Game: Rapidough
Since I didn’t have this game, I used play dough to simulate.
- Theme: Rapidough is like Pictionary but with clay.
- Mechanics: Players are split into two teams. Each round, a player from each team becomes the ‘modeler’. The two players draw a card that informs them of the word or concept they need to convey through molding the clay. The other players in the teams then guess what the word is based on the shape of the clay. Players are allowed to animate and add sound effects to accompany their clay figures. The team that guesses correctly wins that round and are allowed to take a bit of dough from the losing side by using a plunger tool. This makes the game harder/easier for the teams because they now have more/less clay to work with. A team loses when they don’t have enough clay to fill the plunger.
- Kind of fun: This game involves social fun with all players engaging in the game at all times through shaping the clay or guessing the word. Since there is a team element as well, there is rivalry and collaboration that is fostered.
- Graphic design reinforcement: I wouldn’t say that this game has the best graphic design, but I also don’t think it is necessary. For materials, players are given small mats to put under their clay as they mold, as well as two large chunks of clay, one yellow and one blue. They also have some devices like the clay plunger (which takes a small chunk of clay).
- Uniqueness: I think that having the losing teams give the winning team some of their clay adds an interesting twist to this Pictionary-style game. Using the plunger to remove the chunks of clay ensures that the same amount of clay is being removed each time. It also gives the game an ending point – if a team has so little clay that they cannot fill the plunger and give it to the winning team, they officially lose.
- Abuse handling: I would say that the plunger makes sure that a team is not trying to cheat the other team by giving them a tiny bit of clay. It regulates the clay passing so it is fair.
- Possible improvements: I could picture the clay getting dry and dirty after being played with many times. I don’t know exactly what type of material is being used for this game, but it may be helpful to look into alternatives to clay that are longer-lasting and won’t stick to everything. Stealing and giving away clay each time would also make the clay a mess of colors so after a few rounds it would be hard to separate the clay colors out for a future game. Maybe it is better to keep the clay color the same?
