PLAYTEST SUMMARY
GAME #5 - 2020-06-16
The match was very good and pretty close. I played with my good friend Keven (his first time trying it), we both played 2 colors.
Final scoring
Blue (Simon) : 45
Pink (Simon) : 70
Yellow (Keven) : 52
Purple (Keven) : 34
Note: Purple was $2 away from paying his Debt and finish second with 53 points. Based on the stats, it might look like this is the weakest Color for the moment, but I feel there is some bad luck and misplaying involved...
Implemented Changes
a. Gain 1 Reputation when paying a Debt (Loan) : This opens another way of gaining Reputation while giving more strength to the Loan action. This costs you $12 instead of $10 (when using the Exhibition action) to gain 1 Reputation, but you have $10 more for a few rounds.
b. VP's attributed to the player with the most completed Student Contracts at the end of the game reduced to 5 (was 10). See item c.
c. The different Contract types now have different "value" towards the "Most Completed Contract" objective (that gives 10-6-2 VP). Collectors now count as 5 completed Contracts, Celebrities as 3, Professional as 2, and Students as 1. This gives a bigger reward to the player(s) that will complete a Collector contract, which I felt was super hard to complete and did not give enough of an edge. Also, this prevents someone of just "rushing" the Student contracts and thus claim both game-end bonuses (item b), this was an easy and OP strategy for Blue player.
d. Classic change : 2nd player starts with $1 more, 3rd with $2, and 4th with $3. Even though the First Player can change throughout the game (when skipping) we felt that falling behind during the first few rounds was too impactful.
Next changes to be implemented
1. I went from 2 decks to 3 decks (A-B-C) + the Collector deck. The 5 rounds will be played with the following : A-B-B-C-C. This allows a better balance in the display and a better ramp-up. The decks will also not be shuffled together, easing the setup.
2. We will test asymetry in the starting resources oriented towards what each player has easy access to. For example, the Yellow Player (that starts in the Industrial District, with quick access to the Market) will begin with an almost full Storage. We want to avoid situations where the Yellow player just dominates the Market for the first few rounds. We want to force the players to move outside of their District.
3. I added a fourth Action Slot in the two main actions : Contracts and Market, but with a $10 fee. This might be too expensive (to be tested), but this is meant to be a despair move thatmust notbe used often.
4. The Inspiration Tiles that have not been taken will be removed at the end of the round. That way the accessible tiles through the 5 rounds will always be : 1/1, 2/2, 2/2, 3/3, 3/4.
5. There will now be only one Action Spot for the Private Stock action (located in the Purple area). With the recent "buff" to the Collectors I felt it was a good thing to try. This can also give an edge to the Purple player.
6. The Upgrades are not all equally strong. I don't want to reduce the price of some of them because they still give an additional Action Token. I am more thinking about giving VP's (for example 3-2-1 from the Weakest to the Strongest).