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.