Todd Carranto
Peter Van Dyke
Herb Yang
Shon-Ting Fu
Kuhundle is the german word for “horse trade,” which constitutes one of
the two main mechanics in the game. The horse traid represents the
manner by which players steal and lose animals towards the end of the
game. Play also revolves around an animal auction mechanic (with which
you buy animals to gain multipliers and points), which is essentially a
bidding system that brings new animal cards into the game. These two
mechanics are explained by the game as being a sort of animal auction.
Dramatic Elements:
The dramatic elements in Kuhundle are the players and consequently the
values of the animals. The horse trade tactic, which allows you to steal
animals from other players, has a strong effect on the perceived value
of the animal cards. Because completed sets are safe from other players,
and count as a multiplier at the end of the game, it can become
strategic to take a chicken fro
m another player, or to disallow a
competitor from stealing a donkey, regardless of the point values.
Multipliers are far more important than actual point values as long as
you have a reasonably high point value animal, and this creates the
dynamic elements to the game. In no two games will the animals be
distributed the same way, and as such the game appears to repeat players
to be dynamic. Animals also enter the game in a different order each
time due to shuffling of the deck (this includes the donkey card, which
pays out money each time it is drawn from the deck. This is the only way
in which money is introduced to the game).
Play Experience
Kuhundle was a great game to be exposed to and the reason for that is because the game creates
a tense competition between the horse trades and the auctions. This type of tension between players
allows us to extend the use of our brain whether that is for intimidation and/or anticipation. Throughout
the game, we came to a conclusion that keeping track of where the money is going between the players
becomes a critical observation. Having the cash flow and the knowledge of how the money is distributed
among the players keeps the competition alive. For example, Shon held 3 cards of both the cow (800 pts) and horse (1000 pts), completing both sets and any additional set would essentially win Shon the game, however,
since everyone else is aware of that fact, the holders of the last horse and cow made sure that they had enough cash on them to keep the pressure on Shon and not get bought out easily. The rest of the game narrowed down to
a battle of the mind.
