Notes from Forty-third Playtest

Final score symmetry
White: Lester, Blue: Dan, Red: Kris, Orange: Me

Crazy close game today! Lester went out to an early lead collected enough extra tiles to put pressure on the village value track. But Dan came from behind to tie him on opposite tracks, both for the highest score bonus, and lower scores. And then on the very final turn, and his second attempt, he took out a squirrel to tie for the area bonus.

Meanwhile I died a lot and Kris struggled with the score track, he beat me out by one point in the end.

Village: 2-2-3-4-5
Looks like it helped a lot with the hunt/gather balance. Hunt total was higher, but highest scores tied. If this change does work I'm not sure why I wouldn't make it 1-2-3-4-5. Nobody ever sells at that lowest value, it could just as easily be 0-2-3-4-5.

Scouting and Torch on trial
This game was also a trial run to give Scout and Torch explore one last shot. Torch will be simplified, but Scout looks like it could stay.

Dan played guinea pig and used it deliberately, spending his first two turns just gathering information. It was a come from behind battle, but in the end he caught up and tied for a win.

Now I want to start teaching the rule differently. Instead of treating Scouting as an exception, I want to teach it as a full fledged third option (Hunt, Gather, Scout), that can be used by either character under certain circumstances. I think it will add another level of strategy to the game.

July 7th Update: Things To Try Next

Talking about the Village value track and asking the question, "what am I trying to solve?" bring up an idea - once the village track gets moving, once people start selling, the game gets more interesting. What could I do to encourage that? How about one of these value sequences? 1-2-3-4-4 or 2-3-4-5-5?

Also, on a slightly related not, does anybody else think the Pouch might now be over-priced at 4? I haven't seen people buying it as much as they used to, maybe we could try lowering the cost to 3? That would open up more starting turn combinations: Pouch+Club, Pouch+Spear, or planning ahead Pouch+Arrow.