Playtesting Round 1: Jacob's Party Game

I apologize for not knowing the official title of Jacob's party game, which we played in Pete's Cafe, but I've chosen it to give playtesting feedback.

1. Name/desiger: Party Game (official name tk); Jacob

2. Platform/category: Jacob's game falls into the social or party genre.

3. Core mechanic: It's difficult to choose a verb to describe Jacob's game because it is made of up a variety of subgames. Most involve talking, drawing or writing. Perhaps "creating" or "socializing" covers all the activities.

4. Adjectives describing the play experience: chaotic, collaborative, creative, conspiratorial, festive, silly, enjoyable, entertaining

5. Structural elements: The game has clear rules, a defined play space, time limit, plenty of interaction and a magic circle. What it lacks is a clearly defined goal. It is structured more like a party mixer in that it seems to be designed to get people in a space to share stories and ideas. I particularly liked that all of the game's activities were done with a partner, which made some of the more silly actions (such as those created by other players in the sound game) more tolerable (and fun). The magic circle the game creates is a safe space in which silly actions can be performed, even in public. When you are playing the game, you are a member of a "secret club," an idea cleverly reinforced by the placement of the rules under the tables. I really liked the idea that these rules were taped there while people not playing the game were eating there. Fun was within their reach, but they didn't know it existed.

6. Best developed element: What worked best for me was the way the games were integrated into a whole, the dependencies. For example, I liked how one activity was to write a story based on a drawing created by another activity. This made the collection of activities understandable as a single activity. It also allowed players to interact with other players with whom they might not have shared a table during the game. I think the games could be even more linked.

7. Rules: The rules, both the individual instructions and the group instructions, were very clear. I'd give them a 9 out of 10. They could be improved by making the goal of the game more explicit.

8. Strategy: It was not possible to develop a strategy because there was no known goal to the game.

9. Emergent play: Jacob's game is all about the emergent play. The rules of the individual activities are straightforward, so it's up to the players to make the game fun by being as imaginative and open-minded as possible. I found myself trying to make the game more fun by creating difficult or embarassing situations for other players in the game. Like many party games, the creativity and willingness of the crowd will make all the difference.

10. Further development: Coming up with more finely honed activities and working on more interesting connections between them seems to be the primary challenge. The chaos adds to the fun of the game, but I think it would be spectacular if players could more easily recognize the relationship between their actions/enjoyment and the actions/enjoyment of other players. I think the way players switch activities could be refined or clarified. During the game, Leo and I were unable to find a table that was open and that neither of us had played. This will probably happen frequently. What's tricky is that the switching of tables adds an element of confusion that contributes to the fun of the game. So a balance needs to be struck between organizing the switching of activities and letting people run around trying to find a game they haven't played. I don't know how to solve this one.

Another problem I encountered is that I ran out of time trying to write a story for an image. This could be easily fixed by have a large clock counting down the remaining minutes for each round.

Overall, I really enjoyed the party game. I liked being in a large group but interacting with one person at a time. It reminded me a little of "speed dating" (which I have read about but never participated in). Party mixer games do not necessarily have to have a goal other than to get players aquainted, but if that's the case with this game, the rules should make that clear from the start.

Nice job, Jacob.