Shoot Your Shot
ROLE
Designer
DESCRIPTION
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YEAR
2035
GENRE
Casual Game
PLATFORM
Mobile
ROLE
TYPE
Designer/Host
Party / Experience
DESCRIPTION
In a world where party card games thrive, small head to head games often get looked over. I hosted a game night centered around challenging people to small head to head games, a nostalgic fun with nerf guns, and consuming shots by tying them together with the title Shoot Your Shot.
Participants
10
Duration
3 Hours
Game Design Elements
Meta Game System
Rewards System
Bluffing Mini Game
Other Thematic Items
Location
Living Area of My Apartment
BACKGROUND
As a frequent Game Night host, I know what kinds of games people are drawn to. I bring out the same stack of 6 games, plus 2 or 3 others I try to suggest but we never play, because they are good party games that allow for a high number of players and are low effort. We needed to change things up so I decided to grab out all the games that maximum can play 4 people to get people to play more games in smaller groups while also trying to incite competition.
Design Challenges
Party Game Night Feel Without Party Games
More often than not, we end up playing some Cards Against Humanity variant because there are few pieces, they are easy to understand, and any number of players can join. It feels like something is happening at all times and the only reason gameplay stops is because someone gets distracted or the game has been going for too long and it's time to switch something up. I needed a way for the gameplay to continue, or at least have the option, at a consistent pace with more games that use a smaller number of players.
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Incentive to Play
The act of playing games, while being fun, needed to continue throughout the night and have people’s attention. Everyone started on the same level; one dart. With many games that were unfamiliar to most and some that were fast-paced, easy games the thought to continue to play games to get better was there, but I needed something to motivate playing for those that need the extra little push. I created a reward for playing games. Players would keep track of games played and earn more darts, or even a gun of their own, by reaching checkpoints in increments of 5 games.
Reward for Win / Punishment for Loss
With a title like “Shoot Your Shot”, there needed to be an element of risk in playing the games. Some might like to challenge people to a game while others just want to play. With every player starting with a dart, it gave a simple bargaining tool giving a gamble of sorts to give winning a little more excitement and making people not necessarily want to lose.
Chaos Management
Having a room full of adults with nerf guns and darts is far too chaotic, especially when trying to play games in the room. The focus of the game night was to play games with the guns being a sort of background tool for added gameplay. With giving each person 1 dart to start, the pool of resources available began with a limit. Additionally, instead of having a bunch of loose nerf guns, I fastened 4 of them to corners of the room for the capability of firing to be controlled and visible. This gave other people an idea if someone was making an attempt to fire a dart.
OVERALL DESIGN
I needed to keep the energy of a (party) Game Night while creating incentive to play games with people. I knew people wanted to have alcoholic beverages and thinking of “shots” made me think of “shoot” which led to Nerf guns. The idea of shooting people with nerf darts sounded fun but I needed a reason and purpose. The idea of getting shot and taking a shot worked but I needed a way and reason for the darts to exist. This became the betting tool. The pot starts small and the only way to get more would be to play. This also led to rewards; the more you play, the more you get. While playing has a reward for the winner, it needed a punishment so taking a shot felt appropriate.
I also made some pre-mixed shots in bottles and bought a variety of small “shooter” bottles of alcohol and put them into a small box where a random one could be drawn as a loss punishment.
Pick Your Poison Minigame
Just to build on the theme, I created a mini-game I called “Pick Your Poison” in which everyone would pick a small bottle of seemingly the same liquid and take it quickly. Only one of the full set would actually have alcohol in it and whoever had it would have to try to hide that they had the alcohol because everyone would vote (majority wins) on who they think had the alcohol and that person would be eliminated. The next round would be a new drink with the same rules with the game continuing this way until there was a single winner.
Learnings
All in all the event went well! I wish I had more simple, 2-player games, but with the materials I had everything went well. I would like to try it in a bigger, more open space but I worked with what I had.