Attention, numbskulls!
Our skeleton family is getting bigger. On October 6, we will launch a new Kickstarter campaign for our next game: MUD.
MUD in a nutshell
MUD is a “take-that” style card game that features a unique risk/reward mechanic.
Most of the deck is comprised of voter cards — each one features traits about the voter. You take turns placing voter cards from your hand onto a voter map (face up in front of you), and once someone gets three voters in three regions who all share the same political leaning, they win! However, the deck is also peppered with RAT cards, which give you special advantages, like stealing other voters, etc. If you choose to play a RAT card, you must also take a Scandal card — these contain unique punishments.
You don’t live out your scandal in the moment, but instead wait with it face down in front of you until someone plays a DIG card on you. This will force you to turn over your scandal and you must obey with whatever the punishment says.
MUD is a totally separate game… but a natural successor
Like Side Effects, MUD is a friendly vindictive game, involving backstabbing and double-crossing. However, there are many elements that make MUD unique in its gameplay.
Find your MUD-y personality
You decide how corrupt you want to be! Play a RAT if you want to take on the risk of a scandal, but you don’t have to. Some players (Jen) play copious amounts of RATS and just bear the consequences.
Knowledge of America is unnecessary but helpful
You could think Abe Lincoln is Abe Froman (the sausage king of Chicago) and still have fun playing this game. However, all the scandals in the game are coy references to real American political scandals — it’s not essential to know them, but it is an added bit of fun.
But here’s where some knowledge of America comes in handy…
The Voter Cards Demographics
The voter cards look like this…
...And come in suits! Only instead of hearts and clubs, they’re political leaning, US region, and income bracket. (Undecideds are wild).
There are four regions (Northeast, South, Midwest, and West) and each region has 24 voter cards assigned to it. HOWEVER… the demographics of each region are different! The south, for instance, has more conservative voters than the northeast. Wealthier Americans tend to live in the coastal regions, whereas the Midwest is dominated by the working and middle class. These numbers were gathered from the Pew Research Center and skewed so that the game is still balanced — in other words, there are only slight differences between the number of voters in each region, but it could still provide an advantage for those who know a thing or two about America.
When and how much?
We launch on October 6 and finish a day before the presidential election. There will be many fancy tiers to choose from, but just the game will cost $25 plus shipping.
Hitting stretch goals allows us to beautify the game in myriad ways, adding improved quality, additional cards, stunning finishes, and even tokens. And the best part... we're including a tier that gets your portrait into the game!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS Tuesday, October 6. Let’s make it a Super Tuesday.
P.S. Mud fans are henceforth called mudrats.