bidding.
The player whose bidding tokens total the highest on a card gets that Repair Option. They place all bid tokens on the card aside (until end or turn) and place the Repair Option card face up in front of them. Repair Options not bid on are discarded.

Negotiate Repairs - All players may now negotiate repairs openly, in attempt to fix their cars damage dice with the appropriate Repair Option.
--Only one Car Token per repair option.
--Players may negotiate with their available Repair Options, for VP Tokens (bid tokens face down that were NOT used in this turns Bid on Repair Options) or future favours (which do not need to be fulfilled)
--Players may not place a Car Token on a Repair Option if they do not have the related damage
--Players may place their Car Token on their own Repair Option
--Upon successful negotiation a player will place his Car Token on the Repair Option and transfer any VP tokens
Damage = Repair Option
Flat =Tire
Oil = Oil
Rad = Flush
Dent = Paint

Repair - Players turn over their Damage dice to the Check Mark for every Repair Option their Car Token is on that matches the Damage Dice. A player can repair any number of identical damage dice with one matching Repair Option.

Score - Players now display their cars and score depending on the condition they are in.
Check Marks = VPs
4 = 5 VP
3 = 3 VP
2 = 1 VP
1 = 0 VP
0 = -2 VP (players can not go below zero on the score track)
In addition, players score 1VP per bidding token not used or obtained through negotiations.

End of Turn - Start player becomes the player to the right of the previous start player. All bidding tokens are returned to the players. Used Repair Options are discarded. Unused repair option remain for the next round (there is no limit to the number of unused repair options a player has). All Car tokens are returned to players. Unrepaired Damage Dice remain for the next turn (Check Marks will be rerolled – sh*t happens)

End Game
The game ends at the end of the 8th turn. This represents a season of car repairs and shows. The player with the most VP wins. Ties are shared.

Entry #8 - RATTLESNAKE RALLY!

Each player operates a repair shack that outfits the buggies racing through the wild terrain of Rattlesnake Rally… each player ALSO operates one of those buggies! Each leg of the race can earn you cash for coming in first place, but the fastest routes don’t always have flags on them… and the first player to collect 20 points worth of flags wins the rally!

Cash is used to purchase new parts from the Supplier and from the other players when they are acting as the Mechanic, so it’s up to you to choose the best routes and balance your trip wisely! Start your Engines!

COMPONENTS

Parts cards. There are 5 different types: Engine, Tires, Shocks, Brakes, and Nitros. They are kept in a deck which is referred to as the Supplier.

Track Cards. Each Track Card shows a selection of routes that players can choose to travel. Each route is marked with the Time to travel, the Parts type that must be spent to travel the route, and how many Flags (if any) are to be won.

Repair Shack. A large card which sits in front of the player who is currently the Mechanic. Before each leg of the rally (except the first), all players have the opportunity to purchase or trade for parts from the Mechanic. The role of Mechanic moves to the right after each round.

The Time Track. Lets you record how much time your buggy has spent traversing each Track Card, and thus determine who wins each Leg of the rally.

Pawns. Each player uses one to mark their progress on the time track.

SETUP

•Give $10 in cash to each player, and put the rest into a bank.
•Shuffle and place the Track cards face-down in a deck on the table.
•Shuffle the Parts cards and deal a hand of 15 to each player. Put the rest face-down in a deck which will be called the Supplier.
•Lay the Time Track in the centre of the table, and put each player’s pawn on zero.
•Draw the top 3 cards from the Track deck and lay them out vertically to display the upcoming leg of the race.
•Each player keeps 10 cards... this is their Buggy. All other cards are discarded and shuffled back into the Supplier.
• Determine fairly who will start as the Mechanic. Give that player the Repair Shack card.

GAMEPLAY
There are two phases to the game – Racing, and Repairing. They alternate until someone wins the game. Once setup is complete, start the game with a Racing phase.

RACING

Each Leg of the rally is divided into 3 branches, represented by the 3 Track cards on the table. We resolve the branches one at a time.

•Each player decides secretly which route they wish to travel, and conceals 1 or more Parts cards (of they type marked on their chosen route) from their BUGGY in their hand.
•All players reveal their concealed cards.
•If a player is the only one to have chosen a route, they claim the points for any flags on that route, and note their score.
•If more than one player has chosen the same route, the players who has comitted MORE Parts cards to the route claims the points for flags on the route.
•If there is a tie, players SPLIT the points, rounding DOWN.
•All players discard the spent Parts cards.
•All players move their pawns forward on the Time Track the number of spaces indicated by the Clock icon on the route they chose.

Repeat the process for the second and third Legs.

After the third leg is over, the player who has the LOWEST number on the Time Track gets a cash bonus and may take $5 from the bank. All pawns are returned to the zero point.

Clear the Track Cards and lay out 3 new ones in the same fashion.

REPAIRING

The Mechanic draws the top 5 cards from the Supplier and displays them for the next player, then draws the next 3 cards and keeps them facedown on the repair shack. The Mechanic may peek at these cards. The player may choose to make a negotiable cash offer to the Mechanic for the displayed cards. If an agreement cannot be reached, the player is free to take the cards in the Repair Shack at a cost of $2 each, which is paid to the bank.

Once the Mechanic has completed this transaction with all other players, he repeats it with himself. He passes the Repair Shack card along, and the next RACING phase begins.

VICTORY

When a player reaches or exceeds 20 points worth of Flags, that Leg of the race is completed. At the end of the leg, the player with the most points wins the game!