FAMFRENZIA is a fun and easy to learn card game ideal for 6-10 players but can be played by 4-12 players. The game cards represent members of 17 families from around the world. Players collect cards by bidding in auctions or dealing with other players. The objective of the game is to build a deck of cards that has sets where each set gives the player a number of victory points.
At Periculum Games, we are passionate about multiplayer games and especially what we call hybrid games. This genre of games combines elements from traditional board and card games with web/mobile apps that enrich the game and create new possibilities. Our games will always contain physical objects and require players being in the same room, as well as a game app.
It is not a coincidence that our launch game, Famfrenzia, is all about bringing families together. Literally! The game is made up of 112 character cards from 17 families around the world. A key objective of the game is to collect all characters from the same family to get bonus points. The game app makes calculating of points and searching for cards easier as well as adding a bit more fun. It also makes it easier and quick for players to find information about any aspect of the game. Famfrenzia will be launched on Kickstarter in October 2023. You can have a sneak preview of the game app here .
Here at Periculum Games, we are always looking for partners such as artists, graphic designers, UX designers, and, of course, web and mobile developers. Whatever your background and skills set, if you share our passion for multiplayer hybrid games, we would love to hear from you.
Periculum Games was founded by Nidal Shamroukh in 2023. Our games are aimed at players of all backgrounds and ages, from the game enthusiasts to the casual game player. It is about bringing friends and family together for a fun experience. Our games will never:
We strive to make our games eco-friendly by minimizing packaging and printed components and making rules accessible online.
FUN FACT
Did you know that Periculum in Latin means risk or danger. It is also the name of incantation of a charm in the Harry Potter books that shoots red sparks from the wand to signal danger!
At the beginning of the game, the players nominate a game master who can also be one of the players, and they agree on any variations of the rules (see variations) they may wish to implement. The players then stand in a circle and this becomes their agreed order for the rest of the game with the player to the game master’s left being player 1, the player to their left being player 2 and so on clockwise. Then the game is setup as follows:
The game master first separates the game cards by type: Character cards, Action Cards, Announcement Cards. They then shuffle the character cards and then hands each player a character card. This card represents the profile of each player.
Each player goes to the player tools tab of the game app, select the character card corresponding to their profile from the drop-down list in Add Players and then click on Add As Me button. This sets the player’s profile and add the corresponding card to the player’s collection.
The game master then hands the following number of character cards to each player depending on the number of players in the game:
Players now can go to the “Add Cards” in the player tool tab of the app, select all their cards in the drop-down and then click on Add Character to add all cards which will appear in the player’s card collection section. Players can remove any card from their collection by clicking on the X appearing under their card.
The game master then removes all “You Decide #” action and announcement cards that have not been agreed on and create 3 decks, one for each card type.
The game master must then draw the first Murder Mystery of the game. They do so by going to the “Generate Murder” section of the Player’s tools tab. A murder mystery is defined by four elements:
Now the game setup is complete, and the game master announces the first round of the game.
The game ends if:
Players who complete a family reunion or generation challenge do not have to declare the game over if they don’t believe they would win game at that point of the game.
The game is played in rounds and each round is made up of three phases: bidding, dealing, and action. The game master must be strict and ensures that most rounds take between 3 and 4 minutes!
At the beginning of each round, each player takes a character card from the top of the character deck in the agreed order. If the round is on odd round, no announcement cards are revealed. If the round is an even round (e.g., round 2, round 4, etc) then the game master must reveal one announcement card, read the announcement, and then ask all payers to carry out its instructions as needed.
The first phase of each new round is the bidding phase where players have the chance to bid first for 2 character cards and then for one action card, each round. To start the auction, the game master draws a card from the top of the charcater (or action) deck and generates random auction type from the Auction section of the player tool tab.
The auction type determines if the card being auctioned is revealed (80% chance) or hidden (20% chance). It also determines the bid type: Shout (50% chance) means players can shout their bids in increasing amounts until the bid is won by one player. Sealed (50% chance) means each player submit their bid in the Bid section of the player tools and all bids are revealed at the same time. The player who wins the bid, supervised by the game master, then confirms the deal in the app and their bid amount will be deducted from their money account.
If two or more players bid the same amount, the players must enter new bid amounts, which must be higher than their last bid amount, in the app and reveal at the same time until one player wins the auction. The bidding process carries on until 2 character cards and one action cards have been auctioned.
The 2nd phase of each round is the trading phase. This is when players try and negotiate deals with other players to exchange one or more cards. The game master can use the Timer tool in the app to signal the start and the end of this phase (90 seconds by default). Any deal not completed by the end of this phase is cancelled.
During the dealing phase, players can add, face-down, action cards they wish to execute during this round on an action card pile to be revealed in the next phase
The last phase of each new round is the Actions phase. This is when the game master reveals action cards added during the round in the order they were placed on the action cards pile. When each card is revealed, the player who placed that card executes the action depending on the card. Action cards can only be used once and are then discarded.
Players get action cards by successfully bidding for them or when cards are distributed to players at the beginning or during the game. Each action card can only be used once and must be discarded after a player uses that card. Details of all action cards can be found under Cards->Action Cards.
The table below provides a sumamry of all points calculations in the game:
The table below provides a sumamry of all multipliers applicable to each event type:
Players receive bonus points if they collect all members of the same family, i.e., a family reunion. The bonus points for each family reunion is the sum of character points for all members of the family. This means by achieving a family reunion, a player doubles the number of points they have from these cards.
The following multipliers are applicable to event bonuses: Me multiplier.
The game has 7 events that players can achieve. Each event is made up of 7 items that must be collected. Each character card shows two items owned by this character. The events are: Book Club, Cinema Night, Gardening, Magic, Orchestra, Science Lab, and Sports Day. Events are easier to achieve since each item appears in 4-7 character cards. The same card can contribute to multiple events (as well as family reunion and bonus events). Multiple players can achieve the same event in the game.
The bonus points for each event is the sum of points of the seven character cards owning the seven items of that event divided by 2 (and rounded down). The Game App selects the cards with the highest number of points if an item is owned by more than one collected character. This means players achieving the same event can get different event bonus points. The Game App shows the minimum and maximum bonus points for each event.
The following multipliers are applicable to event bonuses: Star multiplier, Me multiplier, and Double Points multiplier.
Players can also use the tools in the Player Tool tab to filter characters by items and to find items by family/event.
Players can attempt to gain additional points by completing Gen events. A gen event is completed when a player collects 7 cards from the same generation and gender (except for the granddaughter even which is made up of only one card). There are 7 gen events: Grandfather, Grandmother, Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, and Granddaughter.
The bonus points for each gen event is the sum of points of the seven character cards (or the one card for the granddaughter event). The Game App selects the cards with the highest number of points if a player owns more than 7 characters from the same generation. This means players achieving the same gen event can get different bonus points. The Game App shows the minimum and maximum bonus points for each gen event.
The following multipliers are applicable to event bonuses: Me multiplier.
Players can also use the tools in the Player Tool tab to filter characters and items by generation.
There are 5 Duos in the game. Each is a pair of character cards that are connected. Collect both and you get the bonus points for that duo. The Duos are:
The bonus points for each duo event is the sum of points of the two character cards.
None of the bonus multipliers are applicable to duo events.
Players can also see all duos in the Bonus Tab of the Game App.
At the beginning of the game, the game master will draw generate one murder mystery. During the game, two more murder mysteries may be generated using the Murder announcement cards.
The bonus points for each mystery are calculated as 4 times the points of the character card with the highest points among the 4 cards making up the murder mystery. Currently the app does not calculate the bonus points. Players must manually calculate these and add them to their total points at the end of the game.
None of the bonus multipliers are applicable to murder mystery events.
The murder mysteries are generated and saved only in the game master app (under the Murder section of the Player Tools tab). Players can ask the game master to remind them of the generated murder mysteries at any point during the game.
Star characters are special! If you complete an event (e.g., Orchestra) and one of the items (e.g., violin) comes from a star character, then your bonus points for that even are doubled!
Star multipliers are cumulative. If you have two items of a completed event coming from star characters, the bonus is multiplied by 4; if 3, by 8; and if 4 by 16! This is the maximum number of star characters that can contribute to one event.
Star multipliers only apply to events. They do not apply to Family Reunion, Gen, Duos, or Murder Mysteries.
You are even more special that any star character! If you complete a Family Reunion, an Event (e.g., Orchestra), or a Gen Event, and your character is one of the cards contributing to any of these events, then your bonus points for that event are doubled!
Star multipliers and Me multipliers can be combined for events (e.g., Orchestra) and the two sets of multipliers are,..well, multiplied!.
Me multipliers do not apply to Duos, or Murder Mysteries.
Players who get the Double Point action card can nominate any event, the bonus points for which will be doubled (but must do so as soon as they get this card). When a player specifies an event for this action card, all players must tick the “x2” checkbox next to this event’s name in the Events tab of the Game App, so that the app doubles the points for all players who complete this event.
Double Points can be combined with Star multipliers and Me multipliers for events.
Double Points only apply to events. They do not apply to Family Reunion, Gen, Duos, or Murder Mysteries.
Choose one player and try to guess a character or action card that they may have. If they do, they have to hand it over to you. This card cannot be played once a player announces a family reunion or generation challenge to end the game, or when the Discard Guess & Take announcement card has been revealed.
Choose one player and try to guess a specific set that they may have (family reunion, social event, gen event, duo event, or murder mystery). If they do, they have to hand it over to you. This card cannot be played once a player announces a family reunion or generation challenge to end the game, or when the Discard Guess & Take All announcement card has been revealed.
Choose any social event so that its points are doubled for all players who have this set at the end of the game. This card must be revealed and played as soon as acquired otherwise it have to be discarded.
This card is only applicable to one of the 7 Social Events (e.g., Cinema Night).
Challenge any other player to a family feud! You start by placing two character cards (hidden) from the same family. Your opponent has to match this by placing two cards from any family they choose. At this point either player can add one additional card which must be from the same family they choose originally and their opponent would have to match this or forfeit.
Both players then reveal their cards and add up the total of their character points (start member points are not doubled). The player who wins the feud is the one who has the higher total and they capture the cards from their opponent. In case of a tie, the defending player wins. Either player can forfeit the feud at any point and must give their opponent two cards chosen by the forfeiting player.
Joker cards cannot be used in a family feud.
Name a family and all players must discard all character cards from that family. The cards go into the discard pile and cannot be acquired by any player. This card cannot be played once a player announces a family reunion or generation challenge to end the game.
Reveal one of your character cards and ask all players to hand over all character cards they have that match the generation, gender, and place of your nominated card.
Challenge another player for a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Both players hold a character card face-up and , at the count of rock-paper-scissors, reveal the card. Rock beats scissors; scissors beat paper; and paper beats rock. Repeat if it is a draw.The losing player forfeits their card to the winning player.
The game comes with 5 "You Decide" action cards (numbered #'1 to #5). You can include 1 or more of these cards and agree how these action cards work.
Players can no longer use Guess & Take action cards when this card is revealed by the game master.
Players can no longer use Guess & Take All action cards when this card is revealed by the game maste.r
Standing in a circle in the agreed order, each player randomly draws a card from the player to their left at the same time. Each player must show the card they took to the player to their left so that each player removes the card in their app.
The game master uses the app to draw four character cards:
This new murder is added to the murder declared at the beginning of the game. Players who solve the murder by collecting cards that have all these four elements get the murder bonus.
Standing in a circle in the agreed order, all players must reveal their cards to all other players for 10 seconds or longer if agreed at the beginning of the game.
Swap up to 3 character/action cards from your hand with cards from the top of the deck. Your discarded cards go on top of the deck.
All players get a character/action card from the deck in the agreed order.
The game comes with 5 "You Decide" announcement cards (numbered #'1 to #5). You can include 1 or more of these cards and agree how these announcement cards work.