Game Description: Gain the most points by collecting your two assigned suits — Spades and Clubs OR Hearts and Diamonds.
Mechanic: set collection, memory
Play Log
Session 1
For this session, my partner, Ki, and I agreed to create a game with set collection as its core mechanic, so we took inspiration from the game Go Fish. Our play through was a bit messy because we threw out ideas as we went along. What stayed the same throughout was the goal — we each had to collect our assigned colors, the black Spades and Clubs or the red Hearts and Diamonds. At the end of the session, we would tally up our points. Each card had an assigned value and this value could be knocked from the opponent’s points if any of their cards were in your hand.
Session 2
For the second session, I used a physical set of cards and played with my younger brother. We used dice rather than a spinner to decide who would collected which color. Whoever landed on the highest number chose what color they would collect after four cards were dealt to each person; it was funny how we landed on the same number three times in a row! I set a 10 minute timer and we began the game.
I let him know that he was able to lie once throughout the game, which he used. By the end of the game, he told me that he enjoyed it, but it was somewhat tedious. It wasn’t until the last few seconds that he felt the need to pick up the speed. There was even a moment in the game where he requested the very same card (Ace of Spades) turn after turn; he didn’t vary the requests. It made me wonder if I should set a limit on how many times he could request the same card, but decided against it.
Session 3
My third and final session, I played with Jiajie, and he offered some good feedback. He enjoyed the game, but suggested I decrease the time limit. Once a person got the hang of the game it could go on much more quickly, so I decreased the time to 5 minutes and he was right. We picked up the pace. I collected the Hearts and Diamonds while he collected the Spades and Clubs. After tallying our points at the end, the game ended in a draw! We each had one point! Yes, he collected most of his cards, but I was holding cards of his that were worth more, like the two Kings.
Extra
After the final session, I realized that I could have included an ability to pick a random card from your opponent’s hand, which was something my brother suggested. This seemed difficult to execute online because, in order to do that, there would have to be a custom card in the deck that would give you this ability. This game could also be modified to have four players. Rather than focusing on collecting specific colors, each person would have to collect either the Clubs, Spades, Hearts, or Diamonds.