Defenders of the Dictionary Preview - Cooperative Scrabble...Against the Master Villain!

0:00 Hey there gamers. Welcome back to the Board Game Co channel. And today we have a preview of Defenders of the Dictionary. Hey there gamers, it's Professor Meg here and welcome back to the Board Game Co channel. Today we have a preview of Defenders of the Dictionary by Adam's Apple Games. Now this is a current crowdfunding campaign so you can check out the link down below for everything that they have planned. This is a sponsored preview and this is a prototype copy in front of me. So all rules, components, things like that are subject to change. But in Defenders of the Dictionary, players are going to be cooperatively forming words together to ultimately defend the dictionary because this is a game that is strategic where you are going to be building out these different words, but you're also going to be playing through a story. So, there are two ways to play this game. There is a quick play which I will go through at the end of the video, but primarily players are going to be able to go over 17 missions to take them through the story of saving wordoploolis and ultimately defending the dictionary with any words that you can think of. So this is going to be one of those world word building based games, but it's going to add this story element to it as well as some quirks that it's going to throw at you because mission by mission is going to add new rule cards that are going to change how you understand the game and how you approach it. So with that, let's dive into Defenders of the Dictionary.

1:16 Now, the game is currently set up for three players. So you can see that by the three player bags over here. And you also have this bag, which is going to be the mission bag, which players are always going to play with. So you'll have the mission bag along with any of the players that are in the game. And the rules will change slightly with the next steps I'm going to describe in a two-player or solo mode where the letters that you are contributing for the next step are all going to change uh depending on the number of players for two players or one player. But three and up all players are going to contribute one letter. So we are already one round in where you can see that we created the word gist and we were able to score ourselves five points. So I'm going to go over exactly how we were able to do that. But you can see that we are currently one round into the game with what is currently in play. Now to set up the game for us to have started, we would have used this card here. So this is the training mission. This is mission 00. There are 17 missions in the game going at 00 to 16. Uh but this is going to show you not only what you are trying to do throughout the mission, but how to set it up as well. So on our setup side here, you can see which map that we are playing with as well as these points of interest placed out. We know that we are using rule card A and we also know that we are removing five tiles. These five tiles here from the mission bag. So at the beginning of the game, you are going to remove tiles. Basically presenting a clock for yourselves to have so much time to be able to accomplish your

2:48 goals. So we did remove those. And here you can see those goals that we are working toward. So, these are going to be what we need for to accomplish endgame for a victory. And that's going to be collecting two points of interest, which is going to be two of these three placed out over here. And then also scoring at least 20 points to win. Now, we also have this achievement down here, which is going to be end the mission with exactly five words placed, which we will try to do because that is something that we're going to be able to record for the campaign part of this game. So with that, we would also have rule card A in play, which is going to be over here. And that's describing these points of interest. So when we do create a word that is going to cover that, we are able to collect that point of interest. And in future missions, certain things are going to matter, such as the numbers that are on the other side of them. But for this current mission, all we have to worry about is making sure that we are able to create a word to cover them and collect them all while keeping in mind that we are trying to do it within five words. Now, each round players are going to simultaneously choose a letter that they want to contribute. So, you're going to do this quietly, secretly. No one's going to know what you are contributing, but you're going to choose one of your five letters that you have available, place it face it down on the board, and then once everyone has picked, you will reveal those and try to create a word. But there's also another letter in play. As you noticed, there are those white letters. Those are the mission letters, and you have to try to use those. Otherwise, you're going to get negative points. So, they are going

4:18 to score negative points if they aren't used that particular round. And then they will be removed from the board. So, you do have to keep an eye out for that. But, if players are able to incorporate it and place it onto the board, they won't suffer any negative consequences from that. So, looking here, players were able to use the G and make gist. and they were also able to score five points. And currently there is the letter E which luckily gives these players a lot of flexibility. So you can see the letters that we have to choose from are going to be N I, A, F, and T. And we're able to kind of choose whatever we want. We do have these two vowels, but it may be good to hold on to them. So N and T do give a lot of flexibility, but F is pretty high scoring. So we may have a risky player for blue over here and they may choose to contribute the F. Now I am going to randomly choose from these boards here as well to see uh what players might come up with but you are also able to of course build off of the letters that are here. So that is how you have to build out your words. So you are going to have the flexibility of adding one of these letters as well. But as you start building out your different grids, sometimes letters will intersect that you're able to add perhaps two letters to words or make words longer. So a very common thing that you would be able to do is add an S to certain words as long as it's applicable. And then you'd be able to score that entire word again.

5:45 But with that, let's take a look at the letters our players chose. So we have E, F, I, and N. Well, that's already fine. And honestly, finds is also a word. So, we would be able to use this S here and place out finds. And then we would be able to score for all of the letters that we placed. So, we would have four, five, six, 7, eight points added to our five, bringing us to a total of 13. And we were able to use that white one. Now, again, if we were not able to use it at the end of this round, we would score negative points for that. So, we would receive negative one if we hadn't been able to place this. Now, as you can see, there are only so many spots on this as well. And if players ever exceed letters at the end of a round that are on here, then you'll also receive negative points for the highest one removed as well. So, you have to be sure to be using as many letters as possible. But again, where we want to try to do this in five words, it's going to be very tight. So, we want to be able to be sure to do as much as possible to accomplish both this achievement and be able to collect these points of interest. Now, finally, after that, players would all draw a token from their bag. So, you would have another letter for the next round, giving you a full complement of five letters. And you would also draw the next mission letter so that you would know that you were what you were working with before you choose what letters to contribute. So here we do have a P which you may be able to use here for example

7:16 pain. Uh but P is a little bit more difficult. You can see that it scores you more points. So players in this instance might use some of those vowels that they held on to earlier. Now again just to give you another example of how you are able to lengthen words on a future round. Players would be able to place a T here making this finest instead of finds. So that's where you have flexibility with just words in the English language where you're able to make certain things longer. Now, that is going to be the general gameplay loop where players are going to be seeing the current mission letter and then they're going to simultaneously choose a letter that they want to contribute, placing them face down, and then revealing them all together to work together to see what words they're able to create, working with what is on the board as well. So, you're going to do that and then move on to the end of the round where you will take any negative points that you need to. You'll score points for the word that you made and then you will draw new letters as well as a new mission letter for you to see what you are working with. But as there are certain things that will help you achieve victory, there are certain things that will help you achieve defeat as well. So, with that, I will move on to the next card so you can see what mission one looks like. So, you can see what might cause players to lose as well. So, this is a game where you're going to be playing through the different stories and new rules are going to be thrown at you. But with the training mission and just mission one, I think that's a small amount that it's not too spoilery. So, with that, there actually will be timestamps below for you to be able to skip me describing

8:49 mission one if you'd like. But with that, let's dive into what that would look like. Now, here we have mission one, a tick too late. So, this is going to introduce a few things, but as I said, this side is telling us which maps to include. And something to note is that these maps are double-sided. So, they are going to have different sides providing a lot of different maps that players are going to be using throughout the different missions, but this is how you're going to set them up. You're going to apply any rules cards. For example, we're also playing with rule card B. And again, how many you are going to remove from the mission bag. So we do have six tokens removed. So here we have a tick too late. Mission one. Dr. Horus Clocklet was once a brilliant inventor and engineer known for his creations of timekeeping devices. People came to know him as a tick tock for the clock tower structure he built in the East Wopoulos. Since that tower started ticking, mailboxes receive letters before they are written. Clock hands spin anticlockwise and broadcasts air days late. Recently, an abandoned pocket watch was found on the scene time ticking backwards. Tik Tok's signature.

10:02 Locate the source of this distortion before the situation turns into a major disaster. So, here you can see we have four points of interest that we are trying to collect this game instead. And we also have the five bomb ticks, which I'll get to in just a moment. But our achievement as well is to cover all three points of interest in East Ropoulos. So that's going to be using these ones over here before endgame is triggered. Now you do have the full round before endame is triggered. So you can see where you would need to build out these three as well as one over here, meaning that players are very restricted. And as you can see, you have to build through to certain areas. So they will have to work their way over to this map starting on the starting space again over here. So there is that. But as far as the bomb ticks, this is going to be this rule over here. And whenever players will place a word that is not longer than the previous placed word, for example, if you place go as your first word and then you place get as your second word, you're good because get is longer than go. But as soon as you place a word that is shorter than the word you previously placed, you're going to take a mission tile from the bag. So that means that your clock is ticking down being shorter and shorter.

11:21 And as you saw, that one had a five. So you are only going to have five bomb ticks, meaning that you're able to have that happen five times before you lose this particular mission. So that will happen, but you are able to reset. So, for example, if you do gain a bomb tick, you can start with smaller words again and then try to build yourself up. But you can see where high point scoring words are going to be really important because players might be making very short words, meaning that you're going to start running out of letters. So, as that happens and you're going to start trying to build out these compound words, perhaps you're going to be really clever with which words you're creating. For example, if you have phone and then you create the word head, you can do headphone. So, you're able to do certain things like that, but players are going to be trying to juggle all of this because ultimately you're able to either win or lose a mission. Now, I know that seems pretty simple, but in the campaign part, if you lose a mission, you will play it again. So, if you lose, you're able to replay it and attempt victory for yourself. But if you do lose it twice, that's marked as two losses and then you'll just move on to the next mission. So, this game actually has multiple endings where depending on how well you did, it's really going to vary with which ending you're going to receive. So, even if you fail a mission the first time, you're really incentivized to still try to be victorious with it in the second try because that's all going to come down to what happens at the outcome in the end of the campaign. Now, another thing that players are going to come across in future missions are going to be things

12:52 like these obstacles. So obstacles are going to be placed out on the board and you're going to have to be able to build around them because they are going to block off where your words are able to be placed. So where these maps may seem pretty open in the beginning with the earlier missions, you are going to have obstacles placed out during particular missions that are going to make this even harder. And just to show you what the other maps are going to look like, there are many maps for this game and they are all double-sided. So, you are going to have two different versions of the maps that you are experiencing, meaning that each of the missions are really going to have a different configuration with what you're trying to solve. Now, the back of the rule book does have a log for you. So, you're going to be able to play through a few missions, however much you want to play when you are playing a particular game night. And then you can log your progress after each mission with whether you had these successes or failures and if you were able to accomplish your certain achievements. So you are going to be able to track everything and as I said there are multiple different endings. So depending on what you do with that log book, you're going to be able to see what your particular outcome is and see what happened to you and your friends and if you're able to properly defend Wordopouloolis with the words you know in your mental dictionary. Now there is the quick play version and with that you're going to select your maps and a certain difficulty where you're going to have certain points of interest that you're trying to uncover and certain point thresholds that you were trying to meet. So, there is that quickplay version if you want to do that. And then you are able to add

14:22 special rules to it. For example, the bomb ticking is something that you're actually able to add to the quickplay to spice things up if that's a version that you want to be playing as. So, when you are playing that version, as soon as there are enough letters that have been bomb ticked that can form a word, that's when players would lose. So, that's just an interesting thing to throw at players when they are doing the quickplay version and not going through the mission story themselves. Now, overall, Defenders of the Dictionary is going to be a game where players are really thinking of all of the words that they know. So, if you enjoy word games and trying to create things from different letters, as well as what's on the board, because that's one of the really creative ways for you to build out what's on there, make different words from words that already exist or perhaps intersect with multiple words at once. It's going to feel really good when you're able to create that. and it's going to score you a bunch of points, which is going to be very important because when you aren't able to clear that mission tile, you're going to have negative points, as well as when you have a surplus of those letters. So, you are going to want to make sure you have a lot of points to not only trigger that endgame and have victory for yourself, but to have a little bit of a buffer for any mistakes that are made in the future or have bad luck with certain letters that are drawn as well, because you're also going to find that players are going to be on a similar wavelength of what letters you might need. Certain things are going to be common where, as I noted, vowels are going to be important. But if you know that you have some, perhaps you'll use certain letters that work well together, such as N's or T's or S's and things like that. So you can check out the campaign link down below to see everything that Adam's

15:53 Apple Games has planned. Thank you all for watching the Board Game Code channel. I've been Professor Meg and I'll see you all next time. Bye.