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October 03, 2005

Seasons of Hollywood: A P&A Mod

You are a rising star in Hollywood. You need to get the public's attention and approval - namely in the form of box office returns. You also want to get the attention of the Academy and receive the most precious of all human honors: an Oscar. But you face many dangers. There is the Hollywood hierarchy, that cruelly demands homage and favors to those better and brighter than you. There are other stars out there trying to rise faster than you, trying to keep your face in oblivion, trying to steal your fans away to their own premieres. There is the fickle public, who will get bored with you if you are too popular or too confined in your choice of roles. And then there is good old Lady Luck. You must fight your way past all these perils in Sleepy Spring, Blockbuster Summer, Eclectic Fall, and Oscar-bait Winter. All along the way you face reviews of your performances, but after all four seasons you face the one review to rule them all: the Academy Awards.

Each season is played as a round of Asshole, but the cards are not normal playing cards. The deck of 60 cards contains:

10 tv ads (value of 1)
10 billboards (value of 2)
8 product endorsements (value of 3)
8 talk show appearances (value of 4)
6 exclusive magazine interviews (value of 5)
6 publicity stunts (value of 6)
4 expensive premiere parties (value of 7)
4 abandonments by delinquent significant others (value of 8)
2 critical acclaims (value of 9)
2 tabloid attacks (value of 10)

Note: the value of each item is indicated on the card so players don’t have to memorize the order of priority.

There are two views seen by the player. The first is their hand of cards and the present play laid on the table. The second view is after each play, the players see a cartoon view of Hollywood with publicity sprinkled all over it in response to the moves made during the game. Billboards, media screens, newspaper stands, etc. Cards that represent actions (e.g. talk show interviews) are displayed as movie clips from that action, then headlines shown on newsstands.

Play proceeds clockwise around the table from the player who starts the progression. Each player must play a card or set of matching cards (pair, three-of-a-kind, four-of-a-kind) of equal or greater to the play made by the previous player. Each time a play is made, the landscape of Hollywood is updated to reflect the promotional action chosen. For example, if someone plays a pair of billboards, a close up of the poster is displayed to all the players and then the landscape shows two large billboards of that poster overlooking the town. If a someone plays a publicity stunt, the players all get to see a clip of the stunt as shown on Fox News, and then that headline appears on the Variety newspaper dispensers. When no more plays can be made in the progression, the last person to play gets to start the next progression. The trump card in this deck is the tabloid attack, which places all other players in public disgrace and allows the person who played it to take control of the next progression. The player who goes out first had the best box office return for their opening weekend. There are no uncouth names for your star status, only cold hard numbers.

So far this game is simply Asshole with a different metaphor and amusing visuals. At the start of the next season, the lowest star must pay homage to the highest by sending them a gift of her two best cards. The highest star must then acknowledge the gesture with a polite nod of his two lowest cards. The second lowest sends a gift of one card to the second highest star, who will reciprocate similarly. The other stars mill about in their mediocrity. The major difference in this game is that the computer, playing as the general public, will take notice of how long you stay at the top of the box office. After two seasons the public starts to get sick of you and will turn a blind eye to your publicity attempts. To win a third season in a row you must finish while all other players have at least half of their cards left (indicating a really slow season). To sweep the year, you must win the fourth season despite donating your tabloid attacks to the second highest star. At the end of the four seasons, the Academy Awards are held. To be considered, you must have either swept the year, or have finished in the top two Winter box office positions after having not held either position in either Summer or Fall. If there is more than one qualified nominee, the award will go to the one with the best Winter position.

Basically, the point of these mechanics is to make it so that you don’t want to always be the top dog but need to pull yourself back up by the end of the game.

Posted by rosenblj at October 3, 2005 11:59 AM

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