"Who? Where?"

Components:
None
Each player needs a paper and pencil and someone may track the time and score in each round.

In each round someone is the storyteller. His left neighbor write to the paper "Who" - person, animal etc.
His right neighbor write to his paper "Where" - the place. Both players give their papers to the stroyteller.
The judge start the timer and the player has 30 seconds to tell a fairytale, story, dream etc. where he must use at least once the mysterious "Who" and "Where" words.

(The only restriction may be that the player may not use charakters and places in story at a run like this: "Wolf, Rabbit, Fox and Bear go to the city and forest and the hills" etc. The structure must be more like: "Wolf goes to the forest and meets the Rabbit. Then they told about fishing on the lake bla-bla-bla")

If the time runs out all other players try to guess what are this mysterious words - write these on their papers.
(Of course the neighbors may guess only one word)

Now the scoring begins:
Each word guessed scores 1 point.
Both words guessed scores 3 points.
If one of the words is not guessed by nobody the storyteller scores 1 point.
If both words are not guessed by nobody the storyteller scores 3 points.
If one of the words is not used in the story the storyteller scores 1 negative point.
If both words not used in the story the storyteller scores 3 negative points.

The left neighbor is the next storyteller.
Play as many rounds that each player told a story.
Player with the most points is the winner.

Friends sit in a circle. One is the salesperson others will be potential customers for a pen. The salesmen will attempt to sell the pen to his friends as they role play outrageous characters.

The friends give one adjective each to describe a customer they would like to see role-played, after everybody has given an adjective, the customers decide who will play what adjective (nobody plays their own adjective) If there are discrepancies, the salesperson decides.

If you like you may choose to go around the circle again in backwards order, and create another set of descriptors to create more complex and interesting characters. The salesperson may act in whatever way they expect will help them sell the pen. Perhaps as a confident snake oil vendor, or mimicking the idiosyncrasies of the customer, it is up to the player. They will talk to each of the customers and attempt to convince them to purchase the wonderful pen. When a customer buys a new round begins, they become the new salesperson (they do not maintain their personality) and everyone else generates a new character.

Play until everybody has sold a pen.

Hidden Information Variant: Have the salesperson leave the room while the others decide on their persona

Tips on thinking of great adjectives: -Think honestly about kinds of people who would want pens. -Think about dwarfs. -Think about occupations, or countries -Think of something that is not an adjective and ad “ish” or “esque” like Justinbieberish or Comicbooky -Think about people you are playing the game with. Pick an adjective to describe them. -Make up a word, let the other player decide what it means. Tumolulos, Meebly, Sesvernal. -Stop overthinking it. Mundane adjectives can create great characters. Red, Big, Boring, Normal, Good.

Tips on not being a blockhead: -Remember that the game is as fun as you make it. -This is a game about buying pens. Do not suggest, or play stubborn characters that have no interest in interacting with the pen. -Don’t be too interested in the pen either. If you are the first person the salesperson has spoken to, give a chance to sell to both you and your fellow customers. Don’t just buy it. -Never play your character as too young, too drunk, or too crazy. It’s obnoxious in real life too. -Catch phrases, particularly those that interrupt other players, are rarely funny -Stay in character. - Don’t tell other people what they are thinking or feeling. Saying things like “I know your mother was killed by a pen” might sound fun at the time, but that is their decision to make for their character. -Remember that money is imaginary in this game, as the salesperson if nobody is buying your fantastic $600 pen, sell it for a penny and move on. -Think about other tips that might be added to this list. Follow those tips too

Tips on Selling Pens: -Always be closing -AIDA -If you don’t like it, you should go work at McDonalds.

Title
Dicey Moves

Summary
Dicey Moves is a simple dice game for 3-8 players that combines the luck of the roll and the mechanics of a draft, yet still forces players to make the difficult decisions of a strategy game. Combine your dice into either sets or runs and score points based on difficulty – it’s a race to highest point total, simple, but effective.

Game Components
20 six-sided dice – 5 each of five different colors

Game Setup
To start the game, place the appropriate amount and colors of dice in the center of your play area.
For 3 players – 4 dice of 3 different colors
For 4 players – All 5 dice of 3 different colors
For 5 players – 4 dice of 4 different colors
For 6 players – All 5 dice of 4 different colors
For 7 or 8 players – All 5 dice of each of the 5 colors

Each player chooses a single die at random and rolls it. That die is then kept in front of them and the player with the lowest roll goes first; ties are broken by which player most recently lost a wager.

Turn Structure
The first player chooses a die from the center and then rolls it. After seeing the outcome, (s)he may:

1) Keep the active die. Kept dice remain in front of that player in view. Players are each allowed a maximum of three dice. If at any time a player already has three dice, (s)he can choose to keep the active die provided (s)he discards one of his/her existing dice to the center.
2) Pass the active die. Active dice pass clockwise around the table.

If the first player passes the active die, the next player re-rolls it. After seeing the outcome, (s)he chooses from the same two options.

Play continues until the active die returns to the player who originally chose it. That player *may* then re-roll the active die with the same options to keep or pass, with the additional consequences:

1) If (s)he chooses to keep the active die, (s)he *must* discard one other of his/her dice.
2) If (s)he chooses to pass the die, it is discarded to the center, *as well as* another die from in front of him/her.

While it may be advantageous for that player to roll the die again, keep in mind the option to discard the die without consequence, as well.

Play continues clockwise with the next player deciding the color of the rolling die.

After a player has kept an active die and any necessary discards are made, that player may exchange any combination of dice as follows for the matching reward:
3 dice with consecutive pips (all different colors) – 1 point
3 dice with matching pips (all different colors) – 3 points
3 dice with consecutive pips (all same color) – 3 points
3 dice with matching pips (all same color) – 6 points

Additionally, players may also discard any two of their kept dice to discard a single kept die from another player.

Game End
Games are played to a total of 21 points. The first player to meet or exceed that number is declared the winner.

Final Thoughts
Despite Rich’s warnings, I took the dice approach. They provided the complexity and decision-making I look for in a game, while still providing the element of luck that ultimately levels the strategic playing field. I really want to playtest this game to hammer out what’s lacking, and simply, because I think it’d be fun…especially the way you can ruin somebody else’s plans so easily. Happy voting.

Title: Pop Star Drag Racing

Introduction:

Ripped from the headlines. We all know how it is to be a pop star with money to burn. As pop stars we want to drag race our friends and avoid the police. The goals of the game are to drag race and not get caught by the police. Prior to the race you can bet money on each race to grow your money.

Game Components:

A notepad to keep track of the pop stars and a coin for each player.

Game set up:

1. Each pop star starts with $50.00.
2. There can be as many pop stars as want to play.
3. It is recommended that each race be no more than 3 - 4 pop stars, however, more is ok (just expect more photo finishes).
4. Each racer’s car has lengths (like horse racing) quarter, half, three quarters and full lengths.

Turn Structure:

1. Pick the racers for the race.
2. Every player agrees how much each racer puts in the pot for the winner.
3. In this drag race the cars are moving at high speeds. The difference maker in the race is the driver’s ability to keep their HEAD in the race. Successful drivers will move slightly ahead of others a quarter lengths at a time.

4. Each player flips a coin.

   1. Heads moves the player one quarter length forward (keep track on the notepad).
   2. Tails does not advance.

5. The race consists of 10 coin flips by each pop star (winner is the leader after 10 flips).

6. If two pop stars are tied after 10 flips then the tied racers do a photo finish.

• The photo finish consists of each tied racer flipping against the other until one has a heads and the other has a tails result. The heads wins.

• Note that multiple tied racers continue eliminating racers that get a tails result. Ex.: three racers finish together. A, B & C all flip again.

  A = heads, B = tails & C = heads. B is out.

  A & C flip again. A = heads and C = tails, A wins.

Game End:

1. During a race if one pop star flips and gets 4 tails in a row; they are caught by the police. a. When caught by the police the pop star flips a coin.

   Heads = DUI and the game is over. The player with the most money wins.

   Tails = arrested for speeding and lose all of your money except $1.00. (Good luck finding a race with a $1.00 entry fee).

Thoughts:

This game is meant to be a little tongue and cheek and can be played anywhere with anyone with very little setup to have fun dreaming of being a pop star. Please note that at any time during the game before a race, any pop star can buy a carton of eggs (for $1.00) and egg their neighbor’s house for fun.

Angry stickmen

Material: 30 small sticks per player (a box of matches for instance)

Sticks can be played in three forms:

• A stickman - 5 sticks - a star – gives +1 attack and defense bonus
• A house - 6 sticks - triangle on square – gives one action
• A tower - 7 sticks - two squares, one on top of the other - gives +5 attack and defense bonus

Every player starts with 2 stickman, 1 house and 14 available sticks.

To decide the start player an auction is held. The highest bidder puts his bid in the middle of the table starts the game. Play continues clockwise. If noone bids the eldest player starts and pays one stick.

Every player starts with one house, and can perform one action per turn. Available actions are: Build, Attack and Rest. A player with two houses can perform two actions, and so on.

Build

Take 1 to 5 available sticks and build (part of) a stickman, house or tower. All can be build in stages, but will only perform their function when finished. Sticks cannot be taken back. During play the player can switch plans as long as the sticks stay in the same position. Explanation: Both a tower and a house can start with a square; the legs of a stickman can be turned into a triangle and become the roof of a house. This swith is no longer possible when there are two legs and an arm, since the arm stick has to be taken away.

It is allowed to have several unfinished forms, and build on several forms in one action.

Depending on the number of sticks played at once, the player pays or takes sticks from the middle of the table. If there are not enough sticks in the middle of the table, the player takes nothing. If the player has not enough sticks to pay, he may not build that many sticks.

• 1 stick: take 2
• 2 sticks: take 1
• 3 sticks
• 4 sticks: pay 1
• 5 sticks: pay 2

Rest

Take 3 sticks (or all if less available) from the middle of the table.

Attack

An attack targets one other player. Both players secretly take any number of their available sticks in one hand. The player with the highest bid gets one stickman from the other player. Both bids change hands.
The height of the bid is the number of sticks in the hand, plus the bonus of the player (+1 per stickman, +5 per tower)
When both bids are equal the attacker wins!

Winning

If a player has zero stickmen at the end of his turn, he is out of the game. The last player left wins.

Keep Your Voice Calm

2 players, 15 minutes

Object of the Game

To be the first who collects a full row of sets before stones run out. It will help, if you can hear when your opponent is bluffing.

Components

150 pieces of stones. All the same color. Or other things which are small enough to fit in a closed palm.

Setup

Make a row of ten stones in front of each player. Place all the rest stones in the middle of the table. Players should always see how many pieces are left.

What's the row of ten stones?

Each of the ten stones is a placeholder for a stone set what player tries to collect. There are ten kinds of stone sets: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 piece. First mark is for 1 stone set. Second mark is for 2 stones set. ... Last mark is for 10 stones set. Example: When player gets a stone set of 9 stones, he puts them beside the second last mark.

Pairs

Players try to get at least one set beside each of the ten placeholders. Sets come available in pairs and player can grab only the other half of the pair. Possible pairs are 1-10, 2-9, 3-8, 4-7 and 5-6. In turn, other player takes 11 stones from the pile and secretly moves a few stones to the other hand. He closes his hands and keeps them visible. Now the other half of the pair is in left hand and the other half in right.

How to Play

Player1 says a number (1 - 10). The number he says is a set, which he is missing. Player2 takes stones enough to hold just said number of stones in one closed hand and "pair number" of stones in other hand (total 11). Keeping his closed hands visible, player2 must now tell (or lie) how many stones is in which hand. Player1 can ask again and try to hear if there's a bluff going on. Player1 chooses right or left, and grabs the stones (=set). The stones in other hand are returned to the pile. Player1 puts the set in an appropriate place in his row. Then player2 says a number and player1 takes eleven stones.

The game goes like an automat a couple of turns. Then "backfire" start to happen and empty placeholders keep being empty. Soon the pile of stones will run out. Bluff and exposing bluff becomes essential.

End of the Game

The game ends when stones run out. The player having less empty placeholders wins. Or the first to get his placeholders full of stone sets is the winner (at least one set beside every placeholder).

Rocks in the Pot

Shamelessly inspired by the old 1-2-3 shoot game with the fingers but with an added twist.

Game for 2 players

Components

12 stones for each player

Setup

Players place their stones in their pocket. The players choose a number either odd or even. This will be their parity for the game.

Play

The game is played in a series of rounds. Each round consists of the following steps: One player counts to three. On three all players simultaneously pull from zero to four stones out of their pocket. The round is scored and the stones are redistributed according to the scoring below. Play continues until one person has all of the stones.

Scoring

Count the number of stones in the pile. If it's an odd number, then the odd player gets them. If its an even number the even player gets them. If both players pull the same number of stones out, then they stay in the pot. On the following round, the score is performed as usual but the player who pulled out the LEAST number of stones wins the pot.

End

Game is over when one player gets all the stones.