Cards are in

We received 12 decks of All or Nothing from The Game Crafter, and overall I am personally pleased with the results. The fatal flaw in the cards we got as test decks is that you can see the suit through them if you hold them up to the light, but other than that they are great. Certainly good enough for testing, and great for giving Kickstarter an idea of what our game is.

The next step for us is to get a game store to host a playtest for us.  Hopefully one of the local stores will have the same enthusiasm for the game that we do.

The other half of this team, Jeff and Debby, are working on the scoring app for electronic media today.  Designing that will be a significant part of our release, and will be part of our Kickstarter as plans stand.

Cardboard box

When I thought about card games the first thing I thought of was the cards. That seems natural. But there are other considerations that come with making a card game.

One of those is, "What will the box look like?"  This is what our test deck box looks like.

We already have a graphic design firm of some caliber reserved as the design team if our Kickstarter is successful. I don't know if I can mention their name yet. But when I can, I will, just so you can see their work online. But this is the stuff I did as a preliminary measure to give the test players a taste for the character of the game.

Here is our test box.

The blurb text will change, it's not at all professional yet. But this is the idea.

Test decks ordered

Twelve test decks, the first decks of the All or Nothing game, have been ordered. For the next few months these will be used to publically test the game, dig out any remaining holes in the rules. Ha! Like we have any of those. But if through some miracle one is found, we'll take Clubs to it and beat it to death. We'll Spade that sucker right out of the ground and then the game will shine like a Diamond. Don't you Heart that?

Rumor has it this game has already been selected as the official game of the  Rutabaga Shucking Club of America. Nevermind that I just started this rumor.

PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE WEB CURTAIN!

Oh yeah. Test decks ordered. Public testing. Gonna happen.

Inventing a card game

If you asked me a few years back if I'd ever invent a card game, I'd have said, "No, that's not what I do." But sometimes things come at you from odd directions, and life gives you an opportunity you didn't foresee.

My wife, our friends, and I play a lot of cards. We hang out, drink some wine, eat tasty snacks and enjoy the company. We played a game that I won't mention the name of, but let's just say it's a very good game that is based upon bidding and taking tricks.

We played this game for months. But then, over time, we started to get bored. We tried other games, but they didn't seem to have that same friendly competition we were looking for. So we did what creative people do when they play games: We made up House Rules. Silly rules, like after the deal you cut and if the exposed card is a diamond you pass your hand and bid left, a heart right, clubs across, spades you keep it. We refined the rules. We jiggled them into what we thought were pretty darn good rules.

Then my friend, realizing what we were doing, said, "We should just invent our own card games." WHAT?!?!  For some reason that really struck a bell with me, so when my wife and I went home that night All or Nothing was born as I stayed up until the wee hours thinking about it. It wasn't born in the final design. Heck, it might still not be in the final design. But it was born and my friend came up with an idea for a game as well.  So here we are, after a few months of playtesting the game with a deck we made ourselves.  We've come a long way in a few months. We have a testing deck design and 12 decks ordered. We have plans for a Kickstarter and will be executing that in the next month or two. We are going to have public playtests.

Why?  Because if you like playing competitive games with your friends, this game is fun!  One card played well from your hand can cost two other players their goal. You'll find yourself celebrating as you manage to get rid of an ALL card you didn't want. Or moaning as that ALL card you counted on to take a trick is turned into garbage by your best friend. What a jerk, right? We haven't even gone into what you can do with the NOTHING cards.

It won't be long before this game is available on Kickstarter, and we're going to need your support to get it out the door. Please join us in creating a game revolution that will result in hours and hours of fun at your house. Your friends will ask you to bring the game to theirs. Don't be fooled. They're only asking so they can kick your butt.

Welcome to our page. Our news outlet. And, at least for a while, our web presence. Play nice on here, but once you have this game in your hands, you don't have to any more.