GameDev Super Blogs: Pride, Prejudice and some Pirates

The original Pride and Prejudice was written in 1813 by Jane Austen. It follows a web of marriages attractions, crushes and family benefactors within multiple families. To help me understand it I used a character map I found here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Pride_and_Prejudice_Character_Map.png

In our board game players choose one of the main female characters based on a colour, Elizabeth Bennet (Blue), Lydia Bennet (Green), Jane Bennet (Yellow) and Charlotte Lucas (Red). Each of these women have their male counterpart that they will marry, according to the novel.

On the board there are 40 Random Tiles. They are:

5 "Affection Points +2" Tiles (Player keeps this tile and adds 2 affection points to their total)
27 "Affection Points +1" Tiles (Player keeps this tile and adds 1 affection point to their total)
4 "Male Counterpart" Tiles (Darcy, Bingly, Wickham and Collins)
1 "Mother Bennet" Tile (Player loses a turn)
And 3 "Pirate Tiles" (All Random Tiles are removed to be shuffled and replaced. The player that activated the Pirate Tile takes 3 of their +1 Affection Tiles from their collection to be shuffled and put back onto the board)

Once a player has amassed 10 points their goal is to find their male counterpart. They can keep any other points they come across to throw off other players. Once a player has earned enough points to attain their counterpart they win the Bennet Dowry either themselves or, in Charlotte's case, through her husband.

Each player moves along with the roll of the dice and follow the rules of the random tiles they come across.

The reason we have Pirate Tiles is a hint at Keira Knightley (pretty obvious considering we used her picture as the pirate symbol). Knightley played Elizabeth Bennet in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Elizabeth Swan in the Pirates of the Caribbean.

These tiles also give other players a chance to take back some points. Otherwise, because we only have 37 points available (10 for one player and 9 for the other three), the game would only last until the first person achieved 10 points.

During the creation of this game we faced 2 issues.

The first issue was a general issue with our idea. We had originally thought that the game should be based around the men earning the attraction points to get the women. While creating the game (after watching the movie), we realized that because the Bennet family was not terribly wealthy, the girls would have to accept any proposal they were faced with. This would counteract the game dynamic of earning they girls affection. So we quickly changed the game so that the players played the girls seeking the attraction and proposal of the men.

The second issue we faced was a physical issue when we started making the "Affection +1" Tiles. We used permanent marker and it started to bleed through. This was an issue because as soon as someone saw which tiles had green writing they would know which tiles to head for. We quickly solved this problem by gluing a second piece of construction paper to each tile. This not only hid and permanent marker that had bled through the first piece, it also gave the tiles a thicker, more comfortable feel.

I am looking forward to hear what people think of Pride, Prejudice and Pirates!