Mid Way Specials, the Jack of Clubs and Crazy Eights
over 3 years ago – Fri, Aug 07, 2020 at 09:45:42 AM

Welcome to Mid Way Wednesday! Today we are officially half way through the campaign, and we have fun things to report and share.

First, a big thank you for helping us ramp up and pass the $30k stretch goal! Now, every brick of 12 decks will come in a nice board game style box.

NEW $40k STRETCH GOAL

In case you missed it, the first bonus card is going to be a double backer (for magic tricks). For the second bonus card, if we reach the $40k stretch goal, both the nature and magic decks will have a new illustrated card that could be used for a variety of things. Check out Greg's sketches for these new Treasure Cards.

For the magic deck we've got a magical flying treasure chest. For the nature deck we have a chest ensconced in a fairy's tree. You'll be able to use these cards as a 3rd joker, to add special rules to card games, to keep track of the current winner or first player of the game, or to present the ultimate winner with their symbolic victory card. Many games involve multiple rounds where you keep a cumulative score. You can move the treasure card around so it remains in front of the current winner.

New Penultimate Pledge Tier

We've had requests from collectors for an option that will allow backers to get two sets of the standard decks and two sets of the Legendary decks, so we added a brand new pledge level: The Penultimate Pledge (in this case "penultimate" means second best). It fits nicely right in between The Art Collector and The Ultimate Pledge. Although the Legendary decks are not yet available, this pledge level will allow you to upgrade two of the sets to Legendary sets (via add ons) and still have two of the standard sets.

Mid Way Deals

It's Mid Way Wednesday, so from now until the end of the day (11:59pm MDT) you have the chance to get the Mid Way Deal of 10% off the base cost of either The Ultimate Pledge or the new Penultimate Pledge. If you missed the Early Bird special, you have another chance to lock in that discount. Or, if you have the Early Bird version of the Art Collector pledge and want to get more decks, now's your chance to do that.

"The Mad Jack loves cards for a different reason than most of us. Actually, Mad Jack is profoundly symbolic in his choice of cards. You should never judge an Orc too harshly for their culinary preference, but his hunger for the forbidden has driven Mad Jack over the edge of insanity."

If that flavor text doesn’t make sense to you, here is a hint: What is our Ace of Hearts?

The Art: The traditional jack of clubs has seen a lot of distortion over time from people copying and modifying it. Is that a leaf or a feather in his hat? Who knows. Greg tucked them both in this orc's helmet.

The current traditional jack of clubs has a hand coming out of his shoulder. What’s up with that? In fact, it does make him look a bit "orcish" doesn’t it? Kind of fitting then. Also, what exactly is he holding? Is it a shield? Okay … Mad Jack has one of those. Or is it a large staff or a really big arrow or ballista bolt? No worries, Mad Jack has a cudgel and some arrows stuck in his shield. 

If you haven't played the game Crazy Eights, then perhaps you've heard of the game UNO? Crazy Eights plays like UNO, but it predates UNO by a few decades.

Rules for Crazy Eights: https://bicyclecards.com/how-to-play/crazy-eights/

Watch A Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDQjn3k76Mw

According to Wikipedia, the card historian John McLeod described Crazy Eights as "one of the easiest games to modify by adding variations" and so indeed we shall modify it. We shall modify it like it has never been modified before!

Modification #1: Crazy Jacks

The Jacks in the Mythic Kingdoms are ALL a bit wild, in various ways. So, play with the Jacks as the wild cards instead of the eights. Like in Crazy Eights and UNO, after you play a wild card, you declare the suit that must be followed.

Other Modifications

Queens are "skips" so when you play a Queen, it skips the next player's turn. Those queens really make a heart skip a beat, don't they? (ugh ... who is writing this?)

Aces are "reverses" so when you play an Ace, the direction of play reverses. I mean, wouldn't YOU switch directions if one of those Aces got in your way?

Kings are the "draw 2" cards, so if you play a King, the next player draws 2 cards and then plays a card (if they can). If a King commands it, you'd better do it.

Imps can be used as "draw 4" wild cards. Those imps are nasty little creatures. 

Fairies can be used as "no thanks" cards (like in the very fun "Totally Insane Card Game"), meaning that if you would have to draw cards, you can play the Fairy and say "no thanks" and not have to draw cards. As in Mythic Challenge, the fairy protects you from negative effects.

Double Backer: You can throw in the double backer bonus card and use it as a "dead hand" card, meaning that if you play it, the game ends and everybody is stuck with the points in their hand, UNLESS somebody can immediately play a Fairy to cancel the effect.

If you have variations and modifications to crazy eights or UNO that you would like to share, you are more than welcome to include them in the comments.

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ANOTHER RECOMMENDATION: D&D Dice Tower by Smonex

I'd like to share another awesome project that I backed recently. Check out this awesome dice tower! I'm a fan of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, so this dice tower is really going to add to the fun.

New Stretch Goal: Legendary Edition Decks
over 3 years ago – Wed, Aug 05, 2020 at 03:50:29 AM

Hi Fellow Gamers,

We're excited to announce our new dream stretch goal today. Thanks to all our backers, this dream could come true! From the beginning, we designed the tuck boxes with the hope that we'd be able to offer a premium foil and embossed version. So let's talk about how this may happen.

What is the New Legendary Deck?

• The new premium tuck boxes will be AMAZING: Matte colored paper for showing less wear, Gold foil borders, Silver foil text, Green/Purple foil illustrations, Embossing of the text on the front and the illustration on the back.
•  4-Color suits: We really love the idea of a 4-color suit design, and our survey showed that a large majority of our backers do as well, so let's make it happen! These will be ideal for games where you want a clear distinction between each suit. It also helps to avoid accidentally playing the wrong suit ("no revoke").
• Premium USPCC quality cards (Bicycle card stock, air cushioned) with the metallic ink stretch goal upgrade.
• Limited edition, custom number seals.

How do you Get the Legendary Deck?

We will try to make this as simple as possible. Instead of making a bunch of new pledge levels or requiring you to purchase both a standard pair of decks AND a legendary pair, we are going to use a suggestion from the survey we sent out and make the legendary pair of decks an add-on upgrade.

If we reach the stretch goal, all you will need to do is add $12 to your pledge for each pair of green and purple decks that you want to convert to a legendary pair. The upgrade will not apply to individual decks.

This add-on option will be available to ALL pledge levels except for the single deck pledge. If you have chosen The Ultimate Pledge or any other pledge that includes a brick, you can upgrade any number of pairs of decks within your bricks (for $12 per pair). 

How Will We Reach $50k?

Answer: Only with your help. Here are 2 ways that we can reach this goal together:

1) Upgrade Early: You can increase your pledge right now in anticipation of us reaching the $50k funding goal by the end of the campaign. If it doesn't look like the legendary goal is reachable near the end of the campaign, we will be sending all our backers a message to remind them to change their pledges. However, we DO think that this goal is achievable, so let's talk about the second method.

2) Help Us Spread the Word: We are doing what we can to get the word out, including some advertising. However, the best form of advertising is recommendations from other people. So, if you REALLY want those 4-color decks and REALLY want those awesome foil/embossed tuck boxes, there is a very simple way for you to help:

a) Share on Instagram: Follow us at @boardgamingcom, and repost one or more of our images or mention our posts via your stories. We may be doing one or more special giveaways over the next couple of weeks, so if you are following us, you'll know when we have started giveaways (we have a giveaway contest going on right now).

b) Share on Facebook: Follow the Boardgaming.com page on Facebook. You can share our Facebook posts with your friends by simply clicking on the Share button.

c) Tell your game group friends, your artist friends, and anyone else you think might be interested. Please don't spam, and make sure you follow the rules of whatever forum or Facebook group you are part of.

Have any questions or suggestions, please let us know!

Wednesday MID-WAY SPECIAL

This is your official heads up about a new MID-WAY SPECIAL that we'll be offering this Wednesday (August 5th). We will be adding a new temporary pledge level to repeat the 10% discount for The Ultimate Pledge for 1 day only. This means that the people who have currently chosen the Ultimate Pledge CAN switch to the new pledge level on Wednesday.

Switching pledge levels is pretty easy: You just visit the campaign page (while logged into Kickstarter) and click on Manage Your Pledge, then click on Change Your Pledge. This is also the method for adjusting your pledge to claim add-ons.

Mythic Challenge: The Card Game
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Aug 03, 2020 at 09:40:24 AM

I'd like to thank everybody for their participation so far. We have something fun to share with you today. This update provides the preliminary rules for the game Mythic Challenge, the first new game designed specifically for our fantasy-themed decks.  You can play this with 1 or 2 decks of standard playing cards, and we would encourage you to help play test this game and share your comments.

THE THEME: The Mythic Kingdoms is a fantasy world where the Orcs (clubs), Elves (hearts), Dwarves (diamonds) and Undead (spades) hold tournaments to compete in challenges of strength, skill, wit, and strategy.

MATERIALS NEEDED: Any standard deck of playing cards (or 2 decks for 3-8 players). Paper and pen for scoring if you want to play multiple rounds.

OBJECTIVE: Win Points by Winning Challenges

PLAYERS: 2-4 (Teams: 4,6,8)  SUGGESTED AGE: 13+ (also works for ages 8+)

NOTE: The rules included in this campaign update may change, so after the campaign ends, visit BoardGaming.com to obtain the official rules.

OVERVIEW: The game is played as a series of “challenges” or rounds where you try to have the highest total score in your field of played cards. You continue to play cards in front of your (within your field), adding the values of your cards, until there is a winner of the challenge. Soldier cards (numbers 2-10) are worth their specific number of points (2-10), all royalty and champions (JQKA) are worth 10 points, and Jokers are worth 0 (zero) points. You win a challenge if at the start of your turn, the total score of the played cards in your field is higher than any other player’s score.

SETUP: If playing with 2 decks (for 3-4 players), remove all the number cards 2-4 prior to playing. Shuffle and deal 10 cards to each player.

FIRST PLAYER: Player to the left of the dealer (rotate dealer each game).

ON YOUR TURN:

• 1) Check to see if you have won the current challenge (see “Winning a Challenge” below).
•  2) Draw a card or Play a card. If you cannot or choose not to play a card, you must draw a card.
• 3) If you draw a card, and that card is playable, you may immediately play the drawn card.
   

WINNING A CHALLENGE: You are the winner of a challenge (or round) if at the start of your turn, the total score of the cards in your field are higher than any other player’s score. It does not matter who started the challenge. If you win a challenge, collect all played cards (from all fields) and put them in your point pile (set them aside and keep them safe).

STARTING A CHALLENGE: A player starts a challenge by being the first player to play a non-Joker. When starting a challenge, be creative and throw down the gauntlet. Say “The Mad Jack challenges you to a hot dog eating contest” or “The Queen of Hearts challenges you to a game of blind checkers.” You can make up any challenge you want to. Be creative and humorous with your challenges to add fun to the game.

ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE: The next player(s) may play any card other than a suit already played. Jokers are special and can be played with any suit.

During the challenge, each player can only play additional cards by following the suit of the card they have already played. For example, if you have a Spade in your field, your next played cards can only be Spades (and/or Jokers). If something happens to cause all your Spades to leave your field, you can join the challenge again with any valid suit.

EXAMPLE CHALLENGE: (2 player game)

•  Katie leads the challenge with 8 skeleton soldiers (an 8♠ for a total of 8 points), challenging her opponent to a contest of synchronized yoga poses.
•  Jeff plays the elf king (K♥ for a total of 10 points).
•  Katie is not currently the winner, so she plays 3 more soldiers (3♠ for a total of 8+3=11 points).
•  Jeff is not currently the winner, so he plays 4 elf warriors (4♥ for a total of 10+4=14 points).
•  Katie does not have any more undead (spades), so she draws a card.
• At the start of Player 2's turn, he has the highest current score (14 to 11), so he wins the challenge and collects the played cards (from both fields) and puts them in his point pile.

JOKERS: A Joker is not associated with any suit. It may be played by itself or simultaneously with other playable cards. If playing with only the basic rules, remove the Jokers from the game.

END OF GAME: The game ends when a player is unable to play a card and there is no card to draw. (If there are no cards to draw, a player is forced to play a card if it is possible for them to play a card). The player with the highest challenge score wins the final challenge. All cards in players’ hands should be set aside out of play. The cards left in your hand do not count against you. If the last challenge was a tie, set the played cards out of play. Then, start counting up your points using one of the scoring methods below.  If you want to play multiple rounds, keep a running total of the score.

Scoring Method 1 (Count ‘em): The easiest way to determine the final score is by counting the number of cards in your point pile.

Scoring Method 2 (Add ‘em up): To add an extra level of strategy to the game, determine your final score by adding up the value of the cards in your point pile.

It may help to play a game first without any special rules. Remove the jokers if playing only with the basic rules.

The Champion’s Arrival: If an Ace is played, all other players’ soldiers (number cards) flee in fear and return to their players' hands. Soldiers CAN be played on later turns.

The Queen’s Edict: After a Queen is played, only soldiers and other Queens and jokers may be played while the Queen is present in the challenge. This affects all players.

The King’s Charge: After you play a King, you may play up to two soldier cards (number cards) during each of your next turns until the challenge is over.

The Jack’s Trick: Playing a Jack allows you to immediately take one soldier from any field and place that card in your point pile.

The Fairy’s Protection: Playing the Fairy (green joker) protects your cards from the negative effects of other special rules. You may continue to use the special abilities of the cards played in your field.

The Imp’s Magical Joke: Playing the Imp (purple joker) cancels all special rules for the rest of the current challenge, unless a second Imp is played which cancels only the effect of the first Imp.

Playing as teams can allow more players and more interaction each turn. Players sit across from each other (rotation A,B,C,A,B,C for 6 players or A,B,C,D,A,B,C,D for 8 players). Use two decks and do not remove any number cards from the game.

TEAM RULES

• After a team member has played a card, their team member(s) must follow suit and play their cards on top of their team’s challenge pile (the field in front of the team member who first plays a card).
• Special rules apply to the team as a whole.
• If an Ace is played, soldier cards are returned to the hand of the player that is controlling their team’s challenge pile.
• The challenge can only be won by the player who is controlling their team’s cards. Points are shared by the team and it doesn't matter which team member stores the points.
   

EXAMPLE TEAM GAME: In this 4-player game, Ann is teamed with Alf and Bob is teamed with Bree.

1.  Ann (Player 1) challenges the other team to aggressive sneezing with an 8♠ (how does a skeleton sneeze?).  [A team score = 8] 
2.  Bob (Player 2) accepts the challenge with a 5♥. [B team score = 5] 
3.  Alf is unable to play a card, but draws a K♠ and plays it on the challenge pile in front of Ann. [A team score = 18] 
4.  Bree knows that her team needs at least 13 points to continue, so plays a J♥, taking the A team's 8♠ and adding it to her point pile. [A team score = 10, B team score = 15 points] 
5.  Ann is unable to play a card, so draws a card. 
6. At the beginning of Bob's turn, the challenge pile in front of him has the highest score, so B team wins the challenge and Bob continues with this turn.

NOTES

• Special rules can modify the basic rules. Default to the basic rules if there is a question, or decide as a group how to handle the situation and continue to play.
• If you have already played a Fairy and then you play an Imp, you do not need to cancel the special rules of your own cards.
• You can draw a card even if you have a card you can play. You can play a card even if you drew a card the previous turn.
• If nobody has played a card by the time it is your turn, you win the challenge and place your played card(s) in your point pile.
• Cards can be played in any order. For example, you could play a 2 and then a Jack and then a 5 and then a 3.
• If playing with a normal deck of cards, jokers can be fairies or imps, so decide as a group what the jokers will represent. If you have decks with different backs, you can use the back of the joker cards to distinguish fairies from imps.
• On your turn, if you (and your team) currently do not have any cards in play, you can play any valid card, no matter what you may have played in previous turns. This may happen if somebody plays an Ace or a Jack.
• With 3-5 players (playing with 2 decks), there are too many cards that do you no good and result in too much drawing, so remove numbered cards 2-4 prior to playing with 2 decks (unless you are playing as teams).
• If you have played a King, and on your next turn you decide to draw instead of playing a soldier card, if the card you drew is a soldier card of the correct suit, you may play BOTH of your valid soldier cards. (This is a strategy to consider if the card in your hand is not sufficient to tie or gain advantage during the challenge).

IDEAS FOR RULE MODIFICATIONS

A game needs to have a clear definition, but during play testing, you may want to experiment with other ideas and rule variations. For example, you could modify the special rule for the Ace so that if you have already played a champion (Ace), your soldiers do not flee at the arrival of another champion (Ace). Here are some other ideas provided by @theboardcritic

The Fear of the Champion: When an Ace is played, the score of the current challenge is reset to zero. All played cards other than Aces are too scared to continue to support the challenge but remain in the field. Turn those cards over to indicate that they do not contribute to the challenge score and their special abilities are no longer active.

The King’s Cohort: After you play a King, you may play one extra playable card, and you may also use that card’s special ability.

The Sour Joker: When a joker is played, it turns all of the points for the round negative, so whoever wins the round collects the cards and places them in a separate stack in their point area with the joker on top to remind them that the points are negative at the end of the game.

THANK YOU

We'd like to thank our family and friends who helped play test the game so far, including @theboardcritic and @oh.what.the.deck for their great ideas and feedback.

Mythic Challenge: The Card Game, Rules and Graphics ©2020 BoardGaming.com LLC

Highlighting the Queen of Diamonds and the game Spoons
almost 4 years ago – Wed, Jul 29, 2020 at 04:37:45 PM

Hi Fellow Gamers! We sent out a survey earlier today about a possible 4-color design for a new legendary set of decks. We are getting very useful feedback, so thank you! We mentioned a couple of upcoming stretch goals briefly at the end of the last campaign update, but you are more than welcome to use the comments to ask questions.

The guys running the DeckinAround youtube channel reviewed our campaign this week. Check out what they said:  https://youtu.be/V71l1RUmdzI?t=2257  This link will jump forward to 37:37 in the video. Make sure to subscribe to their channel!

"While her people mine for gems, the Diamond Queen loves to make rock candy. She has been known to make edible dice, great treats for game nights. Just don't make a mistake and pop the real thing in your mouth (the Queen of Hearts fell for that trick and has NOT forgiven her)."

The Art: The Diamond Queen loves dice games. Dice held at the correct angle look like diamonds, after all. The flower that the queens typically hold is hidden within the face of the 6-sided die that she has in her hands.

The checkered pattern is highly fashionable in the Mythic Kingdoms. Like the traditional card design, she has a diamond collar pattern, but of course a diamond pattern is just a checkered pattern rotated.

Greg took inspiration from the modern design of the Queen of Diamonds with her hair wrapping down to her chin. The Diamond Queen has a similar hair pattern, but in the traditional dwarven manner.

Game Highlight: Spoons

Rules for Pitch:  https://bicyclecards.com/how-to-play/spoons/

Watch A Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5apwK711_8

Spoons is a fun and fast-paced family game. The rules are very simple. You try to get 4-of-a-kind within your hand and then grab a spoon. Check the rules if you haven't played before.

How is Spoons played in the Mythic Kingdoms?

One of the fun things about spoons is the idea of trying to sneak a spoon from the middle without anyone else seeing. In the Mythic Kingdoms, when four Jacks get together and especially four queens, and ESPECIALLY four 10s (40 soldiers), there is nothing quiet or sneaky about the situation.

So, instead 4-of-a-kind, your goal is to get a run of 4 of the same suit before you grab a spoon.

Tips: For 5+ players use two decks. For younger players, you may want to stick with the easier 4-of-a-kind rule.

If you have other ideas for how to play Spoons, feel free to comment. For example, do you play with jokers? If so, do they act as wild cards?

Your Turn...

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SHOUT OUT:  The Nilo Gamer Table

Serious gamers often drool over the idea of having a custom board game table. But few of us have room for a completely separate table. An option like The Nilo Gamer Table lets you keep your game or puzzle in progress while you break for dinner. The campaign also includes a neoprene mat that fits inside.

New Add-ons, Highlighting the Jack of Hearts, and the Game Pitch
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Jul 27, 2020 at 03:22:08 PM

Hi Fellow Gamers,

Thank you for helping us reach the $20k stretch goal! Now, everybody who chooses a pledge level with 4 or more decks will get a free Carat DS2A Double Deck Sleeve to keep one of their sets safe and pretty. While you can order other types of deck sleeves from online retailers, the DS2A is a new product hot off the press. Here is a photo of the actual sample product we received just a few days ago.

New Add-Ons: We included the Add-On section on the campaign page and currently have 3 new add-ons. You can get ONE extra double deck sleeve or a pack of FIVE. You can also get an extra Art Book. Due to requests, we will also be including an uncut sheet of cards and that will be coming a little later. 😀 

"The Eagle Eyed Jack has been known to fell his prey from 400 paces, but he may be best known for piercing the hearts of the fair maidens."

The Art: The Jack of Hearts is traditionally a one-eyed jack, meaning that in the illustration you only see one eye. This jack also tends to have an axe, but our Eagle Eyed Jack has replaced the axe with a bow (which is in the same location as the original axe).

The jack of hearts also holds a feather in one hand. Our jack is holding an arrow that has a feather for the fletching.

The board game theme in this illustration is Backgammon. His quiver has the backgammon design on it, and the quiver was made to look like a leather backgammon cup.

Game Highlight: Pitch

Rules for Pitch:  https://bicyclecards.com/how-to-play/pitch/ 

Watch A Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vIQ6vJ5YGU

We've already mentioned the trick-taking game Hearts and today we are going to talk about Pitch. Other similar games may be called All Fours, Cinch, or Seven-Up. Pitch can be a little bit complicated to score, but if you've ever played a game where you score at the end of the round by saying "High, Low, Jack, Game" then you are playing a game similar to Pitch.

How is Pitch (All Fours, Seven-Up, Cinch) played in the Mythic Kingdoms?

Most of the trick taking games work really well with the Mythic Kingdoms theme, especially those that declare trump suits. In the game Pitch, the first player declares the trump suit for the round as the first card they play. So, instead of calling the trump suit something boring like diamonds or clubs, always refer to the trump suit as Elves, Orcs, Dwarves, or Skeletons. 

Also, in the Mythic Kingdoms, you should use the word "challenge" in place of the word "trick" so that you begin each challenge by playing a card and each other player tries to win that challenge. Remember that the theme of the Mythic Kingdoms involves the royalty, champions and soldiers meeting together to compete in challenges.

New Mythic Kingdom rule: We have not played Pitch enough to have a good sense for what new rule might be introduced using the theme. So, we'll leave it up to our backers to think of ideas. Let's get the discussion flowing so that we can reach that 200 comments goal. 😀

Exciting Upcoming Stretch Goals

We'd like to mention briefly a couple of new stretch goals that we are working on.

First, we are working on finalizing the design for a custom brick box, a board game style box that will hold 12 decks of cards. We are looking forward to sharing that goal with you soon. Don't worry, you won't be paying more for this. We need to package the decks in a box anyway, so we're just going to make it really awesome, and we hope to lure a few more people into going with the Ultimate Pledge. 😀

Second, what used to be a pie-in-the-sky dream for us might be something that could come true. We are working with a tuck box manufacturer to make a 3-foil + embossed version of our tuck box. The design is shaping up to be something amazing. It adds a significant expense, so we will probably be making these ultra limited collector editions available as alternate pledge levels. But don't worry, the "Ultimate Pledge" is not just called that for no reason. If you want the best of everything we've got coming, stick with the Ultimate Pledge.