I'm sure it's slightly weird when someone in the office says something like "Uh, I made this card game based on a mostly forgotten decade-old Disney cartoon. Want to play it?" I probably took some strength from the fact the game has already been well received back in my non-work realm. Regardless, after those first fitful starts, we've had some great three- and four-player games... and it has been invaluable to me as a learning tool, in terms of game design, rule tweaks, and graphic layout.

Unlike my usual group, these guys are not pro card gamers. That's not a slight at all, it just means that these folks haven't been playing Magic Etc since 1994. What's great about that is that it forces me to break through all the preconceptions I have about card games and think about how to make the rules clear and concise. Essentially, I'm overtrained. Example: Playing one of my cards on an opponent's turn is nothing to me; I've done it hundreds of times under tens of different game environments. That's the kind of thing I would take for granted, but somebody else needs that explained lest they overlook an opportunity to play a card. And once they get that, then it becomes part of the structure and something they can look for while going through their hand. Several times during the demo sessions, we'd get a couple hands in, somebody would ask something, and I'd say "Oh, I should have pointed that out." And I'd feel stupid for it, because I'd let my long-standing gamer conceit color my instruction.

Now, though, this team is battle-hardened. They know the rules, they know the cards, they know the combos. Speaking as the monkey who designed the game, this is a treat to watch. When somebody throws down a good play, it's like finding a surprise $5 bill hidden inside a cassette of Dire Strait's "Brothers in Arms." We've had lots of really great, back-and-forth games lately (except for one day when Molly won on the second turn)... the only problem being how it eats right out of the lunch hour and into the actual workday. I'm costing my co-workers right on their timecard, so I feel pretty sheepish about that. But we're having fun, right?

Several cards have been altered because of this ongoing playtesting, although I have not posted anything to the website yet. Working on it. We're playing with the initial cardset plus the 20 card expansion. The expansion isn't online yet either; it adds in a bunch of slightly more-complicated cards (as well as a spiffy solitaire variant.) I was sort of thinking this expansion would be the final addition to the game - I spent a lot of time making this set even out a bunch of in-game card ratios - but the continued play makes me want to do more. I have plenty of screengrabs that have not been used, plus there's some great websites out there with more resources. It also helps that Toon Disney is currently airing TaleSpin at 11:00am (and 3:00am) weekdays, and we sometimes flip on the 11am run at work. (For the first time ever, I used the sentence "I should be Tivoing this.") So it's all very inspiring.

And flattering. I mean, I like it. I'd play it all day. But the guys behind Killer Bunnies probably say the same thing, and their game is lousy. So it's rewarding to see others embracing my game. Do I sound like a egoist schmuck yet? I worry about that. I don't want to force this junk on them and be the lame guy at work who makes us play his game and we don't know how to blow him off. But they like it, they understand it, they're good at it... and that's all I need to get a little lift.