Board Game Design Part 2

I just held the second playtest for my board game. It went surprisingly and utterly well! Obviously I still needed to do a bit of tuning and re-design, but there were no broad, sweeping changes to the game this time. I noticed a few big things that really made me happy...

• We completed a full game this time (last time we barely got out of the "first phase" of the game experience). It only took 2 hours, which isn't bad for a 4 player strategy board game that included a lot of rule and design discussion. If I can get a game down to 90 minutes that is a very good sweet spot. I've never done market survey tests for a board game, but I'm willing to wager that games that cannot be finished in a reasonable sitting are either not purchased, or not played more than once.
• We spent about 30 minutes discussing how awful the board layout was during our first test. I heard no such complaints this time. That just means people don't hate it, but it's a good step. I made two significant changes to the board:
• Instead of 3 or more travel spaces between Asteroid Belts or Planets (i.e. gameplay), players could reach a planet AND Asteroid Belt in 3 moves (1 turn). It's a much faster and satisfying game.
• Instead of only 1 planet that can be reached on the first turn (so only the first player gets a planet), there were 5 to choose from. It's a much more balanced game.
• A friend suggested I replaced a hard set "4 spaces per turn" move rule with one in which you gain Fuel Cells. It turns Fuel Cells into a currency you can save and plan against. It was a fantastic addition.
• Another friend suggested I eliminate the Pirate Bidding phase, which was incredibly awkward and ignored in the first playtest, by making Pirate Bounty something you earned via Space Encounter cards. It may need some tweaks but I feel it was a good change.
• There was tons of player negotiation. I love table talk in a board game. I love deals -- diplomacy and back stabs. This was something I specifically sought out in the game and even placed in the rules. I was very glad to see the game naturally lent itself to this.
• The winning player felt he had achieved something when he won. He noted that he had to use strategy and his choices to win. I think that means I did something correctly.
• My rules are too confusing, which is strange because I've spent a lot of time writing and tweaking my rules and text. It makes you think about how hard it is to write laws for a government, much less design a game. With a video game the computer knows the rules and delivers them to you. No negotiation. But at the table, every player becomes a Supreme Court justice. So, I took notes and again revised a lot of things to hopefully be more clear. And in some cases, I just cut the content that I thought was hurting the game more than it was helping.
• There is too much information for the player to learn. I need to simplify things, remove features, and finally, make more information readily available to all players.

Here are my patch notes for the game. You'll noticed I made tons of tiny tuning changes, slight revisions, with a few cuts and splits. I feel I may be approaching more of the balance and polish phase. I think I may have a game soon.

Patch Notes

• Tie breaker changed from "next person to earn a point" to "first person to land on the homeworld."
• Players no longer earn 100 just b/c. Players only earn money based on Planetary Deeds and upgrades.
• Players now place player ownership markers on the planets to denote ownership.
• Changed the number of cards in hand from 6 to 5 to encourage churn.
• Clarified that you must land on a planet to steal funds, so you only steal upon landing. You cannot just sit to steal funds.
• Clarified that you can only Sell planetary upgrades when landed on the planet. However, if you must sell the Upgrade to pay for a debt, you do not need to be on the planet.
• Pirate Attacks now occur every 2 rounds (in a four player game, every 8 turns).
• Cleaned up rules throughout game...
• Changed cost of Intergalactic Laser Designator from 1500 to 1000 to encourage purchase.
• Cut Tractor Beam Planetary Upgrade
• Cut Spaceport Planetary Upgrade
• Clarified Intergalactic Laser Designator usage rules.
• Cut Statue Swap Space Encounter Card
• Modified Gas Station benefit to: "Each gas station adds one fuel cell per turn. If the player lands on a planet with a gas station, they earn 3 Fuel Cells instead. Only one gas station upgrade can be purchased per planet."
• Modified Pirate Disco penalty to: "Pirate Disco forces its owner to pay 100 Credits per turn to each player."
• The Planet Smug now costs 1500 Credits instead of 1000 Credits.
• Added Financial District planetary upgrade: :"Each financial district provides an additional 300 credits per turn to its owner. However, opposing players who land on planets with a financial district may steal 400 credits instead of 200. Only one financial district can be purchased per planet."
• Modified Starship Sabotage Space Encounter card so that it can only be played at beginning of target player's turn.
• Removed confusing benefit from Wallstreet X and brought in bonus for new Financial District upgrade: "Financial Districts on Wallstreet X provide an additional 200 Credits per turn."
• Planet Smaug now pays +300 Credits per turn instead of +400 Credits per turn.
• Tied Planet Kalt's penalty into Fuel Cell: "Whenever any player lands on Kalt they must roll a dice. If they roll a 2 or below they lose 1 Fuel Cell. This can only happen once per landing." 
• There are now 5 Planetary Upgrades, plus one that cannot be controlled.
• Planet Kalt now pays +300 Credits per turn instead of +400 Credits per turn.
• Planet Kalt now costs 800 Credits instead of 1000 Credits.
• Planet Ursus now costs 800 Credits instead of 500 Credits. Immunity from Pirate Attacks is too powerful otherwise.
• Planet Daphne now costs 800 Credits instead of 750 Credits.
• Planet Beelzebub now costs 800 Credits instead of 750 Credits.
• Planet Rat now costs 800 Credits instead of 750 Credits.
• Planet Olga now costs 800 Credits instead of 750 Credits.
• Tweaked Planet Smug's benefit to: "One Statue of Victory on Smug will provide an additional Victory Point." It used to be "all." 
• Clarified on Space Thief Space Encounter card that it's "one planet and its upgrades."
• Replaced Tax Evasion Space Encounter card to Counterfeit Credits. Its rules state: "A player may use the Counterfeit Credits as a way to pay off a financial debt. The player, bank, or pirates will not receive any funds as a result of this."
• Gas Station, Financial District, and Military Garrison all priced from 750 Credits to 800 Credits.  
• "Pirate Income Tax" Pirate Attack Card now forces you to pay 300 Credits per planet owned (up from 200 Credits per planet owned).
• "Protection Funding" Pirate Attack Card now forces two players to pay 750 Credits (up from 500 Credits).
• Modified "Salt the Earth!" Pirate Attack card penalty to: "Targeted player will not receive payment or benefits from planetary upgrades on a planet of their choosing until the next Pirate Attack occurs." 
• Cut "Pirate Corporate Getaway" Pirate Attack card.
• Cut "Pirate Backstab" Pirate Attack card. 
• Modified "A Great Slaughter!" penalty to: "The pirates destroy 2 planetary upgrades from any of the targeted player's owned planets. If no upgrades exist, the targeted player must pay 500 Credits per upgrade."
• Modified penalty for "Pride Cometh before the Fall" Pirate Attack card to 750 Credits (from 500 Credits) if you do not have a Statue of Victory to destroy.
• Clarified play rules of "Pirate Disco" pirate attack card to: "Targeted player must place a permanent Pirate Disco planetary upgrade on a planet of their choice. If there are no available upgrade slots, the targeted player must sell a planetary upgrade to make room. If the player does not own any planets, they must pay 750 Credits to the bank."
• Added "Planetary Auction" Pirate Attack card:"Targeted player must pick a planet that they will no longer own. Targeted player is compensated from the bank for all Planetary Upgrades and cost of Planet as if they were willingly sold. This planet is once again set as discovered and for sale for all players."
• Modified distribution of Pirate Attack cards. There are still 20 total.
• Modified distribution of Space Encounter cards. There are now 50 total (down from 55).
• Cut "A Blowout" Space Encounter card.
• All pirate attack cards are removed. There are now four clear punishments based on bounty level. These punishments are:
• 2 or fewer bounty points: Target player must pay 500 Credits to the bank.
• 3 or 4 bounty points: Target player loses one planetary upgrade of their choice.
• 5 or 6 bounty points: Target player loses their most expensive bounty points.
• 7 or more bounty points: Target player must place the Pirate Disco upgrade on a planet.
• Pirate Beacon Space Encounter card now also adds +3 bounty to the targeted player.
• All Pirate Bounty Space Encounter cards must now be played immediately.
• The 8 planets with abilities are now called "Special Planets" (vs. Normal Planets). These will be randomly dealt evenly to the four players at the start of the game. The players will own these planets, which will be randomly placed and visible on the board. This is to encourage some random distribution so that players don't just conquer a corner apiece. The remaining 7 planets will be randomly distributed on the board and must be discovered and purchased.