PBL ROBOTS is LIVE on Kickstarter!

William Hessian and John "Sighless" Supinski have spent the last year creating a brand new strategy card and dice game called PBL ROBOTS! "The game is a interesting mix of Risk and Magic the Gathering, except this game has giant 100 foot Robots!" William said. The card game challenges each player to collect cards in a draft format in order to build their deck. When the battle begins each player slide their pilot card into the robot card, courtesy of a die cut cockpit in the center of the robot. Then players lay armor cards on the robot to watch the robot grow stronger and boost up the attack and defense. When players start attacking they roll dice to determine if the robot will blow of an arm, a leg or a head. Each pilot has a powerful critical form when you are down to one remaining limb, which gives the losing player a chance to make a comeback, but when a robot has lost of four limbs the game is over. 

William and John have spent their free time at their apartment on the East End of Portland developing this intense card game consisting of 113 unique cards and 3 different game play modes. William is a local visual artist and activist, working at Preble Street, teaching at Rivertree Art in Kennebunk and volunteering at the Meg Perry Center. William did all of the artwork and design for the game and originally invented the concept for the game over ten years ago in Minnesota, but did not start finishing it until meeting Sighless in 2012. Sighless is a local musician in the Bumbling Woohas and works at the Maine People Alliance, and was the host of Turnstyle Thursday open mic at CTN Channel 5 for over a year. Once Sighless began working on the game he created a business plan, invented characters and began writing back stories. A group of artists called the Hidden Ladder Collective, which William and John helped start, began play testing the game in-between hosting art shows, art making gatherings and busking out on the streets. Other members of Team Robots, Abbeth Russell and Kara Oster made important contribution to the game. 

Thursday, October 23rd the collective has launched the Kickstarter hoping to raise the $22,000 they need to print the first edition versions of the game. A Kickstarter video was created this September by local production company Walker Productions. Over 100 letters have gone out to game stores across the country. William and Sighless have been playing PBL ROBOTS demo events weekly at R Choice 2 Gaming on 449 Forest Ave from 6-9pm Thursday Nights which is a free event open to the public. They also have planned events to demo the game at Crossroads Games in Scarborough and Weekend Anime in Westbrook. "Many of the game stores have been extremely supportive and often have already asked to carry the game as soon as it is printed!" William said while praising the gaming stores in Maine.

While the game itself is optimal for players 12 years and older, due to the high level of strategy, the game is also very appealing to a younger audience. William teaches art and Lego Robotics classes at Rivertree Arts in Kennebunk and his 4th to 6th grade students have loved the PBL ROBOTS cards. "The kids come back the next day demanding to have another glance at the game, and their parents follow right behind curious to see what the kids are so excited about," William remarked. Because of the kids persistence William and Sighless invented a new way to play the game that makes it a little easier for a younger audience, but retains the fun and excitement of the longer game. The popularity of the game is already growing with over 800 Twitter followers and over 200 Facebook likes. 

To check out their Kickstarter event poster (attached) visit their website at: www.robotcardgame.com and click the Kickstarter link (starting at 7pm Thursday 10/23). The group is hoping to play the game with as many new players as possible all around the greater Portland area, and invite everyone to stop by R Choice 2 Gaming Thursday Nights to try out the game and meet the creators of PBL ROBOTS.   

Back PBL ROBOTS on Kickstarter today!  

Board Game Hour: Win Conditions

Board Game Hour @BoardGameHour William Hessian from Hidden Ladder Games and I am the inventor of PBL ROBOTS card & dice game. I have been playing games and designing games since I was a little kid. Win conditions in tabletop games is something I have traditional been interested in ever since I was old enough to know that I WANT TO WIN! Of course, many tantrums would follow this realization, but eventually (at an older age than I want to admit) I settled into a place where I was more interested in experimenting with the win conditions of games in order to test out different options. During these tests and the subsequent playtesting for my own games there have been three areas which I find the most fascinating about win conditions in table top games:

is doing their weekly theme on win conditions and it sparked a series of thoughts that I wanted to share and questions I wanted to ask. First of all, my name is

1. Win Condition Variety (experimentation)
2. Dramatic Finishes without undermining the skill
3. Flavorful Win Conditions

Win Condition Variety
Settlers of Catan is my favorite table top game ever. However, it is one of the games in which I have altered the win condition with friends the most often. In fact, I think the race to 10 victory points in Catan is one of my least favorite elements in the game. I often tell my Catan playing friends to try playing the game where the end of the game happens when the last Development Card is drawn, or playing a certain set of rounds (essentially a time limit). Many people do play Catan with house rules or win condition varieties that changes the end of the game just slightly. Because the game itself is so incredibly balanced, nearly all the win condition varieties are fun. A well made game should adapt to alternate win conditions.

Monopoly is a game that traditionally ends painfully since the win conditions are in place near the half way point in the game. Rarely is a game of Monopoly a close race all the way to the end. Seeing this pattern people either hate the game itself or quit once the writing is on the wall. I strongly encourage anyone playing monopoly to play to a preset time limit and then just count up your assets. The game becomes much more enjoyable, and takes far less time to play. Monopoly also has a series of great win conditions variants online that you can try, that eliminate the most frustrating parts of the game.

I get a kick out of games with unusual win conditions, although often find them to be a novelty. Although I always appreciate games that encourage their players to experiment or try variant win conditions with their own games. What are the weirdest win conditions you have seen in a game? What new win conditions rules have you made up for games you play? Did they work, or did they fail?

Dramatic Finishes without undermining the skill
Everyone loves dramatic come from behind finishes, when a game hangs on the balance of one final moment: one flip of the cards or roll of the dice that determines the winner. However, if this moment comes at the expense of all of your hard work and strategy during the game, it can be very frustrating. It can leave a player wondering: why not just play high card and save ourselves the time. I was famous for my epic SORRY tantrums, when the sheer luck of the game would drive me into a rage as a child- I just could not handle the fact that zero skill was needed and that the game basically plays itself.

It is the classic struggle between designing a game that has the right balance of luck Vs skill. That moment when a crowd of people burst into cheer when that fate is determined is a very satisfactory outcome of good game design. I often use the metaphor of the end of basketball game, which can at times be so exciting with a BUZZER BEATING FINAL SHOT, or in contrast result in 45 minutes of boring free throw shooting without any payoff. The goal for any game is to steer towards that dramatic finish, which means that all players should have a road to victory near the end, even if it is an extreme long shot. I always think good win condition design is evident immediately after a game is over when the losing players dissect the ways in which things could have changed for them to win, and animatedly reminisce about how close they came. Can you think of very many tabletop games that have dramatic finishes? What games are they and what is the best dramatic finish you have played?

Flavorful Win Conditions
Milling another player in Magic the Gathering with a goofy combination of weak spells is a great way to kill some time with flavorful fun win conditions. MTG is the epitome of flavorful win conditions, whether it is smashing someone with brute powered monsters, burning them with spells or flying over the top with an army of angels, the game knows how to give its players satisfying finishes.

I have played many games where the ending of the game is lackluster or just a mundane action that happens to be the final move and result in unflavorful victories. The game just fizzles towards the end. I often think that a win condition, the way in which you win the game, should be a great story to tell your friends even if they do not know the game (although, do not try this at home). Good games seem to always offer a player many resources that can be correctly assembled to form ultimate win conditions or roads to victory. Good games are designed to funnel a player towards these really intentional flavorful win conditions, and even if you lose the game you want to play again in an attempt to successfully perform that victory. Flavorful win conditions are one of the keys to replay-ability. What is the most flavorful satisfying victory you have had, or almost had?

All of these win conditions concepts have been considered and developed in PBL ROBOTS pictured above, which you are welcome to check out at PBL ROBOTS.