Skip to Content
 

Bridges The Game

9 replies [Last post]
mel3kings
Offline
Joined: 11/26/2018

Hi all, Newbie here, I'm looking for some general feedback on this game I am working on. any comments/feedback is greatly appreciated.

Bridges The Game
Introduction
The idea of the game came to me in one of our drinking sessions with a couple of friends. We had not noticed that we had already been drinking for at least 8 hrs, as the night progressed, the more topics we discussed had been much deeper (funny how that works). By the end of it all we had all grown closer as we had gotten to understand different points of views from each other from various supposedly controversial topics. The Bridges name doesn’t have anything to physical structures, it is because of the metaphor of either burning or building bridges with friends. I am hoping this game will help start conversations in difficult topics in an effort to increase awareness in the spirit of friendship.

Mechanics of the game
* There are a number (thinking of a 100 maybe or more) of cards with varying levels of offensive/controversial topics up for discussion within a group
* The group decides who will be the moderator, recommended is the most mature of the group. If uncertain, it could be the host of the party or a vote could ensure
* At any given time, the group could call for a vote who will be the moderator. The moderator needs to neutral and decide based on the discussion
* The cards are shuffled by segregated by level, the higher the level the more offensive the topic gets
* The moderator draws and decide whether they agree or not, by flipping their coins heads or tails/thumbs up or down (?). on the count of three moderator checks all and everyone discuss
* Up to the group how the discussions are held and how long, at the end of it the moderator decides if the topic should end and another card is picked. the goal is not to convert someone’s thinking but to present more arguments to the cause you believe in. (I figured if someone had to win, then bridges might actually be burnt, but maybe that’s fine?)
* Moderator decides when to finish or the group can collectively agree to disagree

The Drinking Part (optional)
1. If everyone agrees on the topic, everyone has a chug woohoo
2. If only one person is against/for the topic or severely outnumbered the it becomes 2 chugs
3. Each topic is limited to 5 mins or not(?)
4. Each card is levelled depending on level of sensitivity

Items
* Coin with agree or disagree or just a simple thumbs up or down maybe - defines if you are agree or in disagreement with the topic
* Pass cards - 3 cards that enable the moderator to pass on specific cards if he knows it is definitely offending to a person in the group
* Vote to replace the moderator - maybe a physical in game item to sign a vote should ensure

Cards (varying levels of controversy (not ordered))
1. Legalize Pot (recreational? or gateway drug?)
2. Social Media for kids (what’s the long term impact on kids? or should it continue as it prepares them for the future)
3. Video games and violence
4. Security is more important the privacy (Facebook’s users data being leaked, snowden case)
5. Animal Testing
6. Should people have the right to carry arms (with all the crime going on should it be revisited)
7. Prostitution (should it be legal everywhere? as a person has the right to choose what to do with their bodies?)
8. it’s safe to assume a person race based on skin colour (is there no safe assumption anymore)
9. Women should be in charge on raising their kids (wage inequality, gender roles)
10. Top 1% ruling the country (Should their be cap in the rich’s wealth given that there are so many starving? but does that undermine one’s hardwork and hinder progress)
11. Expensive Engagement rings (what is the societal norm for engagement rings, is 3 months worth of salary reasonable? Millenials have killed the diamond industry)
12. Genetic modification (altering of babies features when they are in the womb)
13. Gender Free birth certificates (LGBT debates on labelling a person by their gender)
14. Middle-class Flamboyant weddings (how much is too much?)
15. Luck plays a big part in success (how much luck contributes to success vs hardwork? is it a matter of just being in the correct time and place or does continuous hard work pay off?)
16. etc etc

What do you guys think?

Jay103
Jay103's picture
Offline
Joined: 01/23/2018
So it's a list of discussion

So it's a list of discussion topics. Not sure what the moderator does.. pretty much all your rules are around selecting a moderator, but I don't know what they do.

I'd think the more "offensive" the topic, the less likely there are people to discuss both sides of it.

Some of your topics seem.. unlikely. Like a cap on individual wealth.

Anyway, it certainly sounds interesting, but I'm not sure how it's a game.

Oh, and welcome :)

wob
Offline
Joined: 06/09/2017
welcome. i think you have an

welcome.
i think you have an interesting dinner party activity, but not really a game.
a way to game-ify it might be to assign 2 players a side each they must defend and the moderator keeps things civil
you can also have your coin/majority thing but only 2 debaters and the "winners" (the majority) get to drink, or the opposite.
this will make it more of a game with rounds etc without it just being a drunken argument. this will also make people defend the indefensible and give scope for some really controversial debates.
although, as with most party games like this, (cards against humanity etc) most people wont play by the rules anyway.

Jay103
Jay103's picture
Offline
Joined: 01/23/2018
https://www.amazon.com/Conver

https://www.amazon.com/Conversation-Cards-Thought-Provoking-2-Games-Memo...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y2423YH

One of those calls itself a "game", but the other is billed as a deck of cards with stuff written on them.

There are many others.. go down one of those pages and look at the other suggestions Amazon provides, related to the current game.

let-off studios
let-off studios's picture
Offline
Joined: 02/07/2011
Hello!

Welcome to BGDF. :)

There's already some worthwhile feedback above. I haven't done much research into conversational toys like these, myself. But I like wob's suggestions about the debate-style game where the moderator chooses the winning team, and they choose who drinks.

mel3kings
Offline
Joined: 11/26/2018
Thanks for the feedback

Thank for this valuable reply, yes I was going after a similar concept maybe not too much of a game but more of a conversational party game. Maybe I should just ditch the moderator altogether, as it seems rigid in a way, no one's going to win in these scenarios anyways.

mel3kings
Offline
Joined: 11/26/2018
wob wrote:welcome. i think

wob wrote:
welcome.
i think you have an interesting dinner party activity, but not really a game.
a way to game-ify it might be to assign 2 players a side each they must defend and the moderator keeps things civil
you can also have your coin/majority thing but only 2 debaters and the "winners" (the majority) get to drink, or the opposite.
this will make it more of a game with rounds etc without it just being a drunken argument. this will also make people defend the indefensible and give scope for some really controversial debates.
although, as with most party games like this, (cards against humanity etc) most people wont play by the rules anyway.

Yes i was going more of a dinner party activity rather than a game altogether, not entirely sure if I should actually gamify since it might be tough to actually decide who the winners are given a topic.

excellent point on not making just about drunken arguements. Will give it some tweaks

mel3kings
Offline
Joined: 11/26/2018
Jay103

Jay103 wrote:
https://www.amazon.com/Conversation-Cards-Thought-Provoking-2-Games-Memories/dp/B01JKL40X2

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y2423YH

One of those calls itself a "game", but the other is billed as a deck of cards with stuff written on them.

There are many others.. go down one of those pages and look at the other suggestions Amazon provides, related to the current game.

ohh did not know this existed, it will be good to review all the customer feedback as I am going for a similar thing, thanks for this!

mel3kings
Offline
Joined: 11/26/2018
Jay103

Jay103 wrote:
https://www.amazon.com/Conversation-Cards-Thought-Provoking-2-Games-Memories/dp/B01JKL40X2

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y2423YH

One of those calls itself a "game", but the other is billed as a deck of cards with stuff written on them.

There are many others.. go down one of those pages and look at the other suggestions Amazon provides, related to the current game.

ohh did not know this existed, it will be good to review all the customer feedback as I am going for a similar thing, thanks for this!

wob
Offline
Joined: 06/09/2017
hi. i don't think it would be

hi.
i don't think it would be particularly hard to make into a party game. they tend to be looser with the hard and fast rules (or the rules are easier to ignore). playing 2 player would be difficult (no judge) but 3+ wouldnt be hard. here is an example of a simple 5 player game:
alan and bob are debating "cream teas should have the the jam on first" ( alan is pro. bob is anti).
they have 3 minutes each to make their arguments (you could give them longer or less time)
after they have debated charlie, dave and eric secretly vote on the winner. as per your original idea, with "coins".
if the majority side with alan (which they should because its the right way), alan and those who voted for him drink (you could even say each person drinks 2 fingers for each vote the got).
if the vote is tied (because of an even amount of players) there are a few options
1) everyone drinks
2) nobody drinks
3) revote
4) each round has a judge (like a dealer button in poker, that moves each turn) the judge has an extra vote in the case of a tie.
you could also add tokens to keep score (get a token instead of drinking) so its less damaging to peoples livers and suitable for non drinkers.
unfortunately as there are so many conversation cards it would be a hard sell without the added game value.

Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut