Not long ago we were playtesting Gobblin' Goblins for two and now we're looking an the other end of the spectrum. Getting 12 people round a table to playtest a game is no easy feat (and requires a big table), in fact I don't know if we even have 12 friends between us (we're incredibly dispicable people). But somehow we made it happen and can now report to you whether it's genuinely possible and (more importantly) enjoyable to play this card game with 12.
Possible?
The short answer to this one is, yes! A lower amount of cards in a player's starting hand gives a decent amount of cards in the draw pile and thus a good amount of turns for each player. Inevitably, there's less gobbling and the scoring is lower due to more competition for cards, but there was still plenty of cards being munched, regurgitated and all that other gross stuff. Essentially, nothing is apparently broken in a 12 player game, the basic mechanics still function as they would with fewer players.
Enjoyable?
This is the much more important question. As the creator of the game, you'll have to take the answer with a pinch of bias but... I thought it was enjoyable! It's certainly a more chaotic experience but that definitely adds to the fun. As expected, luck plays more of a part. There's fewer turns so getting good cards at the right time is very valuable. That being said, we had a lot of newbies in this playtest and the more experienced players averaged higher scores, so strategy still plays a strong part. No one ran away with the game or overly struggled, which is a good sign that the goblins' special abilities still balance well with this many players.
Conclusion
So the take away from all this is that we can declare Gobblin' Goblins as a 2 - 12 player game with a lot more confidence. I'm sure when the game makes its appearance on Board Game Geek it will no doubt have the best amount of players somewhere between 4 and 8 but this recent playtest shows it can both be played and enjoyed with more than that amount. One of the big aims of this project was to create a strategic card game for large groups that was more than just a party game, and it looks like (touch wood) we may have achieved that. Woo hoo!