Basement Dwellers Coin Game
Shaenon: Paul Lenoue is developing a tabletop coin game based on the Annex One basement. Because it’s an awesome idea, that’s why. If you’d like to playtest it, you can download a PDF here.
Channing: This looks great! Please tell us how it goes, Sunday Audience! I’d like to play myself, but I have (A) no printer and (B) no non-Internet friends. Sigh.
We just gotta play with the new toy, don’t we. This color stuff could get addictive.
We just gotta play with the new toy, don’t we? This color stuff could get addictive.
It looks fun, I’ll try and get my hubby to play it with me.
Until then though, in reading through the rules I noticed a few typos that Mr. Lenoue might be interested in:
1: On page 6, the text says “Players may exchange one controlled coin for one native coin only for the purpose of making a mega marker.” But the second illustration on the page indicates that three native + one controlled =/= a mega marker, so which is it?
2: On page 7, it’s indicated that a player gains an extra 10 points for “each location you dominate by controlling the majority of spaces.” But the illustration shows two spaces out of five as being enough. That’s not a majority. Perhaps “…controlling the largest number of spaces” is more what was meant?
3: On page 20 the second row of what should be Zombie Head Controlled markers don’t have any words on them.
Thank you for going to all this trouble to entertain us, sir!
(And the cobras are, as always, terrifyingly cute, Shaenon!)
This is exactly why you give print & play to enthusiastic fans. *FEEDBACK* MWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
1: In the solo playtesting I did I found there were many times where a player had three native coins and one controlled coin in a location, _but_ they didn’t have a native coin in their reserve to swap out. This should lead to frantic trading without regard to long term repercussions. Basically, you can exchange one non-native coin with a native coin you have in your reserve, but only for making a mega counter. If you can think of a better way to say that it would be greatly appreciated. Half the benefits of playtesting this way is refining the rules text.
2: See? That’s a much better of saying it. Thanks!
3: Oops! One of those glitches that pop up randomly. Somehow the text fell behind the coin and disappeared. Appropriate for the basement dwellers, eh?
“When creating a mega marker in this way, players may first exchange one control-marker coin with a native coin from their reserve. This exchange may only be done if you have exactly 3 native tokens present. (Tip: This may be a good time to bargain with other players.) ”
Delete the =/= and replace it with a ==, draw an (red?) X over the COBRA CONTROLLED silverfish, replace the words “Doesn’t count” with a cobra, and try to change the arrow to make it clear the cobra is being put on top of the silverfish. Maybe write the word “Replaces” over the new cobra.
….Does the player get to keep the coin they replaced, or does it go back in the bag?
Hmmmm… not sure that’s better. We’ll keep that in mind for later, no need to fix everything right now, it’s still in Alpha stage.
Good question about the replaced coin. It goes into the players reserves and I’ve added that to the rules.
Is it allowable to place more than one coin on the same space during the same bidding round? If not, that should probably be mentioned in the rules.
(Sorry about the lack of vertical spaces in my previous post.)
I tried that when solo testing and found single coins were more fun. The flipping to determine who wins the spot was more like silly combat. Though if you get your hubby to play feel free to try multiple coins, and any other variations you might think of.
And you’re right, single coin placement should be mentioned. I’ll add it now.
While I haven’t had a chance to playtest it (The number of parts to print and assemble is very, very intimidating.), single coin placement worries me a lot. Mostly because it costs 4 actions to place a Mega Marker, and only one action to destroy them. How would you feel about 2 coins per location?
(That way the player would also only lose a minimum of one coin, instead of two…… unless that makes playing Mega Markers TOO safe…?)
If too much coin flipping is what you’re worried about, maybe you could include a second, “Battle bag”, or something, and draw coins out one by one until all spaces are filled.
Oh, I see what you mean now. Good idea! I’ve tried it out by myself (not a good way to playtest) and it seems to work. I’ll put it in the rules.
I have a printer, but because I use the internet I have no friends…
If you guys think this game is fun, I’m hoping Shaenon and Jeff start a Kickstarter project to not only publish the game in a proper box, but also make a mobile version to play on tablets and phones.
Fingers crossed!
Haven’t played but I’d rename one generic room to steam tunnels because there are always steam tunnels as well as maintenance tunnels. Also, another generic room should be renamed as disused toilet for obvious reasons. Also I’d rename the other generic rooms to something like Storage (Classified). Also I’d add a ordinary tunnels room. You can never have too many tunnels.
But looking further I see there are only 2 generic rooms so I’d change them to Disused Toilet and Storage (Classified). But if you can add more rooms without unbalancing the game then add the tunnels
We’ll have a contest during the Kickstarter: Name That Room!
(TUNE: “Twist And Shout”, Phil Medley & Bert Russell)
Well,snakes that are babies, wow!
(snakes that are babies)
Hiss and pout!
(hiss and pout)
Well, slither slither slither babies now!
(slither babies)
The basement all throughout!
(all throughout)
You slither through your lair!
(through your lair)
You slither soft and sweet!
(soft and sweet)
We never even know you’re there,
(never know you’re there)
Until you bite our feet!
(bite our feet)
Aaahh … aaahh … aaahh … aaahh …
[suddenly realizing there’s a snake biting my foot]
AUUGGH GET IT OFF ME GET IT OFF ME GET IT OFF I’M GONNA DIIEEEEeee … [thud]
No, no, Ed, you don’t move your feet so much doing The Twist. It’s done like this, see? … Ed? … Ed?
Needs provision for playing with fewer than ten players…
Good thing the rules include provisions for 2 to 3 players, then, isn’t it?
I agree with Mental Mouse, tbh. 100 coins seems like a lot of coins for a 2-player game. While I haven’t played yet, it might be a good idea to scale the number of coins of off-player factions. (Maybe, say, play with only 5-7 coins of each race that’s not being played with two players), and 6-8 with 3 players. Or something.)
No matter how many coins you use, the feel of the game is probably going to change dramatically depending on how many players you have, if the number of coins doesn’t scale with the number of players.
…..(Watch it turn out that I have no idea what I’m talking about, because I haven’t actually tried playing yet.)
Ack. I can’t edit posts. 🙁
It also might be an idea to have some sort of trade-in mechanic, Settlers-of-Catan-style, for a 2-player game, because obviously players won’t be trading with each other in a 2-player game. (For those of you who haven’t played Settlers, essentially you can trade 4 resources of the same type for one resource of your choice. How exactly you’d want to balance it is beyond me at the moment. [Your personal coins are cheaper? The 4 coins you trade in don’t need to all be the same type? This should also be applicable in a 3-player game? It only costs 2/3/5 coins to trade?(Keep in mind each coin is a point…)]
I’ll also throw in the idea of making a sixth circle on each board, coloring it grey, and only using it in a 4-player game. (Though if you did that, you’d want to reduce the number of boards used.)
Just tossing in some ideas. (I’ve played way too many board games over the years….)
tl;dr: The way it’s currently set up doesn’t give the same feel depending on how many players are playing, both because of trading and because of how many coins are on the board.[There are 40/60/80 valuable coins, and 60/40/20 trash coins] and there are ways around it. The current balance mechanic seems designed only to make sure the game doesn’t last forever and ever.
Good idea for half coins 2-player games! I’ve added it to to the rules. That just might be a good idea for the game regardless of how many people play. It wouldn’t prevent trading, or bribery, but would give players options even when nobody is in the mood (or don’t have the resources) for trading.
And yes, the game is balanced to prevent it from lasting too long. I’ve created a few games along these lines and if you’re not careful they can last for hours. I want this game to run from 10 to 20 minutes, short enough to be exciting, just long enough to get into strategies, and with a dramatic finish that makes players want to play “just one more game.”
As a long-term gamer, my initial reaction is cute. Fits the theme of PSH very well. As a game designer, I have a few observations.
So nineteen coins per faction? 194 for the game? That’s a lot of counters, thinking in terms of four rolls of pennies. I’d suggest a PDF master that lets you print on Avery labels then stick them on pennies because my hands would be very unhappy at trying to cut out 196 tokens printed on card stock. Obviously if these were printed on punch boards, it would be easy. But for a PDF print and play game, that’s a lot of work. (Yes, I’m sorry, I’m thinking in terms of USA supplies and am ignoring the rest of the world)
If the Skinhorse tokens are larger, it would be easy to fish for them from the draw bag/box and defeat the random draw.
I really like the tokens having the precedence on the back side as to what eats what, reduces time spent referring to the rules. I’d suggest putting those pages in the PDF in sequence to correspond to the chart on the top of page 9.
Is this the same Paul Lenoue that worked on computer games for SSI in the mid ’80s?
Well spotted on the size difference. I never noticed that. Fixed now.
About the 194 coins, not sure how to tackle that with the print & play. In the actual game with plastic coins (or metal? Ooooooo!) having all those markers makes it more fun, but for print & play it’s a bit of work.
Everybody, please feel free to improvise as much as you want. This is the stage of game development that’s wild and crazy, filled with new ideas, bad puns and experimental snacks.
And no, I’m not that guy, wish I was though, I’ve always been good at game design but lousy at programming.
If you do a Kickstarter w/Shaenon & Jeff, do metal coins as a higher level of support or an expansion goal, I’d be satisfied with plastic discs or cardboard punch-out chits. Flying Buffalo recently did one to re-launch a new edition of Tunnels & Trolls and had laser-etched wood boxes for higher levels. Another possible stretch goal is there’s a woman who hand-crafts dice bags, that would be an awesome stretch goal or higher support level.
But before you consider a Kickstarter, read Fred Hicks blog for some of the hidden things that they encountered doing Kickstarters for Evil Hat Games.
(I worked for Flying Buffalo back in the early ’80s and was involved in the production of several Catalyst books)
I’ve been backing games since Kickstarter started and from my observations I think the best bet would be to start with cardboard punch-outs, goal would be a decent-sized print run so there would be enough left over for game stores to order.
If we blow through that quick enough the stretch goal would be plastic coins and markers. Maybe make the Mega-Markers 3D sculptures.
If that gets funded quick enough, we could offer a special deluxe version with metal coins and pewter Mega-Markers along with the plastic set.
Also, what’s the URL for Fred Hicks blog? I like reading post-mortems to learn what goes one behind the scenes.
Great feedback, gang! How about I come out with a new PDF on Friday for Shaenon to post next Sunday (or whenever, don’t know how she has it set up).
Aw, it’s the huggy cobras! Hug us!
Page 2: What if there no open spaces? Is it not legal to place a coin there, or do newly placed coins battle for supremacy with coins already there?
Dammit, I wish I could edit my posts. I meant Page 5. Is it not legal to play an “Occupy” coin?
Ack. One last question, because I never get tired of double-posting (And I just thought of it). Are control markers re-usable? How often can you re-use them?
Good catch the no open spaces thing, I can see where that might cause confusion. Fixed now.
Control markers are returned to their player. Also fixed.