Dig Deep
Roll dice, find gems, make money.
9/2/2017
Chicken Scratch
The creative writing party game.
Posted on 1/8/2017 by Tim Rice
Last Updated: 1/6/2019
Status: Finished/Unpublished
- 4-8 Players
- Ages 12+
- Playtime: 30-60 minutes
- Designer: Tim Rice
Hello reader! I am here to introduce my newest game design: Chicken Scratch. I've designed several games before this one, but this is the first one that I think is good enough to move to the blind playtesting phase. I've played it with quite a few different groups and it was a great experience every time. It works well with just about anyone that can read and write, and it allows for some real creativity as well. I'm quite proud of it, so I wanted to share it here, give a brief overview, and if you're interested in helping me test it, I've made the necessary files available below.
Game Overview
Chicken Scratch is a party game where players work together to write crazy stories. To begin, players start writing a story using a prompt from a deck of prompt cards. After a minute of writing, players pass their story to the left and continue a new story. This continues until everyone has contributed to every story. Each player gets a secret word card each round that they're trying to get other players to guess, so while contributing to each story, players will be integrating hints related to their word into their writing.
After all the stories are written, players take turns reading them aloud. As the stories are being read, players are able to write down guesses for which words they think other players have. Players score points by guessing words correctly and also by getting some (but not all) other players to guess their word.
Game Files
To play the game, the only things you'll need are lined paper, pencils, one six-sided die, and a way to time a minute (a watch, phone, or sand timer from another game will work fine), and of course the cards (included below). I printed mine on two different colors of cardstock.
- Instructions: instructions.pdf
- Word Cards: word_cards.pdf
- Prompt Cards: prompt_cards.pdf
If you do play it, I would be eternally grateful if you (and anyone you played with) filled out this survey. It asks some basic questions about your experiences with the game, which will help me make it the best it can be. I'll do my best to credit you as a playtester if the game is ever published.
Finally, if you're a publisher and are interested in this game, email me at partyhatpotato@gmail.com to make my day.
Thanks for reading, and if you decide to help me test my game then I'm even more grateful. I hope you guys enjoy it.
UPDATE (4/18/17): Over the past few months I've gotten some great feedback from playtesters (huge thanks to everyone that took the time to test it!), so I've made a few minor modifications to the word cards and a couple rule changes in response. I'm moving this project's status from 'Prototype' to 'Unpublished', and I plan to start pitching the idea to publishers. Of course, I'll probably continue to fine-tune the game in this phase, so feedback is still very much appreciated!
UPDATE (5/2/17): Updating pictures to showcase the latest components.
UPDATE (1/6/19): Changed the name of the game from SHAREagraphs to Chicken Scratch.