So, I’m part of Group 18 within this CAGD class, and our game is called Dreadful Threes. This is a pretty simple game that can be learned quite quickly and easily, and can be a fun one that you’d wanna play multiple times over. Dreadful Threes is a game about luck and honor, but you never know who will or will not follow that honor. The premise is simple: come out on top with the most points at the end of the game; however, everything is uncertain.
The age group for this game is somewhere around 7 and older as the game does require some prior knowledge of basic math skills (anyone could pretty much get the hang of it), and the people who play will be required to make quick decisions and will need to make use of their full attention as it will be needed if you want to see the other players’ facial expressions. This game doesn’t require much strategy, so it can be played more casually and easily as opposed to games that require a good amount of setup.
Now, the game is said to be a game of luck as the game fully revolves around that principle. As the game progresses, each player is dealt a certain number of cards (the same amount as the number of players, so, for example, if 4 players were playing, they’d get 4 cards each turn) and each player has to put down each 3 or multiple of three (6,9,12) that they receive (or, if you’re risky, you can hold back those cards, but be warned…). Whoever played down the most cards within that turn loses a point, which in turn makes this a game of luck. Each player starts out with 10 points, and whoever is the last man standing or the person with the most points by the end of the time limit (HA, bet you didn’t expect that coming).
After the initial, pre-emptive playtest that my other group member and I did before the official playtest, we realized how much of our game wasn’t working as originally thought, causing many loopholes and rules that just made you lose too quickly. We have a rule in our game where Aces can give you a bonus point if you play them down as a sort of resource, but originally, without that card, we weren’t able to accumulate points, allowing for the uncertainty that any game requires to disappear, showing clear winners. However, we added this rule on, along with the rule that you could gain a point by successfully calling someone out while they lose two points, so the uncertainty stays in effect and can’t be changed.
The official playtest day went surprisingly well, and every person who came over to play our game was able to easily figure out what to do after some short playtime, and they were able to have fun while doing it. Initially it did seem like they had a little bit of trouble figuring out how to play, but after some simple explanation, they were easily able to handle playing it fine. I think what probably got them confused the most is the fact that you had to discard your cards that you receive after every turn, so we do plan on making that a rule that stands out more. We have also updated our rules a bit so they are more understandable and less likely to be skimmed over, especially since it’s a card game (and no-one really wants to read rules for a simple card game, right?). OVerall, I do think this game is coming together nicely and I could definitely see it as a game to play with my friends and family, and hopefully maybe even get it noticed a little bit by more people.
