About the game
Phase is a game of luck and strategy. While game play is straightforward, where to place your Phase cards and when to play wildcards requires some calculated thinking for success. You’ll make pairs and build moon sequences with cards on a game board to gain points. There are multiple boards to play on! Points in Phase are represented by Star Tokens. Each player chooses a set of 50 Star Tokens, (blue, purple, gold, and silver), to represent them. When you create a Phase Pair, Whole Moon Pair, or a Moon Phase Sequence, place your Star Tokens on those cards. If another player already has a Star Token on a card in a Pair, or cards in a Sequence, replace them with your own and collect their Star Token(s). Additionally, when the board is full, you'll collect any Star Tokens of your color. Whoever collects the most Star Tokens wins!
how it started
In October of 2024, Google launched a Doodle: Rise of the Half Moon. I was introduced to it by my good friend Amanda, and quickly fell in love. What a great game! If only I could play it with my friends… Amanda and I had the same thought: Sam, you can make it.
Our annual Friendsgiving get together was less than a month away. Could I design cards, game boards, and draft a ruleset in three weeks? You bet I did. Nothing like a deadline. The first rendition had no tokens, (we used coins - thanks, Cat!), 120 cards, 6 boards, and a set of rules condensed to a 4x6” postcard.
Thus, Phase was born. Bringing a Player vs AI game to tabletop and devising a game that is balanced for four players, addictingly fun, and easy to learn, was a rewarding challenge! Many things had to change from the digital game it was inspired by. Phase is unique, yet echoes the charm and strategic play of Rise of the Half Moon.
How it’s going
After revisions to the rules from my Friendsgiving playtests, I decided to see about taking orders. I won’t bore you with the intensive legal reading, production quotes, and logistics I had to do to get those first dozen games shipped out. At the time of writing, (mid-January), I’m already into production on my second round of short-run production - about another dozen games.
I’m working with a local print shop (10 minutes from my house!) to produce the short runs, and hopefully, in the future, a Kickstarter Campaign. I did receive a quote from a larger company, whose quotes were nearly a third of my local company’s quote, but I was dismayed to learn their production, assembly, and distribution is entirely based overseas. I would rather choose the local company - whose facilities I received a tour of - whose employees are fairly compensated and live in my community.
We stan small business. <3
If you’re looking for regular updates on all things Phase, please follow me on Blue Sky.
Annie S from California
“I love this game! The way it looks, cards, game boards, and tokens, delight me. I like that it is as fun to play with 2 people as with 4. It's easy to set up for a quick round, but also enjoyable when played in multiple rounds. Highly recommend.”
thalassique on Reddit
“I love the game overall! It's fun and is a good balance of luck & strategy. It's also simple without being boring, which is always very good quality to have in a board game!”