Game Design Showdown Aug 2005: "Travelin' Light"

Entry #1 - Belemmer
by Kumberdak

Object
This is a strategic two player card game that uses a standard 52 card deck. The name “Belemmer” comes from the Dutch word meaning “obstruct”. In this game the object is to block in your opponent using your higher ranked cards, leaving them unable to make a move. The winner will be the player who is best able to make the right offensive and defensive moves with the cards available to him.

Setup
First the 52 cards are divided into two piles—26 red and 26 black. Next, each of the two piles are shuffled separately and placed face up on the table. One player is “red” and the other is “black”. Alternating between players, each places one card at a time (face up) onto the table making a 4 by 4 grid of cards—8 red and 8 black.

Once the sixteen cards have been placed on the table, you’re ready to begin. A coin toss can be used to determine who goes first. Heads – Red. Tails – Black.

Gameplay
Lets say for example, red is going first. He has the option of moving any one red card or single stack of cards (with a red card on top) one place to the left, right, up or down—but not diagonally. The only requirements to this move are that he places his card(s) on top of a black card (the black card can be on top of a stack of cards) of a lower rank. Ex. King beats Queen, Jack, 10, 9, and so on. There is only one exception to this rule. An Ace, although normally counted as a “one” (and normally beaten by any card) is ranked higher than any of the face cards. Basically, an Ace can be beaten by any number card 2 – 10, but will beat any face card. (Just remember the term: “Ace beats Face”.)

After making his move, red takes the next “face up” card off the top of his pile and places it in the empty space from which he moved. Now it is blacks turn.

Players alternate turns until one of them can no longer make a legal move and is defeated. If both players have no cards remaining, the game is over and the player with the largest total card value is the winner.

Final Card Values:

Ace cards are worth 1 point each.
Number cards are each worth the number on their card.
Face cards are worth 10 points each.

Entry #3 - In the Time of Art
by Torrent

Setting:
Cities in renaissance Italy are clamoring for architectural pieces of grandour. As projects come up the players assign their resources to complete them. Highest honor is gained by specializing in a city and/or type.

Contents:
Resource Cards (2/3 of the total cards)
Project Cards
Endgame/Reference Card for endgame points

Explanation of Cards:
Resource Cards have two resources depicted in icons at the top and bottom of the card. They also have one craftsmen icon (Person). The four possible resources are Wood, Glass, Tile, and Metal.

Project Cards have a name of the project, a group of 3-6 resource icons and a number of craftsmen icons, a Type Icon, a City Icon, and a point value. Types are things like Religions, Commercial, Government, Public.

The endgame card has the same back as the Project cards, but the front has the explanation of the endgame on it. This is used both as referene for endgame points and for a random ending point to the game.

Setup:
Shuffle the project Cards and Resource Cards into seperate piles. Shuffle the Endgame card into the bottom 1/3 of the project deck. Each player draws 4 resource cards. Another (#Player) resources are laid face up between the players. (#Players) projects are laid face up as well.

Gameplay:
Each player takes a turn around the circle. Each turn, the player may either draw cards or acquire a project.
1) Draw cards: A player can draw one card either from the face up or draw pile.
2) Acquire a project: By playing a group of resource cards that together make up all the resources required for a project, the player can acquire that project. Cards cannot be split, so overages may occur. Note that craftsmen count for this and due to one per resource are the limiter of the minimum number of resource cards per project.

Projects and resources are refilled in the face up section when each player has had a turn. The start player then moves one to the left; the stacks are refilled and the turn go again. Reshuffle the resource cards as needed. Acquired projects are placed face up in front of the player.

Example: Project Card of "Guild Hall Foyer" requires 2 tile, a glass, and 2 craftsmen. Player A has a Tile/Glass, a Glass/Metal, and a Tile/Wood. He is able to play the Tile/Glass and the Tile/Wood to acquire the project. Since each resource has a craftsman and the project requires 2, 2 resource cards is sufficient to acquire it.

EndGame:
The game progresses with players acquiring project cards, until the Endgame card is drawn to replace a bought project.
Victory Points are as follows: Points are on each project.
City Points are by majority. The player with the majority of the city's projects gains the city points listed on the reference card.
Type points are a exponential scale. 2 of a Type is 1 points, 3 gains 3 points, 4 gains 6, and so on.

Most points wins.

Entry #5 - Bitter Creek
by emxibus

Overview:

Welcome to Bitter Creek Wyoming, where the man with the quickest draw and the deadliest aim makes the rules. Each player hires three gunslingers to protect them and their assets. Once all of a player’s gunslingers are killed he quickly leaves Bitter Creek and all his assets behind.

Components:

6 Gunslinger cards
12 Fire cards
12 Aim cards
1D8

Each gunslinger card has three stats

Toughness (1-2) – Number of hits he can take before dying.
Speed (1-3) – Speed at which he can draw his weapon.
Nerve (1-6) – Ability to take the heat of the gun fight.

Setup:

Players alternate selecting a gunslinger until all are hired. Each player collects 6 fire cards, and 6 aim cards.

Objective:

Eliminate all of your opponent’s gunslingers

Round:

1) Players simultaneously select one gunslinger to fight.

2) The player whose gunslinger has the quicker draw (speed) gets to play a number of cards before the other player can. Subtract the lower speed from the higher speed to determine the number of cards. For example, if player A’s gunslinger has a speed of one and player B’s gunslinger has a speed of three. Player B’s gunslinger plays two cards before proceeding to step three.

3) Players simultaneously select one card from their hand and play it.

Fire Card: Roll 1D8 (fire roll), if an eight is rolled your opponent’s gunslinger takes a hit. If a gunslinger takes a number of hits equal to his toughness he falls dead in the street (go to step five). If a player fires and misses, his opponent does a nerve check (see below). If both players play fire cards, it is possible that both gunslingers could die.

Aim Card: For each aim card played in the round add one to your fire roll. For example, a player has already played three aim cards and two fire cards this round. Next, he plays a fire card and rolls a five. He would add three (number of aim cards already played) to his fire roll. The modified fire roll would be an eight, which would be a hit.

4) Repeat step three until one gunslinger is killed. If a player has no more cards in his hand then he must reload his weapon (collect his twelve cards). Reloading is done in place of playing a card in step three.

5) Once a gunslinger is killed the round is over, and a new round is started, proceed to step one. If a player doesn’t have any more gunslingers he loses the game.

Nerve Check: A player discards one card from his hand. A gunslinger can lose a number of cards equal to his nerve stat. For example, if a gunslinger has a nerve of two, the max number of cards he can discard is two. Cards lost to nerve checks are collected when a player reloads his weapon.

Entry #7 - Traveling Light
by grayscale

for 2-4 players

INTRODUCTION

Traveling Light is a card game that doesn't require a playing surface. Each player just needs to be able to hold two piles of cards, one pile in each hand.

There are five types of cards: Leaders, Persons, Objects, Vehicles, and Containers. You're all going on a trip, and you have to pack everything for the trip, but you want to be the Leader with the lightest load once everything is packed.

A Pack is a stack of cards where the top card is face-up and the cards underneath are face-down. The top card "claims" the other cards in the Pack. At the start of the game, all cards start face-up, which means they're all separate Packs. During the game, players combine and repack Packs, until all the cards are in Leader Packs.

The number on a card is its size, which is how many cards can be in its Pack, including itself. Leaders do not have a size limit.

EQUIPMENT

The prototype uses most of a deck of standard playing cards. Bridge size is more convenient than Poker size.

Red A, K, Q, J are Leaders.
Red 8, 9, 10 are Persons.
Red 2, 3, 4, 5 are Objects.
Black 8, 9, 10 are Vehicles.
Black 2, 3, 4, 5 are Containers.

The number is the size, except Objects are all size 1.

SETUP

1. Every player chooses a Leader card. The remaining Leader cards are removed and do not get used.

2. Shuffle the chosen Leaders with the rest of the cards. Divide the cards among all the players. It doesn't have to be exactly equal, it's okay to just estimate it.

3. Each player splits their cards into two piles, one for each hand. All cards start face-up.

PLAY

Add the sizes of your top cards. The person with the highest total moves first, and play continues to the left.

On your turn, you usually combine Packs and pass the combined Pack to the player on your left. Sometimes combining Packs will instead lead to repacking, which redistributes parts of the combined Pack. If there's no way for you to combine Packs, you pass a Pack instead.

COMBINE PACKS

Choose one of the Packs on top of your piles, and use it to claim any other Pack on top of any other pile. When you claim a Pack, you turn the top card of the claimed Pack face-down, and put the claimed Pack under your Pack to make a combined Pack.

The top cards determine how Packs can be claimed:

Containers can claim Objects or Containers.
Persons can claim Objects or Vehicles.
Vehicles can claim Persons or Containers.
Leaders can claim Objects, Containers, Persons, or Vehicles.

(Objects are fragile and must be in a Container or carried by a Person. A Person claiming a Vehicle is driving or leading the Vehicle. A Person claimed by a Vehicle is riding or following the Vehicle.)

When the combined Pack is larger than the size of the top card, the combined Pack must be repacked.

When a Leader claims a Container, the combined Pack must be repacked.

If you don't need to repack, then you just pass the Pack to the player on your left, who puts it on the bottom of one of their piles.

REPACKING

Repacking works like this: The top card becomes a Pack by itself. Then take the bottom card from the original Pack, turn it face-up, and make a new Pack as large as that card's size, using cards from the top of the original Pack. Repeat until there are no more cards in the original Pack.

Pass the new Packs to each player in order, starting with the player on your left and going clockwise. Each player puts each Pack they receive on the bottom of one of their piles. Include yourself in the distribution order. Don't change the order of the Packs. The player to your left always gets the card that was on top of the original Pack.

Note: repacking may create strange Packs, like a Handbag that contains a Helicopter. This is acceptable. It represents confusion during the frantic chaos of packing, and you're passing off the strange combinations to someone else, it's Not Your Problem.

PASS A PACK

If there's no way for you to combine any Packs, such as when both of your piles have Objects on top, then you choose one of your top Packs and pass it to the player on your left, who puts it on the bottom of one of their piles.

FINAL SCORING

The game is over when all the cards are in Leader Packs. The Leader with the fewest cards wins. If that's a tie, the Leader with the lowest total size wins.

Entry #9 - Haul A$$ets
by Kreitler

In Haul A$$ets, players compete to transport the most valuable freight around the world via truck, train, plane, and ship. The player who ships the most wins!

Players: 2-4
Time: 30 minutes
Age: 10+

Equipment
Red Transport deck:

20 Truck cards with mileage values from 100-1000 15 Train cards with mileage values from 500-2000
10 Plane cards with mileage values from 1000-4000
5 Ship cards with mileage values from 3000-10000
10 Event cards

General Strike – current turn ends immediately. All players discard hands. Reshuffle all decks. Play resumes with next player. Fogged In – play no aircraft cards this turn.
Blizzard – Truck mileage x1/2 this turn.
Subcontracting – each player passes 1 Freight card of his choice to the left.

40 Freight cards, each with a total mileage requirement and dollar value. Higher mileage equals higher worth. Some Freight cards have special shipping restrictions. Examples:
a) no trucks
b) at least 1000 miles via plane
c) train only
Transport restrictions increase the Freight’s worth.

Overview
Play Transport cards to ship Freight to its destination. Successfully shipping Freight earns you money. Some Freight requires special shipping methods, making it worth more. Keep good Freight for yourself and give hard-to-ship Freight to your opponents. Use Event cards to introduce unexpected problems and opportunities.

Setup
Shuffle the Transport deck and deal 2 cards to each player. Place the remaining Transport cards face down in a draw pile in the center of the table.

Leave space beside the Transport draw pile for a discard pile and a “transfer pile”.

Shuffle the Freight cards and place them face down in a draw pile beside the Transport pile.

The youngest player starts.

Playing the Game
The active player begins his turn by:
1) Drawing 2 Freight cards and keeping both, OR
2) Drawing 1 Freight card and either keeping it or giving it to any opponent, who must add it to his hand.

The active player then draws or discards Transport cards until he holds exactly twice as many as Freight cards in his hand.

a) Players may discard face-up into the discard pile or face-down into the transfer pile. Players may discard to either or both piles in one turn. b) Players may draw from either the Transport draw pile or the transfer pile.
c) When drawing the first Transport card and each subsequent odd card, the active player adds it directly to his hand.
d) When drawing the second Transport card and each subsequent even card, he shows it to all players, then either plays it immediately on himself (if it is an Event) or adds it to his hand.
e) If the Transport draw pile is empty and a player wishes to draw from it, combine the discard and transfer piles into a single pile, shuffle it, and use it as the new Transport draw pile.

The active player now ships Freight and plays Events.

a) To ship Freight, he places a Freight card on the table along with Transport cards whose total mileage equals or exceeds the value on the Freight card.
1. All cards are placed face-up in full view of all players. 2. The Transport cards must obey any restrictions shown on the Freight card.
3. If the Transport cards' total mileage is too little, or if any Transport card violates a restriction, the player places the associated Transport cards in the discard pile and returns the Freight card to his hand.
4. A player may ship multiple pieces of Freight during his turn.
5. After shipping a piece of Freight, the player places all associated Transport cards face up in the discard pile and keeps the Freight for later scoring.
b) To play an Event, the player places the card face up in front of the affected player.

1. Events played on the active player take effect immediately. 2. Events played on other players take effect after the other player has drawn his cards but before he attempts to ship Freight and play Events.

The player then places all Events played on him in the discard pile.

Play continues around the table until the Freight pile is empty and one player ships his last piece of Freight.

Scoring
Compute players’ scores by totaling the dollar value of shipped Freight and subtracting the dollar value of unshipped Freight (cards still held in hand).

The player with the most money wins. In case of ties, the player with the largest number of shipped Freight cards wins.

Entry #11 - Nippon: Land of Heroes and Spirits
by buthrukaur

Intro: You are competing to create the Epics of Japanese mythology. You do this by pitting Heroes, Monsters, Legendary creatures and Demons against each other. This game for two players eliminates the need for a table by making use of the Box as the only playing surface you’ll need.

Components:
60 card deck
10 counters each in Brown, Blue, Green, Yellow and Red
5 player counters (black on one side white on the other)
Box (folding box with dividers, see picture)

Setup:
Give each player one of each counter. Shuffle the deck and deal half (30 Cards) to each player. Each player will place his deck in the respective half of the box top. Sort out the counters and place each color in its respective slot. Play begins with the oldest player.

Game play:
Each player may do one of the following actions:
Draw a card from his deck.
When a player draws a card from his deck he has one of 2 options with it.
-He can place it in his hand by discarding a counter of the same color as the highest strength of that card. If a card has multiple values that are the highest he can choose which color to discard of any that are tied for highest.
-The second option with the card is to place it in the discard pile and take a combination of 2 counters the same color as any that the card does not have a score of 1 in the trait.

Trade in any two counters of any color for any other counter.

Use a cards turn Action Game Text.
The cards will have the words “Turn Action” if it has an effect you can used during your turn.

Initiate Epic.
If both players have at least 1 card in their hand the active player may start an Epic. Each player may select up to 5 counters from his stash and place in a closed fist. Players then select one card from hand and place it face up on top of their draw deck. Both players drop the counters on top of their face up card. The trait with the highest combined score from both players’ card becomes the first battle (if there is a tie defending player decides which will go first.)
Players add the counters they dropped matching their color of the battle to their total. Whichever player has the highest total win the battle and takes all counters dropped by both players of this color into hand. If player A wins place a player counter white side up in the corresponding counter slot, Player B places his Black Side up when he wins. In case of a tie both players pick up remaining counters and return cards to hand, which ends the battle. If a player has more then double the strength of the other player the loser of that battle must immediately discard his card, if more battle need to be resolved then the player without a card can only use the strength of his counters. This process continues until all colors are resolved.

Resolving Epic:
Once all battles are resolved place the cards participating in the battle on the bottom of the players draw decks. Player A must then discard one card from the top of his draw deck for each black counter and Player B for each white counter.

Epic Example

Player A (the attacker) bids 3 red, Player B bids 2 Green and 3 Blue. Yellow has the highest total and resolves first with A winning and placing a White counter in the Yellow Slot. Brown resolves next with a tie, which would return the counters and cards to player hands. If A had placed one brown counter he would have won and then the defender could decide between Red and Blue with A winning Red and B winning Blue and finally Green would resolve for B. The player that wins each round returns all the counters of that color to his hand. Players would then discard cards based on the chips in the counter trays and the cards used in the battle are placed on the bottom of their respective decks.

Note: All cards have a Game Text. You must read all your cards as you play, use or battle with them as they may have a special effect on the game. If there is ever a timing issue the player with the current turn decided what order to resolve the card in.

Winning:
Once a players deck runs out he loses the game.

Entry #13 - Are We There Yet?
by Caliani

Mom and Dad have loaded you and your siblings into the family car for a drive to Grandma’s house. It’s up to you to hoard the best “goodies” in order to make the trip bearable. But beware, the other kids are going to be doing their best to steal that DVD player you’re watching, so be sure to slip ‘em that unfinished homework instead while making them watch you finish that last candy bar!

Game Play
“Are We There Yet?” is played with one 52 Play Cards, 12 Goodie Cards, and one six-sided die.

Setup
To begin the game deal out an equal number of Goodie Cards to each player face down. Goodie cards are kept in the player’s Goodie Pile and may be rearranged any time during a player’s turn. Each player is also dealt four Play cards.

Play
The player left of the dealer goes first, and then play moves clockwise.

A turn consists of:
1) Player draws Play cards until they have 5.
2) Play any yellow Event Cards immediately (stop here if you draw a “Lose a Turn” card).
3) Player optionally plays a “Steal” card (red) on a Goodie owned by another player (see “Stealing and Defending”).
4) After any “Steal” attempt has been resolved, player may play one “Action” card (purple).
• When a “Peek” or “Hide” card is played on a Goodie, place the Goodie on top of it (face up for “Peek”, face down for “Hide”) next to your Goodie Pile.
5) If no cards are played, discard one card.

Winning the Game
The game ends when three “Are We There Yet?” cards have been played.
The winner is the player with the highest score at that time. Score is determined by totaling the points of all “Goodie” cards that a player has.

Stealing and Defending
To attempt to Steal a Goodie, a player plays a steal card against another player’s Goodie card. The Goodie card is then placed face up next to the Steal card. The Steal may be played against cards that have been “Peek”-ed, but not one that has been Hidden.

The defender may then use any blue Defense card to block the Steal. Some Defense cards may only be used to block certain types of Steal cards, as noted on the card face (ex: a “Wet Willy” against “Snatch”) If a “Mommy!” card is played, the defender rolls one die to determine the outcome of the steal. If the result is:
1 - 2 “Then neither of you will have it!” – Goodie is discarded.
3 – 4 “You need to learn to share” – Successful Steal.
5 – 6 “Don’t make me come back there!” – Unsuccessful Steal

If the Steal attempt is Defended, play cards are discarded and the Goodie goes back to the original player’s Goodie Pile.

If the Steal is successful the “Stealer” may play a “Cooties” card as their action card to return the Goodie back to the old owner (when stealing the “Homework” card for example).

Otherwise a stolen card is placed face down onto the stealing player’s Goodie Pile (which may be reshuffled). Any “Peeks” on the stolen Goodie are discarded.

Discarded Goodies should be kept in a separate Goodie discard pile. They may be claimed using the “Finders Keepers” card.

Cards

Goodies (12) – (2” x 3.5”)
• DVD Player +3
• Video Game +3
• MP3 Player +3
• Comic Books +2
• Last Candy Bar +2
• Last Soda +2
• Mr. Potato Head +1
• Etch-a-Sketch +1
• Word Search +1
• Coloring Book +1
• Mom’s Magazine -1
• Homework -2

Play Deck

Steals
• (6) Snatch
• (6) Grab
• (5) Yoink
• (1) Look at that! – Only defended by a Sharp Turn.
• (1) Trade – Trade one of your Goodies for one of another player’s. Only defended by a Sharp Turn.

Defends
• (3) Wet Willy – Defends Snatch
• (3) Nuh-Uh! – Defends Grab
• (2) Indian Burn – Defends Yoink
• (1) Time Out – Defends Snatch/Grab/Yoink. Stealer may not defend next turn except with Sharp Turn.
• (1) Sharp Turn – Defends any Steal.
• (7) Mommy!
• (2) Switch – Switch stolen Goodie with any other Goodie in your pile.

Actions
• (3) Peek – Turn one opponent Goodie card face up, or return hidden Goodie to Goodie Pile.
• (3) Hide – Hides Goodie so it can’t be stolen, or returns Peek-ed Goodie to Goodie Pile.
• (2) Cooties – Return Goodie you stole this turn to original owner.
• (1) What’s This? – Mom finds hidden Goodies. All hidden Goodies are discarded.
• (1) Finders Keepers – Player gets all discarded Goodies.

Events
• (3) “Are we there yet?”
• (1) Lose a turn

Example Cards