Twice a month, Georgia and Miriam give themselves one hour to devise an original game concept based on a selection of prompts. Below is an overview of our precipitous deck-building racing game, Hold the Cheese.
THE ELEVATOR PITCH
Hold the Cheese is a deck-fixer racing game set at the annual Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling race. Starting with identical sets of cards, players move, sabotage one another, adjust their decks and try not to break their necks in a Wacky Races-style free-for-all to grab the runaway cheese.
THE LOOK
This game suits an “old school board game” style – something out of your dad’s collection, with a retro illustration style and palette. Cards and characters might be e.g. illustrated like classic magazine comics or like a Subbuteo set.
The main component is the board, which features a long gridded track, seven lanes wide and with ~80 spaces for movement. The board is illustrated to suggest a steep slope from start to finish line, with perspective tricks in the scenery and trackside spectators giving a sense of depth and a precarious angle.
Each lane of the track has multiple colour-coded segments which represent a “maximum speed limit” – if a player enters that segment while travelling faster than the limit, they gain an injury (see below). Speed limits range between 6 and 10.
Other components include:
- 7 player pieces
- 7 starting decks
- Sets of obstacles
- Additional action cards (grab, jump, roll)
- The Cheese
- The Cheese Roll deck
- The Holding the Cheese card.
- The start player token (Whistle).
THE AIM
Hold the Cheese is a frantic race where there are three objectives: grab the cheese, cross the finish line, and don’t get (too badly) hurt. The game finishes when all players have reached the finish line, then points are awarded for podium positon, a big bonus is given for holding the cheese, and penalties are incurred for any injuries in players’ decks.
SET UP
Each player starts with a standard starting deck consisting of 15 cards: five 1-step cards, four 2-step cards, four 3-step cards, and two Injuries. To begin, the 1, 2 and 3-step cards are separated by type and an Injury is shuffled into each of the 2 and 3-step stacks, then the deck is created by placing the 3 stack on the bottom, the 2 stack above, and the 1 stack on top.
Player pieces are placed along the start line in separate lanes. The cheese is placed in the central lane on its start point, six spaces ahead of the racers.
Obstacles, such as mud, stones, and shrubs are placed randomly across the board.
The bonus action cards are separated into piles. Each bonus card has two “ends” or halves: one which has a speed in steps (same as a common movement card), and one which has an ability such as “jump”, “grab”, or “stop”.
The Cheese Roll deck, which consists of 1 to 3-step “Cheese Roll” cards, is shuffled and placed face down by the board.
The start player is given the Whistle.
TURNS
Each round, during the hand building phase (1) players simultaneously construct their “hand” for the turn, then during the action phase (s) take turns using card-based moves or actions.
- During the hand building phase, players draw and lay cards from the top of their deck in a left-right row. They draw either until they choose to stop, or until they hit an Injury card. If at any point their draw pile runs out, they may shuffle their discard pile to form a new draw pile.
- At the beginning of the action phase (before a player’s first turn), each player has the option to “deck fix” (see below). During the action phase, starting with the player who has the Whistle, players take turns using the leftmost card of their hand for either movement or an ability (indicating this by playing the card either step side forward, or action side forward). The Cheese takes part in this turn order: once all players have played a card, a card is played from the Cheese Roll deck and the Cheese moves this many spaces forward.
When playing a card for movement, a player MUST use the full number of steps printed on the card, but can choose which direction to travel (forward, left or right) on each step. If a player hits any of the following board elements or obstacles, its effect takes place immediately:
- Speed limit segment: if the player’s current Speed (total number of Steps they have used this round) exceeds the segment Speed Limit, they instantly gain a new Injury card which is added to their discard pile.
- Mud: the player piece slides downhill a set number of spaces and this number is added to the player’s current Speed. (This also affects the Cheese.)
- Stone: the player must either gain a new Injury card or halt their movement for the round. (However, if the Cheese hits a Stone, it immediately skips two spaces forward.)
- Shrub: the player must immediately discard the next two cards in their current hand.
When playing a card for an action, a player MUST use the action if they can. Actions do the following:
- Grab: if either an opponent or the Cheese is parallel to the player and within two lanes, the player may Grab.
Grabbing the Cheese means the player takes the Holding the Cheese card, and the Cheese piece is placed next to their piece and will move with them (until it is stolen). A player may use a Grab action to steal the Cheese from an opponent.
Grabbing another player allows the grabber (active player) to immediately use the next card in the target’s hand – that card stays in the target’s hand but is considered played for the round. - Jump: Jumping allows a player to avoid an obstacle they would otherwise hit. They may jump up to 3 spaces, landing on the far side of the obstacle.
- Stop: By stopping, a player ends their movement for the round and can no longer play cards from their “hand”.
Deck fixing
On their first turn of a round, each player may choose to “deck fix”: they choose two cards (which must not be Injuries) from their current hand to immediately discard, and in exchange they may do one of the following.
- Remove an Injury from their hand or deck, destroying it permanently.
- Take a new Bonus Action card from the table and add it to their discard pile.
Continuing in turn order, players play cards until their hand is depleted, at which point their turn is skipped, and all players finish playing cards. The Cheese should always be the last “player” to move, getting one additional card compared to the next-last player. In other words, after the final player card is played, the Cheese plays one additional card.
At the end of the round, the Whistle is passed to the left.
SUMMARY
Rounds continue until all players have crossed the finish line. Points are awarded as follows:
- If any player holds the cheese as they cross the finish line they gain 7 victory points.
- Points for crossing the finish line: 1st place five points; 2nd place four points; 3rd place three points, and every player thereafter gains 2 points.
- One negative point for every Injury in a player’s deck at the end of the game.
WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT THIS GAME?
Hold the Cheese is inspired by a unique local cultural/sport event. It is a deck-building racing game, and one where going too fast quickly becomes dangerous, referencing the real-life stakes of the cheese rolling.
- Combines hand management, reactive decision making, deck building, and race tactics
- Has a quirky identity and a frantic competitive feel
- Emergent narrative as players react to track conditions, card luck, and positions.
- Multiple factors toward victory mean players must balance speed with safety while chasing the Cheese.
Big Crow Games 