About
WALLS - Race Through a Changing Maze
$29,081
677
Walls is a maze board game where players try to reach the finish space first. It can be difficult reaching the end when players move the walls to block your path.
Realistically, the game takes between 10-15 minutes to play. However, we know there are plenty of strategists who carefully plan their moves - which is why we said the game takes 15-30 minutes.
Also, my 5-year old daughter loves to play the game. However, she doesn't quite understand all the strategy behind Walls. This game could easily be for younger ages, but we've found, for maximum strategy in game play, that ages 8 and older is ideal.
How to play Walls video (3:00):
Most games on the market can be described by mixing two or three games. "It's like Monopoly and Settlers of Catan had a baby, while Jenga raised it as a single parent." However, Walls is a new game, with a custom game piece required for the basic mechanics of the game to work. The custom piece is the Wall.
The wall piece has a peg that plugs into the game board, allowing the piece to pivot around a single point. This means that for each piece, there is the potential of changing the maze 4 times. With 99 walls in the board, that makes...
There are a handful of games out there that may change with each play, but Walls is guaranteed to be different every single time you play.
I am a scout master of the local boy scout troop. We decided we wanted to do the Game Design merit badge. After an hour of brainstorming, we came up with the basic concept of the game.
After another session of cutting up paper and using a broken down cardboard box as a board, we had our first prototype. However, the first prototype presented with a handful of broken game mechanics that needed some serious tweaking.
Initially we called the game "Labyrinth."
After taking the concept home and working with a board, push pins, and foam-like paper, we had our first working prototype.
The game play, at this point, included cards and special tokens that gave powers. What we found is that it complicated the game too much. Hours of playing the game with different rules helped us to simplify the game into what it is today.
Push pins were nice for a first prototype, but we needed something a little safer and a little more durable. We designed and 3D printed some walls.
With great reviews, we took the prototyping a step further and made a board of "Labyrinth."
We built a few more prototypes of "Labyrinth" before we realized that we needed to change the board a little - or a lot. That's when we changed the name of the game to "Walls" and cleaned up the look of the board.
Where we are now
We are ready for the tooling of the walls. Once this project funds, we will be able to proceed with the plastic injection molding of the custom walls. After we get a sampling of the walls, we can make the boards with holes to fit the walls perfectly. Once those two obstacles are out of the way, production can move quickly.
Timeline
Domestic: Zone 1 ($11): United States
International: Zone 2 ($13): Canada, UK, Germany, France
Zone 3 ($17): Ireland, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Israel, Finland, Sweden
Zone 4 ($21): Australia, Poland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Myanmar, Singapore, Philippines, New Zealand, Norway, Mexico, Switzerland, Taiwan
Zone 5 ($26): Rest of the World
2 Pack:
Zone 1 - $12
Zone 2 - $15
Zone 3 - $26
Zone 4 - $29
Zone 5 - $44
3 Pack:
Zone 1 - $14
Zone 2 - $19
Zone 3 - $30
Zone 4 - $34
Zone 5 - $65
Distributor Pack (10X):
Zone 1 - $29
Zone 2 - $40
Zone 3 - $50
Zone 4 - $55
Zone 5 - $193
Customs: Instead of declaring "Walls" as merchandise, we will declare it as a "Kickstarter Reward." This has helped a few other campaigns with their shipping and we fully expect it to help ours as well, but we can't make any promises.
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Example End Game
This is a 4 player game example. Thus it will follow the walls determined by a 4 player game.
Green has just finished his/her move and is only two spaces away. White's turn is next and he/she rolls a 4 on the green, and 3 on the red (move up to 4 spaces and then move 1 wall).
White has two options for paths to move down. If White uses all of his/her space moves, one path will end with the square the Green player is in, two spaces away from the “Finish” square; the other will be one space away, but there is a wall in the way. White decides to move the latter path. White is only able to move three spaces (forfeits the fourth space). By using the turn to move the blocking wall a quarter rotation, White frees him/herself and blocks Green.
It is now Blue's turn. Blue rolls a 6 on the green die and a 5 on the red (i.e. move 6 spaces and move 2 walls).
Now you'll notice that White was blocked and Green is now 4 spaces away instead of 2 spaces. Blue is now in the lead, being only 2 unblocked spaces away.
It is now Yellow's turn. Yellow gets lucky and rolls a double 6.
Because Yellow rolled a double, he/she now has the three options mentioned before. With a double 6, switching places with a player is not as beneficial as moving 6 spaces (through walls as needed). With the 6 spaces, Yellow lands on the "Finish" space and wins!
What we've done
We've game tested the concept over the past few months and have refined the rules to make the game as simple as possible, while allowing maximum strategy with an ounce of luck.
Everything is ready for production. The artwork and all the board and box specs have been completed. We've created the 3D design for the walls. The walls to this game are custom pieces and require special molds to be made.
We're excited to share this game with you. The concept is simple, but with the game constantly changing, you’ll have a unique game each and every time you play!
Risks and challenges
This is the first board game we've endeavored to make. We've done our due diligence to figure out what sort of timeline this whole process should take. However, we are kind of picky people when it comes to quality. And with our manufacturer being overseas, there is good potential for delays in getting the product just right. Much of what we do by way of game development is to take it as far as we can here and then send it overseas. By doing this, we should be able to cut production times down.
To help overcome any obstacles, we have connections with some important game developers who can help with the process, should we need the help.
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Funding period
- (45 days)