Overview:

In Pixel Princess and the Exuberant Suitors you will race up Pixel Mountain against other suitors to win Pixel Princess' hand in marriage.  Along the way up, you must collect gifts to present to Pixel Princess at the top of the mountain.

Board:

• For 2-4 players.  Ages 12+
• Time to complete challenge:  more than 15 minutes O__o
• Time to complete a game:  30-60 minutes?

Game Components:

• 1 board
• 4 colored player tokens
• 10 suitor cards
• 25 gift tokens (5 of each color)
• 100 action cards (detailed below)
• 3 road-block tokens

Game Rules:

• Randomly place 25 gift tokens throughout the board (TBD there may be 25 predetermined locations for where these placements occur)
• Players select a player token.
• Players randomly select a suitor card.  Each suitor has a special ability. (see Suitors appendix)
• Shuffle action cards and place in a pile face down into a "draw deck"
• Each player begins the game with 6 action cards.  If they start the game with zero move cards, they may discard all their cards and redraw.
• At the beginning of each turn, players draw cards until they have 6 cards in hand.  Players take turns using these cards to perform actions.  The card types are as follow:
  • (x15) Move 1 space (aka The Bridge Card - allows players to travel across the green bridge paths in either direction)
  • (x15) Move 2 spaces
  • (x10) Move 3 spaces  (cannot be used if you are carrying more than 10 gifts)
  • (x5) Move 4 spaces  (cannot be used if you are carrying more than 8 gifts)
  • (x5) Move 5 spaces  (cannot be used if you are carrying more than 6 gifts)
  • (x10) Steal - when played against an opponent, a player may steal either a gift or an in-hand action card from him/her.
  • (x10) Break - when played, the targeted opponent must discard one gift or an in-hand action card.
  • (x20) Escape - when played, a targeted opponent my escape the effects of a steal or break.
  • (x2) Block - when played, the player places a roadblock token on the board.  This stays in play until a player spends one turn on that square to clear it.
  • (x7) Special gift card - when drawn, the player can hold onto this for bonus points but this card occupies one of their 6 cards in hand.
  • (x1) Unexplicable Attraction - this is like shooting the moon.  If you can reach the top of the mountain in last place with this card in hand, you will get a 10 point bonus.
• Move cards cannot be used to move backwards (except on green bridges)
• Gifts are acquired by landing on spaces with the gift.
• Steal and Break can be play in motion.  i.e. the attacking player does not have to be on the same square.  They only need to pass by them or be in an adjacent square.
• Used cards are placed into a discard pile which are reshuffled and are used to replenish the draw deck when the draw deck cards have been used up.
• Player scoring the most points (aka tricks) at the end of the game wins
• Love at First Sight - A player reaching the top with 15 points (not counting courtship points) automatically wins.
• After the first player reaches the top, green bridges can no longer be played.

Scoring:

• 5 points for 1st player up the mountain
• 1 courtship point (max +5) for each turn you stay at the finish (this is intended to motivate other players to finish up while you accumulate free points)

• 1 point for each gift player brings to top of the mountain
• 5 points for player with the most of one category of a gift.
• 5 points if player is able to color at least one of each gift type/color

• 1 point for each special gift card collected

Suitors & abilities:

• Ham Stuart - can spend a gift and turn it into a roadblock
• Saul Spiderguy - "adjacent" squares range extended by 1
• Peppy Barrel Roller - can use move cards as break actions
• Guts McWorth - can use move cards as escape actions
• Moustachio Sanchez - gains ability to use move 2 cards to cross green bridges
• Dr. Cinnamon - wins any tiebreaker (if two players are tied for the victory or if tied in a "most of one category"
• Cherry Bigglesbee - with move 5, 4, and 3 cards this suitor can choose to move any fewer steps but no fewer than 2.
• Earl of Halibut - can discard any card to get gifts in adjacent squares.
• Prince Prawn - can draw 3 cards if at any point in the game, he has 0 cards in hand.
• P.T. Kwanger - once at the finish, he can prevent other players from acquiring additional courtship points.

Notes:

• Rules seem complicated
• Strange theme may not be correctly matched with target audience
• Numbers are all 'arbitrary' needing much play-testing and tuning
• Concern if players will interact with each other enough to use action cards against each other.
• The more cards you use, the more actions you take.  Enough encouragement to use your cards?  Do not want to reward idle players.
• Some rules are intended to mix up how the game can be played such as Love at First Sight and Unexplicable Attraction.