Master Magician Developer’s Blog 9/17/2014 

 

I’ve been working on a board game for a year and 9 months now called Master Magician.

I’m trying to find balance, stream line and simplify the game.

The most important element is the audience conversion. The player gaining Fans, converting Skeptics and creating a Loyal Fan base.   This is all represented by cubes in the center of the game board.

I’ve had about 12 play tests so far and have made adjustments each time based on player feedback.

Several of the playtests have gone well, with players having fun and wanting to play again. 

The game has not been as fun for me to play as I would like so far but I have seen and experienced flashes of a cool experience.

People unanimously enjoy the theme of being a struggling street performer and working your way up to performing big illusions in theaters.

 

I recently played Colosseum by Wolfgang Kramer and Marcus Lubke.  This was one of my early Euros and I remember liking it quite a bit when it first came out.  After a few plays though I felt the gameplay a bit narrow and restrictive.  I recently played a variant that opened up the bidding so a player could win more than one lot of show elements (instead of just one per round) and everyone could interact simultaneously during trading (as opposed to one at a time with the active player).  These tweaks made the game better I think but still not as enjoyable as some of my favorite more recent games.

I’ve been playing with the idea of matching the Phase structure of Colosseum though.  There are some strong similarities to Colosseum and  Master Magician and of course some elements that are quite different.

I’ve always wanted a more interesting and dynamic mechanic for taking actions in Master Magician.  Perhaps to take an action you must play a card or receive a bonus action.

Another great game that is similar in that you are building elements to play another is Princes of Florence.  I am amazed at how balanced this game is and the great interaction that happens during the bidding phase and the contest of who gets the best work each round.