These are some of the issues we encountered with our latest playtest of the game, along with some possible solutions.
-Detention: old rule was that you just skipped a turn. We found that limited engagement and took the player in detention out of the game. as a solution we implemented that while in detention they could have a get out of detention roll at the beginning of their turn where they had to roll a 20 to get out and start their turn from homeroom. if they fail the roll, the original option was to have them play a negative ISY card and move their opponent’s pieces if they were in the hallway.
the problem with that is that there will be times when all players will be in rooms leaving nobody to move. so the new rule is that if the player in detention does not get the roll, they can draw either a new rule card or a staff card. this increases the usage of those cards (more on that later) and keeps the player engaged int he game. Also, any new rule cards that place all kids in a certain room will get the player out of detention, so that is an added strategic bonus.
– Judgment phase: the original rule was that a player could only play one negative ISY card during judgment. the game needs more back-and-forth between players, so now the player can play both of their negative ISY cards. the play will alternate, where the player whose turn it is play as many of their three positive cards to reach the requirement, then the other player plays as many cards as it takes to bring them under the requirement, and then the first player may respond with whatever positive ISY cards they have left.
-Multiplayer support: the game was originally intended for up to 4 players, but a playtester asked if it were possible to add more players. we expanded the game from 4 players to 6. this creates two problems: 1) having 6 players greatly increases the playtime for the game, and our aim is for playtime to be around 40-50 minutes. 2) there are not enough ISY cards to support 6 players. each player needs 3 positive ISY cards and 2 negative ISY cards to play. between 6 players, that is 18 and 12 cards, out of two 20-card decks, respectively. that doesn’t leave for many cards left to be drawn, which affects randomizing of the cards. perhaps a happy medium of a 5-player max might work. will try that in future tests.
– Dice: there are still issues with dice and traversing across the board. originally we were using just one D6, but the board proved too big for players to use that to get across to further sports on the board in an optimum number of turns. and even using two D6, we were having that problem. so we switched to a D20, but now we have the opposite problem: players can easily get anywhere on at least half the board in one turn. there are two possible solutions, and both can be used. 1) replacing the D20 with a D12 or a D10. but I don’t see how these would be much different than using the two D6’s. 2) Switch spots between the homeroom and the auditorium. this puts the most visited rooms at the other end of the board so players will have to plan out their path to the rooms more often.
-The science fair new rule card: the “play a science card” rider is problematic. how many cards actually say ‘science” on them? it just adds unnecessary complication. and the card would have to say “the prior turn or round” which further complicates things. Also, when they go to the gym, do they automatically go back to their homerooms on the next turn, or should they be forced to roll the dice to go back to their homerooms?
-Win Conditions: the 10 point win condition makes for longer games, which can be an issue if playing with more than 2 players. perhaps I shorten it to 5 points. the ideal is for the game to take around 30-40 minutes to play.
-the staff cards: we played through an entire game, and the staff cards got drawn exactly ONCE. this was despite increasing the staff draw spaces on the board. so this brings up two things. 1) I can increase the usage of staff cards by giving players in detention the option of drawing one instead of a new rule card. 2) Does the game actually NEED Staff cards? they are a nice way to get staff’s role into the game and reinforce the value of students having a good relationship with their school staff, but they do add complexity to the game, as well as the cards increasing the cost of production. something to think over.
-outside: the outside area is proving a bit problematic because it is immediately adjacent to homeroom. you don’t even need to really roll the dice to go outside. also, how does the new rule cards telling players to place their pawns in the outside area work? do they go back to homeroom next turn, or are players en route to classrooms allowed to continue?
-Complexity creep: the math of the game can get complex rather quickly. you have the citizenship point requirement and the kid card’s relationship to it. then each class card has a bonus rider that matters if the kid’s card type matches. then you have to factor in any bonuses gotten from staff cards in play, and that’s before you factor in the adding and subtracting for the positive and negative ISY cards. it can be a real mental workout for people who don’t have an affinity for math, and especially for young children. is there something that can be done about that, or is it possible to lean into that and make it a marketing point, where the game helps kids home their math skills? does removing the extra math elements (like the bonuses on the class cards and all the staff cards) simplify the math too much?
-the spot judgment cards: what happens when you draw two cards with equal values? if you draw a +10 and a -10 on your spot judgment, do you get the point, go to detention, or redraw? on top of that, what if you are required to do this during normal gameplay, and you are in the middle of going to a class for your regular turn? maybe put a blanket rule that says that if you are in the hallways, any new rule card that takes you out of the hallways cancels your original objective and you have to shuffle your kid and class back into their decks.
We’ll see if we can address these issues and correct them for a smoother run during our next playtest. stay tuned.