Custom Board Games

Yahtzee

Backstory:

For some unknown reason - Yahtzee was the game of choice growing up in the Linton Household. My parents, siblings, and I would often play this game on vacation and random weeknights.

Once married, while teaching my wife Chaya how to play this game, I thought of this cool variation. Honestly - this is so good I should sales-pitch it to Hasbro.

Rule Changes:

Create the following 16 cards:
“1’s (3 or more)” - 3 points
“2’s (3 or more)” - 6 points
“3’s (3 or more)” - 9 points
“4’s (3 or more)” - 12 points
“5’s (3 or more)” - 15 points
“6’s (3 or more)” - 18 points
“Evens (only 2,4,6)” - 5 points
“Odds (only 1,3,5)” - 5 points
“Smallerest Straight (3 in-a-row)” - 5 points
“Broken House (2 pairs)” - 5 points
“3 of a Kind” - 10 points
“Small Straight (4 in-a-row)” - 10 points
“Full House (3 of a kind and 2 of a kind)” - 15 points
“Large Straight (5 in-a-row)” - 20 points
“4 of a Kind” - 20 points
“Yahtzee!” - 25 points

1. At the beginning of the game, lay out all cards between everyone (there can be any number of players). Decide a turn order.
2. When it’s your turn, roll the 5 dice up to 3 times (just like the normal game), keeping any specific dice between rolls.
3. At the end of your turn, take a card that matches the dice you have. There may not be a card you can take.
4. The game ends when all 16 cards are taken. (Sometimes, it takes a long time for someone to roll a Yahtzee)
5. At the end of the game, add up all of the points on the cards you have. Whoever has the most points wins!

Sorry!

Backstory:

As a child, I always enjoyed Sorry!. The whimsical nature of racing around the board and capturing opponents' pieces never grew old.

Playing as an adult, however, the game felt too random and lacked strategy. You could never claim that your victory was really the product of any skill (due to the randomness of card drawing), and so you might as well be playing war (the card game).

Here’s an innovative way to “spice up” Sorry!:

Rule Changes:

1. Rather than drawing 1 card each turn, each player gets a hand of 4 cards.
2. During your turn, you must play 1 of the 4 cards in your hand, move your piece, and finally draw a new card.
3. You can use a “1”, “2”, or “3” to leave home.
4. Rather than getting all 4 of your pieces into your own home, you must get 1 piece into each of the 4 homes to win. The winner is the player who does this first.

The Settlers of Catan

Backstory:

Catan was very popular during my high school days. My usual over-competitive group of friends liked arguing (and swearing) over this game.

As I spent more time playing it with a critical eye, there were a number of mechanics I didn’t like:

• The “Robber” - this just felt silly. It didn’t make sense (in the context of the Catan world) that a hexagon could magically stop producing resources.
• Development Cards - this was a good idea as a game mechanic, but poorly executed. I didn’t like that some cards just gave you Victory Points without actually augmenting the board state. At least make all of the card effects interesting!
• Roads not being worth points - again, this is silly. If I’m spending resources to build something, it better be worth at least 1 Victory Point.
• The “Distance Rule” - Why can’t two cities be built next to each other? That’s how cities are built in the real world!
• The Desert tile - this should at least produce sand, rather than nothing.

And so, here are the “Noah Linton Special Catan” game rules:

Rule Changes:

1. 25 Victory Points are needed to win (rather than 10). The following Victory Point values have been updated also:
   • Road - 1 VP
   • Settlement - 2 VPs
   • City - 4 VPs
2. If you roll a “7” - you get to choose any 1 resource from the bank. That’s it. (no stupid robbers!)
3. Players can hold up to a maximum of 8 cards in their hand between turns.
4. The board tiles are placed completely randomly, including the desert.
5. The number tiles are placed completely randomly. In addition, the “2” and “12” numbers are replaced by an extra “3” and “11” respectively.
6. There’s a completely new deck of 20 Development Cards:
   • 4x “Prosperity” - Each player gets 1 resource of their choice.
   • 4x “Good Harvest” - You get 3 resources of your choice.
   • 4x “Lightning Highway” - You build 2 roads.
   • 4x “Switcheroo” - You get to switch any 2 tile numbers on the board.
   • 2x “Shepard’s Dream” - you get 8 sheep resources.
   • 1x “Tornado!” - Randomize all of the tile numbers on the board.
   • 1x “Bad Luck” - This card does nothing.

7. Development Cards can be played on the turn they’re purchased, and can be held between turns.
8. There’s another deck of 7 Achievement Cards:
   • “Longest Road” - The player with the current longest road gets 2 VPs. (to take this card, you must actually build a longer road)
   • “Fenced In” - The 1st player to entirely enclose an area with roads get 2 VPs.
   • “Ore Nor” - The 1st player to have 8 ore in their hand (at once) gets 2 VPs.
   • “Small Town Folk” - The 1st player to have 4 settlements and no cities get 2 VPs.
   • “Merchant” - The 1st player to have access to 2 ports gets 2 VPs.
   • “Lagging Behind” - The last player to build a city gets 2 VPs.
   • “Diversity” - The 1st player to have a city or settlement on all 6 hexagon types (including the desert) gets 2 VPs.