Okay so I had a question regarding the colors on the board. I have read more about how you currently "populate" the board ... and I think it needs a bit of a rethink:
"Arbitrarily dropping meeples from a bag - is not a good idea..."
I will come back to this issue...
The other thing is that there is TOO MUCH colors for visiting a location. My suggestion is this:
Each "building" should only have one (1) entrance. This will lower the amount of color and make it more obvious how players need to build their parades...
See all those Blue ovals are color that is extra since currently there is only ONE (1) entrance to each building...
Back to the "population" issue... I would populate the board as you go. Each "building" can earn you paraders - and I would make it "STRATEGIC" in how you get ADDITIONAL paraders.
One idea is:
When you VISIT a location, the NUMBER of paraders MATCHES the number you can EARN. So it's from 0 to 3 (because of the spaces). So if the color is RED and you have 2 Red Paraders - you roll a Custom 1d6 (Colors) once and earn 2 Paraders of that color. So the maximum would be 3 paraders per visit...
So there is deep strategy when building your line - and visiting places is KEY in earning MORE Paraders. Having LESS Entrances to building (only 1) makes it more interesting in HOW a player builds his parade (as it moves also...)
ALSO each building should have a PURPLE meeple. Once visited that location is DONE and the PURPLE meeple is removed... This gives some reason HOW a parade is supposed to MOVE... Just like in Snake you want to "eat more" to "grow bigger"... Same with the Second Line, you want to grow with more meeples and you want your parade to move.
GAME ENDING: Once "X" amount of PURPLE meeples are collected... Instead of showing the Mississippi River you could have a Tracker there for the places VISITED (purple meeples).
So this way the game is about moving your parade around to VISIT the most places you can and earn the MOST amount of paraders - to help better your score.
Based on your rules, you can VISIT a location TWICE (2x) given a Location Event that RE-POPULATES the board (and is removed from the "X" amount...)
OBJECTIVE CARDS: should be played on-the-fly. So you KEEP the card secret and when you VISIT "2 bars" you earn a parader BONUS (to increase your line). Don't do +10/-10 at the end... It's HARD to keep track of. Make it so you get MORE paraders (somehow). You keep the objective card secret until you ACCOMPLISH it. Then you draw another one...
Let me digest some more - tell me your thoughts and ideas about more streamlining the game...
Cheers! And BTW I really think this game is COOL!!!
Comments
END GAME Conditions
My suggestion is something like (additional end-game clause):
"Once one (1) player visits 20 locations, the game ends..."
OR
"Once all Event cards are played..."
This adds DEEP strategy. Because the IDEA is to have SEVERAL ways to earn paraders (and ultimately the number of points).
Location Events re-populate or ADD another PURPLE meeple (Just thought of this - and it's COOL because DOUBLE the amount of paraders you can EARN)...
I still think that there is a LOT going on in the game...
But I LIKE IT! ;)