Category Archives: SharkBait

This turned out to be a longer post than I intended.  So, for the “tldr” crowd: SharkBait went out via the PPP and I got great feedback from Tom G. So, I made major changes. Feedback is appreciated.

Here are the latest rules: SharkBait Rules Booklet (21)

As Protospiel-Milwaukee gets closer, I am prepping each of the different games I plan to bring along.  As I get each of them ready, I’ll try to post something about them here.  For example, I’ve posted recently about Cosmic Critters (including rules) and For Goods and Honor (rules coming soon).  I even plan to post a full set of rules for my behemoth (relative to most of my designers), Magistrate, before I leave for Milwaukee!

One design that I had fairly far along — or so I thought — was Sharkbait … a family-style dice game about saving fish from being eaten by sharks. (more…)

This week has been extremely productive in a couple of ways.  The top two, from a game-related standpoint are the release of the print-and-play alpha version of “King of Danger” (my Castle Danger themed trick-taking card game) and my polishing of the written rules for SharkBait.

As mentioned in a previous post, SharkBait is a family style dice game and I showed off some of the Chevee Dodd artwork I’ve had the pleasure of working with as I get this prototype into shape.  My intention is to get this game tested and honed over the next couple of months, and to pitch it to game publishers that target the family game market.  (I’ll pause here to give Mr. Dodd a big shout-out … because not only is he a skilled artist and game designer, he was also instrumental in getting me through this rule-writing process, which I often struggle with.)

So, getting the rules into a publishable format (I plan to use the saddle stitched booklets now available through TheGameCrafter.com) is a big step.  I need to be able to send the game off to groups to “blind test” the game … and that requires the rules to be easy to follow without me around to answer any questions or to give any guidance.

If you’re interesting in reading through the rules (these are not a print-and-play copy of the game … just the rules), you can download a copy of them here: {original file had 11 downloads, 4 responses} … UPDATED FILE: SharkBait Rules Book (updated) (37)

I’d appreciate any feedback that you have.  You can post a comment below, send me an e-mail, or post at me via Twitter or Facebook.

For the past couple of months now, I’ve been referring vaguely on Twitter about a “super-top-secret dice game”, and even linked to a generic dice game rule set to get some feedback a core mechanic for a new design.  Well, here’s that design I was hinting at — SharkBait, a family-style round-the-table dice game.

Theme-wise, you are helping to guide fish away from being eaten by sharks … or, whenever the sharks fight, to get a close look at the sharks.  The “sharks” and “fish” are dice, and the core rules determine how you place the rolled dice on a scoring board.  At the end of a player’s turn, the fish on the board are scored based on how the sharks are setup and where the fish are located compared to the sharks.

Your score with the dice will let you pick up a scoring token — the higher the score, the further on the scoring track you are able to move your pawn.  After seven rounds, the player with the pawn furthest down the track is the winner.  (There are a few more interesting twists to the rules, but I’m waiting to post all of the details until I get those honed a bit more with additional testing.)

But, I wanted to share the prototype artwork with you, because I’m very fond of it … (more)

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