So I had another great play testing session last night for my game
Meeplesburg. We played a 3 player game that lasted 68 minutes, which included a
quick rehash of the rules--so it looks like this came can come in under an hour
for experienced players. w00t!
Here are some the key changes from the last version:
1. Get rid of the remaining 60
white and instead make the Monuments worth victory points at the end of the
game.
So in the last version of the game I got rid of 120 coloured wooden
cubes and replaced them with money tokens (40 $1 tokens and 12 $5 tokens). And
that was a great change. It reduced the component count of the game and gave
players more action choices during their turn. It was easier to figure out what
you needed to perform a given action.
Well now I was given a suggestion that would eliminate the 60 white
cubes, which were generated by the Monuments during the Income Generation
action, and instead make the Monuments themselves worth victory points at the
end of the game. So here the changes:
·
Instead of generating cubes, each Monument would
generate an additional $1 during the Income Generation
·
Monuments at the end of the game would worth the
following incremental victory points (the more Monuments you have, the greater
the victory points!):
o
1 Monument = 1 VP
o
2 Monuments = 3 VP
o
3 Monuments = 5 VP
o
4 Monuments = 8 VP
o
5 Monuments = 13 VP
o
6 Monuments = 21 VP
A player with more than 6 Monuments would not make any more points
after that.
2. Limit the number of Masons
that can be placed on Action spaces during a round.
In order to tighten up the game and build more tension, it was
suggestion that I limit the number of Masons that can be placed an action space
during a round:
·
Construct
a Bridge: There will be only 2 spots available per round to use a Mason to
build a bridge. There are 5 bridges in the game.
·
Add a
Tenant: There will be only 3 spots available per round to use a Mason to add
a tenant to another player's building tile. Each player has 3 tenants in their
colour.
·
Erect a
Monument: There will be only 4 spots available per round to use a Mason to erect
a Monument. There are 10 Monuments in the game.
In previous play sessions, players would leave adding tenants and
constructing bridges till near the end of the last round since there was no
sense of urgency to build them earlier. Now that there are limited spots
available per round, players will have to consider building these in rounds 1
and 2 to avoid not being able to build them at all.
3. Add an incremental cost to
available Masons
In the play test last night, all Masons cost $4 in order to use them on
an action space. It didn't matter if the player used the first available Mason
or the last one. So the change will be this:
·
In Round
1:
o
1st Mason: $3
o
2nd Mason: $4
o
3rd Mason: $5
o
4th Mason: $6
·
In Round 2:
o
1st and 2nd Masons: $3
o
3rd and 4th Masons: $4
o
5th and 6th Masons: $5
o
7th and 8th Masons: $6
·
In Round 3:
o
1st, 2nd and 3rd Masons: $3
o
4th, 5th and 6th Masons: $4
o
7th, 8th and 9th Masons: $5
o
10th, 11th and 12th Masons: $6
So the longer you wait to hire a Mason, the more expensive they become.
4. Having 2 walls in a row or
column gets you $2 instead of a white cube
Since I am removing the white cubes from the game, owning 2 walls in
either a row or a column will give you $2 during the Income Generation action.
