Game #42: Survive! by Aaron

Yes, the point of drawing before making your move is for two reasons as stated in previous posts:

1. You could change your strategy based on your next drawn card.
2. When you trade hands, the other player recieves a full hand of cards as you would.

As for the switch card when we played we never thought it was too powerful. Players seemed to save their reversal cards for instances like this and it worked out well, however I will agree that it is the best card in the game. I think I will consider either removing it from the game or at least having 2 instead of 4 of them in the deck.

The odds tell you that you are going to probably be dealt 4 move cards and 1 special card, however like everyone should expect this isn't always the case (one player got stuck with all move cards turn after turn, another player had all special cards, and so on). The thing is while probability can tell us the chance of something happening, it can't tell us that's what is going to happen every single time.

As for the person who suggested I try different hand sizes, I have considered making it 3 or 4 cards, but have not tried playing with it that way. We seem to think 5 works well when we play, because most of the time at the start of the game is when most move cards are played, the players stock up on what I call special cards (or in other words any card that doesn't say move), which usually leads to an exciting climax.

I have considered making a two player variant on this game, with a smaller board and a revised deck that would have cards more suited for a two player game instead of a four player game (for instance the removal of double reversal and double trade).

Thanks for all the posts and not even a day into it yet!

You may want to develop different starting positions for times when you don't have exactly 4 players. It seems like the game would work fine with different numbers, is there a reason you don't allow more or less?

How much have you played the game?

Thanks for the look,
mikep

First of all we have tried the game a few times. The players who played with me didn't seem to mind so much when they lost, the game didn't usually take much longer from the time a first player was eliminated to the time a second and third player were. Even when it took longer everyone seemed to stay interested in the game as the final two duked it out playing special card after special card to escape from what seemed like an impossible situation.

To answer the question how much have you played the game, we have tried it about 4-5 times. My family isn't much of a gaming family, but for my birthday the whole family came over and we played my game and a few other games.

I have considered making a two player variant, but not a 3 player. It seems like no matter how a 3 player board is made it will somehow give one player an advantage over the other two. I also have considered making a booklet of different possible setups for the board such as a red tiled X going through the board and players starting in different locations, but I haven't actually made one yet. Does that sound like it would add to the game?

Random Ideas:
- players control more then one pawn/vampire/snail/whatever
- some sort of portal tile that can transport you accross the board

This is my first post (and it is a long one). But I figured, I tried your game out (I made a simple board and used glass beads to mark the board for impassible squares) so I should give you my reactions.

First, the game is simple, and easy to learn. I tought it to a 12 year old during lunch. He actually thought it was too easy. We played three games, with the same four players, and the first ganme took about 35 minutes including explaining the rules. The second & third games took about 25 each.

Now onto my suggestions (These are independant ideas, they do not depend on each other unlese noted):

1. I agree that "switch" is a powerful card. It doesn't need to be removed however if there is a way to counteract its power. Perhaps a method for a player to counter another players action

Die 1 (6 sided):
1=Speed
2=Reversal
3=Trade
4=Reverse Reversal
5=Mind Control
6=Switch

Die 2 (6 sided):
1=Speed
2=Reversal
3=Trade
4=Reverse Reversal
5=Double Reversal
6=Double Trade

I am not sure if that will ruin your game (I have not play tested this variation) but it could add a different element to the game. Just a thought.

For example:

Stan is the first player to play an action card. He rolls die one and gets "Speed" and on die 2 he gets "Trade". Stan elects to play the "Trade" action, so "Speed" remains for the next player to choose.

Ted (the next player to play an action) then only gets to roll die 2, he does so and gets "Double Trade". Ted can now choose from "Double Trade" or "Speed". (Speed was previously rolled by Stan)

Update! I can't think of any new games to begin work on, so over the past few weeks I have made a few changes to the game (I haven't uploaded them yet since they aren't done, when they are though I will be sure to upload them to my games site).

1. The game is now called Outwit because as it stands, I can't use Survive!

2. Switch cards were thrown out by popular demand, replacing them are the ever so awesomely named Eradicate cards (sigh).

3. All cards now only contain the name of the action on them, the explanations have been removed. In spite of this I am creating player aids so that the rules for each card can be in one spot instead of the same card having the same text over and over.

4. A few new cards have been added. To name a few there are Diagonal and Jump.

5. A two player variant is in the works, still tweaking that one.

6. An alternate way to play using a scoring method has been "brainstormed". I use this word because I have not put it into the game yet, but I think it is a good enough idea to start working on.

7. All "Move" cards now specifically state two directions, 12 say North and East, 12 say North and West, 12 South and East, and 12 South and West, which means that now you can only move in one of the directions on the card.

8. There are (this is experimental to see how it works) two decks, a movement deck and an action deck. At the beginning of the game players are dealt 4 movement cards and an action card. Each player now gets a movement phase and an action phase (See where this is going?). Basically a turn now consists of:

1. Discarding a movement card to the movement discard pile
2. Drawing a new one to replace it
3. Following the card action
4. Discarding an action card to the action discard pile
5. Drawing a new one to replace it
6. Following the card action

(Players can elect to not play an action card but must play a movement card)

This eliminates the choice for a player to play a non-movement card to help extend their chances of staying alive when surrounded, and makes the game a little faster.

I'll post the new stuff in a few minutes!

Edited Post:
I added a few features to the game (available in the above post, described in a nutshell here).

1. Each player now has a "Reward track" and a "Penalty track", the penalty track goes both into negatives and positives, the reward track goes from 0 to 3, at the start of the game both start at 0. When a player plays an action card they incur a penalty based on the power of the card, and must advance their pawn along the penalty track. If a player chooses not to play an action card (Again it may help if you read the revised rules that I am about to post) he recieves one reward point and advances his pawn one space along the reward track. If the reward pawn reaches 3 he may deduct one penalty point from the penalty track, HOWEVER if you play too many action cards and get too big a penalty you will be "in the red" and you will not be allowed to play action cards until you gain enough rewards to get out of the red. I still have yet to playtest this and I already think I will need to do some tweaking but it adds a new element to the game.

2. Players now have their own individual boards with their penalty and reward tracks on them, plus the board in the center of the table.

Again this has not been playtested so your input counts (I should be able to playtest this a few times this weekend, we are going to a Twins game at 3:30 A.M. as we sit outside and wait to get collector's bobbleheads, so we will be playing a lot of cards).

Edit: meant to post this on Collectibility page, I moved it.