THE BREAKFAST CULT 

By: Parker Crandell, Maddy Sutton, Nina Demirjian, Ren Hughes

Created in: Intro to Game Design Fall 2017

description

The Breakfast Cult was my first successful large scale board game design. It got an S rating from the professor and is personally a favorite project of mine. The goal was to make a board game that not only felt thematically dramatic but was mechanically tense as well. I wanted the game to feel cruel and force players into conflict by making them hurt each other. That made play testing a main focus for us. We had to make sure the players felt in control and were communicating even when the cards weren’t in their favor. With the advice of our professor, we decided to always tune upwards. Instead of softening the effect of our cruelest cards, we instead balanced them out with beneficial cards that were just as exciting. My favorite aspect about this game is its theme, the game as a really fun mix of horror and humor that really shines in its visual design. I loved writing the descriptions and effects for the cards. Being able to tell a story with just a few sentences and some numbers will always be captivating to me.

Abstract

Trapped in a detention group without the supervising teacher, you play as teenagers with some very fatal flaws, all trying to survive ten days of a deadly apocalypse that has suddenly arrived at your school. The Breakfast Cult is a narrative game filled with tragedy, death, and horror both existential and social. Everyday something new and terrifying happens, causing someone to have to leave the detention room. Whenever a player leaves, they automatically lose one health and receive an event card detailing what happens when they leave. These event cards will have different effects based on how many insanity cards a player has. Players will accrue more and more insanity over time ramping up the intensity of the game. Insanity cards affect the way players vote, their health, and sometimes who will be sent out to the depth of chaos. The goal of the game is to get everyone out alive, but it won’t be easy. Will your ragtag detention crew be able to coordinate, remain sane, and eventually survive?  

RULES

The GOAL of this game is to have everyone survive to the end of ten days.

• The game starts by setting out all the pieces in the appropriate places on the boards and everyone getting a Fatal Flaw card.

  • Fatal Flaws are different actions that a player will have to do within the game written directly on the card. These cards are revealed to the group at the beginning of the game

  • The first day card is always the same no matter what, but the other day cards should be shuffled and then randomly assigned on the middle board.

  • Everyone also receives a desk board to keep track of their insanity points as well as their health.

  • Everyone starts with 5 health points. These are represented by erasures.

  • Insanity cards should be in a pile on the middle board. Insanity cards have specific actions a player must perform but are held in a hand. Players must play one insanity card each round unless they do not have any. After using the card, it becomes insanity points. The amount of insanity you have dictates what actions happen during Events

  • Event cards are also in the middle board. Whenever a player is voted out to go, they flip over an event card. Event cards are secret but the action is not. These actions can hurt or benefit depending on your insanity points.

  • Each round, a day card is flipped over. You first read the card, perform whatever action is on the card, and then vote who should “leave the classroom”.

  • Before the voting sequence, players place down the insanity card they wish to use. Normally insanity cards are hidden unless it explicitly says that it should be revealed.

  • If an insanity card has an effect after the voting sequence, it can then be revealed.

  • The player who is voted to go must flip over an event card and perform whatever action the card says. Actions may vary for events depending on the number of insanity points a player has.

• Every time a player is voted to leave, they must lose a unit health.

  • If a player dies, there are still ways for them to come back to life within the cards. Dead players can also still vote.

  • The game ends when all players are dead or at least one player makes it out of the last day alive.