Virush – the table top game

Virush is a Multiplayer game played on a 10 x 10 board with counters and 1 dice.

Patients start on the 6^th block, ahead of the Virus. This is to avoid the Virus landing on a patient on the first turn. The Patients take it in turn to roll.

The Virus can only roll once all Patients have moved.

Pathogens and Antigens:
-Should a Patient land on a green Antigen, they move up said Antigen.
-Should a Patient land on a red Pathogen, they move down said Pathogen.
-A Virus can move up or down both Pathogens and Antigens.

Should a virus Jump over a Patient; this infects said Patient, turning them into a Virus.

Once there is only one Patient left, the Viruses may move forwards or backwards, however they must now land on the Patient in order to infect it.

The Patient must roll an exact number to land on the finish and leave the board.

The game itself is relatively easy to learn.  It bears some similarities to Snakes and Ladders, meaning the foundation for the game play will be fairly well known to anybody wishing to play.

The infection element is by far my favourite piece of the game. It helps to build the excitement as the game moves on. The same can be said of the Viruses’ ability to move in any direction once there is only one Patient left. As the game nears its end, the stakes become higher and higher.

It was in this final mechanic where we found an issue; the difficulty curve rose way to quickly for the final Patient. This is where the necessity to land on the final player came into play. It somewhat balances the against the Viruses’ new abilities.

That being said, an outcome still needs to be decided for what happens should the last Patient land on a Virus. If it becomes infected, this would allow the Viruses to simple block the Patients path. Perhaps the final Patient should move forward to the next free space.

Creating this game was a very fun exercise, and I plan to continue experimenting with this game format.