#theperfectgame

In this segment I plan to outline the original concept of my bowling game idea. Part 1 covers my card game idea. Part 2 covered the pure dexterity game version. In this third and final part, I will outline the original idea that spawned those two different concepts.  Through a series of cards and options, plus a little dexterity, people can play this game with varying degrees of difficulty.

Dexterity Plus

Dexterity Plus refers to the game being primarily a dexterity game PLUS other elements. The other elements are cards and potentially dice. I wanted the game to use calculations to simulate the physical experience, but thought it odd, as there is no physical interaction with the disc (ball token). So I thought to myself yes, bowling is highly mathematical but what I’m doing doesn't leave room for player consistency. So I added a dexterous element to the game that allows a player to simulate bowling the ball by flicking a disk down a lane. The disc must land in 1 of 3 zones, and based on the board and zone. Then ball spin and power outlined by card types come into effect, which in turn determines the impact point. This means the more consistent a player is at flicking the better chances they have at strikes and picking up spares. That is the general idea. The card types I mentioned play a baseline factor in the game. There are 3 types of cards in this game; Pin Action, Bowler and Ball cards.

Card Types

Pin Action - these refer to the pin action you get when you don’t get a strike on your first go. Each player, like in bowling, has two tries at knocking down all the pins. Upon your first go if all pins aren’t bowled over a Pin Action card is pulled. This indicates what pins are left and shows the required shot to pick up the spare.

Bowler - these cards outline the bowler profile. They are mostly open ended if players want to engage in the advanced version of the game. They do have fixed stats that determine the bowlers power, special ability, and additional condition. The player must refer to these stats when approaching certain shots or conditions in the game.

Ball - these fun cards have different types of balls with different difficulties, abilities and weight. When matched with a Bowler card, these stats drastically affect the way each player plays the game. And the variety of combination make for a different experience every time.

The card part of the game adds variety. When selecting bowlers and balls, players must consider difficulty levels which are indicated. This allows for more experienced players to compete against younger or new players to the game. These handicaps help make the game entertaining no matter your skill level. There are default combinations of Bowlers and Balls, but under no circumstance is that the only way to play. Players can blind draw or pick and choose, or even flip/roll/bowl for Bowler and Ball selection. It’s all up to you. 

The dexterity part of the game fixates on player consistency. Like standing on your markers, lining up your shot and hitting your boards and zones, and providing the right amount of pressure and angle. There is something physical about bowling that you can't just simulates with maths. In this game format mechanics will rely more heavily on dexterous consistency. 

Who here likes bowling? Even if you're not good at it bowling is an entertaining sport slash Recreation that I think everybody should play at some point in their life.

I used to bowl in a league for many years so I've enjoyed bowling at its most demanding. There is a huge psychological side behind the sport that I think a lot of people don't get until they start playing competitively. Though you're competing against other bowlers, the real challenge is within. The battle against consistency is real. Adjustment in power and speed, spin on the ball, lane conditions and background distractions are all factors to consider. It truly is an internalized sport. Other sport like archery, golf and swimming fall into this category as well.

So what makes bowling fun? Well, I think it's a combination of casualness and anticipation. Those things, including the external game which is scoring against your opponents, is fun. Even if you're not great at bowling, or even good at being consistent bowling provides a level of excitement either way. I love technical sports and I think in essence every sport is technical for that reason. It is a test of one's skill, knowledge and execution ... Just like in board games. So why not make a bowling game that feels more like bowling and less like rolling dice for the pin count? That's what I'm here to test.

Yes, there are other bowling games out there that use actual rolling balls and pins, but at such a small scale it's hard to replicate the lane conditions, ball weight, spin, and other factors. On the other side of the spectrum there are bowling dice games. Roll the dice, get strikes, spares or nothing. No skill involved, just luck. So I figured I'd try to simulate it in a way that's challenging and still exciting. As of right now I have 3 plans. Welcome to designer divergence.

Over the last week I’ve come up with at least 3 viable ideas that I’m willing to pursue. Who knows. No one mandated only one game design per genre or theme. Here’s what I’m thinking, from presumably lightest to complex.

Card Game

The bowling card game is nothing new. It’s been done, though old, and I must consider why hasn’t there been one since? The card game would play very similar to a standard deck of 52. The game would play like a hand management and trick taking game. Each player would be dealt 3-5 cards. The premise of the game is to close frames by matching pin cards of playing strike (trump) cards. Score is kept on a standard scoresheet

Pin cards - each card from Ace through 10 represents the same amount of cards. A standard bowling scorecard could be used to track frames and pin count. 2 card would represent two pins, 3 card three pins, etc. Since there are four of the same numbers per suit each card will have a slightly different set up. 

For example: of the four number 2 cards, a 2 pin spare could be 1-5,  2-4, 9-6, or the infamous 7-10. The same goes for some of the other sets of four. The idea is some of the harder spares to pick up are splits. And in this game picking up splits are uncommon, so having/saving the right card to do so is important.

A card from the deck is draw and placed face up. The active player must place a card from their hand with an equal or higher pin count, or a strike card. If the card played is equal (as mentioned above), it’s a strike. If a strike card is played then a strike is recorded. If the pin count is higher, then a spare is recorded.

This is where the game can get interesting. If I want to keep the game a card-only play style I will need to have some way to track frames and tally score. I have a couple methods I’d like to test for that. If players kept score on a sheet, like in bowling, then that would be ideal. This does mean that I won’t be able to use tokens for scoring or other features.

If I don’t mind using other items, I would have pin tokens or chits that identify strike and spare and open frames. These tokens/chits can also come in hand for other mechanics like handicaps; Acquire 1 for every strike (max 5) and use them as additional pins when shorthanded to pick up spares. Will discuss it more in length when I get a chance to playtest the concepts.

I spent 8 hours today trying to play through Sonic the Hedgehog from beginning to end without dying.

I was unsuccessful.