Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Hi all,

For the record, I am working on a Capture the Flag board game. I have been playtesting the game for a couple months now with dozens of gamers in my area. I was looking to see if there are any other "fun" factors from real-life Capture the Flag that I might be able to incorporate in my game.

- The game is played with 2 or 4 players on a grid board with each team attempting to grab the opposing team's flag and bring it back to their side of the board.
- Each player secretly plays an action card and a priority token each turn. The player with the lowest priority token moves first. The lower priority tokens don't do anything special but allow you to move earlier whereas the higher priority tokens provide special abilities (sprinting or playing 2 cards in a row) but force you to move later.
- Cards always return to your hand but your priority tokens are discarded after use (face-down). Each player must "Rest" once they run out of priority tokens and take a dead turn to retrieve all of them. Players can strategically elect to rest earlier than needed in order to reset their options by taking the dead turn sooner and avoid being predictable (your opponents know when you are forced to rest and therefore a lame duck on the board that round).
- Teammates work together and decide when to take moves with a shared team unit or their own unit. The game is designed for quick rounds (15-20 min).

So far I have received a lot of good feedback but I am looking for more.

There are 2 ways anyone interested can help out:
1. If you would like to receive a "print and play" version of the game to help playtest just email me at kirk.dennison@gmail.com. At this point, I am really looking for people that would commit to play a decent number of games (e.g. more than just 1 session) to really provide some solid input. I am hoping people can help with both 2 player and 4 player testing.
2. I am looking to hire a graphic designer to do artwork. If you can do box design, instruction design, card design, and character design or know anyone who might be interested please let me know.

Thanks again for the input so far and thanks for any additional help in advance!

ORIGINAL POST
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I am conducting some market research that may seem odd for now. If all goes well this research will be very valuable.

What were/are your favorite things/parts/aspects of capture the flag?

Thanks in advance for you help,
Kirk

I would say that waiting near the flag and ambushing the person who thinks they are home free is my absolute favorite part of CtF.

My favorite part of capture the flag would be the same as Browarod's, that an area with trees and foilage is what makes the game great. That and playing at night time in those areas.

capture the flag paintball!! gotta use stealth a lot!

I love playing at dusk in the woods with many trails and non-trails to go on. Stealth is definitely the best part of the game - getting past the other team without them knowing until its too late.

But playing in an open field in the dark with glowsticks is also fun too.

Playing 4 way in a gym is entertaining as well.

You could say that I jsut love playing capture the flag.

My favorite is probably the strategy aspect. When you can send out purposeful attacks, like in war... That is awesome. Also, when you play with swords so that it really IS war... (Not metal, of course. Wood)

For the record, I am working on a Capture the Flag board game.

I thought that was called Stratego. 

1. If you would like to receive a "print and play" version of the game to help playtest just email me at kirk.dennison@gmail.com. At this point, I am really looking for people that would commit to play a decent number of games (e.g. more than just 1 session) to really provide some solid input. I am hoping people can help with both 2 player and 4 player testing.

I can playtest for you. I can easily put together a bunch of 4-player and 2-player sessions, especially when school gets out next week.

Daniel as well.

Kirk, you know I am up for playtesting your game.