A game review - "Soaps"
OK, not to be a gaming pimp or anything, but I wanted to send a shout-out to all those independent game designers out there by way of kudos to a new friend of mine.
Recently a new gaming group has formed in my local area through Meetup.com (which, frankly, I thought was DOA a few years ago, but apparently still has a following). We've been meeting for a couple months now and they're great. We've been playing Apples to Apples, Carcassonne, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Kill Doctor Lucky, Guillotine, Management Material, Rummikub, and on and on. I love that some of these folks have never played any Eurogames before, but are eager to try new things.
The organizer is also a game designer, and he's been testing the waters to see if we're a group willing enough to beta test a few of his games. One game he completed and we've played now quite a few times is called Soaps, and I have to say, it's AWESOME!
It's a point-scoring card game with a soap opera theme. You start the game with 5 randomly-dealt cast members ("Characters"). Each one has a gender, sexual orientation, "typecasting" (special rule), and point value. You're also dealt a "married" card and must wed two of your cast members to start (according to gender and orientation, of course). You're then dealt a hand of 7 action ("Event") cards, and game play begins.
There are four rounds of five turns per player each, with each turn representing one day's worth of plotline for your soap opera, and each round representing one week of your show. You look through the cards in your hand and decide what plot each of the 5 days will have, and score points based on what you decide.
For example, on Monday I might make the nun in my cast pregnant. According to the event card, I get points for the pregnancy, points for involving the nun, and points for involving one other straight male cast member. Also, the nun's typecast states that I get extra points if she gets pregnant. Now, on Tuesday I might put her in jail, because the card says any character I put in jail gets extra points if they're pregnant - that means points for the action (jail), the character (nun), and the typecasting. Needless to say, by the end of the week you've got some funny stuff going on - pregnant nuns in jail having affairs, losing their memories, committing murder, and getting abducted by aliens! :)
The action cards and character cards are very clearly labelled with point values, and they're all in even 10's, so it's easy to quickly calculate. Each day is calculated as you play your action and then added to your score, and at the end of the week the person with the highest number of points (or your "ratings" for the week) gets a bonus, and the final round (sweeps week!) is worth double points. The person with the highest number of points wins the game.
The gameplay is simple, but the plots are all very funny. This is NOT just for fans of soap operas by any means - it's really just putting together screwball dramas for your cast, piling one ridiculous scenario on top of the next. The artwork for each character is quite nice, and the cards are clearly labelled with points and instructions and very easy to understand.
Needless to say, I highly recommend it. Right now he's self-publishing through a print-on-demand site called The Game Crafter, but the quality is great and it's well worth it if you're looking for a new, fun card game:
https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/soaps
(I promise I'm not getting anything out of this other than trying to help a friend and promote a game I really enjoy. If it's not appropriate, I'm happy to take this post down.)