I've been playing the same games for decades at this point. Monopoly, Risk, Yahtzee, poker, etc. But most games that I've played have the same basic formula: 1 person wins, everyone else loses.
I am by no means a board game expert, or even a die hard gamer, to be perfectly honest. I used to play a lot of games when I was younger, but then life went on and I got distracted by other things. I say that because perhaps there are other games out there which already capture the spirit of this game I created. If so, please let me know! I'd love to see how mine measures up.
Long story short, after going down the Illuminati rabbit hole, I came out the other side with a more colorful world view and essentially turned that worldview in to a board game. That game is "Frenemies" v1.0.
In a nutshell, Frenemies is like a political game of poker, sprinkled with a dash of monopoly, and a pinch of chess. Perhaps the most distinct feature of the game is that you can't win solo. You will have almost no choice but to cooperate and negotiate with others. So much so that 2-player victories are baked in as one of the possible victory conditions. I simply don't think it's possible to win without the cooperation of others. And for me personally, that's where it's at. It's that dynamic of aligned interaction, that exchange, planning, scheming, working together & plotting to outsmart your opponents, that is where the game becomes very interesting and fun to play for me personally.
Of course, now that I've made such a claim in to the public sphere, there is no doubt that someone will to pull it off just to spite me and rub it in my face. But that's legit, and to be expected. Personally, I look forward to it, and encourage everyone to at least try.
The prototype was completed on December 6th, 2016, and now effort and energy is being redirected to the development of content and other materials needed to polish, produce, and bring the product to market. The game is currently slated for a 2017 release.
