Play Test Report

[barney-walker]

Base Rules Used

See 2a4c212

Rule Modifications

• At the start of each turn players MUST draw 1 from the Idea Deck.
• They can still choose to use a Ponder Action to draw an additional Card from the Idea Deck.
• The game ends when the group 'Runs out of Ideas' (last card draw from Idea Deck).
• Global Impact cards were shuffled into Idea Deck.
• Players started with 1 Insight and 1 additional Idea.
• Retractions were shuffled back into the Deck.
• We started with 2 of each Primary Idea (A,B,C,D) in the Deck (by accident!).
• Duplicate Ideas could be Researched and Disseminated, however the same Insight could only be Disseminated once.

What happened in the game?

• The Players picked up the gist relatively quickly.
• The Retraction Notice and Falsified Data hit them pretty hard. It was a nice dramatic moment but did set them back considerably.
• The Players were able to win the game with 3 cards to go in the Idea Deck in around 45 minutes.

Who was playing?

• One PhD student (chemistry / biology).
• One non-scientist board game enthusiast.
• Me.

Overall Impressions

• Players enjoyed the game a lot.
• The (real life) PhD student (playing as Post Doc Role) especially enjoyed how much it reflected what life was actually like doing research and got into the Role Playing getting annoyed at the Professor for using all his data and getting all the credit for the Insights!
• Lots of the events got a good laugh.
• The game works well with one or more players that know about the academic system and some that are less familiar as it generates interesting discussions when the scientists explain why this stuff actually happens in real life (and how broken the system is).

Feedback

• Players found it hard to keep track of Skills as they accumulated more tools and permanent Events, often forgetting that they could have done something for free or accidentally doing something they weren't allowed to because of a restriction they forgot about.
• There were some nice narratives people built around the Duplicate Ideas. Discussions around fear of being scooped. Discussions around importance of reproducing existing research for robustness (and actually came in useful when the Falsified Data came up as I said they only had to retract one so they didn't lose the Insight because it could rely on the Duplicate).

Suggestions for New Mechanics

• Improvements to Tools Mechanic

  • Limit number of Tools each Player can use to 2.
    • Easier to keep track of Skills
    • More strategic thinking needed to decide which Tools to Learn.
    • Narrative justification is that with a lot of Tools, if you don't use them for awhile you have to put in some effort to re-learn them.
    • Forgotten Tools go back into Players hand and can be Re-Learned by spending a Learn Action.
    • This also allows the Teaching Mechanic to work better. If you can only use 2 / 3 Tools at once then 'Teaching' one from your hand you are not using to someone else doesn't disadvantage you in any way.
  • Reveal top 3 Tool Cards. Players can choose which (if any) to Learn.
    • Allows for more strategic decision making.
    • Could allow us to have a variable cost for Tools. Some Tools could cost 2 Learn Actions to Learn (and Re-Learn) to reflect how much time they take to learn in real life.

• Deck Manipulation Abilities

  • At the moment there is a lot of waiting around for the right thing to come up.
  • A lot of games have deck manipulation mechanics i.e. Look at top three cards and rearrange, search the Deck for a particular card etc.
  • We could incorporate this as a Tool / Role Skill that grants the ability to do Deck Manipulation as an Action.
    • i.e New Role: Undergraduate has Skill to search Deck for a particular Idea (costs 2 actions) (they are good at coming up with crazy ideas) but has Limitation that they are very bad at Researching and Disseminating. Either they have to Learn Tools to help them or Collaborate with other Players
  • i.e New Role: Visionary has Skill to look at top three cards from Idea Deck and rearrange (i.e. Predicting / subtly influencing what the next big Ideas in the field will be.
  • i.e. New Tool: RIO Journal (platform where researchers can share ideas / hypotheses not just outputs) allows Player to Search Deck for a particular Idea (costs 2 actions)

• i.e. New Tool: Twitter gives Players ability to look at top 3 cards (but not rearrange). If you have your finger on the pulse of what's going on in science you can predict what will happen next.

Suggestions for New Content

• Events
  • Industry sponsor won't let you publish Experimental Methods to protect the IP.
  • Grant Approved, Researching Experimental Methods and Data Sets costs 1 less Action.
  • Fear of Scooping. Limitation for a Role. If someone Disseminates an Idea you have in your hand before you then skip your next go (sulking).

[barney-walker]

Also was re-reminded of the Career Change Role Swap mechanic. Let's not forget about that!

[NuclearRedeye]

So when you played, how many insights did they have to complete to win? Did you stick to 5 or did you drop it to 3?

[barney-walker]

We stuck with 5.