Designing Grand Central
Welcome back to my designer notes where I share some of my process while developing the boardgame “Journey to Cheeseland.” For those who just joined me you can check out the first part of the blog here: Journey to Cheeseland: Beginnings
Creating the board for “Journey to Cheeseland” also meant designing the city in which the game takes place by choosing the type of locations players would be able to explore as well as the overall location of these spots within the city.
Though the game mechanics are very different the look and feel for the board was inspired by “Clue” one of my favorite games as a kid. For those unfamiliar with the game you can check out the rules here: https://www.ultraboardgames.com/clue/game-rules.php
I loved walking around a large mansion while trying to solve a murder. Here’s what the mansion in Clue looks like.
For Cheeseland I wanted to create the feeling of adventuring through a large city while exploring different areas in order to find the secret entrance to Cheeseland and confront the evil mastermind behind the disappearance of the cheeses. I used the same concept of different starting points for each character (though I let each character choose their starting point) and a variety of locations to explore. In this case buildings or city areas like the wharf instead of rooms. These areas are connected by paths the mice have to travel through in order to reach their next destination. Players roll a dice to determine how far they can travel each turn though some items, handicaps or abilities can affect the final number.
Here’s the current version of the board created in Lucidchart.
You may notice that each starting square is more than six squares away from any location or manhole. 
That’s to avoid mice being able to reach a location on their first turn. No matter what, they have to face danger as soon as they leave their starting point. On average they will be able to do so on their second turn (okay, slightly lower than average since it takes 7 or more to reach the nearest location).
Even though I wanted to recreate some of the fun of exploring a map I experienced in clue there were some key differences I had to consider during the layout.
Connecting paths: One of the major differences are the paths on which players travel. In Clue areas between rooms are wider than one square because they only exist to delay you. In Cheeseland these areas are actually the “danger zones” as you may have to face dangerous encounters and Maxo and his minions are always trying to pounce on you. So I designed narrow “corridors” the mice have to travel through to create more tension while they’re being chased.
Shortcuts: Clue has secret passages you can use to travel from one room to another. Instead I used the concept of manholes that allow mice to resurface in a different area of the city. Only one room, the bank, can be accessed directly through a manhole. It’s actually the only way to enter the bank. Using these manholes doesn’t just save time, it’s a crucial way of escaping Maxo and his minions as they can’t follow you though they can block manholes by sitting on them. From Maxo’s perspective manholes create a whack-a-mole mechanic as he keeps trying to catch the mice before they disappear into the next hole.
Number of locations: Having a variety of locations was important to create more of a city feel and support the “journey” theme. Since mice are also in danger while on the streets these locations offer safe spots for them. And yes, I added a library and post office because they are important, dang it!
Other things you may notice on the board are paw prints. These are starting locations for Maxo’s minions. Each round the cat player can either move Maxo (special token with double move options) or one of the minions to try to pounce on a mouse or pursue it.
I’ll go into the trash icons in more detail when I talk about the mouse actions but basically mice have the ability to dispose of trash icons in these locations and receive a reroll token in exchange.
Role of Streets: As mentioned streets are dangerous. Not only are Maxo and his minions out on the streets but when a mouse rolls a 1 or 2 on its movement roll it must draw an encounter card. Not all are bad but well, many are. When a mouse lands on a street square it can also search the street for potential clues as one of its actions. A search roll determines if a mouse finds something. If so the player may draw an item card and if lucky, will draw a clue or some other neat item.
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Role of Locations: I mentioned that locations are safe spots for mice but more importantly they are a way to encounter clue givers to receive critical information about the location of Cheeseland. Each time a mouse ends its turn in a location it can draw a clue giver card and try to convince them to give them one or more clues. A convince roll will determine that outcome. Note that from a layout perspective larger locations can also be used as a shortcut as they count only as one move.
So these are the current thoughts behind the board layout based on theme and gameplay. In the next blog I will talk about some of the key mechanics of the game and how they fit the theme.
Exercise 2: Clue is a great example of a well themed game. You’re trying to solve a Agatha Christie reminiscent murder mystery by exploring the crime scene, an old-fashioned mansion. If you’re familiar with the rules think how you could retheme the game using the exact same mechanics. Clue already has a few variations but I’m challenging you to come up with a non murdery-mystery theme. Some sort of spy theme would probably work but I’m sure you’ll come up with something even more unique. Share your cool ideas below and share this post if you enjoyed it.
See you soon and stay safe in the meantime.
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