Update 10/3: Broker is fully funded! Thank you!

Players: 3-4 (It's also a lot of fun just being a spectator!)

Play Time: 0-10 minutes. The fastest game I can remember ended about ten seconds after it started. Most games are close to the 3-6 minute range.

Ages: 8+ The content of Broker is family friendly, but it requires being able to read the cards and create a strategy around them.

Games are at their most fun when you're taking advantage of the rules. Nobody talks about the game of Risk where everything was pretty much even and then you all got tired and quit, or the game of Magic where you had a perfectly average hand. We talk about the three natural twenties in a row on a boss in Dungeons and Dragons or the deck you built in Dominion let you purchase all of the gardens and win by a huge margin.

These awesome narratives come from us doing crazy things because the rules tell us we can.

Codename "Cheat!", Broker was designed as a party game that pushes that idea. It's a fast paced and continuously evolves the more you play it. There's a set of relatively straightforward rules - get rid of the cards in your hand and your deck and you win. Then the rules say "Go on. Cheat. You're supposed to. Draw an extra card. Stack your deck."

At first, you'll watch your opponent's every move. Did he just add a card to his hand? Did she just slip something under the table? And then you'll realize nobody is watching you. You do it, you cheat, and you get away with it. And let me tell you - being a downright rotten cheater? A sanctioned cheater? That feels good.

A sneaky hiding spot.

As you play, you'll develop strategies and adopt cheats that you see other players using, and your game will evolve. Eventually, everyone will know what everyone else is doing, and you have to invent new ways to gain an advantage. You'll finish playing for the day - but those tactics will stick with you. You'll sit down with another group of friends, and they'll cheat in entirely different ways.

What? Those cards? I don't know how they fell out of my deck accidentally. I promise!

A single game can take anywhere between ten seconds and ten minutes - a crazy, blatant cheat, if not caught, can end the game quickly. On the other hand, a series of small cheats can make it so that the game proceeds at a more deliberate pace.

Broker is about two things. Winning and then getting away with it.

Let's talk about why we've come to Kickstarter. We've extensively playtested Broker, and its pretty close to where we want it to end up, so not much work needs to be done before we can send it to the printers. However, there are a few things that we want to see happen before publishing the game.

Right now, our graphics come from me - I've spent about half an hour on youtube and another two or three making edits, but they're far from the professional quality we seek. We want to be able to hire an artist to upgrade this game so it looks as good as it plays. This would include the cards themselves, box art and designing the rules booklet. While we could - and have - done them in house, we know there are improvements that could be made.

We'd also like to compensate the designers and playtesters who have helped us with the game - they've spent their own time and resources to develop and refine Broker and we want to see them properly compensated for their amazing efforts.

Broker will come packaged in a small box with a rule-booklet included, mostly filled with boring rules (that you later get to ignore) but also including suggestions on how to cheat with style (bribe your opponent with cookies? It's happened!). We'll also include some blank cards so you can replace any that you happen to lose after hiding them from your opponents.

Early card prototypes.

We've worked with some graphic designers to add some iconography to make the action cards more distinct. We'd love to be able to include logos for each of the various stocks you have access to, but that's one of our stretch goals.

Updated action card.

But wait, how is the game actually played?

You start by shuffling up and dealing out the deck. You draw a starting hand of four cards, and then play one each turn, drawing back up to four at the end of your turn. First player to get rid of their hand and deck wins.

There's a little bit more detail to the rules, and of course, there is the whole cheating thing, but other than that, it's a very straightforward game. If you do get caught cheating (within a limited time frame) the cheat is undone, and each other player gives you a card, which helps them get closer to their goal of, well, beating you.

There are two kinds of cards that you can play - Action Cards, like the Backroom Deal pictured above and Stock Cards, which don't do too much.

Action Cards all give you excuses and opportunities to cheat - they let you pick up your deck, your opponent's deck and move cards from one place to another. Because you're allowed to do some things legitimately, it gives you cover for when you sneak a card from your hand into your opponent's deck.

Stock Cards represent stocks from various companies, and don't do anything on their own. You do get rewarded for playing multiple of the same stock at the same time, but most of the time, they just eat up a whole turn, and don't give you the opportunity to cheat. However, because they aren't as powerful as the action cards, they give you a reason to cheat (other than, you know, wanting to!)

So that's what you get if we reach our goal. But we have plans in place if we exceed our goal. Our first stretch goal is creating unique art for every card. This art will allow you to recognize the cards in your hand faster, and let you make decisions smoother - which is critical when you're trying to bluff everyone else.

If we get that far, we'll unveil what we'll do after that, but we don't want to go too fast too soon.





We have a lot of rewards available beyond just the game itself. Any backing will earn you our deepest thanks - we can't do this without you!





Beyond that, you have the opportunity to acquire any of the below gifts:





Our Thanks ($1): Any donation is greatly appreciated. We'll ply you with updates, stories, and the progress of the game as we continue to develop it. You'll also be first in line to receive news of our future projects!





Digital Download ($7): This is the cheapest way to acquire the game. We'll provide you with a PDF of all of the cards in the game so that you can print them out yourself. We recommend printing them out on something sturdier is probably the way to go so they don't get damaged as easily during play. All other tiers will also receive access to the PDF.





The Game ($17): The game itself! Printed on high quality cardstock, this is the real thing. Includes rules and a snazzy box! You'll of course, also receive our thanks and any digital content we produce for Broker.





Gift Bundle ($27): Get two copies of Broker! One for you and one for a 'Friend'. If you're particularly destructive with your normal card games, it might not be a bad idea to have a backup in case you shred your first copy!





Make Us Love You ($50): In addition to two copies of the game, our thanks, updates, and any digital products we may produce for Broker, you'll also get the opportunity to have a one-on-one chat with the devs about whatever you want to talk about. Game design, wacky stories, launching a startup, burritos, you name it! You'll also receive official recognition and thanks as a contributor on the rulebook itself!





Bundle of Ten ($120): Get ten copies of the game straight away - yours to distribute as you choose! You'll also receive the digital rewards, updates and recognition as a contributor. This tier does not include a chat with the developers.

You Must Really Like Us ($500): The original playtest copy used by the developers themselves. This will be worth millions in the future when we're the dominant name in games. Includes hand-written sharpie edits and scuff marks. You'll also receive the full ten copies of the game, a chat with the developers, and of course, all digital content we produce for Broker.







First off, "Hello!" I'm Jonah, one of the co-founders of Fat Elf Games, and the designer of Broker. I've been designing games since elementary school, and have been working in the game industry in one capacity or another for three years. I enjoy finding the points where games break, and exploiting them - which was a heavy influence in the design of Broker.

And I'm Robin, the other co-founder of Fat Elf Games. I learned math by playing D&D and other RPGs, and haven't stopped working with and playing games since. For me, making learning enjoyable and designing games that educate and entertain is what drives my passion. That, and the unique stories and experiences that emerge from playing games.

Fat Elf Games is a small production company nestled in the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts. We’re the people who thought “I wish I could make games for a living.” and followed that up with the question of “What’s actually stopping me?”

The answer to that is "Uh, nothing? Let's do it!". For many aspiring independent game designers, the first steps are the hardest – you don’t know what you need to do, you don’t know what could go wrong, and you don’t know how fun it really is.

We have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work on a small project – The Diviner, which introduced us to the highs and lows of working in the game industry. More importantly, it gave us the first few drops of experience that we needed to know five things.

We can do this.

This is fun.

It takes a lot of hard work.

Things are going to go wrong.

We can fix it.

We’ve also had the good fortune to begin to develop a network of friends and colleagues. We know concept artists, animators, programmers, sys admins, composers and more and can work with them to help foster growth and a stronger community of creative designers in our region.

What we want to do is offer that opportunity to promising designers, who have taken the first steps, but can’t see where they can go from where they are. We want to give them the chance to live their dreams the way we’re getting to live ours.

Our goal is to create a production system for those independent game designers out there who don’t have the resources available to them to develop their own games.

For both of us, communication and transparency are critical, and we're excited to talk about Broker and our history in game design.