Hi!
I had an idea some days ago, and would like to talk about it.
Basicly, I don't know any theme that would fit this game the best, because any would be quite good.
Let's assume we're doing a game about betting on boxing matches.
Basics:
You need a deck of cards representing the boxers. Each boxer has a strength and may have a special ability.
You need dice (d6s are perfect) and some counters to track scoring between the players.
Finally, you need some kind of tokens of two colours (let's say red and blue) identify the bets. A token of each colour for each player is required.
Each player starts with coins (or points, or something to track score).
At the beginning of each round, someone takes the top two cards from the deck. You now have decided for this round's match.
Let's say it's Fighter A vs Fighter B, whith strengths 3 and 4.
Each player takes in his hand a token designing his champion (red for A, blue for B) and as many scoring chips as he wants, minimum 1. That's his bet. Once every player has his hand closed over the table, everyone can reveal.
For example, 5 players (u, v, x, y, z) bet
u: 2 on A
v: 3 on A
x: 2 on B
y: 1 on B
z: 2 on A
It is now time to see who won the match! For each of the fighters, take as many dice as his strength. A player throws the dice for his champion (it's more fun if it's the one who bet the highest on him!) and counts how many points he scored. The fighter with the highest points wins the fight.
The players who bet on the loser give the bet amount in the middle, and the ones who bet on the winner get their points back.
Now, the winners share the lost points of the losers, giving more to those who bet the most. (At this point, I'm not sure what sharing method is the best. I think you draft the points from the one who bet the highest down to the least bet, and then start again from the top. For example, if A loses the fight, x and y would share 7 points. As x bet more than y, x gets 4 points and y gets 3.)
The game goes on until a player loses all his points, and you then count the points for everyone: the player with the most points wins the game.
Special abilities for the fighters may contain abilities varying their strength in function of the opponent or in function of the bets.
In the case where every player went on the same fighter, two things could happen:
-If he wins, everyone gets his bet back and the game continues for the next round.
-If he loses, all the bets are cumulated in the middle and added to the stakes of the next round: you really want to win the next one if there are 10 more points to share!
So: what do you think about it? The rules are really in a drafted shape, I wrote them down just now, and may have missed some important points.
Also, if there are already games based on a pure betting system, it would be nice to see what has been done.
It's a nice idea to have a "bank", so the players don't feel limited in their gains, but on the other side, I imagined a part of mind-game where the players would have to think about how much the others would bet on the other character in order to win the most.
But your solution is the easiest for sure.
I asked my friends what they would think about this kind of game and got two main answers:
-Sounds interesting (not a real comment, just a statement, you'd say)
-If I want to bet, I'll go and do it for real.
That second one made me think about the game itself: if it's just betting, it's true that a lot of players may find it a bit boring.
"I bet that much... I hope the dice help me! [...] Nice, I won. Now I'll bet that much..."
The thrill of betting comes from the stakes. I think that for such a game to become more interesting, it should have another core mechanic that combines with the betting.
For example, you would bet for three rounds, and then have to buy stuff with your money, which would allow, for example, to create the best monster for the final tournament. (I like your monster-themed game better) It can be genetic upgrades (such as stronger muscles, a fighting tail, etc...) or mechanical add-ons (metalic teeth, laser-beem eyes, ...)
After a new session of three betting rounds (before which everyone gets a bit of money), you can upgrade your monster once again.
Finally, everyone presents his beast and rolls its score (applying all the rules and bonuses he got with his upgrades). The player with the highest score wins.
What do you think about that? Changing the betting to a secondary yet crucial mechanic.