Headlines 2 Headlines

An online social game about debating the headlines of the day.

Headlines 2 Headlines is based on an idea I had for the “News + Gaming” Hackathon, hosted by Hacks & Hackers and BigDoor.

Teamed with the incredibly talented Juan C. Muller, Joe Cullen, Blair Hickman, Chelsea Stark,David Holmes and Wicky Mendoza, we put together a working prototype of this game in 10 hours.

Read More

Explainerati

…a social game about explanation and metaphors. It is meant to be played at large conventions or conferences.

Objective

The aim of Explainerati is to explain a subject that you know a lot about to an audience, using one or more assigned metaphorical Devices. 

Rules

Each contestant declares their areas of expertise to the audience. E.g.: “I know a lot about social media, Mid West Cuisine, and flyfishing”

The audience decides what they want to know more about. E.g.: “How is Mid West cuisine different from Southern cuisine?” The question could also be more general, e.g.: “How does flyfishing work?”

The contestants are then assigned 3 “Devices” with which to explain their topic. They have 1 hour to create a 3 minute slideshow using one or more of the Devices.

Devices are basically metaphors for explanation. A lot of the best explanations make use of interesting metaphors to simplify or visualise a complicated subject. Explainerati challenges players to do the same with bad, inappropriate or just plain silly metaphors. Some examples:

  • Lolcats
  • Romance Novels
  • Vampires
  • Star Wars
  • WWE
  • The Zoo
  • Rap music
  • Monopoly
  • Stranded on an island

With these Devices, you are basically trying to answer the question, “How is (subject) like (Device)”, or alternatively “Explain (subject) with (Device)”. 

Contestant must then give their presentations, after which the audience decides on a winner, based on two criteria:

  • Was the presentation educational?
  • Was the Device applied in a convincing way? 

Proof of concept

I have put together a short demo of what an Explainerati demo might look like by comparing Apartheid (legislative segregation of races in South Africa between 1948-1994) to The Lord of the Rings.

(View video above or follow this link)

See also

BattleDecks, Ignite are two existing presentation challenges/games that have become popular on the convention circuit. Explainer Wars differs from BattleDecks in that the presentations are not arbitrary, but focused on entertaining but informative explanation of real world subjects. Ignite is certainly very informative, but does not share the competitive elements of Explainer Wars and doesn’t really put any constraints on presenters except in terms of time, and therefore feels distinctly less like a game.

All 4 It

… an abstract game for two players.

Objective

The aim of the game is to accumulate the most points over four rounds by dominating the grid.

Rules

At the beginning of each game…

  • Each player is assigned a color. To determine this, the oldest player flips a two-sided tile. The side that lands face up (red or white) is that player’s color. The other player takes the remaining color.
  • The Power cards are shuffled and placed in the Power Deck.
  • The Shape cards are shuffled and distributed evenly to each player’s Shape Deck.
  • Each player sets their point counter to 5 points.

At the beginning of each round…

  • Players draw two cards from their Shape Deck and put them face up in the Player Deck.
  • Players draw two cards from the Power Deck and keep them face down below the Player Deck. Players may look at their power cards at any time.

Players take alternating turns until the round ends.

In round 1, the red player takes the first turn. Each round thereafter, the starting player switches. During each turn… Players may do one of the following (see Addendum - Turn Options for specifics):

  1. Play a shape, or
  2. Use a power, or
  3. Pay 1 VP to exchange a current power card for a new one from the Power Deck.

The round is over when the grid has been filled.

At the end of the round…

  • Each player receives a number of points equal to the number of tiles of their color on the grid. They must adjust their points counter accordingly.
  • The grid is cleared of all tiles.
  • Each player returns their power cards to the Power Deck. The deck is then shuffled.

The game is played over 4 rounds.

After 4 rounds, the player with most points wins.

Addendum - Turn Options

1. Play a shape

Player chooses one of their two shapes drawn from the Shapes deck.

Player chooses where on the grid their shape will be “imprinted”:

  • Where there are no tiles already placed, player lays a tile of their representative color (red or white).
  • Where a tile has already been placed, player flips that tile to the opposite side, changing its color. This happens regardless of whether the new color of the tile will benefit the player.

… with the understanding that:

  • All four points of the imprinted shape must fit within the 5 x 5 playing grid
  • Shapes may be rotated to fit into the grid, but they may not be “mirrored”. In other words, if your Shape card cannot be rotated to match the imprint you are making on the grid, the move is not valid.

2. Use a power

Player may carry out the actions described on one of their power cards.

Player reveals this card to the opposing player for the rest of the round. (Powers can still be used after they’ve been revealed.)

Player subtracts the number of points listed on the power card from their point total.

3. Draw a new power

Player subtracts 1 from their points total and draws one card from the Power Deck into their hand. Player shuffles one of their Power cards back into the Power Deck.

**A printable PDF of the Power Cards will be added soon - stay tuned (April 21)** 

Design Team: Niel Bekker, Grant Reid, Catherine Kwak and Justin Snyder