Get creative with your Criticism

Is this to play with family or did you want to sell this?

It's very obvious that this game was Monopoly inspired.

With that said, while this game is very common to the public, it's a game that isn't too liked in the board game community.

Note that while Hasbro tends to release Monopoly games that are heavily themed, they have the money to acquire the IP rights of all the variants they sell. Plus the IPs they acquire already have a strong fan base. Because your game is very obviously a Monopoly variant, it's very possible that Hasbro will cease and desist on your game.

Still, I'm pretty sure those aren't the words you want to hear, so I'll just give some "criticism".

Roll-and-move games are heavily based on luck...where you end up is entirely up to the roll of the dice. Ultimately, it doesn't really give much of a choice to the player...so if I were you, I'd adjust the way the roll determines the move.

-Just like Monopoly, maybe you can introduce a third die (the Speed Die) that will speed up where the player ends up.
-Maybe you can have "actions" during your turn. When you roll both die, you can choose which die gives the actions and which one gives the movement.
-You need to add something that will give more of a hook than just a Christmas themed Monopoly variant. What you have is just not strong enough.

It's not that roll-and-move games are bad. Formula D is a game that takes that concept and does really well for it.

Also be aware of what questccg said. The graphic design of the board is plain at best and unreadable at worst. You have spaces that are just the text (which is too small for the space it occupies) and you have spaces that have so many transitional colors that it drowns out the text (see spaces like Ultra Toys).

But what really makes it hard is that your kerning (the space between the letters) is so tight that your letters run into each other and make it extremely hard to read. That's a BIG no no. Game design is all about communication and if you cannot effectively communicate your game through your board, it's your fault.

If you're doing all the game graphic design keep in mind that contrast is something you need to keep in mind. Every thing you have on the board needs to be readable at various distances (say, as far as 3-4 feet away) Choose your colors wisely. You have a lot of basic colors...use tints (adding white to a color) or shades (adding black) to have more variety.

And please decorate the spaces. Plain color with text is so bland. I know it's a prototype, but at least put a frame on it or put an outer glow on the text.

There's so much I could say about the graphic design itself, but I'll just leave it there.

Please understand that I have no clue about who you are or what you do or your intentions of this game other than what you've posted in your initial post. You asked for criticism, I'm giving it. I'm treating this as a game that (I assume) you want to make money off of and, to be honest, this isn't an idea that will sell in my opinion.

Play more games. See what's out there. Know your industry.

Good luck.

1- On the Monopoly variant. Regardless of whether you think it's not a Monopoly variant, the basic graphic design of the board screams Monopoly. Rectangular spaces, roll-and-move around a board...then looking closer, an "Institution" where the "Jail" was in Monopoly (regardless of what is currently does) and the "Family Vacation" where "Free Parking" was (implying a safe place). You have spaces that call for random event cards (Naughty or Nice) just like Chance and Community Chest. You use money as a primary economic system and your objective is very close to Monopoly's: Have the highest Net Worth. While individually, they may not be considered infringement, it's the collective expression that mimics Monopoly...even down to the look of the board. ANY common person can look at the board and immediately think Monopoly. If it's not that obvious to you, then you really need to ask random people what they think. Hasbro CAN and WILL action your game if it continues on like it is.

2 - Luck is a great mechanic to help people that are behind feel like they have a chance at winning a game. The problem with games having all luck is that the player won't feel like they really won the game through their own skill as much as they'd think they had nothing to do with the win. Take Candy Land for example. It's a pure luck game, but there's no way I could say that I can master that game in any way. The downside is that luck also has the tendency of making the rich richer and poor poorer, making for a horrible gaming experience if you're on the losing end. You want to let the player feel like their decisions led to their victory...otherwise there's no real "game" involved. Give the player more decisions that affect the game.

3 - You will need a Graphic Designer that can get behind your game. To be honest, I would redesign your board to look as far away from Monopoly as you can, then propose it to a potential Graphic Designer to spruce it up. If you just take all the text away from your board...people will no doubt think Monopoly.

4 - I tell my game design students all the time to learn from other games...also learn from life. I say, "If you've played Monopoly all your life and you were asked to create a game, what kind of game would you make? A roll-and-move game where you're going around a board and looks and feels like Monopoly." I'm sorry to say but you're the prime example of what I tell my students...I've been saying this quote for years.

The board game industry has grown exponentially since the turn of the century. If you do a little research, you'd see how far analog gaming has come...check out reviews, look at gameplay videos...the amount of NEW games that release every year number in the THOUSANDS. Game have now incorporated 3d printed miniatures, custom dice, high quality cards, even phone app integration. It's mind-boggling.

To put it in video game terms, it's like you're designing a game that looks and plays like Pac-Man, but expecting to compete with Call of Duty and Battlefield.

Analog games have become so much more innovative and creative that even innovative games don't sell because the market is so diverse.

Look, I don't intend to shoot you down, but it would be worse if you continued on your way, release your game and either 1) not sell because it's too reliant on luck 2) not sell because people don't like the way it looks 3) not like it because it looks like Monopoly or 4) gets C&D by Hasbro (or take you to court), throwing away all that hard work.

I do agree with the color theory statements jonathanflike made. Yeah, a little brush-up on some of it would be worthwhile. Particularly if you want to sell this game. I'd also recommend you set up a few of the rules as "optional" so you can have separate rulesets that range from basic kids stuff to the full-complexity, full-featured epic version.

However, I think there's definitely a market for a game like this. In the center of the board it states, "A Family Tradition." Having a game like this that is highly-dependent on luck (and surprises, good or bad), brought out once a year as part of holiday celebrations, becomes a significant part of family traditions. In these environments, people don't want a strategic victory, they want a harmless, narrative experience.

The fact it uses a calendar to limit turns adds to the narrative, is coherent with theme, and limits the game from going on forever. Rolling dice and paying/collecting money is accessible to your mom and your uncle and their grandkids alike. The take-that mechanics involved in the cards just add to the "family game night" aesthetic.

I could easily see this being sold in a Hallmark/gift card store, or sold at those shopping-mall kiosks round this time of year. Would I ever see it in my local game store? Hell no. But that's clearly not the target audience for this game. You're not making a Eurogame, this isn't a "TI3 killer" or whatever. It's a mass-market holiday niche game. Totally approachable. Sell it at holiday bazaars in tourist towns. I was just in Ocean City, MD, during their weekend holiday festival, and people would totally drop a 20 on something like this.

I say go for it, man. Touch up your graphic design - even starting from scratch with a professional artist's input - to do it up right, print up about two dozen copies on The Game Crafter or whatever, and see where it goes. It'll make you happy, right? Then do it. Just don't expect it to be on Board Game Geek. But you don't want their money anyway.

Good luck to you! :D

You told me you don't agree it's a Monopoly variant, then you tell me that you made the board similar to Monopoly for ease of creating a board? Just seems odd.

If you feel like there are meaningful choices to the game that allow it to stand on its own, then I cannot stop you from continuing on with your game. I'm just merely stating what I've noticed in trends and my experience in the board game industry. You say there's enough, I think it either needs to be approached differently or you need to add more.

As far as changing the look of the board, that's just a highly recommended suggestion from me. When I reviewed my post, I remembered that Monopoly was created in the 1920's...I'm not really sure IF the IP is public domain or not, but I DO know that Hasbro has a lockdown on Monopoly-related IPs. Will they sue you? I'm not entirely sure since it's been out for so long.

If I were you, I'd change the board.

With items appreciating over time, I agree that nostalgia can win over modern games. However, your game is NOT currently nostalgia (since it's not even released) and didn't have the window of time that Monopoly, Yahtzee, Sorry, Memory, etc. had. Those games were released in a time when roll-and-move games were the norm and the board game industry was new. Now the industry has changed and you're in a whole new environment than when those other games came out.

Minecraft's beauty resides in its hook. It's digital LEGOS, which hasn't really been done before in any game. While it appears simple, I'll tell you that the creators were ALWAYS working on the game...it's a lot more complicated than it appears.

A Christmas based Monopoly-style game? While there's not many Christmas-themed games, I don't see many people breaking this out outside of Christmas or people that love Monopoly playing this game.

Just my two cents.

Yes, there are many other games with a track going around a square board, going back decades if not at least a century before there was Monopoly.

They have been sending lawyers after games called names similar to Monopoly (ending in -opoly), because of trademark reasons, but I never heard about them ever going after any game for just being similar to Monopoly, and there has been many games that are quite similar in many ways, much more than just having a track around a square board. Not that I am a lawyer, but I would not be particularly worried about that aspect.

I sense sarcasm in that post.

But no matter. Every "great" idea will go through its bombardment of slings and arrows. I just call it like I see it and I give suggestions. However, I don't "shoot holes" just to shoot holes.I say why I think so and I present solutions. It's part of giving/receiving criticism.

It's also hard to communicate fully in a forum...heck, I may be wrong about your sarcasm. But my job is as a college instructor and if anything it means I'm only here to help.

Anyways, it's great you have a kid now. My advice would be to make sure you keep raising a kid separate from designing games. Desperation will cause missteps.

Good luck.