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[GDS] Shipwrecked! Feedback request

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hotsoup
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Thanks to everyone who voted for this one! What did you like about it? I'd appreciate any thoughts or ideas for improvement.

Shipwrecked!
Components:
30 White “Sailor” D6s – 12mm
30 Black “Sailor” D6s – 12mm
1 White “Captain” D6 – 16mm
1 Black “Captain” D6 – 16mm
5 Desert Island Tiles

Players:
Any number of players, divided onto two teams, with a leader to make the final decisions. For large numbers of players, just add more sailor dice. These rules will assume a two player game, but how multiple players, or rather multiple hands, enters into the gameplay should be obvious.

Set Up:
Roll all 60 12mm sailor dice onto the table. These are the sailors from the wrecks of two rival pirate ships, treading water in the ocean (it helps if your table is blue). Place the 5 Desert Island tiles on the table, roughly surrounding the sailors.

Playing the Game:
Both players choose a color. Determine the starting player. At the beginning of a player’s turn, he indicates a Desert Island to be the one that his sailors are swimming towards, and then his opponent does the same. Both players may choose the same island.

He then rolls both Captain Dice, keeping them separate from the sailors. Both players then simultaneously pick up as many sailors as they can which correspond to the Captain Dice. So, for example, if the Black Captain Die rolls a 6 and the White Captain Die rolls a 2, players pick up as many black sailor 6s and white sailor 2s out of the ocean as they can. They may only use the thumb and index finger of one hand while doing this, and may only pick up one die at a time. These dice must be held in the hand that is picking the dice up.

After no more dice can be picked up from a Captain roll, both players reveal the sailors they have picked up and place the sailors of their own color on the island that they indicated earlier. All the sailors of the opposing color that a player has picked up are rerolled back into the ocean. The Captain Dice are now passed to the other player, who begins his turn.

Sharks!:
When the Captain Dice roll doubles, the players shout “Sharks!” and, again pick up as many of the correct dice as possible. However, in this case, all opposing sailors that are picked up are eaten by sharks and removed from the game, while allied sailors are rerolled back into the ocean. Then, all the dice in the ocean are rerolled (to prevent the ocean's number distribution from becoming stale), and the Captain Dice are passed to the other player.

Winning the Game:
The game ends after the third time that doubles are rolled and the sharks have been fed (the game becomes quite intense after the sharks have fed twice). Players look at the desert islands and determine which player controls which island, by seeing which player has more sailors there. If the number of sailors is equal, neither player controls the island. The player who controls the most islands wins the game. If the players are tied, the player with the most sailors altogether on islands wins the game. If this is tied, the player with the least number of sailors in the ocean wins.

tatewu
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Joined: 11/08/2009
I think your game is the best

I think your game is the best in this competition. It is gonna be difficult to publish, but it is easy to play and really fun.

nosissies
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Liked it!

I have to say that I really liked this concept also and gave it a boost in both rounds.

It has a couple of edges which might be difficult in practice but it seems like it could set up a really nice party vibe with each team picking one of their members to represent them at the table each go around.

I'm a little concerned that with the crazy grabbing the dice will get turned over and knocked around so that you can't even remember what was on the table to start with. Still, all that craziness may be just the right vibe for a party game. Heck, it might be just right for the youth group game nights we host every so often. I'm tempted to add more dice to my collection just to try it out.

A bonus random thought: It might be fun to make these custom dice, and instead of just values on the dice you could have pictures of people in various stages of drowning. For a "1," you could just have a hand sticking up, for a "6" you could have a couple guys in a barrel, then various points inbetween for the other values.

hotsoup
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Hey, I like that last idea

Hey, I like that last idea quite a bit. When I play it with others, after the captain dice are rolled, everyone looks at them and then starts muttering "black 4, white 2" while frantically grabbing dice. Having pictures on the dice might be more interesting and make the game more visual and thematic, as long as they were clear enough. That would be the trickiest part, since those dice are small. The dice do get knocked around every once in a while, and sometimes people pick up the wrong ones, and then drop them back when they realize their mistake, but I just see that as part of the game, and it doesn't make any difference in a party situation.

Why do you say that it might be tricky to publish?

nosissies
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Joined: 07/26/2008
In regard to the practical

In regard to the practical matter I was talking about game play, not publishing. Exactly the point you mention where the dice get knocked around etc.

The only publishing "issue" is probably just the sheer number of dice. But I haven't quoted a game like this so I don't know how it actually comes out.

peace,
Tom

hotsoup
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I suppose if it was marketed

I suppose if it was marketed as a party game, then that wouldn't make too big of a difference. And large amounts of dice shouldn't be too expensive. I bought small boxes of 36 12mm dice for play testing at really cheep prices.

tatewu
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hotsoup wrote:I suppose if it

hotsoup wrote:
I suppose if it was marketed as a party game, then that wouldn't make too big of a difference. And large amounts of dice shouldn't be too expensive. I bought small boxes of 36 12mm dice for play testing at really cheep prices.

I certainly hope it gets published, and I will definitely buy one :)

onihero
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Joined: 01/24/2010
I liked the concept. It was a

I liked the concept. It was a pretty fun idea. In the voting though, I generally had a big problem with games that had a large number of dice.

The possibility of a player knocking over the dice around their target dice could be a big problem. I know I can be very clumsy at times. As well, any bump to the table and the game could potentially be ruined.

It also seems to lack any strategy or meaningful decision making.

The game reminds me of jacks or pickup sticks with dice. Maybe good for a young crowd.

nosissies
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Still thinking...

I had a couple of thoughts this morning on my drive in to work...

1) how does the game feel/work later on when there are fewer crew members left in the water and inevitably one of the captains, or both of the captains roll values which don't match anything left on the table?

2) one other tweak which may be fun would be to have a limited number of spaces on each island. All the crea members who are headed to that island roll to get a space, higher values get priority on open spaces.

2a) If you did this route you could have island tiles with different numbers of spaces on either side to accomodate some customization, either for numbers of player or game length/fun/a little variability

hotsoup
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As to the strategy element,

As to the strategy element, there actually ends up being quite a bit of it, as you have to make strategic decisions on whether to pick up one's opponent's dice or ones own, based on how many of each you can see/remember being in the pool, and which islands they are swimming to. So the strategic decisions are important, though they are always split-second. Almost as important in the game is memory and physical dexterity.

@nosissies When i've played, if the game goes on longer than normal, sometimes there are no dice that match, but that ends up making the game more fast paced, because everyone knows what dice you are looking for, and move even faster when they are rolled. It doesn't go on too long though, since the third sharks are usually rolled soon after this point.

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