Have you ever wanted to make a game?

I have had many scraps of game ideas and even play tested some of them, but I never fully dedicated myself to developing them. I think I’m too fond of chasing ideas to happily settle down with one.

So, I had a game idea. It was neat or at least I thought so. You collect items from a scrap heap: a door handle, a broken record player, an old shoe, etc. Then work your mental wizardry to create your own invention from these items. I play tested this with my family and it flopped with them. They said it was too much work creating a presentation and drawing these items, or it was too difficult to come up with inventions so quickly. Granted, I could have still worked on developing the game, but like my previous game ideas, I just decided to shelve this one too.

I was frustrated but determined to create a game my family would enjoy.  What would be something most anyone could enjoy I wondered. I thought of the electronic fishing game where the plastic fishes nip at your magnetized fishing pole. Nice theme I thought and an underutilized one. How do you create a fishing card game though? What might mimic the feel of fishing?

The first prototype wasn’t much at all. I created a bunch of different sized fish like small, medium and large mixed them in a pile along with a small, medium, and large fishing pole to catch the fish, along with some hazard cards and a card that can upgrade and downgrade your fishing pole. I put all these in a pile and had each player take their turn picking up a card. The pole you picked determined what fish you could catch. If you had the right pole you could pick up the fish from the pile or if not, it swam away.

There was no real tactic or strategy to play, and it was ridiculously simple, but it had enough of an appeal for my parents to find it playable. This was enough incentive for me to continue. So, I did.