To get a better understanding of game design, I had to deconstruct a different print and play game, this time it was "10,000 In My Pocket" by Pak Cormier.
You play as the Spartan soldiers tasked with defeating the Persian soldiers from the Achaemenid Empire. You need to obtain the White Sword and defeat the Persians before nightfall.
The player starts on the Main Square card and draws a city tile from the deck. After drawing this tile, the player then draws an event card and decides if they want to use an item from the card or not.
There are 16 tiles, eight City tiles and eight Outdoor tiles. Nine event cards, and a cutout pawn to represent the hero. You start the game with 10 Braves, 3 Morale, and 1 Favour. The amount of Persian soldiers are 10,000. There are special City and Outdoor tiles that can affect gameplay. The special City tiles are Athena's Temple, where you can get the White Sword in exchange for 3 Favours. The Market where you can buy one of the two items shown on the card for 1 Favour, and Agora where you can add more Braves to your party for 1 Favour. To go outside, you need to reach the City Gate. Once you reach outside you have a chance of swimming in the Enchanted Lake which restores 1 Morale point. You may also come across a Hard Pass, where you might lose 5 Braves. The Throne is the hideout for the Persian troops, once you reach there you start the final combat, or you can move one tile back and lose 1 Morale point. The role of chance plays a big role in the game. The map and event cards are all chose by chance.
There are nine different items in the game, excluding the White Sword, which you obtain at Athena's Temple.
With the Heralds you can look at the card or tile you'll draw next and decide if you want to keep it or draw a new card.
The Ring, allows you to cancel a card and draw a new one.
The Bow, which allows you to start first in the Final Combat
The Shield which subtracts 5 from the number of braves you lose each turn during final combat
The Horse allows you to move your hero as far as you want to a different tile.
The Flag allows you to add 5 more braves to your party each time you enlist braves
The Lightning allows you to destroy 100 Persian soldiers during Final Combat
The Hand gives you 2 Morale points.
The Black Curse adds 500 Persians to the enemies troops.
If I were to make this a multi-player game, I would map the map much larger to allow other players to explore different areas. I would also give the players different starting points and increase the amount of cards and tiles available. I would add more soldiers to the Persian enemies and extend the time limit. The player that defeats the Persian troops first will be the winner. If a player fails at the final combat, I would have them restart the game with a reduced number of Braves and Morale, instead of having them lose instantly and be out of the game entirely.
