Number of players: 2 -6

Materials: Cards, Board, 2 Dice, Player Pieces

Each player starts by picking a piece and placing it at start. All the cards labeled A and B are shuffled separately and placed into their respective piles around the board. Each piece is pointed at one end to signify the direction is it currently traveling in. Players then take turns rolling a die to see who goes first. The player with the highest roll then rolls two dice for their turn. Plyers can move from start in either of the three directions. Players take turns rolling the dice and moving across the board and the first player to reach the finish tile is the winner.

Movement:

When a player moves onto a special tile, their turn is briefly interrupted to draw a card or interact with the board. When moving over a B tile, the player must draw a booze card. When moving over an A tile, the player must draw an action card and read it aloud. The players effected by the action then must carry out the action before continuing on with their turn (certain action cards take place after a player is done moving, see Action Cards below). When moving over an intersection tile, marked by a circle with three protruding lines, the player must roll a die to determine the direction they continue on in. If the player rolls a 1-3, they must take the straightest path. If the player rolls a 4-6, they must take the other remaining direction. When an intersection with no straight option appears, 1-3 is for the right most direction and 4-6 is for the left most direction. When moving over a D tile, the player must discard one booze card. When a player moves over an arrow tile, they must continue on in the direction of the arrow. There are four special tiles, a triangle, a star, a plus, and a square with an x. Landing on these tiles is no different from landing on a normal, unmarked tile. Some action cards will move your piece to one of those four specially marked tiles.

Booze Cards:

Number of cards: 100

Contents: Various different drinks and their recipes

Booze cards are signified by the letter B located on the board and on the back of each card. Each booze card has a drink name and recipe on it. When a player draws a booze card, they add it to their hand. Each players booze level is equal to the number of cards they have in their hand. Certain action cards will interact with your booze level, so it is important to know how many cards you have in your hand. The more booze cards you have the harder it will be to win, so the best strategy is to have as little as possible. When a booze card is discarded, it is placed in the discard pile face up, right next to the deck of unturned booze cards. When the booze card pile is empty, the discard pile is reshuffled and becomes the new booze card pile.

Action cards:

Number of cards: 88

Contents: Various party/club clichés and their effect on the player

Action cards are signified by the letter A located on the board and on the back of each card. When a player land on an action tile, they pause the rest of their turn to draw an action card and do the action listed. The action card is then placed in the discard pile, face up. Once there are no more action cards left to draw, the discard pile is shuffled and become the new action card pile. Action cards that tell a player to move ahead or back any number of spaces are delayed until the player is done moving from their initial roll. All other action cards take place when they are drawn (ex: a player may be forced to turn around or move across the board in the middle of their turn, and now must keep moving in the new direction). When an action card that tells a player to move ahead or back any number of spaces moves a player onto and past an intersection tile, the player gets to choose the direction they continue in. When an action card tells a player to move backwards, they move in the opposite direction as if that direction was forward. A player may not move in any direction that opposes a direction arrow tile.

• Discard Cards – 15x

                - 4 x Discard half your booze cards, rounded down, at random.

                - 2 x Discard all your booze cards

                - 4 x Discard 2 booze cards.

                - 5 x Discard a booze card.

• Draw Cards – 14x

                - 2 x Everyone draws a booze card.

                - 2 x Draw 3 booze cards.

                - 4 x Draw 2 booze cards.

                - 6 x Draw a booze card.

• Jump to Space Cards – 11x

                - 2 x Jump to Triangle space.

                - 2 x Jump to Square with X space.

                - 2 x Jump to Plus space.

                - 1 x Jump to Triangle space.

                - 3 x Pick another player, Jump to their space.

                - 1 x Jump to start.

• Reverse the direction of your piece – 6x

                - 2 x Reverse the direction of your piece.

                - 2 x Conditional: B level > 6, Reverse the direction of your piece.

                - 2 x Conditional: B level > 12, Reverse the direction of your piece.

• Skip your next turn – 4x

• Move Cards – 21x

               - 4 x Move ahead 2 spaces.

               - 5 x Move ahead 1 space.

               - 1 x Everyone moves ahead one space.

               - 1 x Everyone move back one space.

               - 2 x Conditional: B level > 5, Move back 5 spaces.

               - 6 x Move back 1 space. Conditional: Drawn this card before, Move back 3 instead.

• Other Cards – 17x

               - 2 x Conditional: B level <= 6, Draw a booze card. Else, Move back one space.

               - 2 x Conditional: B level <= 12, Draw a booze card. Else, Move back one space.

               - 2 x Conditional: B level > 10, Move back one space. Else, Move ahead two spaces.

               - 2 x Conditional: B level > 15, Move back one space. Else, Move ahead two spaces.

               - 1 x Pick a player, take an additional turn in lieu of theirs for one round.

               - 2 x Move back a space, draw a booze card.

               - 2 x Move ahead a space, draw a booze card.

               - 2 x Conditional: B level > 12, continue moving until you reach another action tile (do not draw again). Else,                           do nothing.

               - 2 x Conditional: B level > 15, continue moving until you reach another action tile (do not draw again). Else,                           do nothing.

Game Log: Iteration 1

First playtest of the game

2 players

Questions to answer:

• Is my prototype a functional game?

• Are the gameplay mechanics I have in place entertaining or boring?

Changes:

• None

Notes and Observations:

• There are too many special tiles located on the board, needs to be less A tiles.

• Booze levels are way too high for the action card conditionals

• Need a better way to deal with intersections than just arrows

• Ran out of booze cards

• No one finished, too many action cards prevented moving towards the finish

• Game takes too long

• Not sure whether to draw action card before or after turn

Overall the game was successful but a lot of things have to change to make it more fun. At the moment, there isn’t a lot of exciting or interesting stuff that happens and it is impossible to beat the game. I will need to add more action cards and change the values of the ones that currently exist.

Game Log: Iteration 2

Second playtest of the game

2 players

Questions to answer:

• Is the game play entertaining?

• Is it possible to win?

• What aspects of the game make it feel like being at a party?

Changes:

• Removed some of the action and booze tiles (too frequent card draws)

• Added the digest tile (too many booze cards in hand)

• Add a way to move through intersections (intersections were confusing)

• Created new action cards

• Created new booze cards

• Created the start in the middle and players roll to see which direction they begin in (made the board unique and more fun to play on)

• Redesigned other paths on the board

Notes and Observations:

• Still stuck in certain areas of the board

• Plays a lot smoother

• The game is still pretty slow moving

• Not a lot of interesting areas on the board

• Moving through intersections is confusing when you have to remember how many moves you have left and you have to roll again for the direction

• The board isn't as connected as I would like it to be

• The board has less traps than I would like

• The game play does not get harder the higher your booze level is

I decided not to alter the values of the conditionals on the action cards to see if the updated tiles were enough keep booze levels lower. Booze levels were still high, but lower than before. It still feels like there are too many action tiles, but it might be that we need more than two players to play test it. The board still needs to be altered a bit because there is no variety in the paths. The game is starting to have less of a rigid board game feel and more of a Mario Party feel to it.

Game Log: Iteration 3

Third playtest of the game

4 players

Questions to answer:

• What other cards can I add to make more of a party feel to the game?

• How do I make the game feel more fluid and random as opposed to a structured, rigid board game?

• How can I optimize the location of tiles to creates a difficult yet beatable game?

Changes:

• Improved interaction with players and intersections

• Moved A, B, and D tiles to more strategic locations (moved tiles to better locations based on what areas of the board recieve the most action)

• Added rules for drawing certain action cards in the middle of a turn (reverse direction, move back a space, move ahead a space)

• Added 4 new tiles that have no effect until a player draws an action card that says move to one of the four specific tiles (gameplay can be restricting)

• Changed the ruling on start, a player can choose the direction they continue in if they enter the start tile (too much random chance for moving)

• Added a second die to the roll that determines the move for each player (game moved too slow)

Notes and Observations:

• 4 players is a much better way to playtest than 2

• Feels like a complete board game

• Need more action and booze cards

• The new 4 special tiles add a lot of random movement and allow for further board exploration

• The circle trap at the bottom of the board forces you to draw too many booze and action cards

• Currently, there are a lot of intersections and a lot of random chance to change direction, so something needs to be tweaked to reduce that

• Turns where players have to do a lot of actions are still a bit confusing

The game is coming together pretty fast and at this point I don’t think I want to make any more major changes. All I need to do it keep tweaking the mechanics a little and it should only need one more playtest before I am finished. My only concern is that the game is still hard to win so I may have to add another path that leads to the finish.

Game Log: Iteration 4

Fourth playtest of the game

3 players

Questions to answer:

• Any additional tweaks to improve the gameplay?

• How will I fix the game to make turns less confusing?

• Does the game feel complete?

Changes:

• Altered quantities of action cards to balance out the game(too many of the same cards were being drawn).

• Added more action cards that get rid of booze cards in hand(still too many booze cards in players hands).

Notes and Observations:

• Possible solution for remembering the number of moves is to count down with a 20 sided die for your turn, and roll the 6 sided die again for the directional roll

• Feels like a complete game

• Still need to adjust numbers on cards and quantities of cards some more

• Need to add more action cards with conditionals (not enough interaction with booze levels) 

The game is essentially complete, there was not a lot to change. All that is left is minor tweaking as the game continues to get tested. I could possibly create a new board that is a little easier to get through, but the current board promotes lengthier games than I would like.

Game Rules:

Game Setup and Play: