Once a month, Miriam and Georgia give themselves one hour to develop a new board game concept based on a handful of prompts they come up with beforehand. Below is an overview of CAPS, our print-and-play team-based graffiti party game.
THE ELEVATOR PITCH
CAPS is a team-based party game using communication and deception, about two graffiti crews competing to claim the most turf in their home city. You can find the full print-and-play rules and assets here: https://big-crow.itch.io/caps
THE LOOK
The game components themselves have a handmade ‘zine’ aesthetic with a collage of paper and print elements, textures and paint splashes. The colours are muted, mostly grayscale, to provide a plain canvas for the colour and chaos of the game when it is played.
When played, the game should be bright and ‘loud’, encouraging use of colour and bold shapes and fonts, and getting everyone drawing!
The components include:
- A 4 x 6 grid map of Rome (or use a map of your own city)
- Six unique stencils (one for each player)
- Individual grids (one for each player)
Players also need sheets of scrap paper (used as ‘walls’), thick coloured pens, and player markers in team colours (two markers for each player).
Competition takes place on the central map, where teams will try to claim grid squares as individual areas of turf. Each team consists of either 2 or 3 players, and teams sit alternately around the table (e.g. Team A player, Team B player, Team A player). Each team chooses a colour to represent them on the central map.
THE AIM
Play takes place over several rounds, during which both teams have the opportunity to claim turf in the city. The game will end when one team owns at least 8 squares of turf (or 6 squares if all in one contiguous area). The goal is to be the team with the most areas of turf claimed at the end of the game.
TURNS
Each round consists of a “Paint Phase” and a “Bomb Phase”.
During the paint phase, players will attempt to communicate with their teammates to arrange a rendezvous – a specific square on the map where they will try and meet at the end of that round. Players pass around graffiti ‘walls’, one for each player, that circulate the entire table. Taking turns simultaneously, every player draws once on the wall in front of them, then the wall is passed on. Each player must draw within the boundary of their stencil, and can only use the stencil once; otherwise, they can write or draw anything they wish, including obscuring or editing something written by an earlier player.
When each wall has been passed back to its original player, the bomb phase begins. Players will now try to claim turf for their team by placing their tokens. They can choose to aim for a rendezvous with their team, sabotage the opposing team’s rendezvous, or both.
SUMMARY
The opposing teams compete for turf, using covert communication, clever tactics and artistic flair to make their mark on the city. Rounds continue until the game end is triggered, at which point a winner will be declared.
WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT THIS GAME?
CAPS is a communication-based party game that’s big on creativity. We made the game to emphasise player agency and expression: within a simple round cycle, players can choose between multiple tactics.
- Silent communication with a focus on art – player interaction takes place on the page
- Deep ‘espionage’ style strategy – players can use coded messages, misdirection, sabotage, evasion, etc.
- Strong theming.
Big Crow Games 