Bellhop is the second game I designed, shortly after Supernova.

It has not yet been published but I am persistently searching for a publisher. In some ways, it is (imo) possibly a better game than Supernova for a variety of reasons:

• It is reasonably short; around 45-60 minutes
• It has simple mechanics that provide tense gameplay and difficult decisions throughout
• It is a bit backstabby (evil grin)
• It can be played with as few as 2 people

Bellhop is set in New York, 1939. The players play managers of a team of bellhops, whose task it is to assist customers on their way out of the hotel, most of whom are off to visit the World’s Fair. A player’s team of bellhops is small and gets smaller as the game progresses; your bellhops are not reused. The gameplay is quite simple; on a player’s turn, they may choose 2 of 3 available actions.

1. Play a card
2. Draw a card
3. Place a Bellhop

The trick to this is that the player must take their actions in the above order. So, for instance, I may play a card THEN place a bellhop, but not the other way around. Or, I may play two cards in a row… provided their sum is not greater than 7. Playing a card allows a player to load guests onto elevators or move/stop elevators. The crux of the game is basically that a player is likely to never be able to move the elevator to the lobby to drop off a bunch of guests AND have their Bellhops waiting for said guests… at least not all on their own. Collaboratively, they very well may do that. So there is a bit of working together and a lot of backstabbiness, which makes the working together part interesting.. and tricky. You’re never able to do quite as much as you’d like, which in my opinion, is the hallmark of a good game.

So, this last week, I’ve been thinking lots about Bellhop and how I could possibly make it even MORE interesting without adding unneeded complexity and playtime. Changes to Bellhop may or may not be necessary, depending on your perspective, but as it is still unpublished, I’m wondering if it is slightly too dry/analytical for people’s tastes. Hence my ruminations on a minor update.

What I’ve done is a couple things; I added guests in the lobby which need to be taken UP to a floor (all guests previously started on a floor and go to the lobby) and I added roles. It’s the roles which I think might make this game even better. I realize that roles in a board game are somewhat de rigueur and possibly passé but oh well. I like the idea of having the ability to do a little something extra to help yourself out on a turn that isn’t a ‘take that’ mechanism. Roles in this game are slightly different than how I’ve seen them implemented before, which is not to say they haven’t been done this way. Just that I haven’t seen them done this way.

Each player is dealt a role at the beginning of the game, placed face-up in front of them. On a player’s turn, they may play their role, for the cost of 1 point on the scoring track. It does not cost them a ‘play a card’ action. They must then trade their role either with an opponent’s role or with one of the extras. To trade with one of the spare roles does not cost them anything, but to exchange it with an opponent costs them an additional point on the scoring track. Some examples of the roles are:

• Elevator operator – The cost to move your choice of elevators is 2 less than normal (total) this turn.

• Chambermaid - Move one column of guests to the top of one elevator.

• Shift supervisor - Exchange one of your cards with the card on the top of the discard pile. It may not be more than 3 points higher than the card you exchange.

There are more roles, but these are just to pique your curiosity…

I’ll be trying this new implementation today; I’ll post my impressions later.