Grappling with the audience

I’ve had some feedback from my playtesters, and one thing is very clear. There are two different audiences for this game.

One audience is experienced boardgamers. They are looking for something which doesn’t seem predictable, which keeps their interest, which plays smoothly, and isn’t too easy.

The other audience is activists. They are buying the game because of the theme. They like the idea of games changing the world. They probably know the traditional games such as Cluedo, or Scrabble, or Rhummy, but they aren’t familiar with many modern games. They don’t want it to be too hard.

Obviously every game has something of this problem. However, in this case I think the audience range is wider than usual. And of course that presents Disarm the Base with a little bit of a problem. How can it be a complex, difficult game with twists and turns, but also a simple, easy to play game?

I’ve already incorporated changing numbers of guards. But maybe there’s also something about different ways of drawing cards. I’m going to have a play around and get back to you.