Battle of the Bands
Battle of the Bands
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Battle of the Bands is a card game I designed from the initial brainstorm to the playtest sessions and iteration adjustments. In this game, players compete in a head to head battle by combining a variety of different instrument cards to match the crowd's genre preference. Whoever scores the most points wins the venue card and has their show go down in history.
Cards Types:
Cards Types:
Instruments: There are a total of 3 main instrument types: Strings, Percussion, and Vocals. Each Instrument Card has a genre associated with it that can be matched to the Venue each round. Each genre has 6 matching instruments.
Venues: Each Venue card has a preferred genre of music. There are 2 Venues per music genre.
Special Instruments: There are 8 Special Instrument Cards that are played as wild cards. These cards count as a matching genre card. As long as the played hand has different instrument types and a Special Instrument, they receive the Full Band Bonus.
Solos: Solo cards can be played on top of an Instrument Card to double that cards score.
Modifiers: Positive Modifier cards are revealed first adding a benefit to the round. The Negative Modifier cards are revealed after everyone has played their cards. If the effects contradict, the Negative Modifier takes precedence. Modifiers can affect the scoring of cards.
Scoring:
Scoring:
Each played card is worth +1 point (Solo cards excluded)
Instrument Cards that match the genre are worth +1 additional point for each match. Each card gains their own value (1 match = +1; 2 match = +1, +2; 3 match = +1,+2,+3)
Full Band Bonus is attained by playing one of each instrument type granting +1 point
When a Solo is played on an Instrument Card, double that card’s score
Main Mechanics:
Main Mechanics:
Events: Actions occur outside the control of players that cause an immediate effect, change the state of the game, or impact subsequent actions (Modifiers)
Set Collection: The value of items is dependent on being part of a set; for example, scoring according to groups of a certain quantity or variety (Set of instruments)
Trick-Taking: Players play cards from their hand to the table in a series of rounds which are each evaluated separately to determine a winner
Playtest Modifications:
Playtest Modifications:
Modifier Balancing: Some of the modifier cards were over or under powered compared to the others. Went through and reworked the balancing.
Solo Card Rework: Original Solo cards ramped the scoring too aggressively which made them an automatic win. This find helped rebalance score.
Scoring System Rework: The playtests showed players get confused on with the original scoring system. Reworked the wording of the score keeping.
Special Instrument Implementation: The Special Instruments originally had individual special powers, but they were way beyond the scope for the game. May make a return in future iterations.
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