Uno Except You Don’t Want to do Pushups

For a change of pace, this week I’ve decided to play the good old, friendship ruining classic — Uno. Except:

1. We’re using a special deck that includes blank black cards. These cards can be written on with the players’ own custom rules.
2. We’re using two decks instead of one. We actually have three decks of Uno cards, but the last deck’s colors don’t match.
3. The cards are pink! (This factor does not change any of the game’s dynamics. I just like the color.)

I’m sure there are a multitude of different rules people play Uno with. The only rules I can think of right now that may differ from others, are that: when we don’t have a card to play, we have to keep drawing until we pull a card that we can put down (that’s why we’re using two jumbo decks), and whatever instructions a player has written on a blank card.

Whatever mechanics the base game has are completely overwritten with these blank cards. For us, anything goes. Competition becomes a free for all for whichever player can come up with the most creative mechanics. Of course, instead of choosing to alter the hands of the players, some players write punishments or dares on the blank cards such as “do 20 pushups” or “take 3 shots”. These potential challenges create a new dynamic to the game where just about anything can happen.

With the shift in game dynamics comes a change in aesthetics as well. I’m not talking about visual design, but rather what type of interaction the players have with the game. What type of fun is Uno? Uno is inherently a social game meant to be played with a group of friends. The challenge lies in determining the hands of other players, and luck of the draw. However, with the addition of a card that requires a player to do “20 pushups”, the stakes are changed. While some people have no problem with a few measly pushups, others find that a single physical activity requiring upper body strength is a near-insurmountable task.

Blank cards add another level of interaction to the game. What if the player is unable to complete the task assigned to them? What happens if the player completes the dare? These limitations can only be decided by the players. Boundaries are stretched beyond the simple base rules of the game and allows for an infinite variation of interaction.

I’m not sure how I would go about creating a digital game that allowed players to define their own mechanics and boundaries. As games require a set amount of memory, unlimited player creativity is unobtainable with our current level of technology. For an analog game, such customization is possible because we are not limited to the storage size or processor strength of a machine. We as people are able to perform a variety of tasks that computers cannot.

Game Log Challenge:

Hungry (name pending, just a concept outline so far)

A race to the center of a spider web. Each player receives a piece (any colored plastic spider) to represent themselves and attempts to follow a path of the spider web to reach the center of the web, where a fresh ‘meal’ lays tangled.

The game board is separated into different tiers (like a bullseye) and spins to create a randomized path each time. Then, pieces representing dew drops will be dropped randomly onto the board, creating randomized obstacles players cannot cross.

Players will then traverse the maze-like web to reach the center by rolling dice and moving the specified amount per turn. Certain tiles on the board contain events which will affect the players such as pulling them forward a tier or pushing them out of a tier.