Disclosure

There have been many times we’ve played a game and thought to ourselves how the game would appeal to us more if it only had been themed differently. For instance, zombies are played out in our household. But take the same game and make it about farm animals, butterflies or anything nature-inspired and we’ll probably get it to the table on more than one game night. In most cases, this theme switch could be accomplished without changing the rules at all – just new artwork!

My point is proven with a new card game series by GoVenture. The designers have created a card game ruleset that can be applied to a wide variety of themes and styles which still use the exact same ruleset. This means that while you have different games on hand, you don’t need to relearn how to play when you want to switch from Monsters to being an Entrepreneur.

GoVenture’s first product offering includes two different themes of the same game. Monster, where you are collecting bounties by capturing monsters, and Entrepreneur, where you become the head of a particular business type and spend your time fulfilling customer orders. Each game is broken down into the same type of cards, even though they’re named differently. I’ll focus on the Entrepreneur version and then highlight what the equivalent cards are called in Monster.

To set up a game, shuffle the Product (Monster), Customer (Bounty) and Action (still called Action) cards into individual decks and place them in the center of the play area, leaving room for discard piles. The Money (Gold Coin), Business (Weapons) and World (still World!) cards are set face-up within reach of all players. Your goal is to earn money by selling products to customers (delivering monsters to claim bounties). In both cases, the first player to collect $20 (gold coins) wins GoVenture.

On a turn you will draw a Product (Monster) card from either the top of the deck or the top of the discard pile. You may then take any number of actions without limit from the following – trade cards with other players, buy or return Business (Weapons) cards or buy or play Action cards. As the last part of your turn you may either take an additional Product (Monster) card from the deck or elect to draw a Customer (Bounty) card and try to fulfill its requirements.

In order to retain the Customer (Bounty) card, you must have collected one of the items listed on the card AND be operating the right type of Business (have the right Weapon). If you do, place the card with the item underneath your Business (Weapon) card to show you have completed it. This new card will have a monetary amount listed, which you may spend at a later time to purchase additional Business (Weapon) types or saved to further your progress towards your $20 goal.

Another way to win GoVenture is to collect World cards. Each World card depicts two products (monster types) and if you are able to complete two of either of the listed types, or one of each, then you receive the matching World card. Collect all three World cards and you will also win GoVenture even if no one has amassed $20!

The GoVenture line of card games supports up to six players and will run from ten to thirty minutes. You can pick up the 2-pack on Amazon or direct from GoVenture! Find out more about this line of games and other educational products over on their website or by following them on Facebook or Twitter!

What is your favorite game theme?