Trading
Trading is perhaps one of the most fun elements in the game. It works by the users trading one of their escape cards for one of the opposing inmates cards. To trade cards the player whose turn it is must first choose the card they wish to trade, the inmate you have initiated trade with must then hold up his deck in front of you as you pick a card from his deck. This gives an advantage to the inmate that initiates the trade over the one being forced into it.
Throughout my user testing, trading has always been done with the use of attack cards or inside the trade room, out of all my user testing’s and designs trading is the only element of the game which has been consistently satisfactory. Through each user testing trading has become a bigger and more integrated part of the game. Now instead of a trade room and being able to trade using attack cards, players can now initiate trade whenever they are in a corresponding square or room with the use of 2 action points.
Brian a participant in my user testing, has won the 2 out of 2 games stated that`The game is not won by attacking... it is won by trading' , much to my dismay as I personally have won 0 games out of 8 and spent most my time on attack.
Each of my user testing groups have always called for trading to be a bigger part of the game and adding the element of being able to trade anywhere on the board will add more excitement and tension to the board game.
The image above shows user tester Iain taking an escape card from Andrew's deck.