Hey everyone!
I've been working for the last year on and off on a game idea where you're playing as someone who is playing a game of poker. I'm looking for some feedback on the pacing of the game, and the economics of it.
I've got it all set-up as print and play, which I'll include here, and the rules can be found: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AYyuufOMPvwVU__gNgvnc5WR477JtGLb5GEb... with a card diagram, but I'll include the rules in the body of this as well.
The game scales (time wise) so you can play a short hand to see how it goes, or play a full game if you want. The design goals are:
Design a game that people who play a lot of poker can play with their friends who don't play much poker.
Design a game that is similar to poker, but one with a lot more interactivity and concrete actions that effect the outcome of a particular hand.
Design a game that offers many difficult decisions to the players regarding hidden and non hidden information.
Design a game in which there is point spending mechanics that feels like betting.
There's still a lot of work that needs done, the art is prototype art only and the "flavor text" on the Luck cards are obviously place holders. Many of the card abilities need reworked to be more compelling, and there's a component that's completely missing (characters) which will help drive the theme home. But I'm looking for some feedback to see if I'm heading down the right track for meeting my design goals. Also i'm trying to get the right mix of starting money for the players. No so much that people can play and lose every hand and stay in the game, but not so little that a couple of bad hands knock them out for good.
To be added still are characters. Each player will have a character card dealt to them. Each character will have a goal on their card, and when the goal is met (in a particular hand), they can reveal their character and get a major bonus - and then they will receive either an ability, or a passive bonus for the rest of the game.
Some of my card abilities are kind of boring, and I'm working on new categories of abilities and altering some of the less good ones - feel free to point out any you like or dislike in particular. Cards with the cheat type "luck" do not have abilities - they are just flavor text (bad at that). Oh and the /0 is a 0 point card, not a 10.
The Game Deck is here:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5Uge-xbUlSOeGhmNENTb2FUbEk
The Deck of Cards is here:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5Uge-xbUlSOVE1aa0dEaXB1UzQ
If you want to print them out to test, its set-up for double sided printing (flipping along the vertical edge), and you need to make sure "fit on page" is NOT checked for it to line up properly.
Here are the rules:
Aces and Eights
Number of Players 3-6
Time: 60-75 minutes
Overview:
Aces and Eights is a card game in which you are playing the role of a card shark from the 1800’s. Through cunning play and cheap tricks, you can be the player who walks away from the table with the most money - as long as you don’t get caught!
Object:
At the end of the game, you want to be the player with the most chips.
Setup:
Shuffle the Aces and Eights deck, and the Aces and Eights Game deck.
Choose one player to start as the dealer.
The dealer deals 4 cards from the Aces and Eights deck to each player.
If you want to play a shorter game, you can remove cards from the Aces and Eights game deck to reduce the total play time.
Each player begins with 6 chips for each card in the game deck.
For a full game, each player would start the game with 72 chips
Gameplay:
The order of play for Aces and Eights is as follows:
Ante Up!
each player pays 1 chip to the center of the table to form the pot.
Pick a Hand
each player chooses a card from their hand to be the ‘hand’ they are playing.
that card is placed horizontally in front of them, and becomes their “hole card”
Game Type
Determine the split
Reveal the top card of the Aces and Eights Game deck - this will tell people what kind of game they are playing, and what they are playing for.
Cheat!
Beginning with the player to the left of the dealer, each player may choose to fold or cheat.
To cheat, a player chooses a card from their hand and plays it in front of themselves or another player vertically above that player’s hole card, and pays its cost.. This card may be played face up, or face down.
Each cheat card cost is equal to the number of that cheat card that has been played on that particular person. The person playing the card pays its cost to the pot.
For example, the first cheat card played on someone costs 1 chip, the second played on that same person would cost 2 chips and so on.
A player may only have 4 cheat cards played on them per hand.
If a cheat card is played face down, no other player may look to see what it is unless a card say otherwise.
If a cheat card is played face up, you must take the action stated by the card.
After the effect has been resolved, draw a card to replace the cheat card played.
To fold, you collect all the cheat cards played on you, and your hole card and place them face down in the discard pile.
Repeat this process with each player in clockwise order until one of the following conditions has been met:
There is only one player that hasn't folded
Each player has 4 cheat cards played on them
Showdown
Determine the winner of the hand
Each player who hasn't folded reveals their hole card and their face down cheat cards.
Each player adds the hand value of their hole card with the star values of their cheat cards to determine the person with the best hand.
If there is a numerical tie, then the player with the best actual hand on their hole card (not the hand value, but the actual best poker hand) wins the tie.
Split the pot according to the game type as revealed in the beginning
Clean up
If there are still cards left in the Aces and Eights Game Deck.
The person to the left of the dealer becomes the new dealer.
The dealer collects all the hole and cheat cards, the discard pile, and the cards from the Aces and Eights deck and shuffles them to create a new deck.
The dealer then deals cards to each player until they again have 4 cards in their hand.
The game repeats at “Ante Up!”
If there are no more cards left in the Aces and Eights Game Deck, the game is over, the person with the most chips wins!
Thanks for your feedback and advice!
