As I mentioned last time, I’m experimenting with a pretty big change for Foxes (formerly Wiccage). The idea here is to eliminate the Draft card to make game play smoother and faster. There are some other changes I’d like to try which follow on from that idea. The short thing is that there’s now a new rules document with the new changes, along with a new set of cards. If you’d like to try it out, let me know how it goes. The changes, along with their rationale, follow:

• No more card drafting! This is, by far, the biggest change. This was suggested by a partner I’m talking with, and he’s already tested this a fair bit and likes the change. The idea here is to simiplify the game a little bit, while trying to retain the tactical interest. This is the change I’m going to examine most carefully. If it works out and the game still retains the richness I want, it’s a big win for the playability of the game.
• A new rank! One thing about the old arrangement of cards is that I wanted the top card of the suit to have the forced play ability, but it was causing me trouble with the “all odd ranks have special powers” thing. Adding another rank with the old scheme doesn’t work, because then you end up with an odd number of cards. Adding two ranks doesn’t help, because then your top rank is even again. And on it goes. But, with the new scheme of not dealing the whole deck, I can add an 11 rank, and move the former 10 ability up. As a bonus, this gives a little separation between the 11s and 9s, which means the off-suit top ranked cards are a little more powerful, and not just for pulling out 9s.
• Some changes to scoring! Under the new scheme, you aren’t guaranteed to have all 7s played, so the majority scoring for them no longer works. But that’s OK, I’ve long been considering having them each worth a point. I also moved the two trick scoring things up to two points, which helps balance them against the 7s and the goals a bit better.
• New Goals! Because you’re now holding a larger hand at the beginning of the game, the Goals needed be tougher. I also made a change I’ve long considered, which is giving the even cards a purpose - there are now goals keying off them specifically. The goals are also worth fewer points compared to the end-Round scoring.
• Re-deals! In order to give people a little bit more of a decision on re-deals, and because they’re more of a hassle than they were before, they’re limited to once per-game now, per-player.

That’s it for now. Please take a look and if you give it a try, I’d love to hear from you.