Notes from Fifty-fifth Playtest

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Rules Tried
Receive 3 points instead of 4 when you re-spawn.
No largest territory bonus at the end, it became one of many secret goals.
Fleeing animals can move through any space without a character in it, but must still end on an empty space (didn't come up).

Observations
One play is not enough testing, and we had 3 instead of 4 players this time, but it would appear that removing the area majority element of the game really raises the level of play. A theory as to why is that having one less thing to worry about freed players up to focus on the more subtle aspects of interaction in this game. To really play this game well you have to pay close attention to the demand track in the village and to the other players. By not worrying as much about which specific spaces we were fighting over, it freed up working memory to concentrate on other things.

Secret Goals
Instead of going over each goal that was attempted in this game, I'm going to try to organize the goals themselves, so we can see how they are distributed. Points in bold.

High Risk Hunting: Bear Wrestler (spear + bare handed 8pts.), Most Deadly 4pts., Brave (1 of each deadly 7pts.), Crack Shot (squirrel/rabbit hunting 6/4pts.), Bare handed squirrel or rabbit 6pts).

These are good in moderation. They certainly lead players down unexpected paths, but can often become a dangerous unbeatable obsession.


Claimed Spaces: Explorer (furthest from village 5pts.), Un-claimed Neighboring Space 1pt. ea., Pathfinder (longest line 4pts.), Largest Territory 3pts., Homebody (most touching village 4pts.), Loner (no spaces next to village 3pts.).

The trouble with area bonuses is that they can "reward winning". But as variable secret goals it's less of a brute force win, so it works much better.

Exploration Discs Collected: Most Types 3pts., Craven (most small animals 5pts.), Omnivore (same # plants and animals 4pts.), Productive (most tiles, including unsold 7pts.), Unsold Items 3pts * (# - 1), Hoarder 2pts. pairs, 5pts. triplets, Fewest Types 5pts.


I like that these can encourage weird collecting behavior, but collecting specific things can be very difficult to do deliberately.

Equipment: Armed to the teeth (3 weapons 2pts.), Full set of Equipment (6 items 3pts.)

Even if re-pointed to compensate for the cost of the items, these can probably go. It's easy to buy stuff, especially if you die.

Memory: Master Scout (name face-down discs 2pts ea.)

I'm too scared to take this myself, but it's a very cool one. Need more like this.

Dying: 3+ goals 1pt. ea.


Haven't tried.

Odd Behavior: End Game not in village 5pts., Over the Harvest Moon (if 0 hunt, 40+ gather, gather is base score).

We haven't tried these, very interested to see how they work. Harvest Moon will need adjustment based on number of players. Maybe it's 50 minus 5 per player or something like that?

To Try Next

1. When you die, pick from one out of 2 secret goals.
2. Continue to refine the secret goals, work out the distribution of challenging high scoring goals and easy but lower scoring ones.
3. Flip side of the village board could have a value track for 2 and 3 player games with lower numbers: 1-1-2-3-4. They're in the same arrangement, but would keep the point scoring down in these games