Crooked Crown Designer Interview

I was at my local gaming get-together last week, shout-out to the amazing St Albans Games Group, and was being taught a silly looking game about goblins and their scrabble to be the new king. I had no expectations and no initial interest as I was simply playing as a short amuse-bouche before delving into a pre planned game of the new Undaunted Callisto 2200, however very quickly I found myself really getting into this small but highly entertaining party game. At the end, when the victory was snatched away from me in the final seconds I was introduced to one of the designers, a local gamer Ken Boyter and I just had to learn more about him and the game’s other designer Kedric Winks.

First of all, a little about The Crooked Crown, their new release from Outset Media. The king is dead! court, you, are all out to get the crown. It is essentially a card game with a little light social deduction and bluffing. On your turn you will play any number of cards of a type and then draw up. Your options are to increase your hand limit, decrease someone else’s, take a peek at someone’s hand or steal a card. Simple right? Well yes but over only 8 speedy rounds you are trying to find the crown and then keep it in your hand until the end. The usual poker faces are out to play and the playful gasps of mock upset which all leads to a very fun and silly game.

Ken, who’s first published game this is, has been reviewing games for the last 10 years on his YouTube channel, The Bottled Imp whereas Kedric has a few small games under his belt since beginning designing back in 2010, including 2016’s Cadaver which I enjoy quite a bit!

Ken: I’m drawn to games with a fantasy theme; worker placement games that have a bit of player interaction; combat games, and games with immersive theme. Currently I keep coming back to Splendor, Dead of Winter, Eggs and Empires, Kingsburg, Escape the Dark Castle, and my guilty pleasure, Talisman. I’ve also started to play murder mystery games.

Kedric: I’m not so oriented by theme as I am by complexity and game length. That being said, I am a sucker for nature games. I really like mid weight games that last 30-90 mins. A friend of mine recently used the term ‘week-night games’ and I think that captures the spirit. Right now I can’t get enough of the White Castle, Explorers of Navoria and a less well known tile laying game called Beacon Patrol (I urge you to check it out).

Kedric went on to discuss the elegance of games and enjoying those that ‘do a little with a lot’. This tied in with Ken’s love of fantasy and player interaction shows a clear path to creating something like The Crooked Crown. The two were on the fairly lengthy drive back from UK games Expo about six years ago when the idea was born. Kedric had had a basic concept around the search for a golden egg but after some development, a lot of theme exploration and a failed Kickstarter, a few years later it found a publisher under the skin of Goblins all fighting to be the new goblin king.

Ken: I think we have a natural and honest working relationship. It helps we’re friends too! We seem to have complimentary skills and thinking which helps shape our games. We also realise that nothing is personal so if one of us isn’t too keen on a suggestion from the other, we don’t take it personally as we both know we’re trying to create the best games. We both realise that not all of our ideas will make the final game.

Kedric: I think, as any good partnership should, we cover each other’s blind spots. Ken is at his heart a storyteller and games are one way he can do this. I’m much more concerned with the maths and the mechanics behind the story whereas Ken is better at creating the world and the atmosphere, then making sure this is expressed through the game play.

The Crooked Crown is a quick light hearted, easy to play game perfect for kicking off a game night. It is definitely not for players who get a bitter taste in their mouths when someone steals from them or targets them for another kind of hit, it’s for those who enjoy that push and pull. Ken mentions that during demoing at conventions, “players would delight in discussing who had the crown card and when” which I imagine, opened up many new gamers to wonder of social deduction in general. Kedric adds “Ken makes a good point in that some of the fun of this game happens after the game is over. There is this big build up of tension towards the final round, then a big reveal, followed by players finally being able to drop their guard and tell everyone what their plans had been and how the game looked from their unique perspective”.

For such a small game, it’s great to see so much attention going into the world building with eight unique character standees to play as. Without being able to say too much, Ken has alluded to at least one other game in the same world. “Not an expansion exactly but other games in the series”. However, as far as the future is concerned, there certainly seems like these two have a draw full of ideas to explore with their next already announced. Guildlands which should be out this year from the same publisher. “It’s an asymmetrical tile laying game where players are scoring from their own guild symbols as they lay tiles to help rebuild a fantasy city. Lots of strategy and cunning!” Says Ken who is also developing a really interesting sounding immersive stage show around his Devilish Dilemmas series. Kedric also has Fountains “a tile laying game from the OP” this spring and FisherFolk a crowdfunding project being launched in Autumn so check it out!