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Scrabble Meets Uno. - Let me know the potential

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abdantas
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Joined: 11/13/2012

So i started working on this card game for my wife. She likes a particular type of game and i like something a little more aggressive so I figured I'd make something we'd both enjoy and maybe go from there.

Gameplay:
Both the letters deck and the multiplier deck is shuffled and distributed to all players. Each players starts out with 100 hit points, every time someone forms a word on their turn they deduct however many points from your HP. Vowels generally have healing and positive qualities where as the more difficult consonants have aggressive, screw wth the other player qualities, such as skip, card discard and so on.

the game starts with the star card in the middle, a player will play his word plus whatever bonus or multiplier cards they want. Keeping in mind that once a multiplier card is played it stays on the table and may not be moved again, therefore can be used by any other player (using these at the right time is HUGE). Vowels will have abilities like , for every card play subtract next hit by 1. Then there are some passive bonuses like for a Z, while the Z is still on the table from the time you played it, you get to start with an extra 2 cards in your turn. Then other letters can reverse order of players, skip other player's turns, make them discard cards, let you play again right after you played.

You replenish your deck by whenever you cross another word that's been played another player, you take the letters that you didn't use on the previous word and add it to your discard.

So, what do you guys think? Solid idea for a simple card game? Once i get the core mechanics ironed out I'm thinking of adding character cards, that whenever a certain ammount of points in one word are hit they can use a special ability.

regzr
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Joined: 05/27/2012
refreshing plan

First, I welcome every new word game idea. Secondly, the anagram type of game is still one of the best.

Can't say anything about the game, because more questions are raised by the description. It is needed at least 60 letter cards.
"...deck is shuffled and distributed to all players." When three players, it makes 20 cards per player. In hand? With twenty cards in hand it is too easy to form a word. Why not a common draw pile?

"You replenish your deck whenever you cross another word that's been played by another player, you take the letters that you didn't use on the previous word and add it to your discard." I'm sorry not following this. Maybe every player has his own deck in front of him, and a discard pile. That makes sense, when players try to do their best not getting their own deck empty.

I'm sure you solve small technical details. The thought that you could hinder somehow your opponent in a word game is good and refreshing.
- regzr

abdantas
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Joined: 11/13/2012
Hey Reg. Between all the

Hey Reg.

Between all the bonus cards and the letter cards there are about 180 cards altogether. 60 letter value bonus, and 120 letter cards using the traditional scrabble distribution (but altered a bit to make it more consistent with the abilities I wanted different letters to have) So technically, in a 4 player game, each player would have a 45 card deck.

As for deck replenishing - it goes somewhere along these lines.
A)player 1 makes a word

W - O - R - D

b) then player 2 used the O in that particular word

G
W-O-R-D
T

c) PLayer 2 would then take the W, R and the D into his own discard pile. while leaving his G O T down on the table

d) player 3 plays a word using the T

G
O
T-A-B-L-E

e) player 3 would take the G and the O and leave table on the table.
F) if player 4 plays let's stay stays to extend table
S
T
A
Y
T-A-B-L-E-S

- he won't get to pick up any letters but hopefully makes up for it by doing tons of damage and lots of effects.

YOu want cards in your draw though, that's how you really get the good options for letters that give you great benefits abilities as well as words.
The rarer the letter is, the more powerful the ability ingrained in it. Such as for Z. While it's still being used and on the table (and for at least the first turn after you played it) your card draw in increased by 1 card per card on the table.

so if you take the z and make it such as Start being the word alread on the table when you began as an example and using the Z in Size

S
T
A
R
T
S-I-Z-E

your next hand size would be increased by the 4 cards you played letting you start with a hand of 9 cards instead of the normal 5 (or maybe 11 instead of the regular 7)

The Q let's you play two turns of your own in a row.

Damage is done to the next person in a rotation, but there ather are letters you can play to skip the next player and do damage to the one afterwards, or even to swap the rotation and hurt the person that just hurt you. Or make players discard. the 1, 2 and 3 point consonants have no abilities. 4 -5 -8 - 10 ones do as well as all the vowels. The vowels being usually defensive abilities intended to keep you in the game longer.

E let's you reduce the next hit on you by 1 for every card played, A let's you heal 1 point for every card play, if someone uses an O you played you get an extra card in the start of your next turn, if you reveal that you have an I in your hand, you must play it on your next turn but you get to draw 2 cards,
if another player uses a U you played to make a word, you can choose who he does damage to and it does not have to be the next player in the rotation.

YOu may discard an F to negate damage by the amount of cards currently on the table. so if there are 10 cards on the table and someone's about to hurt you, you can discard your F for a minus 10. that being a pretty powerful ability as it goes to your discard instead of someone else's pile.

So on, so on. The X let's you damage the last person that damaged you for double the points your card says you should hit for.

Personally I'm pretty excited for this game. My wife saw me working on it and got excited as well, she's been itching for me to get it done so she can try it. I'm trying to think of what kind of theme could be incorporated into this, i thought about a wizard theme but i think it'd be cooler if i make it into a battling celtic druids etching their runes to cast spells kind of thing. So they're scribing their rules to do the greatest effect to the other druids.

regzr
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Joined: 05/27/2012
now i see

Thank you clarifying the system. It looks unique to me. I hope it passes through test.

In games pursuing skills like word building, memory and trivia there's the problem of superior (or blockhead) player. What to do if one is much ahead of others? What to do if one is down? Your system seems to give tools solving unbalanced situations.

I admire the procedure where cards are put on table, and some cards are picked from table. I've seen only solutions where more and more cards are laid over the surface and the replenishing is done by taking from a common draw deck. Or systems where players unused cards must be handed over.
- regzr

abdantas
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Joined: 11/13/2012
I think it does reg, I think

I think it does reg, I think picking up the unused cards is a elegant way to keep the table clear while still giving some sort of movement around. Since when you play a bonus card it stays on the board. so technically the table gets built as the game progresses, i think this will cause some great strategic options. I'm debating whether the letters should be distributed and the bonuses will be based on the ammount of players. more players more cards to play out. like i said, from waht little i've tested it it's worked very, very well. Also, a lot of the cards are ambiguous, so, you can play a 5 letter word and use your word deduction on another player to try and keep him in the game hoping he has something big to hit someone else. I'm looking forward to where this game is headed.

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