Interesting Card Choice I Haven't Seen Before

I'm pretty sure I have seen something like this somewhere, but I can't remember where. It's certainly not an over-used mechanism, and if it fits with your game, you should absolutely try it.

I do like the idea a lot. It gives players an ongoing and potentially interesting decision: would the benefit of playing the card now outweigh the VP benefit at the end of the game? The real trick is to balance these benefits so that a reasonable number of the cards do actually get played rather than everything just remaining hidden -- and deciding what is a "reasonable number" for your game.

Watching the Rahdo playthrough I'm pretty sure I've come into something similar a few times. I can't swear that the card is always kept hidden, but I'm sure cards would have multiple uses (you could either spend the card and gain resources/actions, or you can keep them and score the points at the end of the game.

Unfortunately, I can't remember in which game they were used. But I agree that this is a very elegant solution (you have to make a tactical vs strategical decision)

Karmaka uses this mechanic (sort of). You can either score a card from your hand, or play the card ability from your hand instead of scoring.

One thing I would keep in mind is that this will be another resource for players to manage. So if they're already managing a hand and other resources, thumbing through face down abilities might get a bit cumbersome. You could also try only allowing the ability to activate upon receiving the card, rather than any time. That would cut down on the amount of stacked up decisions.

I use this mechanic in my upcoming game Mars Rover for the Research cards you can earn during the mission, and playtesters really like it.

Some tips from iterating on this mechanic a lot:

• It's OK to have some of the abilities give you points for revealing as well, also long as it is less points than keeping it face down till the end.
• You don't always need to pair the powerful abilities with high points, and the less powerful abilities with less points
• Sometimes, there's an ability you want players to use frequently, so you can make it worth less points so they are more incentivized to flip it up
• Keep abilities simple enough that people can remember them when they are facedown in front of them.
• Abilities likely shouldn't all be unique. Having some knowledge about what players might be able to do with their facedown cards is better than a total surprise all the time. Currently, Mars Rover has about 6 abilities in each mission, with 1-3 copies of each.

@Polyobsessive – maybe the prototype you remember using this mechanic is mine – as I think you tested it several times at Playtest UK meetups.

To my distress, I haven't played Mars Rover. The only game of yours I've played has been Door Number 3. When we're in the same place, we usually seem to be scheduled at the same time (or I'm working). Hopefully one day I'll be able to play more of your games. Will you be over for UKGE this year?

In my own game, players can collect powerful artefacts that count as VPs. They can choose to either keep those cards hidden and safe, or use them to their advantage, which then alerts the other players about having those VPs as well as putting a big target on them (artefact cards can be captured).

Check out SYNOD.

Another possibility could be to allow for the ability to reveal the card for increased VP. But, this would give opponents the opportunity to use the special ability on the card. It could still be a one-time use ability, but first come first served.

Though this could get difficult for players to track all the abilities they have access to depending on how many VP cards would be in play at one time.