Two new game ideas in one week! This one is a little more involved than the poker one but still in the filler category.
Players take the role of managing a network of dams during severe flooding conditions.
1. Each player has five suited cards in front of them with values 12, 14, 16, 18 & 20. The cards represent dams. Ideally, these cards would be physically larger than the drafted ones.
2. Players will draft cards from a face up pile (think Ticket to Ride) and place them under the corresponding dam cards, e.g., place a blue 4 under the blue 16 dam card. The cards represent water filling up the dam.
3. The cards being drafted will range in value from 1-5 and there will be two of each per suit (50 total).
4. The goal is to get closest to each dam limit without going over. Players can't peak at cards placed under the dam cards so there is a memory element.
5. Hand size is four. Cards can be discarded instead of placed under dam cards (discard pile represents the dam "spillway").
6. Game ends when the deck runs out or perhaps a random "stop playing" card in the last 1/5 of the deck.
Some other ideas:
1. Arrange the deck with a pause card about 4/5 through the game and players simultaneously reveal if they want to peak at a pile. Peaking costs a few victory points per pile. Then resume to end.
2. Actions are resolved real time like the recent game Diner. Action cards with values 1, 2 or 3 (not sure of exact combination yet) get passed around the table from player to player. An action consists of drawing cards from the display or playing cards under the dam cards. To give a sense of urgency, there is a penalty for having the most action cards and unplayed cards left at the end of the game.
3. Not sure about scoring. Majority score each dam against others? Example: person closest without going over gets 10 points, second gets 6 points, third gets 3 points and 1 point for fourth (ties get split some how). Or should points not be relative to others? Example: 10 points for filling dam to exact level without going over, 6 points getting within 1 or 2, etc. Negative points for going over.
Sound fun or interesting? Feel free to ask questions for clarification and I'm open to other thematic ideas other than dam management.
Thanks for responding.
Regarding the hand size, you may be right in that it's more tense when you are forced to play once you reach your hand limit. I was just thinking it's hard enough to remember what is under each pile but perhaps your know you are close to the limit, so you can discard a 5. Also, what if players incur a penalty for cards they discarded but could have fit into dam? I suppose playtesting would reveal what the best rule is.
You are drafting rushing water that is rushing into and filling up the dam. But yeah, choosing what suit of water to take breaks down thematically.