In this episode Ellen usurps the normal process for a nice game jam prompt to explore her own idea on tabletop mechanics. Who would have thought the scoring system for this game would be 'Points for the Future War'?

Stephen's One-Minute Movie
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Stephen McGregor's Group
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YouTube
Discussion during development
Subbuteo
Soapboxderby.org
Bullet Bill Soapbox Derby Car
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Lou Whitmire
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Mansfield News Joural

Prompt

Make a tabletop game where the core mechanic is modulating the friction on the board.

Game type

Tabletop game

Player count

3-5

Materials

Board - 5x5 grid where tiles can be placed

5 racer sleds

Racer weights

Tiles with different friction coefficients (terrain tiles)

Mission from HQ Cards

Special Objective Cards

Setup

1) Racer sleds and racer weights are randomly distributed to the racetrack row. 2) Each racer sled gets the name of a racer. Each racer name should be silly, like Jenny Too-fast or Billy Tumble.
3) Each player draws two Mission from HQ cards and picks one to be their secret objective.

Rules

Players are given each a set amount of time-travel credits.

On their turn, each player uses a time-travel credit to either replace or swap terrain tiles.

When each all players have spent their time travel credits, the race is on! All racer sleds are released from their starting box, and the results of the race are observed.

Each completed mission results in the number of 'Points for the Future' on the mission from HQ card awarded to that player. The number of points is based on the difficulty of the mission.

After the weekend derby is complete (15 rounds), the player with the most point for the future war is declared the winner, but not for 20-30 years.

The Longest Thanksgiving Day Ever