Colors Stamp Card Changes

[phibby]

Hey everyone! We're just about winding up the first round of Colors Stamp Card, and I wanted to get your opinions on a few things to help improve the game.

1. How was it? Did you like the variety of card requirements? Did all of the rules make sense?

2. This is the main reason for my post. I tried to gauge participation before posting the game and based the number of cards and frequency of the game (weekly vs. biweekly) on this, but you guys surprised me! The Odd Team filled up their stamp card on the second day of the second week, and the Even Team wasn't far behind. That's awesome! But a biweekly game being basically done 5 days before the next round goes up leaves a lot of dead air time, so to speak. So I'm thinking of changing the number of cards per stamp card and/or the frequency of the game. What would you guys prefer?

a. Weekly game with 16 cards per stamp card - the Odd Team had 14 cards filled in at the end of the first week and the Even Team had 15, so this would be right in the neighborhood of participation.
b. Biweekly game with 32 or 40 cards per stamp card - possible, but I'd be afraid this would be too big/unwieldy?
c. Biweekly game with 24 cards per stamp card (as it is now) but players can only donate 1 card a week
d. Keep it as is
e. Something else?

I'd like to keep the number of cards per stamp card a multiple of 8 to keep with the 8 colors we have and fit the template, but I guess it wouldn't have to be? Hmm. Prizes would be adjusted with whatever changes are made, of course!

I'm leaning towards A, but I wanted to hear what you guys would prefer before changing it. Let me know your thoughts! Thanks guys!

Comments

[camilovesyou]

I would prefer option A as well

[phibby]

Thanks Cami! After reading some of the other suggestions I think I'm going to end up doing a version of B, but with 36 cards and themed rainbow rows (1 red, 1 orange, etc.). Different from A, but I hope it'll still be fun for you! I think the themed rows will keep it a little easier to respond to, since there will be fewer requirements to keep straight. :)

[catfriend]

It was super fun!! Maybe because it was a bit of a race, people were more eager to participate? I have to admit the speed at which they got filled surprised me as well.

I wouldn't mind going with Option A, but what I'd worry about is whether you'd be okay with that? Like coming up with 16 different things every week / 32 every two weeks seems like quite a lot. Unless it's like similar to this week, where the first 8 make up a word, and the next 8 are unique / themed, that might be fine.

Wouldn't mind helping with suggestions too, if that were the case! I really enjoyed this a lot though, it's awesome having a game where colors / numbers / characters on the card ALL matter.

Edit: On reading pinkoctopus' comment I am totally ok with that option too! And the point about making it bi-weekly so there's a longer push that you can actually see happen makes sense. If it was just one week, you don't really have to come back to it, but something happening over two weeks makes you return to see what the team's progress is, which feels nice too.

Like, having it go over a while gives it more of a buildup! And you feel more invested in the result as well, or the reward feels like a bigger deal when it's a large amount all at once rather than the same amount given out in smaller portions. So I'd say the other options have a lot of merit to them too. For instance, if Coloring Book was once a week and lowered a lot, or like 'max of 50 but weekly' I don't think it'd feel as interesting.

I'm fine with collecting themes or suggestions from players as well if need be, since a lot of other games do that, or having categories for rows of cards so it's not like a full new set of unique thing to collect every week as well!

[phibby]

Thank you, I'm glad you had fun! I think that was definitely part of it, along with the novelty of a new game.

Yeah, coming up with 16 things each week was my main hesitation with turning this into a weekly game, but I was also afraid 32 or 40 cards might be too much to keep track of. But Harris' comment below sounds wonderful! Each of the rows having one theme mitigates both problems, in that there's less stuff to come up with each week AND it's easier to keep track of everything even with more cards. Plus all of the other biweekly benefits you mentioned. So I think I'm going to try that this next round!

Thanks for your input! :D

[pinkoctopus]

I am going to go against the trend and suggest option B or C!

Option A could also work but I fear it would lose much of the sense of teamwork and turn into another game where you submit your one card and then wash your hands of the game or sit by and passively hope others post. Week 2 filled up fast because people were coordinating and waiting and ready to swoop in and dump cards for their team, after all!

Plus, if people post in colors_trade and offer cards in help to their team, it would effectively turn "offer cards during week 2 to fill gaps from week 1, to fellow players who have already posted and are invested" into "bother people who haven't posted yet to post, every single week," but that becomes not quite worth annoying people who might even not be interested for, when you can simply wait for the week to reset!

To make 32+ easier may not be all too unwieldy! Perhaps instead of random traits, another layer could be added? For example, a 36!



Row 1: magical girls or sentai rangers of some sort, one of each color!
Slot 9: special harder modchoice trait
Row 2: Female Final Fantasy characters, one of each color!
Slot 18: special harder modchoice trait
Row 3: cards that are in numerical order starting with red and ending with gray, 1 of each color!
Slot 27: special harder modchoice trait
Row 4: challenge row! form a complete sentence with cards, 1 of each color!
Slot 36: special harder modchoice trait

For a 40-slot, another column of modchoice traits!

[sharksteeth]

Yes yes I like this idea! c: This will make it a little more challenging, and get people to really swap + use this time to really collaborate and work together! c:

[phibby]

This is great! I love the idea of having all of the rows as card rainbows. I had done the example stamp card up that way for the aesthetics, so why not do that for the actual game? For the "special harder modchoice trait" cards, did you mean these would have to be special cards, or just special as in, a special/different requirement? That'd be a great way to fully incorporate special cards into the game.

And having each row be one theme would certainly help with coming up with new requirements each round. That was my hesitation with going weekly on this, having to come up with 16 different things a week. But doing it this way biweekly will definitely help.

I think 36 is a happy medium between 32, which might be too low, and 40, which might be too high. I looked at this past round, and if everyone who participated had donated the max 4 cards, the teams would've ended up with 40 and 44 cards. But it's unlikely that players will always donate the max every round, so 36 would work well, I think.

I'll go ahead and try this for the next round and see how it works out! I'm going to go futz around with the template and get stuff ready. Thanks for the great ideas, as always!

[pinkoctopus]

I am happy to be of help!

And I had meant a special/different requirement but having them be Special cards is an even better idea! And it would make the character in the Special card matter more than the deck it is in, which is interesting! onoken06 could be played as "a character originally from a web manga" that has nothing to do with Ono Kensho, for example! Plus, it would be a good sink for Special cards that people are not trading!

If participation rises, 40 could be 4 rows of 8 cards with a 5th row of 8 specials, 48 could be 5 rows of 8 colors, then a 6th row of 8 specials, 56 could be 5 rows of 8 colors, then 2 rows of 8 specials? If it becomes this big, it would be easy enough to simply add rows!

Hopefully the color coordination will not be too confusing!

[scblakdrgon]

I like option B or C too.

[phibby]

Thanks Adelicya! I'm going to try a version of B for this next round and see how it goes! :)

[sharksteeth]

I'd like choice B! It gets more engagement and further teamwork/group chatter involved!

[phibby]

Thanks Ritsu! That was one of the main reasons I wanted this to be a biweekly game. I'm going to try a version of B for this next round but with 36 cards and themed rainbow rows (1 red, 1 orange, etc.). We'll see how it goes! :)