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Description
Hardback is a deck-building word game, a prequel to Paperback. As an aspiring 19th-century novelist, you work to pen your next masterpiece, earning prestige along the way. Specialize your deck in certain genres to exploit card combinations, and press your luck to draw extra cards — but make sure you can still string a word together!
Players build a deck of letters with various powers and race to 60 fame points to win. Some of the features:
No wilds in your deck - any card can be wild.
Push your luck for more cards with the Ink system.
Match genre colors to gain bonus abilities on your cards.
New "Timeless Classic" letter cards stay in play until an opponent uses them.
In addition to the competitive race mode for 2-5 players, the base game includes several variant rules, including Literary Awards, Adverts, Player Powers, and Events; and a co-op mode for 1-4 players, in which players join forces against one of four simulated opponents, each of which is proficient in a different deck genre.
Year Published
2018
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 3
This page: 3
Sentiment:
pos 3 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–3 of 3
Video 9_NcqaHe2hA
Adam Porter's Board Game Channel analysis at 10:00:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 12785 · mention_pk 37301
Click to watch at 10:00:00
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Creative application of deck building mechanics
- Incorporates word creation into deck building system
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Word creation
- Writing and publishing
- Abstract thematic
Comparison games
- Dominion
- Paperback
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Deck building variant - word construction — Players build decks of letters to create words each round, with new letters becoming available as game progresses
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- that sense of destruction sheer destruction of the playing space and you don't get that much in board games
- i think that's a really nice level of interaction in games because it's not mean spirited it's not vindictive but it still means you've got to constantly keep thinking
- i've got my own deck that alone is exciting and different to the vast majority of games that i had played in the past
- the deck is created as we play we're buying cards from a central pool
- everybody's got a bit of the same information a bit of different information and it makes the game really really intriguing
- everybody's running around a table shouting over each other trying to find the people with the same card
- i've played it with my german family and my english family who can't speak to each other because i don't speak the same language but they could all play happy salmon together
- everyone's got their own set of poker dice and they're rolling them all at the same time you're not having to wait for somebody else
- these are just the most fantastic little components that i've i've found in games i absolutely love them
- it takes six minutes to play which is three rounds of drawing one minutes each and three rounds of guessing one minute each
- it's so frustrating it just gets in the way it's not fun
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video My1GnSLxdOk
Going Analog general_discussion at 22:12 sentiment: positive
video_pk 3389 · mention_pk 10020
Click to watch at 22:12
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Strategic depth and satisfying combos
- Good balance of strategy and accessibility
Cons
- Wild letters can dilute theme
Thematic elements
- Factions, powers, and spell-word combos
- Word-building with cards and factions
- Deck-building with flexible word play
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Deck-building with flexible letters and wilds — Cards can be used as letters or wilds; faction synergies
- Wildcard letters and faction combos — Comboing letters for added powers
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- The cards are the things you tend to use.
- Longer rounds at higher player counts, the marshal track isn't as realistic with fewer players.
- If you’re going to cover a game that you got for free, disclose it to the audience.
- Transparency behind where coverage is coming from is important.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video TAbAK1xrVBY
Adam's Board Game Wales top_10_list at 17:50 sentiment: positive
video_pk 414 · mention_pk 1245
Click to watch at 17:50
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Better than predecessor Paperback
- More positive interaction than Paperback
- Simpler setup than Paperback
- Better push your luck mechanism with ink tokens
- Prettier graphic design
- Smoother gameplay
- Cleaner wild card implementation
- Wholly satisfying
Cons
- Slightly more complex than Paperback
Thematic elements
- Building word-based card combos
- Word crafting and literary world
- Deck-building word game
Comparison games
- Paperback
- Diamant
- Dead Man's Draw
- For the Crown
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Synergy — Cards have genre-based benefits when played together
- deck-building — Build personal deck with letter cards
- Push Your Luck — Use ink tokens to draw extra cards but must use them in word
- Word Spelling — Spell words using cards in hand
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I haven't had that many games that have sort of left out to me and I'm sort of screamed for my attention
- It's hugely satisfying to see those magnets moving around the board as if by magic
- High society is a classic it's a modern classic
- I think Skylands is flying under the radar and I think it deserves more buzz
- After a couple of games once you get into that flow it's really satisfying
- This is a real gateway level game it's so much simpler than those other games
- Blitz Bowl fixes everything about Blood Bowl
- You're not gonna find deep strategy in this box this is simple simple stuff really
- I cannot beat my partner at Bunny Kingdom I constantly try and get close but it's difficult
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–3 of 3