LOOP is live (Balance the Loop, be happy)
Update: LOOP: Life Of Ordinary People is live on Kickstarter and the campaign will run for 42 days. You may pledge for a copy of the game, or go for the full collection that includes an expansion pack, a solo manga campaign and challenge scenarios.
Our preview post below was published on March 31.
LOOP: Life Of Ordinary People is a 1-6 players resource management card game in which you are trying to become as happy as possible by balancing the work-buy-consume routine in your life. It can be played competitively, cooperatively, or solo, and it will launch on Kickstarter on April 2. Each of the illustrations in the game has been made with a single continuous line.
In the solo mode, you will first choose a character out of the ones compatible with the solo game (each of them with a unique ability), and set up the material and activity cards display on the board. You also receive a hand of 5 Favour cards, and a set of 4 goals. On each turn, you will have to take one of 3 available actions: Work, Buy, or Consume.
If you choose to Work, you will gain a salary (3 coins), and lose one happiness point. If you choose to Buy, you will spend your coins to gain up to 3 material cards. Each material has dots around it, showing its quality. If you spend one coin, you get a low quality item you can use only once, and if you spend 4 coins, you will receive a high quality item that will sustain 4 uses. When a material is used up, it goes to your landfill. You will lose one happiness for every 3 materials in your landfill at game end.
If you choose to Consume, you will pick one activity card from the display, as long as you have the required materials. For example, the Picnic activity requires a blue and a red material. If you have them, you will turn the blue and red material cards around to show you spent one of their dots, and gain the Picnic activity card. Activities give you one happiness each, and you can store up to 3 on your player board. The activities you acquire may also help you achieve the objectives of your goals cards.
At the end of each turn, you have to discard one material card from the deck. Favour cards will allow you to exchange the materials you have with others from the display, or return them to the material deck in exchange for coins.
You win the game if you reach 11 happiness points before the material deck is depleted.
The earning values seem off. When I choose to Work I only gain 1 salary coin and lose about 20 happiness points.