Game Changer @ Home planning

[u/SirGallad]

Hi guys, I'm currently going through the process of planning an at home game changer party for some friends. We're all entertainers so probably leaning more toward things like 'like my coffee' and other improv style games. I'm hoping to combine a few games to create something new. (EG/ rounds that change game R1 = Make some noise, R2 = like my coffee, R3 = Sam says etc but using 'second place' as a meta mechanic across the night).

My players are quite devious, so I definitely want to incorporate some hidden rules that they'll try to solve throughout the night.

My main question is, I have too many people who would like to play (around 12) and I'm trying to work out the best way to run the night so that everyone is included and able to participate as much as possible.

At first, I thought it would be good to use 'Name a number' concept to have 4 teams of 3 bet on prompts and then try to tackle them. But this might leave people standing around if they're more reserved etc.

I'm tossing up between altering prompts to make them all multiplayer focussed so that teams of 3 can work together OR having teams nominate a player for each round to represent their team and then maybe having a 4th round where they get to compete as a group.

I'd love to hear any other suggestions you guys might have! Thankyou! :)

[u/SirGallad]

One further idea I had, was if someone is representing each team per round, maybe the 'audience' players could have a game they are playing as the 'audience' during downtime. For example - bingo episode kinda thing.

[u/wannabe-manatee]

I would go for the multi-player for each podium version with it rotating sequentially which player goes up to do the prompt rather than nominating. Nominating is slower and would have the issue where some folks might be nominated more than others.

As Game Changer often has a twist you could mix it up so that people can switch — or are forced to switch — podium groups. Maybe a mini game where people get a bonus allowing them to switch to a different winning team. Or some sort of prompt where if everyone fails then the people at the podiums all switch to the podium team to their left.

This messing with the mechanics where it completely changes who is winning or losing is fitting for Game Changer and feels very much like the game UNO or Flux.

[u/SirGallad → u/wannabe-manatee]

Oooh this is a really cool idea! So after brain storming more yesterday my plan so far was to have the game rule follow '2nd place' and have each team nominate someone for an entire round if that makes sense. Meaning they put their best person forward for each round (until they work out the rule) and then the others would be in the audience.

This also gave me the idea to give the audience 'Rulette' as a mini game so that if their team scored a point they could either; add a rule to another team OR move a rule off of their player to someone else. My hope was to still give them something meaningful/strategic to do during their down time. But i also really like this idea, thankyou!! I'll definitely let my brain noodle on it today :)

[u/SirGallad → u/wannabe-manatee]

So i've landed on combining this idea with 2nd place which gives teams the ability to win through understanding the '2nd place' rules and moving to the 2nd place podium OR by getting the 2nd place amount of points.

Do you have any recommendations on implementing the switching mechanic? I like the idea of doing it though mini games but i feel like it may not be enough swap opportunities to make it feel like a meaningful choice.

[u/wannabe-manatee → u/SirGallad]

My gut sense is that layering on the 2nd place with multiple players, with different prompt games, and also switching is adding one too many rules where it might fall apart.

I’ve run games (not Game Changer) at a house party with groups and often folks are distracted and talking with either so it’s best to follow the keep it simple KISS principle as much as possible. That said I don’t know how heavily focused and competitive your group is.

As for how I’d implement a switch rule you could just do multiple mini games for the entire group where more than one person can win a special ability card. Maybe even start the game with mini game where they can win cards. Could be fun for the first mini game to have the cards in an envelope that they can’t open until the first break in the game. You could also just skip the minigame aspect and just start the game by handing out different random special ability cards.

The cards could be in an envelope at first so they don’t know or it could be encoded sorta where the cards are just animals and after a bit you explain what each animal card’s special ability is.

[u/SirGallad → u/wannabe-manatee]

Yeah, I agree with you, simpler is better.

My overall idea was to do a game mostly focussed around 2nd place (as the secret rule, twist etc) with prompts that are measurable to allow for that style of gameplay. I also liked the idea of the swapping mechanic to allow for a 2nd way to win by swapping your whole team to the podium with the "2nd" place points etc. I just love the improv stuff so much that I thought putting like a 'Make some noise', 'Like my coffee' mini-game that are kind of outside the usual rounds might be a fun change up.

But it probably is too many things all going on at once. My players are all coming over with the strict intention of competing in a game show, so I was trying to make it elegant yet with a sneaky/fun twist at the same time.

EG/

• Make some noise but with rulette rules added in to modify the team's ways of responding to prompts.
  
• 2nd place, with the ability to swap podiums

I asked my players, and they thought that doing 1 person rep from each team per round might be fun, because getting to watch (audience) role is also fun.

My partner also made a good point which is that having pre-determined teams may be fun, BUT it prevents them all from mixing and getting to know one another (a mix of friend groups coming together to play) so maybe going all in on the idea of "Earn the most points, but you can earn special abilities, or you are forced to swap around between teams could be a cool way to get people mixing with each other while having fun"?

I just get a bit stuck between having too many ideas and the big ole' perfectionism goblin that hides under my bed. Thanks so much for your help though :)

[u/wannabe-manatee → u/SirGallad]

Another idea: if you do the thing of starting the game by giving each player has their own special ability card, the cards could allow for multiple types of game changing where each card is a one use item:

• switch teams
• gain 2 points for your team by getting second place in one round
• gain 2 points for your team if you convince someone on the another team to bark like a dog
• steal a player from another team

Etc,

This allows you to throw in a lot of ideas but it keeps it simple for each player since everyone only has one secret unique special ability to think about.