I’m always on the lookout for clever, out-of-the-box ideas in the games I play.

And it’s not just about how they bring something new to the table. It’s also about how they make you feel.

I was going through all the PnPs I’ve played lately and realized there were a handful with really cool game concepts. So I thought I’d narrow it down to three and share them with you folks.

If you want the full list, purchase my exclusive book from Amazon. :P

Kidding. Here are the 3 concepts:

1. Opponent Parasitism.
2. Failing Forward.
3. Deliberate Stress Provocation.

Let’s dig in, shall we?

I first came across this idea while playing Dragon vs Kingdom, and ran into it later in Shinobi Spy & Supply.

The concept is simple yet thought-provoking: you benefit from what your opponent is building.

In Dragon vs Kingdom 1 and 2, structures placed by other players can be useful to you. A house can score from a nearby tower even if that tower belongs to someone else. Shops can benefit from nearby houses regardless of who placed them. So instead of looking at the board as my stuff versus your stuff, you start looking at everything as an opportunity.

In Shinobi Spy & Supply, you can slip spies into your opponent’s tableau and slowly benefit from their setup. Their growing shop can start giving you discounts, points, and other perks. This one feels deliciously shady and also quite relevant to the theme, since you’re benefiting from spying on your rival, who also happens to be a spy!

I love Opponent Parasitism cause it sort of makes you live in a duality. You’re working on your own thing while also trying to score off others’ setups whenever you can! Fun, greedy stuff. Haha.

In the usual context, failure = you messed up. Try again.

Echoes of Tomorrow takes a path barely travelled. In this nightmare-loop card game, whenever you fail to defeat a Creature, you lose cards from your active Loop. One gets discarded, while another moves into your Memory Area.

That discard is a failure, since losing cards will eventually cost you the game.

But that card in Memory? That’s far from failure. It can continue giving you Courage, Strength, or another useful ability for future Loops.

Meaning a bad round can actually help set up a better one later. And I absolutely love that push and pull.

That, my friends, is Failing Forward. You fall down, but you don’t come back empty-handed.

I like this one cause it makes me feel motivated. The game doesn’t throw you into a pit.

Well, it does. But there’s a ladder.

This one is a banger, and it comes from Bravery.

And putting it simply, Bravery engineers stress.

It’s a scenario-based survival game set in freezing temperatures.

Now, picture this:
You’re running out of food and water. Your stamina is dwindling. The cold is only getting harsher. But you still need to move, hunt, rest, gather materials, craft items, and deal with whatever the wilderness decides to throw at you next.

And it doesn’t happen instantly.

At first, losing a little food or water feels completely manageable. But as the turns go by, one survival need starts colliding with another, and suddenly you’re barely keeping yourself together.

That is Deliberate Stress Provocation, and it does not come solely from the game itself. It also stems from your own decisions.

It’s your choice, or rather a series of choices, that can be the reason behind your fall. Maybe you travelled too far. Maybe you didn’t rest when you should have. Or maybe you ignored the temperature for one turn too many. Eventually, all those little choices start biting back.

And Bravery does a damn good job of provoking that feeling, by designing all these survival needs to constantly press against each other.

The game, through your actions, slowly tightens the screws until you feel like the protagonist in a survival movie who is freezing, starving, exhausted, and deeply regretting several decisions.

And at some point it feels... suffocating. And I LOVED that! Haha.

Not cause I love the pain. I don’t. It’s just that no game has ever made me feel that way before!

So, recall any cool game concepts that you really liked?

Feel free to reply to this email and tell me about it!

- Tas.

Blu Dot used Roku Ads Manager to drive incredible results for its furniture sales event. Its strategy hinged on custom audiences and retargeting, where intent was strongest.

“Roku has been a top performer,” said Blu Dot’s Claire Folkestad. “We have seen…CPMs lower than any other CTV partner we've worked with.”

Learn More