Back to the Drawing Board

It has been a while since I made any updates to this game, despite the many hours I put in. This begs the question, "have I lost my way?"

There wasn't enough of a challenge

I took inspiration from the game of Concentration. It too has players flipping over cards and identifying the image on it. It is easy to teach, set up and can work if pieces go missing. Well, sort of. I never liked setting it up and it was a bit of a hassle checking if all the pieces had matching pairs. I didn't want to bring that hassle into my game. My solution was to add a box card. The game went like this:

1. Flip a card and say the name of the animal pictured on the card, but...
2. If there is a box on the card, you say which animal was first to be flipped.
3. Mess up and you will collect the flipped cards and points against you.

Playing through the game unveiled some large issues. I tried the game with my nephews and they seemed to enjoy it. I was encouraged because even the toddler could play. Trying it with adult was not so encouraging. It simply was not challenging enough. This won't do, since I want something that the whole family can enjoy. These tests also proved that the ending was boring and that the penalties, unfair. I needed to find solutions to these problems or abandon the idea altogether.

Barking up so many trees

The playtesters were full of suggestions, many of which I had thought of already.

• What if there are more types of animals? 
• What if you race to slap the box or blurt out the answer?
• What if you add a reverse card or other special action cards?
• What if we make it harder to tell the difference between the animals?
• What if we add harder memory challenges?

I worked through these questions and tested different implementations. I started this game with the challenge of making a game of only foxes and squirrels. I had already compromised by adding the box and was unwilling to do so again. My solution was to add a reverse symbol to some of the animal cards (released in version 1.2). You could ignore the symbol or adopt it to add difficulty. This preserves the simplicity for those who need it.

Getting the cards right

The game cards we were using tended to stick together. This impacted the pace of the game as players struggled to separate the top card from the deck. I was also struggling to figure out how many of each card should be in the deck. What if I was stuck with the limitations of a Button Shy game? Would this help me figure it out? One thing was for sure, experimenting on 18 cards would be easier and less expensive than on a deck of 53 cards. This exercise was helpful and has allowed me to test variations much more quickly. Card sleeves have been a big help in getting iterations to the table. More importantly, the card sleeves don't stick together so we can get some good games in.

Finding direction

I lost my way for a bit. I strayed too far from the idea and the things that I most enjoyed about the game. I was too focused on increasing the difficulty and details of little importance. I was discouraged and was ready to abandon the project. It wasn't until I imposed limitations that I started to find my way back. I am excited about the direction the game is taking and should have an update ready soon.

Maybe you're stuck in something like I was. You might have opened yourself up to too many possibilities and become overwhelmed. You could try limiting yourself in some way to get out of the slump. It seems to have worked for me.