What's so great about having no downtime?
Imagine you are playing a game of Trivial Pursuit. Your turn ends. Before
you get to answer another question, 5 other players may have a turn. Each of
these players will roll the dice a few times and keep answering questions until
they get one wrong. You may have to wait for 15 minutes before you get to
play again! In Wits & Wagers, North
Star Games' trivia game, every player answers every question. The game lasts
for 30 minutes, but you're playing the whole time!
What's so great about having no early elimination?
Imagine you are playing a game of Monopoly. You are out of the game because
you have run out of money. You have to sit on the side and watch TV, while
everyone else keeps playing for 2 hours. Does that sound like fun? When you
start playing a North Star Game, you'll always have the opportunity to play
until the game ends!
What's so great about standard play times?
When a game doesn't always take the same amount of time to play, it tends to
get played less often. Let's say that you're hanging out with some friends
for another 2 hours and you're looking for something to do. You're thinking
about playing Monopoly, but you know that sometimes it takes 1.5 hours and
sometimes it takes 3 hours. You probably won't play the game because you're
not sure if you'll have time to finish it. By contrast, North Star Games
always take the same amount of time to play, so you'll get to play them more often.
What's so great about short play times?
Shorter games tend to get played more often because they're more convenient.
If you want to play a time-consuming game like Risk, you have to plan your
schedule around it. Since North Star Games are short, they can be played any
time - during the week or on the weekend. Plus, you can play a North Star
Game several times in the same amount of time it takes to play many classic
games just once. And that means several times the fun!
Why are some games fun to play over and over again?
Some games become stale after you play them a few times. A good example is
Tic-Tac-Toe because once you have seen all of the different combinations,
you know exactly what to do. Compare that to
Cluzzle, North Star Games' deduction game. In this game, a player can
sculpt an object any way they choose. In the next game, a different player
can sculpt the same object in a totally different way. Even though the rules
of the game are the same, each game takes on a totally different experience.