Coins, in Development, Game Review

Some of the coins from the game

The field of battle lies between you. Across the field you can see your enemy prepared to enter as your forces wait for the orders to advance. Each of them personally selected for this confrontation, a confrontation of winner take all.

I was able to play the Coins at Life, the Universe and Everything (LTUE). This was a demonstration game with the developer to gain feedback as he is still working on it. The basis of the game combines a strategy of selecting your troops for battle, moving them into play, and combatting your opponent. We played one-on-one.

Carl Duzett, the designer, currently has the game setup to be a two player game with a fantasy theme. In our discussion he mentioned he is looking at other variations of number of players, themes, and available coins. I will focus on what I experienced with two players.

The mechanic used for combat is flipping the coin that is the troop piece. One side of the coin focuses on defense while the other is focuses on attack. When the coins first move out into play the defensive side is up, but at some point someone has to attack. The coin is flipped and the result of the flip is where the coin stays. There are also some special effects for different coins.

Some coins have an effect when they move into the battlefield. These one-shot events have the possibility of changing the course of the battle. You need to plan ahead and decide not only which piece should be moved out when. Other coins have special actions when that side comes up. But, the strategy starts before you even move a coin into the battlefield.

You choose which coins are part of the army you field. The set we played had twenty five coins to choose from and we each had identical coins to fill out our six member force. There are also other ways to build an army: each person could choose from their own set of coins, the players could draft from a common pool, you could take turns drafting from individual pools, or you could take turns choosing which coin every player has. I am sure there are other variations you could come up with to build your force. There are more coins being considered, but even with the current number of coins and variations of creating a force, there is great replayability.

With a force of six the game took about fifteen minutes to learn and play. Variability of time can be made with different drafting techniques and the number of coins included in the armies. These variations allow the game to be used as a filler game while you are waiting for other, and the size makes for a good cabin game that can travel with you.

I look forward to seeing how Coins develops. I believe Mr. Duzett has a good solid start and this is one that can be brought to market.

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