I finally got quotes on this. It's sort of good, sort of bad news.

First, sorry for the delay. I Emailed the guy back before Mother died and he answered with some questions and I worked my way back to his Email (not my daily log which shows progress on this).

Anyway...

Printing real cards, that shuffle, with rounded corners, is expensive, but doable.

I can, at least in theory, have these things made in batches of five or ten decks for about $20 retail per deck. That would be for 175 cards, which is a few more than the "current" deck has.

The Bad News is that somebody (maybe Mike Sparks can do it) will have to take my "card" file and re-format it, which could be a day or two of work. Whether Leanna will authorize this, I dunno. Even charging $20 for a copy, it could mean that the first 10 or 20 or 50 copies just pay for the time Mike spends doing formatting.

Now, I may be able to convince her that I can do the layouts in another program that Mike cannot use, and do them much faster.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 01:10 pm: Edit

Where are the details of what this game is?

By Ken Rodeghero (Ken_Rodeghero) on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 01:27 pm: Edit

There is a write up in a few of the Captain's Logs in the last couple of years.

It is a card game parody of the Fleet Captain's tournament at Origins. Each player is a tournament entrant in the Gold Hat Championships trying to win the Gold Hat. You draw an opponent and try to defeat them by playing "tactics" and "fate" cards while trying to fight through game induced "fatigue." The game starts in the final 16 and the first one to win four games is the champion under the basic rules. You can play cards on other people to impede their progress. It was a "fun thing" that Allen Phelps and I put together with a lot of help from our extended gaming group back in 2000 or 2001. It is still quite a bit of fun to pull out and play. If you have gone/go to Origins or just play tourney SFB, I think it is pretty fun, but I am less than objective on the game, for obvious reasons.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 01:28 pm: Edit

It's a game about the origins tournament for SFB.

There is a huge deck of cards.

The cards include two kinds: Opponents, and Actions.

The object is to defeat a set number of opponents.

When it's your turn, you look at see if you have an opponent. If not, draw one. Opponents range from easy to beat to annoying to hard to beat.

On your turn, you can draw an action card, and play a card. You might play the card on yourself, or on an opponnent. Action cards come in two ways. One change the "game" you are playing against your opponent, moving you closer to winning or losing. If you win or lose, that opponent goes away, and you score your win or less.

The other action card you can play is a "fatigue" card which makes other players tired, or which make yourself or other players less tired. A bad fatigue card might be "stayed up all night playing magic the gathering, fatigue plus two" and another fatigue card might be "eat a hot dog, fatigue minus one". Fatigue, if it gets out of hand, can cause serious problems.

Some of the opponents are famous SFB players like Tom Carroll; others are politicians, imaginary morons (my favorite is "Lost Magic The Gathering Player"), and others.

You might even get the "meaning less patrol battle" that you have to win or lose but which doesn't score either way.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 01:30 pm: Edit

The Gold Hat Card Game

This game is a parody of the Fleet Captain’s Gold Hat Championship at Origins. The game reflects the final four rounds, although players could agree ahead of time to play all seven rounds (or any number of rounds). Each player draws opponents and plays various cards on themselves or the other players in an attempt to reach the gold hat before anyone else. The game is intended for 4-6 players and is extremely tongue-in-cheek, concentrating more on the humorous aspects of the game instead of the serious. It is not the intent of the designers or publishers to insult anyone but only to provide an entertaining distraction between four hour long tournament games.

Components

The game comes with this rules sheet and two decks of cards. One is the DESK that provides matchups in each round. A separate COMBAT deck has all of the various happenings that can occur in a tournament match. (These cards aren’t marked as to which is which, but you can figure it out.) Players will need to provide a six-sided die. The game includes two sets of different colored tokens: Gold to represent plus points and Green to represent minus points.

Overview

Each player has a hand (six cards maximum) of COMBAT cards (Fate, Tactics, Fatigue), an Opponent (Matchup) card in front of him (on which various COMBAT cards might be played to eventually determine the result of that battle), and an area between himself and his opponent in which various cards (mostly "fatigue" cards) are played. Each turn, a player will draw one or more COMBAT cards, play one or sometimes more COMBAT cards, and (probably after several turns) will defeat his opponent or be defeated by him. Once a given "opponent" is dealt with, you will get a new opponent from the DESK deck on your next player turn. Four victories (before anyone else) means you just won the Gold Hat.

The Desk

The DESK deck contains matchup cards that tell you what happens when you go to the desk to find an opponent. Results can range from opponents of a wide variety of difficulty levels to other events that cause you to lose a turn due to lack of available opponents. Matchup cards can (and must) be played on yourself at the time they are drawn and determine your next match if an opponent is shown.

Combat Cards

The Combat card deck has the following types of cards:

Fatigue cards show the rigors of going to a convention and include such effects as sleep deprivation, consumption of bad food, late night gab sessions with friends, and medication. Cards that cause fatigue (late night bull session, convention hot dog, slept in car, etc.) are played against YOU not on the Match in progress. They have a value that is subtracted from all matches that you play while they are in effect. Cards that get rid of fatigue (Tylenol, full night of sleep, etc.) allow you to get rid of one fatigue card, regardless of its negative modifier. Fatigue values modify your matches and stick with you throughout the tournament or until you play a card to eliminate a fatigue card. Two special cards (titled "In the Zone") allow you to ignore all fatigue modifiers for that match only. Fatigue cards can be played on your self or a different player. Fatigue cards can be played on someone whether or not they have a match in progress.

Fate cards represent things that happen out of your control. These things include mistakes by your opponent, good or bad luck, advice from other players, and other assorted events. They modify an ongoing Match either positively or negatively. Some card effects (whether positive or negative) can even be chosen by the player at the time of the card being played. Fate cards can be played on either your current match or a different player’s current match. Whoever it is played on must have a match in progress for the card to be played.

Tactic cards represent moves by you during your match that can positively or negatively affect your current match only. These include Mizia attacks, the anchor, overruns, etc. Tactic cards can be played on your current match or a different player’s current match. Whoever it is played on must have a match in progress for the card to be played.

Rules of the Game

1. Everybody rolls two dice and the player with the highest roll is the dealer. The dealer shuffles the deck of Combat cards and the person to their right shuffles the Desk cards. The dealer passes out five Combat cards to each player. Both remaining decks are placed face down in two separate piles. The player on the dealer’s left takes the first turn.
2. The player whose turn it is looks to see if he currently has an OPPONENT, that is, a Match in Progress. If so, proceed to step 3. If not (and, at the first of the game, no one will have an opponent), the player draws a card from the DESK and displays the card to everyone face up. This is then placed in front of the player and represents the opponent in his current Match. Under some cases, a player might lose his turn and not have a Match.
3. The player then draws cards from the Combat deck until he has six cards in his hand (usually one draw per turn) and must play one Combat card on either his or someone else’s Opponent (fate or tactic cards) or on a person (fatigue cards). Alternatively, the player may discard one combat card instead of playing one.
If an existing card requires points to be scored each player turn, the player uses tokens to record the additional points.
Remember that fatigue cards can be played on anyone anytime it is your turn, but fate or tactic cards can only be played on a match in progress. (Every player will have a match in progress except during the brief interval between finishing one match and drawing a new opponent. That interval could be extended by certain "lost turn" cards. Since a match could end on another player’s turn, there could be several player turns between the end of a match and drawing a new opponent.)
Generally speaking, a Combat card will not remain where it was played (on a player or his opponent); tokens (die cut counters) will be used to record the number of points in that Match. If a given match or player has both plus and minus tokens, they offset each other so you can eliminate them in pairs to reduce clutter.
4. After the Combat card is played, the status of the player’s fatigue is evaluated. Any fatigue cards that are eliminated along with the fatigue cards that eliminated them are placed face up on the discard pile (for later reshuffling, if necessary). Fatigue cards are kept with the player; they are not replaced by tokens.
5. After the player’s fatigue status is determined, the status of that person’s match (if one is in progress) is judged. A net score of positive 5 (counting all tactic, fate, and fatigue modifiers) results in a victory while a negative 5 results in a loss. Any other result indicates that the match will continue. The status of all matches is public knowledge and must be provided if asked for by other players. Since the object of the game is to win four games, getting each opponent dealt with as rapidly as possible is the key to success. If you are clearly losing a given game (say, a current status of -4) you might even play a "bad" card on yourself in order to get that match over with and start another one you have a better chance of winning.
6. If a victory is obtained, all fate and tactic cards are placed face up in the discard pile (for later reshuffling, if necessary). The desk card that contains the defeated opponent is placed off to the side of that player, indicating that the player has one victory toward The Hat. Remember, it takes four victories to win.
7. If a loss is obtained, all fate and tactic cards are placed face up in the discard pile and the Desk card is placed face up in a separate discard pile (for later reshuffling, if necessary). All previous victories are retained (if any). The player does not need to start over at 0 victories. (It is assumed that the judges either found you a wild card slot or voided the game you just lost on some technicality.)
8. Play proceeds to the player to the left and steps 2-8 are repeated until one player has 4 victories. That player is the winner and has won the coveted Gold Hat championship. There is no second place. If cards run out in either of the draw piles (desk or combat) then the discarded cards are reshuffled and become the new draw pile for that deck.

OPTIONAL RULES

1. When it is your turn, you are required to play one card on yourself, and one card on another player. If you do not want to play one or the other of these cards, you must discard a card from your hand. [This speeds up the game by getting "matches" over with faster as more cards are played in each round.]
2. Allow a player to "rest" between rounds. He does not lose his turn, but he does remove one fatigue card.

ORGANIZATION AND COMPONENTS

THE GOLD HAT CARD GAME is a parody of the Star Fleet Battles Fleet Captain’s Gold Hat National Championships. You do not need any SFB products to play it, but if you have never played SFB there are a lot of inside jokes you won’t be able to figure out.

DESIGN CREDITS

Designed by Allen Phelps and Ken Rodeghero.
With lots of input from Gregg Dieckhaus.
With input and additional card ideas from Tom Carroll, Jay Clendenny, Kent Logsdon, and Paul Scott
Playtesters: Gregg Dieckhaus, Kent Logsdon, Mike Calhoun, Patrick Abram, Joe Butler, Steve McCann, Jeff Williams, Eric Smith, Ken Burnside, Mike Filsinger, and many more who did not provide their names but deserve thanks and recognition (you know who you are!).
A special thanks to Steve Cole, who rewrote the first draft of the rules and reviewed the mechanics and cards and got WAY too carried away rewriting the cards after Ken sent them in.

SFB Designer Stephen V. Cole, PE
SFB Executive Developer Steven P. Petrick, IN
Chief of ADB Security Ramses
ADB Inspector General Isis

PUBLISHER’S INFORMATION

This product is published by:
AMARILLO DESIGN BUREAU, INC.
POST OFFICE BOX 8759
AMARILLO, TEXAS 79114-8759
Telephone: 806-351-1950 (Fax: 806-351-2585)
Email: Design@StarFleetGames.com
Web Site: www.StarFleetGames.com
Include a stamped self-addressed envelope with all rules questions, submissions, or other inquiries. Most of the information which players seek (e.g., product schedules) is available free on our web site.
All submissions are accepted only under our standard terms as published in SFB Advanced Missions.
Dealer inquiries are welcome. Hobby and game stores, please write to ADB, Inc. on your letterhead and ask for a list of qualified wholesalers, or call and ask for a salesman. ADB Inc. products are available to individuals in retail stores, from several direct-mail outlets, from the shopping cart on our web site, and directly from us. If your store does not carry our products, send us his name and address and we will have our wholesalers contact him.

PRODUCTION NOTES

This game represents the best and worst of the new publisher for SFB. We got talked into publishing something that didn’t make much profit. But we were willing to get talked into it because it was FUN to play and brought a little humor into what is otherwise an all-too-serious and bloody business of running the Gold Hat championships at Origins.

COPYRIGHT & LICENSING

THE GOLD HAT CARD GAME is copyright © 2001 by ADB, Inc. All rights are reserved under the Pan-American, Berne, and International Copyright Conventions.
This is the updated 2007 edition.
No material which is based on, for use with, incorporates elements of, or is derived from Federation Commander, Star Fleet Battles, Federation & Empire, Star Fleet Missions, Prime Directive, Star Fleet Battle Force, or the Star Fleet Universe background can be published by any party without the advanced written permission of ADB, Inc.

Elements of the Star Fleet Universe
are the property of Paramount Pictures Corporation
and are used with their permission.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 01:33 pm: Edit

MATCHUP
RATED ACE
CHUCK STRONG
Game Starts at -2.
“Listen, boy, I did this over Iraq. You ain’t nothin’. Maybe you wanna play my kid?”

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 01:34 pm: Edit

MATCHUP
CAPTAIN-GENERAL
ALEX PUNDY
Game Starts at -1.
If you win this game, any future match against a Pundy has an additional -1.
“Oh, that just means I won
a 128-player event at
Gen-Con a while ago .”

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 01:35 pm: Edit

FATE
RANDOM RULES
INTERPRETATION
+1 or -1 to current game
at option of person
playing this card.
Duration: Match.
“That‘s not how it was
ruled last year.”

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 01:36 pm: Edit

FATE
VULCAN
MIND MELD
Look at another player’s hand, pick one of his cards, and play it.
“Your thoughts are my thoughts. Your cards are my cards.”

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 01:38 pm: Edit

FATE
SCOUT THE DESK
Special: When you need a new opponent, take two cards and pick the one you want. You can put the other one back (face down) or you can discard it.
“Honey, go up there and see if you can read the title on that guy’s SSD.”

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 01:40 pm: Edit

MATCHUP
Slow-Speed Attack
Game Starts at +2
after judges rule
against his
non-aggression.
“I’m going speed four.
Why don’t you come
and attack me?”

By Frank Brooks (Alskdjf) on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 01:57 pm: Edit

Sounds like fun.

By Tony L Thomas (Scoutdad) on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 05:06 pm: Edit

Steve, at $20 a deck, I'm good for a deck. I've seen a copy of the original and it looks like fun.

By Craig Tenhoff (Cktenhoff) on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 12:51 pm: Edit

SVC,

I posted this at BGG, to see what interest might exist there.

If Ken or Allen, or anyone else has some pictures of the prototype or want to talk it up, it's available here:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/34588

By Ken Rodeghero (Ken_Rodeghero) on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 01:28 pm: Edit

I have a prototype at home, SVC. Not sure what you want to do/have done, if anything, to the boardgamegeek site.

I can take pictures and post something. Or it could wait until you get "better looking" components.

I am just not convinced that there would be much interest outside of the hardcore SFB crowd. It would be great to be wrong, though.

Ken

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 01:31 pm: Edit

I don't think the BGG crowd would have any interest at all.

By Gregg Dieckhaus (Gdieck) on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 04:28 pm: Edit

I'll buy one, but you guys have to add a card for me

MATCHUP
Rated ace Gregg Dieckhaus
Toss a Coin. Heads game starts at +1, Tails games starts at -1.


“I think I'll run the Lyran again this year.”

By Dean Gundberg (Star_Ranger) on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 08:41 pm: Edit

Steve,
Maybe this is who you were talking to, but Guild of Blades, a small RPG/Game company is looking at doing Print On Demand cards for themselves and others. They may be an good option for a small volume.

They talk about it on this thread on the forums of RPGnet:
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=366481

By Jason E. Schaff (Jschaff297061) on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 09:10 pm: Edit

Count me in for a copy if this gets published.

Cheers,
Jason

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, February 09, 2008 - 01:12 pm: Edit

I was talking to someone else.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, February 09, 2008 - 01:16 pm: Edit

Bottom line is that I can have this done within a month if you don't mind that the cards just have text on them. I can get the 2.25x3.5 format from Ken Whitman, take the existing 2x2.5 format cards and just move the text block borders to fit, and send them to KW to print. In theory, it would take a couple of hours.

Now, if you want art, illustrations, pretty pictures, and so forth, things get a LOT more time consuming. I would think we would have to do that if this was a commercial in-store (as opposed to in-crowd) product, but for the in-crowd, I think you could be entirely happy with text and REAL shuffleable playing cards?

I need the kind of "running total, I will buy it" thing we have in the SFBF topic.

By Ryan Opel (Ryan) on Saturday, February 09, 2008 - 01:34 pm: Edit

(1,2) I'd buy two, one for me and one to leave in Iraq.

By Jason E. Schaff (Jschaff297061) on Saturday, February 09, 2008 - 05:40 pm: Edit

(3) Will buy one copy.

By Tony L Thomas (Scoutdad) on Saturday, February 09, 2008 - 06:12 pm: Edit

Ryan and Jason - the countdown (or count-up) is located in the SFBF Expansion topic:
http://www.starfleetgames.com/discus/messages/32/6768.html?1202593056#POST443090
and is up to 19 (w/o counting your 3). You might want to go over there and re-post there to keep an accurate count.

By Ryan Opel (Ryan) on Saturday, February 09, 2008 - 06:16 pm: Edit

Tony,

Except that this count up is for the Gold Hat Card Game not the SFBF Expansion. Different set of cards.

Ryan