Who doesn’t like variety? As you get tired of repetitive gameplay patterns in most games, you’ll realize that variability in play is essential to spicing things up and maintaining high replay value. This post compares the variability of The CopyCat to The Resistance and Spyfall. To see our comparison of the games in the context of teamwork, click here.
The Resistance – The gameplay and logic of The Resistance is incredibly complex, growing exponentially more convoluted as player count increases. However, experienced players will tell you that the first 2 to 3 rounds of the game are pretty much following a formulaic pattern.
Take a game with 7 players (4 Resistors and 3 Spies) for example. In the flowchart below, 2 players are chosen to go on the 1st mission, and this is usually random as no voting/discussion information has been observed. If the mission passes, the most logical decision would be to select the same 2 people with the addition of a 3rd player in the 2nd mission. If the mission passes again, then well…the game is pretty much over.
Of course, this is just one scenario and the other scenarios can be seen below. There’s definitely a pattern players can follow to automate the decision making. 2 out of 7 times, the Resistors actually already win the game by round 3. Only 5 out of 7 instances would there be some more variability to past the third round.
Overall, I think The Resistance is still complex enough to offer different gameplay if games can get past round 3; the first few rounds can be boring at times.
Spyfall – Spyfall offers variability in terms of asking and answering questions because there is infinite questioning potential. Depending on the dynamics of your group, people with different play-styles can generate unique plays.
However, the more common reality is that the same questions are asked over and over again. Many questions can be re-used to figure out if a player is the Spy. And there are ONLY 30 unique locations. Unlike other word games like Taboo where there are simply too many unique cards, Spyfall can become repetitive after a certain number of plays, especially when players are all asking about the same locations.
On the flip side, Spyfall also can’t include too many unique locations or else it will be too hard for the Spy to guess. It’s a game design catch 22!
The CopyCat – The CopyCat offers a solution to the limits in variability discussed in the aforementioned games. Rather than limiting observable information about players to their binary voting patterns (ie. Yes/No, Passing/Failing a mission in The Resistance), The CopyCat gives players the freedom to say almost anything they want when describing the Topic they saw.
Furthermore, it is not limited to a set of locations (ie. Spyfall) but includes over 120 unique Topics/Hints that will make each round of play unpredictable. We can guarantee that no 2 rounds will ever be the same, and each round will require players to think on their feet and/or fake their way to the top!
The CopyCat keeps the addictively fun social deduction and party game elements of The Resistance and Spyfall, while eliminating variability pitfalls to keep freshness and surprise at its peak!