Monster Zoo: Draft is a card game that I have been working on for the past month. It’s a lighter, easier to play game with the same theme as it’s older brother Monster Zoo. In the game, players take on the role of new Zookeepers, trying to fill their empty Zoos with Monsters from the wild.
The game’s main mechanic is card drafting (inspired by 7 Wonders & Sushi Go). Players are dealt 7 cards to start the game. Each turn, all players choose 1 card from their hand, plays the card, and passes the remaining cards to the player on their left.
As cards go around, players will be trying to complete sets of Monsters and prevent other players from doing the same. You can try to build a large set for a ton of points, but run the risk that another player will stop you from completing your set. There are also special cards that add deeper strategy elements. The game should feel light and fun to play with a wide variety of ages and gamers.
I think it’s in a good place for playtesting now, so here’s the print-and-play version:
Monster Zoo: Draft is a light card drafting game for 2-5 players that lasts about 20 minutes. I’m eager to hear your thoughts!
Hi M,
Just read through the rules, and had a couple of thoughts/questions. Firstly, does the Full Zoo card reward ALL sets, including Kids and Food? Or does it just reward Monster sets?
Secondly, love the drafting. Have you thought about the possibility/variant of playing cards face down into your Zoo and then reveal/”Adding” them at the end of each round?
Hi Fin,
The Full Zoo card rewards ALL sets, so you’d get points for a full set of Food, but no points for Kids because there is no “set”. Kids are just scored by having the most of them at the end of the game.
I haven’t thought about playing cards face down and then revealing them at the end. I can see pros/cons to it though. On one hand, when the cards are all laid out, you know what other players are trying to do, so you can ruin their strategy by taking cards they need. If that cards are face down, that’s a little harder to do, but it does add an element of surprise and forces players to keep track of the draft more closely. Interesting.