The Arty Party Game
Number of Players
3-6
Recommended Ages
8+
Time to Play
30-60 minutes
Mechanics Used
Card Drafting, Social Interaction, Creative Endeavors, Auctions
Elevator Pitch
With 6 ways to play, Haiku is a party game with a more serious tone. The core mechanic is having a set of cards and using them to form Haikus. The different game modes add twists to that simple concept from cooperative mode to an auction variant. New card packs can be sold to add more content for a low price.
Completion Status
Finished but always willing to make adjustments.
A Simple Card Game of Japanese Poetry
In Haiku, the main goal is to use cards with Syllables on them to assemble the Western Idealized version of a Haiku Poem. These Syllable Cards range from 1 Syllable to 4 Syllables and each line must be completed individually. That was the basis for this game but it’s further expanded with having 6 different playing modes of various difficulties. Each mode brings in different elements and components to change the way the game plays.
Haiku Helpers: Designed as an introductory game for children, players will either place a card in front of themselves or another player to assemble silly poems and score points. The game is completed when all players have completed a Haiku.
Haiku Hustle: A race to complete Haiku’s as the players draw up to 7 cards and either completes a Haiku or discards up to 3 cards. The quality of the Haiku is only slightly important as the winner of the game must choose a second winner based on the quality of their best poem.
Haiku Rummy: The quest to complete Haiku’s becomes more heated as other players discards can readily become a part of your next Masterpiece. At the end of the game, players may potential earn bonus points for having created the best Haiku.
Haiku Seasons: In this variant, players attempt to score their Haiku’s in different ways as well as being mindful of when to present their poems before other players. Creating a quality poem may award that player bonus points.
Haiku Auctions: In this version, players bid for an audience with the Emperor to present a poem and gain Favor Card worth points. Each round, the Emperor has certain words he would enjoy hearing in a poem. Accommodate him and you may even gain a bonus.
Haiku Stackers: Purely an Abstract Scoring game, players play their cards to build up or break down a central Haiku to attempt to maximize their points.
Fresh off yet another failed play test of an overly complex fighting game, I wanted to make a game that was fairly simple to play. Needing only 4 types of cards, Haiku was an ideal candidate. This was my second design and proof of keeping it simple, stupid, had real oomph as a motto. After handing it off to several people, it came back with almost universal appeal. So I put the game up on The Game Crafter and hoped for some success while toiling away on other designs. Locally, I could sell the game in a limited fashion but it went completely unnoticed on the website. I would later decide that the game was too simple and so I added a couple modes to make it harder. Around this time, it was time for my first Origins Game Fair.
Despite having a prototype on hand and the artwork looking great, most everyone passed. However, in a small booth in the corner Jeremiah Lee saw it and gave me a contact to Cambridge Games Factory. It was there that Rob Seater helped me further develop it while agreeing to publish the title. This is where the game design currently resides as I’ve not heard in a long time whether or not they continue to plan to publish the game but I did make several revamps and put the current version back up and on sale at The Game Crafter. This is the version Cyrus of Father Geek fame reviewed. He had extremely positive things to say and I’m grateful.
History of Haiku: The Card Game
