MAGI Studio 1 Week 4 - Related Work Summaries

1. Splendor

Splendor is a game that can be enjoyed in a group of 2 to 4 players. In this game, you will need to compete to become the most reputable merchant of the town. You will achieve this by gaining 2 things: acquire the development card or gain the nobilities’ respect.

As a merchant in this game, you can do one of the 3 things:

• take gem token
• reserve a development card
• purchase a development card

To set up the game, shuffle the 3 development decks and place them in a column. After that, reveal 4 cards from each row and place them next to their respective decks. Shuffle the noble cards and reveal 5 of them. There will always be 5 gold tokens on the table. The number of gems will be decided based on the number of players. The youngest player starts first.

There are 5 colors of gem tokens and the rules surrounding them include:

• Players can take 3 gems of different colors
• Players can take 2 gems of the same color
• If there are 3 or fewer tokens left of a certain type, you won’t be able to take 2 of them away
• If you have more than 10 tokens (apply to all color), you will have to discard them down to 10

In case you choose to reserve a development card, you need to pick one card from the supply and replace it with a card from the respective deck of the same role. You now are the only player who can purchase this development card. If you get into a dangerous situation, you can draw a card from the top of one of the development decks. You will also receive a gold coin for any card you draw. Additionally, you can only have 3 cards reserved at a time.

You are allowed to purchase a development card by exchanging your gems with a card from the supply or your reservation. The gold tokens can be taken as any gem color. You will see a number on the top left of the card, which is the prestige point. If you manage to gain enough development cards of the right color, you will attract the attention of a noble. They will help you gain even more prestige points. Unfortunately, you can only impress one noble per turn. At the end of the game, the one with the most prestige points wins.

Splendor helps players engage in a fictional scenario. There are 3 types of cards that affect each other: tokens, development cards, and noble cards. The scenario is built up mainly thanks to the use of these cards

2. Deception

In Deception, players will work together to solve a murder case in Hong Kong. Though be careful, the murder is hiding right inside your groups

There will be 2 different types of play cards

• Blue cards used to represent ‘means of murder’. 4 of these cards will be arranged face up in front of every player
• Red cards used to represent ‘evidence', 4 of them will also be placed face up above the above blue cards

The second important asset of the game is the rectangle clue tiles that help give hints on the ‘means of murder’ and ‘evidence’. Players will need to separate the ‘Cause of death’ tile and ‘Location of crime’ tile from the pack. The rest will be suffered and again, 4 of them will be placed down. There will also be a set of bullets whose use will be explained later on.

Each player will then deal with a role card that will be kept secret. These roles can be:

• Forensic scientist. The game master, his or her jobs is to help the investigators find out the murder by giving little hints
• Murderer. If you are given this card, you will need to hide until the end of the game. To accuse the murderer, other players will need to find out the ‘mean of murder’ and the ‘evidence'
• Investigator. The role of everybody else. As investigators, you have 1 attempt (each) to guess what the ‘mean of murder’ and ‘evidence’ are. To do so, you will need to hand in your badge, which is a token that was given to every player at the start of the game. If you lose this badge, you will lose your chance to guess. Even though you will still be able to take part in discussing the crime scene.

In case you play with at least 6 players, you will have 2 more roles cards, which are:

• Witness. This person knows who the murderer is, but he/she doesn’t know about the ‘mean of murder’ and the ‘evidence’. At the end of the game, the murderer has one chance to guess the identity of the witness. If he/she guesses it correctly, he/she will win the game
• Accomplice. This character knows everything the murderer knows. His/her job is to help the murderer to get away with the crime or help the murderer to guess who the witness is

Gameplay:

There will be 3 rounds, in each round players will get one chance to collect evidence and present their thinking

Step 1: The Forensic Scientist ask all players to close their eyes, then ask the murderer and the accomplice to open their eyes

Step 2: The murderer chooses a ‘mean of murder’ card and an ‘evidence’ from the set of 8 cards. Both the murderer and the accomplice then close their eyes again.

Step 3: The Forensic Scientist calls for the witness to open their eyes, then point out the murderer and the accomplice

Step 4: The Forensic Scientist places bullets on the tiles to indicate the hints that point at the ‘mean of murder’ and the ‘evidence’. All players will get the chance to discuss it. If no one manages to guess it, the scientist will need to throw one of the tiles away and replace it with the tiles at the top of the remaining deck

Step 5: Investigators use their badges to guess. If you guess it wrong you will need to throw it away

Deception is a very engaging game from the theme to the playstyle. It is one of my favorite among the games that I have studied. It is interesting to see how players' actions are motivated by the roles they receive.

3. Bang!

Each player’s objective will be decided based on the role card distributed to them at the start of the game. These include:

• The sheriff and the deputy: eliminate the renegade and outlaw
• The outlaw: eliminate the sheriff
• The renegade: be the last player in the game

Each player will then given a player's map and an identity card. The sheriff will need to reveal his card while the other player keeps their identity hidden. Cards distributed will be based on the number of player in the game:

• 4 players: 1 sheriff, 1 renegade, 2 outlaws
• 5 players: 1 sheriff, 1 deputy, 1 renegade, 2 outlaws
• 6 players: 1 sheriff, 1 renegade, 3 outlaws, 1 deputy
• 7 players: 1 sheriff, 1 renegade, 3 outlaws, 2 deputy

Next, 2 character cards will be randomly given to each player. Everybody then picks one card that they want to keep. The number of bullets on the cards is their health bar, the text is a description of its ability. You even receive physical (plastic) bullets. If you lose all bullets, you are out of the game. Also, you get one additional life if you are a sheriff.

The game master then shuffles another set of play cards and dealt them to all players based on the number of bullets they have. Place the rest of the deck in the center. There will be a set of rules based on the symbols on the cards:

• Bullet and a plus = add health
• Bullet and an x = a bang card = take away health (for each turn, the 'bang' card can only be used once)
• A hat with a line through it = a 'miss' card = cancel the effect of the bang card
• Hand on a card = draw a card
• A card with an x = discard a card
• A cowboy hat = choose a player
• 3 cowboy hat = every other player
• A scope with a hat in it = any player within a reachable distance (how many seats away the player is, for example, next to you equal 1 seat)
• A scope with a number in it = any player within the distance of that number or less
• The book = refer to the rulebook for more details

(The game come with a Summary card so please don't worry)

Everyone starts the game with the ability to hit the players that are one distance away. To increase your range, you need to obtain the gun card, the number on the card tells you the range you can hit. You will also have brown border cards, which is one-time use and can be discarded. And blue border cards will be placed in front of you and remain there until it is discarded or stolen or replaced

There will also be 3 special types of flipping cards: barrel, jail, and dynamite. If you receive one of these 3 cards, you will need to discard the top card of the draw deck without taking its effect and look at the bottom left corner of the card. There will be symbols on both card and if the symbols are the same, the effect of the card will be activated. And vice version, if the symbols don’t match, the cards won’t be effective

The sheriff will start the game and everything then will be proceeded clockwise. There are 3 phases in a turn:

• The draw phase allows you to draw 2 cards from the deck at the center of the table. If the deck runs out, shuffle the discard cards and turn it into a new draw deck
• You can play as many cards as you like as long as they follow these limitations: 1 bang card per turn, no duplicate cards at a time, 1 weapon card in front of you at a time. Also, on your turn, you don’t have to play cards if you can’t or don’t want to
• In case when the number of the cards in your hand is larger than the number of bullets, you must discard cards to make it equal to the bullets. If you lose all of your bullets, you are out of the game. Except when you have a beer card which helps you get a life back, but if there are only 2 players left, the beer card has no effect

If you are eliminated, you will need to discard all cards and reveal your identity. There are different outcomes associated with different roles. For example, if you are an outlaw and you get eliminated, the person who eliminates you will have the chance to draw 3 cards. If you are a deputy and the sheriff eliminates you, the sheriff will need to discard all of his cards. The game ends when the outlaw and the renegade are killed. OR when the sheriff dies. The sheriff dies can lead to 2 situations

• The renegade is the only one left, he or she wins
• Otherwise, the outlaw wins

Bang! is a game with a very extended play style. There are so many rules applied that I feel like I will forget all of them the moment I close the tab. The game use color, graphics, symbols, related symbols, etc. to determine the use of the cards. Most of the other games I have gone through only use 1 or 2 of these at the same time. Even though we can see the work the creators put into the game, this level of complexity is not what I aim for.

In addition, unlike Deception, actions are not restricted by the roles associated with players. These roles only affect the outcomes of the game.