We drank, laughed, wept, vomited and had a hell of a good time!

Wow! “Drink up!” fourth version was a blast! First, if you have no idea what I’m writing about, I invite you to check the previous posts in the “Drink up!” category. If you’re already familiar with the game and want to find out how the latest play test went, read on.

A little more than a week ago I invited friends to try the earliest version of the beer game “Drink up!”. The seven of us quickly went over the new rules and eagerly started to play. Before we knew it, we’ve been playing for a good 2 hours, drank 60 beers and finished a quarter of a bottle of vodka!

It was epic. Even though everyone played well, most of us got nowhere near level 10 (King of Kings). Still there was one player who admirably vanquished us all. After getting to level 9 (King) and taken a serious beating (amount of sip given) from us, she disappeared from the table. Two minutes later she comes back to the table and without any shame, like a real warrior would do, confesses to me that she went vomiting and that now she feels ready to kick our asses.

Well it worked! She got to level 11 (Beer Divinity) and made us drink into oblivion! Good times :).

Even though it doesn’t feel finished yet, this version felt well balanced and only minor modifications will be needed until our next game.

The next morning we felt great thanks to the toilet permit rule. You see, every time you want to leave the table, you need a permit that can only be acquired by drinking a glass of water.

Hydration = good, drink your water people!

March 7, 2011March 8, 2011 by Dave Richard Categories: "Drink Up!", Drinking Games, ProjectsTags: drinking 2 Comments

“Drink up!” version 4 is finally ready…mostly.

"Drink Up !" Game Booklets

The fourth “official” version of “Drink Up!” is finally ready! Good thing, since tomorrow is game night, yeah! 🙂 I’ve worked hard to make it more enjoyable and appealing. What you see in the picture on the left are the game booklets. Each player has a booklet that covers the 11 levels of this beer game.

Each page/level has a table of consequences and powers corresponding to each number on a 20 sided die. The higher your level, the more powers you get against your friends and the more you make them drink! Which is a good thing, because the winner is the last player still standing up!

The first version of the game was so hardcore that we couldn’t play for more than 30 minutes and be totally drunk! For this version, I’ve tried my best to balance each power and consequence so the game is longer and more enjoyable. It was also important for me to get more interaction between the players. Instead of getting random consequences from your own thrown dices, it will rather be your friends’ power that will make you drink.

It will take tomorrow’s play test to see if it’s well done.

I’ve also updated the look of the game material. The first versions were written on 1 sheet of paper by hand. We made so many modifications with each game that the sheet became almost unreadable with scratched words and rectifications. At some point we printed out new lists on one booklet that we would pass to each player on their turn. It was annoying since no one had the same level. This time, I printed each player a booklet that has a new colourful style.

I did one noob mistake in the process though! The booklets look vibrant on a computer screen, but once printed out the colors fade and are less interesting. I should’ve drawn them in CMYK instead of RGB.

I can’t wait to try this new version. But before we can play, there is still the treasure cards to do. They hold one-off abilities that bend the rules of the game. Better get to work!

February 24, 2011 by Dave Richard Categories: "Drink Up!", Drinking Games, Projects Leave a comment

Hey you! Drink up!

There is a now “famous” beer game among my buddies and me that we regularly play called “Drink Up!” The game itself is quite simple: the more you drink, the more you level up. The higher your level is and the more you will have to drink, but you also get more powers over your friends to make them drink even more.

Each time we plan for a match, I get the chance to make the game a little better. That’s the key of making a good board game, play-testing, keeping and open-mind and doing lots of iteration!

This time though, instead of modifying the rules, I decided to polish the look of the game before our next match. Since I’m in the mood for pixel art these days, I decided to go with a super low resolution look, like if it was an arcade game.

What you see here in the illustration are the characters of the game from level 1 to level 11.

You can see the original pixel work in my gallery @Pixel Joint:  http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/59454.htm

February 8, 2011February 13, 2011 by Dave Richard Categories: "Drink Up!", Drinking Games, Pixels, ProjectsTags: Game Leave a comment