Deconstruction: Penguin's Night Out

Penguin's Night Out


Goal of the Game:

The main goal of Penguin's Night Out is to collect all of your penguin buddies that are scattered throughout the board. After collecting them you must be the first player to navigate back to your nest.


Core Mechanic:

At its core, Penguin's Night Out has lots going for it. The core mechanic of this game has to do with how players are able to alter and shape the board in which they are playing on.

The game consists of 2 phases. First a player rolls a single 6 sided die and moves the corresponding spaces. Next they roll 2 dice. These 2 numbers correspond to a domino on the play field. They are now able to select the corresponding domino on the board and move it anywhere on the board, as long as it connects in some way.

Space of the Game:

The game board for Penguin's Night Out is 3D and continuous. Players move on top of dominoes.  The game allows for a constant changing of the board due to its core mechanic of placing and moving dominoes.

Objectives, Attributes, and States:

1. Objectives: The objectives of Penguin's Night out include the player tokens, buddy tokens, and the dominoes in the game space.

2. Attributes: The attributes of the domino objective pieces are their numerical values associated with them. This includes values such as 2:3 and 4:6. The buddy and player tokens do not have attributes tied to them.

3. States: All of the three objects have static states meaning their attributes don't change at all during the game. The domino pieces are able to be moved but do't change in state.


Operative Actions and Resultant Actions:

The operative actions, or basic actions the player can take include the following:

1. Move the player token forward, backward, left, and right
2. Roll the dice
3. Move dominoes to alter the map how they see fit
4. Collect a buddy token

The resultant actions, or the meaningful actions to the grand scheme of the game include:

1. Block an opponent, making them take a longer alternative route to their buddy token or nest.
2. Move "blank" space in front of your opponent making it so they lose their turn.
3. Stun an opponent
4. Move a buddy token space further from your opponent or closer to you
5. Move a nest further from your opponent or closer to you

Skills Players Learn:

Penguin's Night Out is an interesting game when it comes to player skill. Honestly, theres not a whole lots of skill  that goes into playing this game. One could argue that messing with your opponents or "trolling" them by altering the board could count as mental skill.

In a way, trying to look ahead and planning which pieces you are going to change when you can alter the board takes skill. You are in a way attempting to plan how to get your opponent to go where you want them to go or even take a long route.


The Role of Chance: 

Change plays a key role in Penguin's Night Out. The entirety of the game centers around the roll of the dice. Basically all movement done within the game world is based on chance. Even the dominoes the players can move are based off of a dice roll. In order to move a domino you must roll the dice and move the corresponding domino that matches your dice roll.

Print and Play Game Analysis: Penguin's Night Out

For Game Design 1, we were tasked with finding a print and play game and analyze it. My group chose this funny little game called Penguin's Night Out. The objective of the game is to traverse the board, gather your penguin buddies, and ultimately be the first back to the nest.

Story

"You've kept your beak to the grindstone with a hard week of catching fish and keeping eggs warm. Now it’s time to gather your friends together, group at your nest, then head into town to party the night away.

Unfortunately there’s only one dogsled available to go into town, so the first group that’s ready to leave gets to ride in style, while everyone else has to walk. To complicate matters, local drilling is causing the ice to crack and shift unpredictably.

The path that you take to get to your buddies may not be there on your way home. On top of that, the Polar Bear Gang has been making life tough, so you’ll have to be super-sneaky if you need to go through their territory. Even so, you’re not going to let these obstacles stop you. 

You deserve a break, and you’ll be darned if you’re going to make the long, cold, 60-mile hike to town on flipper. Be the first one to gather your buddies up and get home again and you’ll be ready for a…"

Penguin's Night Out

Source: http://www.invisible-city.com/play/113/penguins-night-out

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/19502/penguins-night-out

Basics of Play

On paper Penguin's Night Out seemed much more complicated than it ended up being. The set up time took a little longer than planned, only because we didn't have some of the required pieces. The game requires the use of Dominoes, which we didn't have. 

The game consists alternating rounds or "phases".  In the first phase the player rolls a die and moves his/her Penguin the corresponding number of tiles.

The second phase consists of the player rolling two dice. The player then selects the corresponding domino tile and is able to move the entire tile anywhere on the board.

 For example: If Player 1 rolls a 4 and a 6, they must select the corresponding domino tile and move it.

Overall, I really enjoyed the game. The mechanics of strategy and chance was interestingly balanced. The main goal was to essentially screw over your opponent. In one particular game I was about to win and opponent was able to move the domino in front of my penguin. I had figure out a new way to navigate to reach my destination.

Came across this trailer..

I love stumbling upon great things. I was browsing the internet and found a trailer for Shadow Warrior. Apparently its a remake of the classic from 3D Realms. I feel I should know about the original... Anyways, I'm a huge fan of crazy over-the-top in your face type of games and felt this was definitely worthy of a share. Enjoy.