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The Brumble Manifesto

by J. Arthur Ellis

Game design facts:

• Everyone is a game designer.
• Game design doesn't have to generate a product to be justified.
• New game designers would benefit from finishing their designs more often.

I started making Brumble Games in an attempt to do game design without worrying about product pitches, instead attempting to begin and finish game designs more successfully. Brumble Games have taught me:

• Tabletop games don't have to sacrifice good design to be more accessible.
• More tabletop games should be less expensive.
• Tabletop games should accommodate more players more often.

Therefore, Brumble Games are designed to…

• …prioritize fewer, interactive rules over intricate systems.
• …prioritize fewer, creatively crafted components over high-priced box bloat.
• …prioritize high player counts over lots of stuff for each player

Anyone can design a Brumble Game. Here are the guidelines:

• The design should include 20 or fewer cards.
• The design should not use other components, besides scorekeeping or a couple of standard dice.
• The design should theoretically accommodate an unlimited number of players.
• The game should be produced by hand, on paper, during its design stage.
• After a few iterations, the game should be pronounced "done" and shared with the world in some way.

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Brumble Quest Detailed Rules

Note: The rules printed on the rules card will suffice for 99% of players. These detailed rules are only for masochists.

Setup

1. Shuffle all the cards and form a face-down deck.
2. Each player chooses a character sheet and folds it so that 0 points (gems) and 4 life (hearts) are showing.

How to Play

1. Draw the top 3 cards of the deck and place them face-up on the table far apart. If a card needs to be drawn and deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile and create a new face-down deck. Read each card aloud. Players may discuss their plans at this time, but they don't have to and they may lie.
2. Count "3, 2, 1, BRUMBLE" out loud. On BRUMBLE, every player must simultaneously point at a card. TIP: If playing with an unusually large number of players, place the cards as far apart in the room as possible, and number them 1, 2, and 3. On BRUMBLE, players should hold up 1, 2, or 3 fingers and walk to the card they are indicating.
3. Each player gains (or loses) the indicated points (gems) on the card they pointed to, by revealing or hiding the correct number of gems by folding. IMPORTANT: No matter what else happens, each player gains/loses the points indicated on the card - it does not make a difference whether or not the player loses life.
4. Each player loses 1 life (heart) UNLESS the 'AVOID DAMAGE IF' condition on the card they pointed to is met.
5. If any player(s) have 24+ points, OR if any player(s) have 0 remaining life, the game is over. Otherwise, discard the face-up cards and return to step 1.

Game Over

When the game is over, players with 0 remaining life are eliminated from contention. The remaining player with the most points (gems) wins.

If there is a tie, the player with more life wins. If there is STILL a tie, those players share the victory. If that is unacceptable, the first player to venmo me $5 wins.

If all players reach 0 life simultaneously, play again, but this time pretend you're all in hell.

Special Card Explanations

• Fairy Grotto: Players pointing at the Fairy Grotto gain a life instead of losing a life.
• Cursed Prison: If no player points at the Cursed Prison, ALL players lose a life. As a result, some players could lose 2 life in 1 round. If 1 or more players point at the Cursed Prison, NO players lose the life related to the Cursed Prison.
• Lonesome Peak: Cards with no players pointing at them still count, so players pointing here still take damage if there are cards with no one pointing at them.
• Minotaur's Maze: If playing with so many players that a full circle cannot be formed, players should look their right BEFORE the countdown and choose the first player they see to be the "player to their right."