FORTRESS: Inspired by Tic-Tac-Toe

Description

As Kings/Queens of two warring countries, a wall of defense must be erupted to defend your own thrones. Send guards to capture a line of fortresses and secure your victory. This simple, yet tactical game is played with a standard deck of cards and will leave players in suspense after every move. 

Materials
• Flat Surface

• Standard Deck of Playing Cards (no Jokers)

Rules

Prep

1. Remove the Jokers from the deck of cards
2. Shuffle the cards thoroughly
3. Flip 9 cards face up in a 3x3 grid between the players
4. Divide the rest of the cards roughly in half and split between players

Gameplay

1. The first player flips their top card and puts it on top of a card pile that’s 1 above or 1 below (+/- 1).
2. Players take turns flipping a card over and placing it on top of a pile.
3. If the player can't put the card down, they place the card to the side. When their next turn comes, they must use that card and put it on top of a pile if they can, which counts for their turn.
4. The player that places the 4th card on top of a pile claims that spot (One player flips only the top card of the pile over and turn it horizontally while the other player flips the entire pile upside down to mark the spot)
5. The first person to get three in a row (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal) wins the game. 

Bonuses/Variations

1. For a faster game, try allowing the same card (doubles) to be placed on top
2. Change the number of cards needed to claim the pile
3. Include the jokers as special cards: when a player draws a joker, they can automatically claim a spot on the board with it, regardless of how many cards on top or simply use it as a wild card to be placed on top of any pile. 

After coming up with this game, I tested it for an hour with my younger brother and I found it to be fun and competitive and overall a good time passer. The fun comes in the form of suspense the game creates as your fate lies in the heart of the cards. You never know who’s going to win until the very end when someone actually does, so there’s always a chance for the underdog to turn the tables. 

While testing in class, I discovered it’s possible to end in a draw; one spot needed by both players was unable to be claimed after both players ran out of cards. This, however, seemed like an edge case that rarely happens, but it does happen, it gives both players even more suspense as they near the end of the game and continuously flip their cards over, waiting to see who gets to claim that spot. 

This game can be played from ages 5-100+, since it is inspired by Tic-Tac-Toe, which is the most simplest game to play with all ages, gender, and cultures. I wanted this game to be widely accessible so I chose to use a standard deck of cards with no extra materials needed. If I had more time, I would definitely like to try and extend this game to encompass more players which probably means experimenting with using more decks of cards. If I wanted to make this game more exclusive (something that needs to be bought so profit can be gained), I would redesign the cards of the game to fit the narrative and to enhance gameplay. Two types of cards would be created—Guards and Fortresses. One deck of cards would have drawings of generals and guards for players to use and another deck of cards would have different drawings of fortresses on them to be used for the grid. Additional fun facts about guards, historically real fortresses, or old tactics used to capture fortresses in the past can be written on them. Different metal tokens of imaginary family crests/emblems can be used to mark the spot claimed by each player.