I don't know how many of you play Magic the Gathering, but they use 'Tapping' to indicate cards that have been used. Essentially, each card can be used once per turn. After you use a card, you turn it sideways to indicate that it has been used. At the start of your turn, you turn them back to normal.
I have been working on a board/card game (Isn't everybody?). It is a card-based tactical war game. Without getting into too many rules, each card represents a unit, and each unit can do two things each round (move, attack, cast a spell, use an item, activate somthing in the environment, etc... so you could move and attack, or attack twice, or move twice, or drink a potion and move, you get the idea). Once a unit has done his two things, he cannot act again.
In my rules (and most of the cards I've worked out), this 'tap' mechanic has been used. So for example, the 'Stunning Staff' is a weapon that, if you hit, the target doesn't untap next round. 'Tides of Battle' is a very powerful ability that allows you to untap your entire squad.
When I playtested this game with some friends, they pointed out that the 'tapping' mechanic was patented. I did some searches and found this link:
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tap_(gaming)[/url]
Which has a link to the patent. Does this mean if I want to publish, I can't use this ability?
I could change it to Flipping (where you flip the card face down), but then all the stats (armor, hit points) aren't visible :( . That, and I use damage counters on top of cards to keep track of hit points, so shifting the counters off each time would be a pain.
The other thing I though of was just change the text (in all cases) to just mention 'acting' - so 'Stunning Staff' would now say, if you hit, the target can't act next round. And 'Tides of Battle' would have to say, 'Everyone in your squad can take an action, even if they have already acted this round."
I've also considered using 'activation' markers. At the start of your turn, you distribute markers to each card, and as cards act, you take the marker off.
Those are in order from least likeable to most likeable, but what do you think? Can I continue using the 'tap' mechanic? If not, what should I switch it to?
But AEG (The makers of L5R) pay licensing fees to WotC for L5R.
From reading the patent, I know it at least covers tapping cards to pay for other cards. It may well cover rotating cards as a cost in general; I don't recall it stating that specifically, but when it comes to litigation, the word "implied" can be more powerful than common sense says it should be...