A card game design meant to emulate a game of horseshoes on a tabletop.

1. a game by Mike Bonafede

2. “Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades” – A clever person
Horseshoes is a game where one must use good aim to score. Mitigating chances
of failure are based on physics. Gravity, inertia, and resistance affect the
horseshoe, so with each toss the player gets a better idea of how to make their
next move. They only have two moves per round, so each shot must be learned
from to make the next one. In order to make this game, I adopted this approach.

3.  Prototyped a dynamic
game board
 Tarot cards to set up a
3x3 grid (shuffled)
 Each card had score
value 0-3
 Random objects for
tokens (quarters,
bottlecaps, picks)

4. The Action: Toss a horseshoe at the pole
The Translation: Place a token on the grid
Team Quarter
Vs.
Team Random Stuff
Through this simple
translation, all of the
dynamics of the game
could be translated.
This formed the core
of the game. Later
design and aesthetic
choices complete the
correlation.

5.  Played 1-2 rounds with
basic rules
• When a token is placed, the
card is revealed
• Place on opponents token to
cancel theirs.
• When all tokens are placed,
score for value.
 Add 2-3 features next round
• When token is placed,
adjacent are revealed
• Add new card type that is
negative
• Add extra row of 3 cards
 Repeat until satisfied

6.  3x3 Grid
 4 Card types (1, 2, 3, 0)
 Reveal card where placed
 Tokens don’t move
 Adjacent cards don’t matter
 Mostly luck based
 No risk/reward system
 4x3 grid
 5 Card types (1,2,3,?,X)
 Reveal nearby to placed
 Tokens can be moved
 Adjacent cards can score
 Skill is decreasing luck
 Risky and safe play is balanced
AfterBefore

7. “It’s almost horseshoes, with hand grenades” – Playtester quote
After nailing down the concept with placeholder cards, it was time to create actual
cards that had the aesthetics and visual cues to help the player understand the
rules. Using the joke about horseshoes and hand grenades became the shell by
which the player could compare to the physical game, with a humorous twist. Each
card is an analogy to something in the game of horseshoes.

8.  Worth 3 points
• Analogy: ringer/pole
 Only 1 in the deck
 Rare objecitve
The maximum score in a
round of horseshoes is 6,
and requires 2 ringers. Thus
there is only one Horse card.
This makes it enticing to go
after when revealed.

9.  Worth 2 points
• Analogy: leaner/pole
 Two of them in the deck
 Uncommon objective
Leaner shots are usually lucky.
They are worth less because they
are almost a ringer. Having 2 of
these cards represents that luck
when one is revealed and the
other is not during play.

10.  Worth 1 point
• Analogy: Near pole
 Three in the deck
 Common objective
Getting near the pole is the
most common way that a
player scores in horseshoes.
Having three assures that the
player has that fallback.

11.  Worth highest adjacent card
• Analogy: Measuring near pole
 Adjacent Grenade zeroes it
 Four in the deck
 Strategic objective
Measuring the distance to the pole is
captured here by checking adjacent
cards to determine score. There is a risk
of unrevealed adjacent cards being
Grenades, however.

12.  Worth 0 points
• Analogy: Foul
 Two in the deck
 Cancel Blank scores
 Sabotage objective
This card gives the player
something to avoid or worry about
on face down cards. They also
add to the strategy of the blank
cards, allowing for sabotaging
ones opponent.

13. “I like how I can play offensively or defensively as needed.” - Playtester quote
In this game the player has to measure the risks of each move. Aiming skill has
been translated to risk assessment over the course of the entire game. Each round,
the player learns more about the strategy their opponent employs. This gives insight
into when to go for a score for short term gain, or cancel theirs for the long term.

14.  Place token on any card on the grid.
 Reveal the four adjacent cards
 Pass your turn
The opening move is
blind, but the strategy is
in positioning. Placing
on a corner only reveals
2, but that token can
never move. Placing in
the middle will reveal 4,
but leave you open to
being sabotaged.

15.  Place token on a card next to another to move it
 The moved token will not reveal other cards.
Moving a token can be
offensive or defensive
depending on who’s is
moved. In this case,
Team Bottlecap placed
theirs on the Almond to
move Team Quarter’s
token to the Grenade.
This move was offensive.

16. Tokens can be stacked on one card
Opposing tokens cancel each other
Canceling a token is ideal
when the opponent claims
a card and moving it will
not work, or when the
player can win the round.
Here Team Quarter tries to
take the Horse, but Team
Bottlecap cancels it by
stacking it on top.

17. 1. Reveal all cards
2. Removed opposing stacked tokens
3. Remove tokens on Blanks next to Grenades
4. Score tokens on Horse/Shoe/Almond
5. Score Blank by checking highest adjacent card
Following this order will
determine the score for the
round. Team Quarter scores 1 for
an Almond, 2 for a Blank
adjacent to a Shoe. Team
Bottlecap scores 1 for an
Almond, and 0 for a Grenade.
The round score is 3-1
These are foam cards, created after a playtester looked through the paper during a game.

18.  Play until reaching the
target score
• Suggested 21, but can
be changed by players
 Winner must win by
+2 points
• This prevents ties /
makes close games
intense
 Shuffle and reset the
grid after a round

19. “Throw the grenade, or you won’t be around to observe the damage,” - Mad Mike
A game will always be Almost done. After several compromises in design choice
the goal is to get it to a playable state and let it go. Otherwise it blows up in your
face. After completing the design, I had reflections on features that never got
implemented and bugs that never got fixed.

20. Some mechanics detracted from game
• Revealing cards when tokens moved; too fast
• No talking rule for team games; too strict
Exact translation overcomplicated game
• Horse was originally Pole; scored for being near
• Shoe was originally Leaner; only movable token
One mechanic was too powerful
• Ability to move token freely when placing another
on top of it was abusable

21.  Quick rounds for fast demonstration
 Basic gameplay is easy to learn
• Players learn more the more advanced tactics over the
course of a game
 Randomized grid makes no one strategy better,
but each choice is still meaningful
• Opponents must evolve strategies based on observing
each others play style
 The game can be easily created!

22. Edge cases
• Two opposing players can claim a Horse with
Blanks, which should not happen.
Team Play
• Team play is not as interesting as in Horseshoes
New Modes
• 4 Player free-for-all with larger grid
• Extra token modes

23. “Kid’s, DO try this at home!” – Responsible Adult