Unusual game mechanics

Mugs & Cups:

• Dice cups and "Monster Cups" (to hold monster tokens/miniatures a la Arkham Horror) are the obvious uses here.
• A variation on the "talking stick." Whomever hold the mug is the player that can take action.
• Dexterity challenge. Keeping hold of and item/items/liquid/other substance in the cup. Requiring they hold as much as possible while doing some inconvenient physical action is a big challenge. Another variation is to deposit other objects in the cup, for example by throwing or tossing objects into it. Points can be earned by landing projectiles near it, or a "bullseye" by landing inside it.
• Hidden object. The cup itself or something that can be hidden inside the cup must be discovered by players. The classic "shell game" is a variation on this.
• Drinking contest. Drink out of the cup and empty it faster than an opponent. Either that, or (similar to the dexterity challenge) nurse your drink as long as possible. In either case, excessive spillage causes a penalty/disqualification.
• As the subject of a drawing contest.
• Hot Potato. The cup is filled with several smaller objects and passed between players. Each time they hold it, players must take a certain number of those objects out of the cup (maybe roll dice to determine the number). Players who can't take enough items from the cup or receive an empty cup at the start of their turn either lose, win, or steal items from their neighbours. At the end of the game (several rounds), the player with the most tokens is either the big winner or big loser.

Spiral-bound Notebooks

• I remember the old-skool board game Key to the Kingdom. I played this a lot while drinking late at night with friends while studying overseas. We played until we were totally bored or passed out drunk. But anyway, it has this cool board-flipping mechanic which opens or closes, transporting players to different locations to explore. I could easily see someone attempting to use this mechanic in a roll n' write version of this, while cutting a hole in one sheet of the notebook. Game boards could be on both sides of the page, and/or extend to the facing page/next page in the notebook.
• Telestrations uses this concept pretty well. The only difference is that their notebooks are reusable and have many fewer pages.
• Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books and their variants are some of my favourite diversions of my youth, and absorbed me into the reading and gaming hobbies. I'd still like to learn a system on effectively writing them, personally. I imagine at the very least a notebook would be good for a first draft.
• Paper Gauntlet. Similar to a choose-your-own-adventure book, but the goal is to make it from the front of the book to the back. Each page has a kind of challenge or bonus listed. Depending on how well the player does with the challenge, they move forward in the book or go back a few pages. This can be as elaborate and convoluted as possible, with player Ability Scores, dice throw results, or other factors influencing the player's progress.

That's plenty for now. I needed this break. :)

Well the "Book" or "Notebook" concept was used by "Serpent's Tongue" which shutdown in July 2018. They had a "grimoire" with cards you could use to cast spells, lore and puzzles to unlock more elements within the game's universe...

I'm not sure how the "Book" or "Notebook" was produced but it reminded me of a "Bible" book ... With cards inserted on the pages (like a pocket for the various cards in the game).

The game was VERY "Ambitious" and I don't know WHY the game disappeared... TBD... Maybe RL got in the way, IDK. It looked pretty impressive. So if you are interested in a similar concept ... Serpent's Tongue looked cool in a book format... But it was unlike a Board Game... It was a CARD game primarily focused on the Language used in the Garden of Eden!

But definitely COOL (Serpent's Tongue)... Here's the Kickstarter Link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/500894669/serpents-tongue-a-new-mag...

Just have a look at the "concept" ... Sorry the website is DOWN and the game is no longer available... I really thought the "Book" or "Notebook" concept WORKED for this game... So it would be cool to see another adaptation, into something different using this kind of apparatus.

Cheers!

The Zatch Bell tcg used a ‘book’ to hold your deck of cards. You could play either card on the currently displayed pages. Each turn you turned one or more pages and gained access to new cards while losing access to old ones.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/18287/zatch-bell

The game itself wasn’t very good, but the book concept was so interesting, I’ve been wanting to see another system use this ‘deck as a book’ concept

I like that idea.
This can be combined with designing your own units.

Piece on the board
Body (Body cost, Speed, Armor, Health)
Body addition #: (Addition cost, Addition cost per extra speed, Armor, Health)
Weapon #: (Weapon cost, Range, Multiplier, Accuracy, Damage, Special adjustments)

The pages itself will hold the combinations in place. Less fiddling. This is a great idea!!

Might as well ask this question:
"How many cards would you allow in a custom design?"

I know that a page could have 3x3 in cards. Which would mean that a design would allow only a maximum of 3 cards. Given that the piece on the board is put with the body design. I wonder if 4 would be a possibility as well.

Remember there is only so much you can put on a PAGE. I remember one Fighting Fantasy books, the House of Hell. This was to my memory the only one in the entire line of books that had a unique "feature". You had to "explore" the House and then at some point you would reach a WALL... And there would be nowhere to go... No more options like for "X" go to Page "Y" or for "W" go to Page "V"... Instead what it said was something like there is a LOCK and to unlock it, you must know the 3 DIGIT solution to the lock. And then to continue the book, you had to turn to page "ABC"...

I really thought that was a HARD book to PLAY. Because according to your choices, sometimes you would only find 2 out of 3 numbers. It took several times to READ the book to finally find the right combination and unlock the LOCK to continue your adventure.

So consider this ONE (1) way to ADD "depth" by requiring people to SOLVE puzzles and this particular GEM was real amazing. Really enjoyed that Adventure Book...

Here's a link to the book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Hell

Cheers!

I'm imaging a book with large map-sized pages. :)

PS: loved the FF series and have been playing them all throug after 30+ years. That feature appears a few times. Great fun.

I'm imagining something like this business card: https://www.instagram.com/p/42AciyqNUh/ for the spiral bound book...

So as you play you can't tell what is coming up next, but when you flip it it reveals.

I always wanted to make a game that used thiose 9-card protector pages since they are translucent, I feel like there could be interactions between cards on different pages and positions in the sleeves.

I have an idea that would utilize something like a glasses case (or something you can snap close and can hold multiple things) to pass secret info/bribes to other players. Still working out the details.

I not sure the business card tech is what it is called ... But I believe I know how it is made. If you see cars with a "skin" ... What they do is have "small circles" in the plastic material and on one side it's gray with the holes and it gives the impression of a "shaded yet transparent" looking glass. And on the OTHER side you have a full color "skin" with whatever they are selling or promoting.

I've seen it on cars and their windows and doors to shopping malls too.

It's the same thing just different application. Here's a Link/URL:

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/See-Thru-Window-Graphics-for-deco...

You can see from the sample images how the "circles" are a part of the illustration ... If you scroll down, that page gives you different options and talks about car application too... (With an inside view too)

I've done some Googling and found nothing in the business card sector. So it may be called something different when it comes to card applications.

Note #1: There is also LENTICULAR 3D techonology as seen in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdqJdNoYcKU

Maybe this was used on the card also... Could be a possibility, not sure!

Note #2: Golem Arcana had something similar too: basically you had your normal color and a "pattern" which could be scanned to reveal the type or ID of anything in the game. Be it a terrain tile or a miniature, GA using it's pen technology could scan the pattern and know the ID. Was REALLY impressive too!

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/146725/golem-arcana

Here is Tom Vasal's review of the game. I pin-pointed the time he talks about your tablet or smartphone and then shows you the pen/pointer:

https://youtu.be/9xL1yEm2LZ8?t=140

Note #3: The BEST "matching" technology I could find was Window Perf. Because Lenticular uses both sides (I haven't seen anything transparent in the Lenticular space). Also same for the Golem Arcana, the paper and minis all are NOT transparent. So even if you could nest a pattern, I believe the paper would need to be colored NOT transparent...

Here's a page talking about Yu-Gi-Oh! The only thing I want to point out is the big Exodia (5 card combo):

https://hobbylark.com/card-games/How-to-Buy-Yu-Gi-Oh-Cards-Online

Here's an Amazon listing that allows you to scroll over each card and better read the "effect" or "flavor text" for each Exodia card:

https://www.amazon.ca/YuGiOh-Exodia-Forbidden-Premium-Return/dp/B00UW1Y89G

If you've ever watched the Yu-Gi-Oh! cartoon (which is on Netflix BTW)... In the very first episode Yugi uses this five (5) card Combo to defeat a very powerful opponent. To me it sounds a lot like what you guys are talking about combining cards together.

Just wanted to introduce this Yu-Gi-Oh! concept ... Because I thought it was similar and relevant to this thread.

Cheers!

Note #1: One other point is that Yu-Gi-Oh! is very card combo-ish... There are many plays on having several cards in your hand or in play. Exodia is the only 5 card combo that I know of...

So rest assured that IF you guys want to pursue some of the presented ideas ... The ideas are of value. This is just one implementation of said ideas. But if Yu-Gi-Oh! did it... That means plenty of other games could be more closely examined and have similar mechanics.

It may have already been done... But that's a good thing. It proves that there is some MERIT in the idea(s).

To clarify the cost aspect, the symbols would limit the more powerful affects to a higher cost range of compatible cards. Then within the range, more powerful or versatile cards would be the ones that would make a lower cost if put it in the cost slot instead. That way the player has to choose, in order to reduce the cost, they have to sacrifice a more powerful effect or action to fill that slot of the supercard.

To eliminate confusion as to what the cards do, I'd design them to rotate 180 (for text) and make the bottom half of the sleeves on the page opaque. That way you only see the relevant info on the supercard.

If anyone wants to run with the idea, I'd love to help.

There is a dice mechanic I've wanted to see. There are lego dice that can have different 2x2 panels placed on each face. I think it would be cool to have a set of dice that you can upgrade each face individually as you progress through the game.

If there is also room for a "Unusual game design" topic. Where one tells a story of designing a game in an unusual way.