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Quick Look: Uniquecorn
Designer: Roy and Tim
Publisher: Chill Chill Day
Year Published:Unpublished
From the Publisher:As a rising entrepreneur, you have to outsmart your rivals in around 10 fast-paced rounds by pitching unique ideas and cleverly gathering funds. Use strategy and a bit of luck to be the richest player, proving their startup savvy in this competitive race!
Disclaimer: The publisher provided the prototype copy of Uniquecorn. The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.
Review:
Overview:
There are quite a number of card games available from which you can choose, so when a card game comes along that looks different, I’m intrigued. I have an entrepreneurial spirit, so the theme of the game is definitely right up my alley. Seeing that the minimum number of players is 3, I knew this wasn’t going to just turn into another version of War, which means I would be matching wits against other players, which excites me as well.
The rule book is a simple tri-fold that includes setup instructions and a simple overview of the game. Also included is a description of a special card and some special events that take place during the game. I think the rules could be a bit improved with more description and a bit larger font.
Note: Since this is an unpublished game it may be that the rule book is not in its final form.
The setup is a simple process. Place the scoreboard in the middle of the table. Each player chooses a color and takes the associated 10 Pitching Cards, placing their score marker on the scoreboard. Take out all the Counterfeit Corporate Action cards and give one to each player. Shuffle the remaining Corporate Action cards and deal 2 to each player. Randomly put the 3 Double Funding cards into the Corporate Action cards. Shuffle the Breaking News cards and place them next to the scoreboard. Players then randomly set aside one of their Pitching Cards, which will not be used during the game.
In Uniquecorn you are an Entrepreneur hoping to make the best pitch each round earning you points. By the end of the game you want to be the Entrepreneur who makes the best pitches and earns the most points.
The mechanic of the game is simply high value ranking card based rounds. Each round you play a Pitching Card and a Corporate Card hoping to have the highest value at the end of the round. Points are then awarded based on value rankings.
Uniquecorn is played over a maximum of 10 rounds, but may be shorter depending on what cards are played. A start player is chosen to begin the game; however, the main decisions of the game are simultaneous.
Each round the current start player draws a Breaking News card and keeps the card information to themselves. The Breaking News card will affect the outcome of the round, but only the current start player knows how. All players then simultaneously pick one Pitching Card and one Corporate Action card to play. The Pitching Cards are all revealed simultaneously, then starting with the current start player, each player reveals and resolves their Corporate Action card. Finally the current starting player reveals the Breaking News card. Players are then ranked by their remaining Pitch values with the player with the highest value Pitch receiving the most points. The Starting player rotates and another round is played. At the end of the game, the player with the most points wins.
The Corporate Cards add a bit of chaos to the game, but the Breaking News cards, giving the current player a bit of insight, adds just that much more uncertainty. Do you play small hoping the Breaking News cards helps you, or do you play big hoping to win with a high value? Then, do you use one of your Corporate Action cards or save it for a later round? All of this makes gameplay different for each game.
There appears to be some ambiguous or missing rules. For example, there isn’t information on what to do if 2 players are tied with the same value. Since players have to be ranked based on their value, not having a resolution will make you generate a house rule on how to resolve this. Some games we played where turn order was used, some games were a friendly tie, and some games we said they cancel each other out. All of these seemed to be similar solutions and did not break the game.
Games of chaos and uncertainty, card games
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Thomas Shepherd- Reviewer
I grew up loving to solve puzzles, play games, and have fun. In my younger years I had fun playing pencil games, enjoyed the creativity of playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends, and generally hanging out with others. My favorite thing to do was to make puzzles of all kinds, mazes, word games, picture games, etc.
Sadly my career took me in a different direction, solving computer problems rather than gaming problems.
Gaming came back into my life, though, in a big way about 15 years ago, and I have held onto it since. I still enjoy designing games and have 9 published titles, which I did through my own game publishing company, Toresh Games, prior to the Covid pandemic. Sadly I was not able to sustain the company through the pandemic.
I highly encourage people to play games, make friends, and have fun. As a game enthusiast, I would love to see a return to games as the best social media platform for the masses.
All of Thomas Shepherd’s reviews can be found HERE.