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I've worked on several different trick-taking games over the years, and while there's another one that needs a few quirks worked out of it, I became obsessed with making a trick-taking board game (which I nicknamed TTB). Yes, it probably sounds kind of silly, but I thought sure, why not, and went to work on it.
When I'm working on a game, I usually write down a paragraph about that game that captures the concept and basic idea. Here's what I originally wrote:
Quote:
In TTB, players try to figure out how many tricks they'll take each hand. Each trick they take gives them either a special ability for the next hand or bonus points.
I'm not sure whether any game I've initially described was exactly in line with what was published – except for the name – but this was an exception. Those two sentences are spot on.Where's the board, you ask? Well, it was there at one point; here's the list of components in the game's first draft with a note after each type of component that shows its fate in the published game:
Quote:
Components
• 1 board (gone!)
• 66 cards (4 colors 1-13, 7 no-color 0s and 14-20 in multicolor) (similar, but the final game has 4 colors 1-10, 7 0s and 11-20 in multicolor)
• 10 Bonus tokens (turned into 7 card-based ticks)
• 6 Score Markers (remained through the published version)
• 6 Bid Markers (remained through the published version)
• 36 Player Markers (removed during late-stage playtesting)
• 1 Round Marker (remained through the published version)
• 1 Dealer Token (removed as it was unnecessary)
The board was, as many prototype boards are, quite ugly:• 1 board (gone!)
• 66 cards (4 colors 1-13, 7 no-color 0s and 14-20 in multicolor) (similar, but the final game has 4 colors 1-10, 7 0s and 11-20 in multicolor)
• 10 Bonus tokens (turned into 7 card-based ticks)
• 6 Score Markers (remained through the published version)
• 6 Bid Markers (remained through the published version)
• 36 Player Markers (removed during late-stage playtesting)
• 1 Round Marker (remained through the published version)
• 1 Dealer Token (removed as it was unnecessary)
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The overlapping rectangles were for placing the cards. Each set of overlapping rectangles was for each trick that would be taken. The squares in the middle of the board were for tokens that would be captured when the trick was taken, giving that player a special power.
Originally the game had ten tokens: three for bonus points, and seven for special powers:
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Here are the ones that were essentially unchanged through the final version of the game:
-----• The Choose Dealer token allows the player to decide who deals in the next round.
-----• The Extra Card token allows the player to take an extra card off the top of the deck.
-----• The 14 allows the player to get the 14 multicolor card; multicolor cards are like super trumps, but they can be played at any time. At first, the 14 was the lowest of these cards. This token turned into the "Take 11" tick.
-----• The 0 allows the player to get an extra Zero card.
-----• The Choose Trump token allows the player to choose one of the four colors as trump or to choose "no trump" (with this latter ability later being removed from the game).
-----• The Trader card allows the player to trade in one card from his hand for a card off the top of the deck.
There was also a +1 Bid token that allowed players to be off by one in their bid. This token didn't make it through playtesting, as it was uber-powerful, especially in the final round.
The little numbers in the lower right corners were the values of the tokens in the final round (since their powers couldn't be used in a subsequent round and I wanted the tokens to have a purpose in the final round).
So, let's get back to that really ugly board. The idea was that a random set of six of the ten tokens would be placed on the board each round, and on a player's turn, he would be able to play on any available empty card spot – with the number of card spots being based on player count. (So for a four-player game, he could place a card only on the first four card spaces next to each token.) If the player played a card that was winning that trick, he put one of his player marker cubes there. Once there were as many cards as players, that token would be taken by the card that was winning the trick.
The board was large – it had to be to fit all those cards – and cumbersome, and it didn't take me long to realize it totally wasn't necessary. It just didn't add much to the game. I could still arrange the tokens in the middle of the table, and players could play out from the center, keeping the structure in place. While the board was gone, TTB lived on because the basic idea of winning a trick associated with a special power was solid. Not only that, but in addition to the original board, I actually had another board that was used to keep score, track player bids, and provide a guide as to when each of the tokens was used:
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So I still had a trick-taking board game, even if the original board was gone. I know – I was grasping to keep the original board game concept alive, but as you probably know already, any board at all was doomed, so it's all going to turn out well in the end.
The Origin of You Suck
There comes a time in most trick-taking bidding games toward the end of a hand when you have one or two cards left, and you are hoping with all of your might that a certain card is (or isn't) led because it will result in you missing your bid in one direction or the other. The player who plays (or doesn't play) the card you're focusing on is clearly out to get you. This also happens with You Suck, and the phrase was uttered on a regular basis as the game was playtested.
During one of those playtesting sessions, a light bulb went off, and I knew I was on to something: You Suck: A Tick-Taking Game! The tokens could be ticks! You could take them! Ticks suck! It was as if the universe had opened up all of its mysteries to me, and I chose the one which was the most important at the time: what to call this game and how to "theme" it.
I did have a few moments when I wasn't sure whether the title "You Suck" was appropriate, but while it was edgy, it was clearly in good fun (and the final artwork adds to that overall feel), so the name stuck.
After I had the name, the first thing I did was draw cute little ticks for the tokens:
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Problems That Needed Solving
Playtesting continued, and players were amused and engaged with the theme. However, a few problems remained:
-----1) Players couldn't seem to remember to place their player markers on a tick that they were winning.
-----2) The scoreboard was big and unsightly.
-----3) The cost for all of the components was higher than what most people would pay for a trick-taking game (which usually has only cards and maybe one or two other small components). I didn't know it at the time, but solving #1 and #2 would partially solve this issue and led me to find the ultimate solution for it as well.
The solution to #1 came during a playtest session when one of my long-time playtesters said, "Why don't you just move the tick and its cards in front of the person who's winning it?" It was such an easy solution, but one I couldn't come up with myself because I was so focused on keeping the original game board structure of the ticks in the center radiating outward. I tried it this way, and suddenly the game was more interactive, with players reaching across and grabbing ticks from other players. It really was tick-taking!!!
Not only was this solution a better mechanism, but now I didn't have to include 36 player markers in each box (which was a huge expense, whether wood or cardboard). Problem #1 and one of the biggest parts of #3 were addressed!
The Complete Cardization of You Suck
One new problem emerged with the taking and placing of ticks and their associated cards: The ticks were cardboard tokens, and taking them along with the cards required a delicate two-handed maneuver. This is when I decided to try the ticks themselves as cards...and it worked! After I did that, I thought that other components could be "carded" as well:
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-----• The Bidding track could be a single card.
-----• The playing order of tokens could be combined into a card-sized player aid, which would also solve the age-old problem of identifying each player with his color. (I hate the "give everyone an extra token so everyone knows what color they are" thing that some games have, but it's a necessary evil.)
-----• A card could be put in place to show which round the players were on.
-----• I also added a trump card to indicate the color of the trump (as during playtesting players would often forget what trump was).
What all of this did was turn the trick-taking board game into a pure tick-taking card game, with fourteen pieces of wood/cardboard necessary for bidding, scoring, and indicating the round and trump. (I ended up going with wood because I like wood, and it seemed appropriate since ticks hang out in the woods.) Now that the design was (mostly) cost-effective, I found an artist, Dustin Evans, who I thought could capture the essence of You Suck's friendly, super-powered ticks.
Final Tweaks
A few other minor changes happened during the playtesting process:
-----• The number of ticks available each turn became seven (instead of six).
-----• The number of rounds was shortened to three (instead of four).
-----• The +3 tick replaced the individual +1 and +2 ticks, putting all ticks in play each round.
-----• The ticks became double-sided, with side one showing the special power (for use in each round, and available to be captured in rounds 1 and 2) and side two showing bonus points (to be captured in round 3).
-----• The bonus points for the ticks changed to include three -5 ticks to make the last round competitive for everyone. It's now possible for the player in last place at the end of round 2 to win, but it will be a challenge.
-----• The 4, 5, 6, and 7 bids were combined into a single line, allowing a player who expects to capture a lot of tricks more flexibility in his bid. Round 3's bidding values now differ from the first two rounds to account for the change in strategy that occurs during that round.
-----• The suited cards were reduced from 13 (standard 52-card deck numbers) to 10, while the multicolor cards were increased from 7 to 10. Nice symmetry, huh?
-----• The "Choose Trump" tick requires the player with the tick to choose a trump, thus ensuring that rounds 2 and 3 have a trump. (The game is better with a trump in play.)
-----• Each player receives a random tick at the start of the game, kicking each person off on a different track with some sort of special power (including +3 points).
-----• The scoreboard was changed to max out at 30 points. (Players occasionally exceed this, but it's rare.)
The Final Game
The end result is a game that, while not the trick-taking board game I thought it would be, has exceeded my expectations in terms of being solid, engaging, and fun to play, with numerous strategies and many interesting tactical choices. It's differentiated by the fact that you can play on any tick at any time, which in theory should make it much easier to make your bid, but which in reality provides a different challenge and something fun to wrap your head around each time you play.
You Suck will debut at the Origins Game Fair in mid-June 2013 in limited numbers and can be preordered directly from Bézier Games.
Ted Alspach
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