Playing With Two Teams of Seekers

We've always liked the idea of playing with two teams of seekers, competing against each other to find the same hider. Ultimately, we never used this version of the game for our show given the number of narrative threads and players it would require to pull off. You, however, are probably not making a show, and therefore might actually be able to make this work.

In this version of the game, scores would not be determined by hiding time. Instead, players would be competing for the best seeking time. This can be done in one of two ways: by points or by overall lowest seeking time.

The winner is determined by points. Each round is worth one point. The seeker team with the lowest seeking time (as in: fastest time to find the hider) is awarded the point. In this configuration of the game, the hider is an entirely neutral party during their hiding run–one of the other teams is awarded the point no matter what. With no incentive to slow teams down, the hider does not have control of the hider deck. Instead, the hider administrates splitting the deck between both teams of seekers. Once a team asks the hider a question, the hider does the proper card draw, and then informs the other team of their reward. The teams of seekers are able to track and cast curses on each other, and time bonuses subtract time from their final seeking time. Veto and randomize powerups are removed from the deck. After each round, the positions cycle, and one team of seekers serves as the neutral hiding team for the next round.

The winner is determined by overall lowest seeking time. This means the fastest time to find the hider in any round. Here, the hider does actually have an incentive to choose a difficult hiding spot and slow both teams down, as they are competing against the scores earned during their hiding run. They maintain control of the hider deck, and are able to cast curses against whichever team they choose. Seekers in this version of the game do not really interact–they do not have trackers on each other, and do not have any means of slowing each other down; it is simply a race to get the faster time.

In either case, many mechanics of the game can remain unchanged. Map set-up would follow the same rules, as would any conditions for choosing hiding zones and hiding spots. In configurations where the seekers control the hiding deck, some curses would need to be removed or modified; specifically, curses with costs that reference the seekers' distance from the hider would not be playable, as the other team of seekers would not know whether or not the cost was fulfilled. If you plan on playing some version of this game, we would recommend writing a few custom curses–or even powerups–that are specifically designed to be played by seekers.