Maybe Movies
card-game 3-6 players move-through-all voting thematicPitch movie ideas that enough players would like to throw money at, or see your money go down the drain after another flop.
Maybe Missions
competitive family thematic espionage 3-6 playersPropose spy missions and hope enough people want them to succeed—or deviously let them fail to benefit your own secret cover.
A collection of simple board games using the Maybe Mechanic, about voting for or against your friend’s proposals at the most strategic times.
Maybe Games
This is the overview page of this game collection. Click any of the links to visit a specific game. They are usually sorted based on simplicity (easy → hard).
All the games use the same core mechanic: the Maybe Mechanic. A very simple ruleset about a player proposing something and others simultaneously voting YES or NO on it. This means rules are simple, you’re always doing something, and it’s highly interactive. All games, however, provide varied themes and a few unique twists that make the experience completely different.
Background
It’s my never-ending goal to develop games with the absolute simplest ruleset possible.
One day, I imagined a system in which all you did, every round, was cast one vote. The active player proposes something, like a spy mission. And depending on how the vote turns out, some players are rewarded and some are punished (in accordance with that proposal).
Highest score wins! Simple, right?
Of course, actually developing the idea into finished games was much harder. It introduced a few more rules and tweaks. For example, in the first draft, you could get really unlucky and just start the game with only identical NO votes, which ruined your entire game.
It also revealed, however, that this core could be dressed up in different ways. It could be taken in different directions, and I’ve learned over the years to develop those into unique games instead of trying to “cram it all into one game”.
And that’s how we ended up with the small set of Maybe Games. Same simple core, completely different experience based on how it’s applied.
UPDATE: A 4th game is in consideration, but wasn’t developed far enough to be released together with the first three. I do general cleanup and fixes to my biggest projects once a year—this 4th idea will hopefully be finished and polished by then.
Credits
The font used for the body text (longer paragraphs) in the entire project is DejaVu Sans. It is open source, freely available online. Each game has a unique secondary font for short and decorative text. Some generative AI was used for complex illustrations, everything else (idea, rules, code, assets, designs) is entirely mine.
Support
You can hire me! Maybe you need a special board game or video game for a birthday or educational purpose? I'm also open to inquiries about physically publishing my games. I am a registered freelance artist from the Netherlands and you can contact me professionally through my portfolio.
If unsure, visit my Online Store. It contains everything I ever made. Though it focuses on playful education and activities for children/family, first and foremost.
Another great way to support me is to simply let me know what you think! Mail me at harmonize@pandaqi.com with any feedback.
Alternatives would be to buy my paid work (a win-win situation!) or to donate through the most popular channels (see buttons below).
