2 Players - 15 minutes (3+ player variants with additional decks)
Development Period: September 2015-December 2016
Status: Ready to Publish
Designed for: 18 Card MicroGame Contest [2015]
Snowball Fight is a micro deckbuilding and deduction game
for two players that only contains 18 cards.
In the game players go head-to-head with their arsenal of snowballs in
an attempt to be the ruler of the Blizzard Realm!
In Snowball Fight each card has two possible actions, one on
each half of the card (top and bottom).
The action a player takes each turn depends on the direction they play
the card. The game is played in two phases, a quick Drafting phase where players build their initial arsenal and then the Snow Assault phase where there is all out war! Play is simultaneous and players try to attack each other with an
arsenal of snowballs, slushballs, and the dreaded iceballs and snow covered
rocks while also trying to dodge attacks and build up their weaponry!
This game was developed for the 18 Card MicroGame Contest 2015 on Board Game Geek!
This game was developed for the 18 Card MicroGame Contest 2015 on Board Game Geek!
Accolades:
Snowball Fight won the September 2015 24 Hour Contest over on Board Game Geek! The original version of the game was completely designed in 24 hours. Since then the game has gone through some minor changes and new artwork has been created, but the core game is still the same.
Snowball Fight came in second place in the 2015 18 Card Microgame Contest on Board Game Geek! There were 72 games entered. Snowball Fight and Heroes & Rogues, Out for Gold both made it into the final 18 games, with Snowball Fight being voted the second-best game overall!
10/1/2015 - Changed the Sneak Attack card and clarified a few bits in the rules.
10/13/2015 - Changed Barrage and Offensive Dodge so that getting hit with the snowball results in the opponent drawing only one card next turn.
10/13/2015 - Added Full Art cards!
10/22/2015 - Updated rules to include some diagrams, terms definitions, and updated some text to match what ended up in the full art cards. Added three Alternate Extreme cards to the Full Art PDF file. These can be used to replace the standard Extreme cards in the game if desired (let me know if you prefer any of these over the standard cards).
11/11/2015 - New Artwork! I've updated the artwork on the cards to make them easier to read. I've also made the text on the cards less wordy and easier to see effects quickly. I also updated the rules to reflect some new wording on the cards.
4/24/2016 - Some minor updates and one BIG update! I made some minor tweaks to the abilities on the alternate Extreme card: Upgrade Dodge/Dud (it was a little too powerful as it was before). But the big change is the addition of rules for 3+ players! I have included two new variants that can support as many players as you like! Each additional 1/2 players requires an additional deck, so a 3-4 player game requires one more deck and a 5-6 player game requires two more decks, etc. There are also two new cards per deck that are needed for multiplayer games. The cards are available in the Full Art cards file and the rules are available in the Rules file.
4/25/2016 - One more update! Hopefully the last for a while. After posting my updates yesterday a friend sparked an idea for a minor reworking of the Restock ability. Now, when using Restock, instead of shuffling your entire discard pile into your draw pile (potentially diluting it with stuff you don't really want) you get to reshuffle both Restock and one other discard back into your deck. This will potentially give you quite a bit of control of what goes back into your deck, but it can still be stopped with an attack. That should make the card more interesting, particularly in the mid-game, while still making it powerful enough to extend the game a little bit in the end-game. Thanks for the idea Steve!
9/10/2016 - One of the complaints that I've had about Snowball Fight is that players don't like the Abandoning Cards part of the game. With so few cards in the game they don't like having some of them removed from the game and unable to score points. So I'm working with a change that would have Stockpiling cards that would get added to a player's hand instead of losing a card to the Abandoned pile. Stockpiling cards don't do anything, but are worth points if you have enough in your hand. One is worth -1 point, two aren't worth any points, but three is worth a point and on up to 20 points if you have eight in your deck! I haven't had a chance to playtest this, so I'm not sure if the point values are a decent spread, and I'm not sure I like the idea of extra cards (they would make this a 36 card deckbuilder instead of an 18 card deckbuilder), but it's something I want to try out.
12/15/2016 - I still haven't had a chance to test the Stockpiling cards, but I came up with another alternative to the way Abandoning cards worked previously. And this keeps the game with only 18 cards. I'm changing the term Abandon to Stockpile, but you can still play with the original cards. Now each player has their own Stockpile (previously a shared Abandon pile). Instead of Abandoning a card they may now be required to Stockpile a card. Once during the game a player may shuffle their Stockpile to become their new draw pile instead of their discard pile. The discards will then become the new Stockpile for the remainder of the game. At the end of the game all cards in the draw deck, discards, and Stockpile are scored. Cards that previously let you upgrade from the Abandon pile now let you upgrade from either player's Stockpile (allowing you to steal a card from your opponent or get a critical card back into your own deck). This version is still being tested.
10/13/2015 - Added Full Art cards!
10/22/2015 - Updated rules to include some diagrams, terms definitions, and updated some text to match what ended up in the full art cards. Added three Alternate Extreme cards to the Full Art PDF file. These can be used to replace the standard Extreme cards in the game if desired (let me know if you prefer any of these over the standard cards).
11/11/2015 - New Artwork! I've updated the artwork on the cards to make them easier to read. I've also made the text on the cards less wordy and easier to see effects quickly. I also updated the rules to reflect some new wording on the cards.
4/24/2016 - Some minor updates and one BIG update! I made some minor tweaks to the abilities on the alternate Extreme card: Upgrade Dodge/Dud (it was a little too powerful as it was before). But the big change is the addition of rules for 3+ players! I have included two new variants that can support as many players as you like! Each additional 1/2 players requires an additional deck, so a 3-4 player game requires one more deck and a 5-6 player game requires two more decks, etc. There are also two new cards per deck that are needed for multiplayer games. The cards are available in the Full Art cards file and the rules are available in the Rules file.
4/25/2016 - One more update! Hopefully the last for a while. After posting my updates yesterday a friend sparked an idea for a minor reworking of the Restock ability. Now, when using Restock, instead of shuffling your entire discard pile into your draw pile (potentially diluting it with stuff you don't really want) you get to reshuffle both Restock and one other discard back into your deck. This will potentially give you quite a bit of control of what goes back into your deck, but it can still be stopped with an attack. That should make the card more interesting, particularly in the mid-game, while still making it powerful enough to extend the game a little bit in the end-game. Thanks for the idea Steve!
9/10/2016 - One of the complaints that I've had about Snowball Fight is that players don't like the Abandoning Cards part of the game. With so few cards in the game they don't like having some of them removed from the game and unable to score points. So I'm working with a change that would have Stockpiling cards that would get added to a player's hand instead of losing a card to the Abandoned pile. Stockpiling cards don't do anything, but are worth points if you have enough in your hand. One is worth -1 point, two aren't worth any points, but three is worth a point and on up to 20 points if you have eight in your deck! I haven't had a chance to playtest this, so I'm not sure if the point values are a decent spread, and I'm not sure I like the idea of extra cards (they would make this a 36 card deckbuilder instead of an 18 card deckbuilder), but it's something I want to try out.
12/15/2016 - I still haven't had a chance to test the Stockpiling cards, but I came up with another alternative to the way Abandoning cards worked previously. And this keeps the game with only 18 cards. I'm changing the term Abandon to Stockpile, but you can still play with the original cards. Now each player has their own Stockpile (previously a shared Abandon pile). Instead of Abandoning a card they may now be required to Stockpile a card. Once during the game a player may shuffle their Stockpile to become their new draw pile instead of their discard pile. The discards will then become the new Stockpile for the remainder of the game. At the end of the game all cards in the draw deck, discards, and Stockpile are scored. Cards that previously let you upgrade from the Abandon pile now let you upgrade from either player's Stockpile (allowing you to steal a card from your opponent or get a critical card back into your own deck). This version is still being tested.
Snowball Fight Low Art Cards (Original only) - http://georgejaros.com/Files/Snowball_Fight_Components_New.pdf
Snowball Fight Cards
- ORIGINAL Version - Full Art
- Support me on Patron!
- 36 CARD STOCKPILING Version
- Support me on Patron!
- 18 CARD STOCKPILING Version
- Support me on Patron!
 |
| Card Fronts |
 |
| Card Backs |
| A video playthrough by Tim Blackburn. There were a few rules hiccups, but you can get an idea of the gameplay. |
 |
| Low Art Card Fronts |
 |
| Old Full Art Card Fronts |
Another great game by George. Fast, fun and easy! Great art, innovative "Double" cards means you get 18 cards but in reality have options for up to 36. Great 2 player filler game and the replay value is up there too. Playtested this with my wife and I and we both had a blast. :)
ReplyDeleteI would love a tin-sized version of this game. I'd love to have a tin with a bunch of game in it. so I've been looking at those 18-card entries and this is the one without a tin-version that I like the most.
ReplyDelete