Happy Friday, Geekly Gang! Today may be the first month where I had two game design brain dumps. Let’s keep the streak going. Yay! Thanks to everyone reading. You’re awesome. We all know it. The past couple of weeks were eventful for a couple of my board game designs. I’ll save Rustbucket Riots’ updates for a future game design brain dump. Instead, let’s discuss the changes for Spill the Beans. I can sum up all the updates in two words: production considerations.
Originally, Spill the Beans featured double-sided jelly bean tokens where most beans had different bean types on both sides. Players would pick beans from their supply, add them to the bean jar, shake beans from the jar, and shed cards from their hands. The game was dumb fun.
Despite being a card-shedding game (like Uno) with extra steps, Spill the Beans worked well. But I thought of how the game worked. I marketed Spill the Beans as a party game. Party games usually accommodate at least six players should be able to play the game, and if I include enough cards for six players, I would’ve needed 120 cards. That’s a lot of cards for a party game. It could work if Spill the Beans only included cards. But I intend on having jelly bean tokens. The card-shedding mechanism also took away focus from the jelly beans. At first, this wasn’t that big of a deal. The jelly bean tokens were flat and circular with jelly beans printed on them. And then, I 3D printed the jelly beans.
The original game had too many cards, and I couldn’t have the cards upstage the cute jelly beans. So, I cut the game mechanisms that no longer worked and reduced Spill the Beans’ game components to the jelly bean tokens, the jar to shake them from, and five mason jar (point-value) cards. Players still shake the jar and try to get so many beans from the jar. Then, they place at least one bean on one of the jar cards and eat the rest (add them to their score pile). As soon as three of the five mason jar cards are filled, play ends. Whichever bean has area majority in each mason jar card, claims that jar’s point value. Then, players score their “eaten” jelly beans. Whoever has the most points wins.
This new ruleset is simple. It puts emphasis on the jelly beans, not card shedding. And the new Spill the Beans scales well at higher player counts. Perfect for a “party game.” And the new game’s toy factor is through the roof. I can’t wait to codify the rules, pitch to publishers, and see Spill the Beans on shelves. Yay!
That’s all I have for this week’s game design brain dump. If you’ve made it this far, you’re awesome. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
jkgeekly.com 