Hot off the back of building my first board game prototype, I had an idea for another game. While playing Carcassonne online with my friends, I wondered what it would be like to play Carcassonne in reverse. Where the tiles were already down and players were picking them up.
Ideation
My first idea was a board of tiles where players take turns picking one up. Each tile would do something, and be worth points at the end. As I thought about this idea, I realized I jad read about such a gam beforee! I remember reading about it in Tabletop Magazine, and after much searching I found it, Bumuntu. While I think there is value in improving an existing game design, I’d like to work on something from the ground first, least I be biased to the previous design.
I was sweeping the floor of my kitchen one day, and it occurred to me how relaxing and enjoyable it can be to make something clean and neat. So rather then picking tiles up from a random layout, players could be reorganizing the tiles to neater patterns?
Rules
I drafted up a quick set of rules, using Carcassonne tiles and scoring as the bases. Players would compete over a grid of 81 tiles, taking control of a tile at a time, provided the controlling tiles obeyed Carcassonne placement rules.
For determining the actions the players can take, I want to try using the dice action mechanic from Tiny Epic Galaxies. Players roll dice (with some options to re-roll), and get to perform those actions. I really like this mechanic as it combine some randomness, some push your luck, without the risk that the action player takes itself might fail (roll to succeed style).
Next Steps
Now I just need to do some play testing!