Made for dorks...by dorks
Chez Dork is a card game for 2 to 6 players based on the characters from the comic book Dork Tower. The most notable characteristics of this bright and vibrant game, are the colorful and crazy characters that pop right out of the box as you begin to play the game. The game takes around 30 minutes to more than an hour to play and the rules aren't overly complicated as Chez Dork is one of those games where you learn as you play along.
Rules were meant to be broken
The basic concept is simple; each player chooses a wacky character out of 6 unique individuals (like Igor Olman - above) that hail from the imagination of John Kovalic, the creator of Dork Tower. There are advantages and disadvantages to each and every personality (almost like in real life) as well as an obsession that each character holds. Obsessions vary from Goth to RPG's to Miniatures and Warhamster. Rest assured whoever the character and whatever their personality or obsession this game is made for dorks by dorks.
The game begins with 5 cards and $30 in the hands of each player. The most important things to note are that each player receives $30 upon beginning their turn (almost like passing GO in Monopoly) and that a card must be purchased by the player before they can sell it or give it up for auction. The cards dealt out to each player include stuff cards, special cards and temporary obsession cards. Any one player can have a maximum of 3 obsessions at one time with a limited number of exceptions. Any player is free to purchase as many of his cards as he/she wants, funds permitting. Once a player has bought a card, it automatically goes into his/her ownership at which point he/she may sell it, auction it off or hold on to it and collect the points associated with it. If a stuff card is linked to your obsession (as indicated at the bottom of the card) then the player receives double the points stated on the card. At each round a player is allowed to either trade, auction or buy cards from other players as well as discard unwanted cards into a pile and pick up as many cards as he/she chooses to give him/her a maximum of 5 cards in hand.
Special cards give players certain abilities or advantages that help them through the game and get them one step closer to Dork Nirvana.
There are 112 cards in the deck and each item is related to an obsession. There are special cards that may be played or stolen from other players and temporary obsession cards that can make the cards you buy worth twice the points. With the ability to trade, sell or auction of the cards you buy, strategy is the name of the game. You could always play it safe and collect from the bank till your money makes you a power player. At the same time, you could always be careless and go for gold by collecting as much stuff as fast as possible while waiting for that temporary obsession that will double all your points. Every which way, it takes a total of 25 points to win the game.
Dorks just wanna have fun
The real fun in Chez Dork comes from the humor in the stuff you collect and how it's related to each character's obsession. Take for example Igor Olman who's obsession for Anime leads him to seek out strange comics and videos such as the 'Domination Spank Police DVD' (shown above). The entertaining mind of John Kovalic provides loads of fun and laughter demonstrating that a simple buy and trade card game has the potential to provide hours of good fun in the world of dorks. What makes the game unique are the characters and their quirky traits; this is what happens when a game is invented from the mind of a dork.
When played with a good group of friends, the game is fun and exciting. Trading keeps things interesting and the game always manages to turn into a race for points fueled by a mad bidding war. The fact that strategy plays an important role in coming out on top keeps everyone on guard against that one friend who was always the first to build hotels in Monopoly. Be watchful of your cards and make sure you spend you money wisely. It's not always apparent who will be the first to win all the chips and enter Dork Nirvana.
The game manages to keep things fresh and amusing with the comical influence of John Kovalic's Dork Tower.
While, Chez Dork is a great game to play with a group of 4 to 6 people, I can see it getting quite repetitive should there be only 2 people playing. Furthermore, beyond then initial fun of discovering the 112 different and unique stuff cards, special cards and temporary obsessions, the game's luster dies down. For this reason,Chez Dork is not the kind of game that can be played twice or more in one sitting. Recycling cards from the garbage deck make the game repetitive.
There were points during gameplay where the game would get stagnant with players just waiting to pick up the cards they needed and refusing to put down cards that could double others' points in a ploy to trade-off for a large price.
If I had the chance to change the design of the game to make it more interesting and engaging I would probably work on the point system and release further expansion packs for the game. Expansion packs would feature even more wacky characters and tons more stuff cards, special cards and obsessions. I'd also work on the visual design of the cards themselves as they often seem plain in a white background with a black border.
I might even invent a visually pleasing board and a start to end game element with a dice. The objective would be to reach Dork Nirvana on the game board using a dice and by collecting more stuff. Certain spaces would change your obsession and there is always the ability to go broke from all the money spent on feeding your obsessions (much like in real life). The true victor would be the player smart enough to spend his money wisely and trade items when appropriate to come out on top and be the first to reach Dork Nirvana.
Chez Dork is a great game when played with friends who are good with finances but understand the importance of obsessions at the same time. It is a game with a bit of humor and a whole lot of personality making it enjoyable and entertaining with a spark of unique character traits which stem from the imagination of John Kravolic and his fantastic comic series, Dork Tower.
The fun comes from figuring out the way the game works and being careless with your money; after all, isn't that what obsessions are all about?
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