Once a month, Georgia and Miriam give themselves one hour to develop an original board game concept. Below is an overview of YARN, our semi-cooperative crafty storytelling game.
THE ELEVATOR PITCH
YARN is a semi-cooperative storytelling game with a woollen theme. Players work together to weave a complete story, using colourful illustrated cards as the fuel for their imagination. By individually adding to or changing the narrative, they can help achieve the group objective while pursuing their own private goals.
Important elements:
- Story changes as cards in the ‘story line’ are added or substituted
- Illustrated ‘thread’ must be continuous at game end for the group to succeed
- Coloured cards contribute to private objectives that score differently for each player: dual-coloured cards count for both colours
THE LOOK
YARN is a game with a simple primary/secondary-colour palette but a highly textured feel. Cards have knitted and crocheted patterns as backgrounds, and simple ‘fuzzy felt’ foregrounds.
The components include:
- A deck of ‘story cards’
- A deck of ‘start cards’.
‘Story cards’ form one deck with matching backs. The front of each card has three elements:
- Background pattern. Most cards are dual-coloured (e.g. pink and yellow) and have some form of pattern, with perhaps two or three options (e.g. granny square, horizontal stripe, argyle diamond).
- Prompt image. Each card shows an image with an abstract combination of elements, which is used to spark players’ imaginations: for example, a pig in a teacup or a boat with a moon for a sail.
- Thread. Drawn with hard lines and solid fill, rather than the soft textures of other elements, an illustrated thread crosses each card from left – right. It is either an ‘end card’ (the thread finishing at a crochet or knitting needle), or a ‘middle card’ (the thread joining a pair of points which are either ‘low’ or ‘high’: the possible combinations being high-low, low-high, high-high and low-low).
‘Start’ cards form a separate deck and are dual-sided.
The ‘story beginning’ side shows a prompt image similar to those on story cards, plus a ball of thread connecting to the right-hand side, indicating this is the beginning of a story thread.
The ‘objective’ side shows two different scoring goals. Each player will begin the game with one of these cards. An objective might for example:
- Reward 1 point for each card in the final story sequence which has a horizontal stripe background
- Reward 3 points for every time a colour pattern appears in the final story sequence, e.g. green card, pink card, green card
THE AIM
YARN is a primarily co-operative storytelling game where players work together to tell a cohesive and fun story. The shared goal is to reach the end of the final round and have a row of story cards which begins with a start card, finishes with an end card, and has one continuous (unbroken) thread across all the cards in between.
For individual players, the goal is to complete the above AND to be the player with the most points scored at the end of the game.
TURNS
Players take it in turns to play a card from their hand into the story sequence, then draw up their hand to 5 cards.
When a card is played, the active player:
- Either adds the card to the end of the sequence, or uses it to replace an existing card.
- Uses the image on that card to introduce a new element to the collective story. If the card is added to the end of the sequence, they continue from the last point in the narrative. However, if replacing another card, they change that part of the story. The story is now permanently changed (until another card replaces this one).
At the end of each round, players take a vote on whether the next round will be the final round. A majority is required to trigger the final round. This decision cannot be undone.
SUMMARY
Turn by turn, players will be adding to or changing the story which is represented by the row of played story cards. In doing so, they will be trying to complete the shared goal (a continuous thread) but also to maximise their own scoring according to their private objectives.
Importantly, dual-colour story cards count for both colours for private objectives; a pink and green stripe can count as pink for one player, green for another, and stripe for everybody.
When the final round is completed, either the whole group loses (if the thread is broken at any point) or the group is successful and the winner is the player who scores the most points from their private objective cards. At the end of the game, the group should be able to collectively recount the full story, using the played cards as a visual record.
WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT THIS GAME?
YARN is a storytelling game which combines imagination and light strategy for an attractive and interactive experience.
- Both shared and private goals create impactful decisions turn to turn
- ‘Unreliable narrator’ theme facilitated by players changing and re-telling story elements, ‘one-upping’ one another
Big Crow Games 