Crow Jam is our monthly game jam podcast, which you can listen to here. Below is an overview of Nine Minutes: So Here’s the Plan, our co-operative programming casino heist game.
THE ELEVATOR PITCH
Nine Minutes: So Here’s The Plan is a co-operative programming game themed around planning a casino heist. Players are master criminals infiltrating a high-security casino. Using blueprints of the casino layout and security, they set out their plan step by step. But when the big heist starts and things change beyond their control, can they pull it off in time and get away with the loot?
Note: this game would involve some fairly detailed mechanics, we have set out the basics in the main body of this post – see the appendix for possible ideas of specifics.
Important elements:
- The game is played in two phases: planning (programming actions) and implementation (taking actions, and responding to actions from the casino security).
- Players build their ‘deck’ of actions using specialised micro decks focused on particular skills
- Being spotted by security raises the ‘alert level’, taking the heist closer to failure
- Players can each use one ‘substitute action’ per game to respond to unexpected events
THE LOOK
Nine Minutes is designed with a classic, retro 1920s feel, in a semi-realist painted style similar to games such as Cluedo.
Components include:
- The game board, a gridded map of the casino with a dozen or so areas, each connected to one or more of its neighbours by a connecting corridor. The ‘vault’ is at the centre of the board and has only one connecting area, a high-security room. The board also contains 4 – 6 Secure Entrances, with one being the vault door.
- 12 double-sided guard tokens (alert guard, asleep guard) including 2 Security Managers
- 12 double-sided camera tokens (working camera, blind camera)
- Alert Tracker
- 24 ‘Standard Action’ cards, in four decks of six cards
- 24 ‘Special Action’ cards, in eight Skill Decks of three cards (four skill types, two decks each)
- 24 ‘Substitute Action’ cards, three for each Skill Deck
- 24 ‘Security’ cards
- Item cards (ID card, security key)
- Player pieces
Standard Action cards are black and each show one of three actions: Move, Pick Up/Hand Off, and Disrupt (allowing a player to temporarily incapacitate a guard or disable a camera).
Special Action cards are separated and colour-coded into four specialised skill decks. Each Special Action card shows two actions, one of which is Move, and the other a specific action related to infiltrating, moving, or disabling security in the casino. By playing these cards facing one of two ways, players can choose in which order the Move action and the Special Action take place.
Substitute Action cards are red and each show an action that can be taken once instead of a programmed action. For example, a player might wish to Hide, Call Out, or Retreat.
Security cards represent actions taken by the casino. Each card shows a specific event and how to resolve it on the board, with different intensities depending on the Alert Level when the card is revealed. For example, a ‘Plain-clothes Guard’ card might spawn 1 guard at Alert Level 0 and 2 guards at Alert Level 2.
THE AIM
At the beginning of the game, players set up an initial standard number of guard and camera tokens in set locations on the board, including two guards in the security room before the vault and one Security Manager in the Observation Room. They then draw and place an additional number of guards and cameras in randomly generated places on the board.
The casino has two security systems: electronic (including Cameras and Secure Entrances), and human (including Plain-clothes Guards, Patrol Guards, and Security Managers). Each system is tied to the Alert Level, indicated by the Alert Tracker which starts at 0.
Based on this starting security information, players will aim to plan and pull off a successful heist in just 9 turns. If 9 turns finish and the players have not exited the casino with the loot, or if the Alert Level reaches 3, the game is lost.
TURNS
Once the board is set up, the planning phase begins. Each player takes 1 deck of Standard Action cards, and chooses two Skill Decks, each consisting of 3 Special Actions and 3 Substitute Actions. Players then discuss and plan their actions, programming in a single card per player for each turn. During this phase, players may move their pawns and ‘act out’ turns to estimate the events of the heist.
At the end of the planning phase each player will have 9 cards placed face down in a row, one card corresponding to each game turn. Substitute Actions may not be used for this step. Instead, each player must choose one of their Substitute Action cards to keep for the next phase, discarding all their other cards.
Players also shuffle and draw (without looking) nine Security cards to form the face-down Security Deck. These will be the actions taken by the casino security during the implementation phase.
The implementation phase then begins. Each turn, all players turn over their first action card, plus one card from the Security cards drawn earlier. Players have only limited control over what happens:
- They may discuss and choose which action happens first (either a player or the casino); all subsequent actions then happen in turn order around the table
- When taking the Move action, a player may choose how far they move and in what direction (up to a maximum distance, and limited by walls and Secure Entrances)
- Once per game, each player may play their Substitute Action over their programmed action for the turn, replacing their planned action with an alternative one.
Interacting with security follows set rules.
- Players cannot pass through Secure Entrances without specific actions (e.g. Unlock) or specific items (ID cards for most doors, Security Key for the vault)
- If a player piece is visible to an active camera at the end of a turn, the alert level is increased by 1.
- If a player piece is visible to an alert guard at the end of a turn, that player must choose whether to increase the alert level by 1 or have their piece frozen for the next turn.
Additionally, ‘sensitive actions’ (cards with an icon showing a struck-through camera) cannot be taken while in view of any security. This includes any suspicious activity, such as interacting with Secure Entrances or disrupting guards or cameras.
SUMMARY
Players plan their heist turn-by-turn with each player taking an individual set of actions. During the implementation phase, they are working against the casino and the clock. They must use the options available to them to try and navigate one or more player pieces safely to the vault, retrieve the payload, and get everyone out of the building in time.
WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT THIS GAME?
Nine Minutes ties the mechanical basics of a programming game into a planning scenario. Like other similar co-op games, players must work against a randomised deck, but their actions are largely set and their ability to respond is limited, placing the emphasis on strong planning and a good head for risk.
APPENDIX: DETAIL STUFF!
The Security Deck contains cards which change the placement and state of security elements in the casino. Examples might be:
- Guard patrol: A set number of guards on the board/all guards on the board move in a set way.
- Plain-clothes guard: one or more new guards appear on the board in randomised locations.
- Security reset: any items (ID cards or security keys) held by the players are unusable for a set number of turns.
- Circuit reset: all cameras return to being active if they had been disabled, and cameras switch their field of view (rotate 90 degrees)
The Skill Decks each contain a small number of action cards unique to a certain skill set. Some possible examples are below.
Action Deck
- Getaway chopper: all players on the upper floor may escape the casino
- Secret route: move from one room to a non-adjacent room
- Surprise attack: incapacitate all guards in a certain radius for a set number of turns
Deception Deck
- Blend in: you are invisible to guards for a set number of turns
- Distract: move all guards in a certain location towards you by a set amount
- Pickpocket: take an ID Card or Security Key from a guard
Tech Deck
- Unlock: move through a Secure Entrance
- EMP: disable all cameras and Secure Entrances in a radius
- Hack: look at the top 3 cards of the Security Deck
Comms Deck
- Warning Call: move another player a set distance
- Re-equip: swap round two or more players’ actions for this turn
- False Alarm: freeze the Alert tracker for this turn
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