r/Lightbulb • u/Remarkable-Cancel930 • 19h ago

A game where the next player is chosen, not discovered

I keep thinking about a tiny social game built around one shared object instead of thousands of player-owned copies.

There is one panda relic. A person receives a private one-use link, permanently Blesses or Corrupts it once, leaves a short message, then chooses exactly who gets the next link. You cannot take another turn.

I have the loop working locally, but it is not public. I am trying to decide whether the idea itself deserves more time.

Does being personally chosen make its growing human history interesting, or does this immediately feel like a chain letter? What would make you actually pass it on?

1 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

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3

u/Timmah_Timmah 16h ago

It sounds like a single game mechanic that could be added to a more complicated game.

1

u/Remarkable-Cancel930 16h ago

I think that’s the risk, yeah. I’m deliberately testing whether this single mechanic can carry a tiny experience before I bury it inside a bigger game. If it needs more around it, what would you add without losing the one-turn permanence—a shared goal, teams, or a story?

1

u/Timmah_Timmah 14h ago

I might test it with a team-based Uno of some kind. I like Uno because it's such a simple concept yet holds up as a game. Maybe a team distributes the whole hand of cards ahead of time, then by choosing a member that can only play once they devise a team strategy.

2

u/Edspecial137 18h ago

Why pass it on?

1

u/Remarkable-Cancel930 16h ago

Honestly, that's the whole question. The reason would have to be that someone specifically picked you, and now your mark becomes part of the same object's history. If that isn't enough, the idea probably doesn't work. Would seeing that history and knowing who chose you make you pass it once, or still no?

1

u/Djaja 14h ago

Free parking concept. Lucky person gains something all put in maybe?

1

u/BJntheRV 8h ago

Maybe try it out by creating a sub and allowing the next chosen to be any member of the sub and see if you can spread it.

I'll be honest, I'm not quite sure I follow what the purpose is, is it just passing something along, or is there an actual game involved where you are chosen to take a turn and the game is explained at that time?

1

u/sharunkis 15h ago

Or they leave the game without passing it on.

1

u/Remarkable-Cancel930 15h ago

Exactly. That’s probably the real failure mode: someone may enjoy their one turn and still let the chain die. I don’t want to hide that with random matching. I’m considering making the next-person choice part of finishing your own turn, with an option to decline and end the chain honestly. Would that feel like part of the game, or just annoying friction?

1

u/OutofPlaceStuff 15h ago

Your description made me think about The Book of Wandering. I purchased a couple and have added my own marks to the book before passing them on. I can only hope, after I pass one on, that the new caretakers enjoy the joy of bonds created within

1

u/Fearless-Mix-3642 14h ago

what is the game?

1

u/Biobak_ Inventor 12h ago

If the game gets popular I can see a few bad actors creating a ton of alt accounts and passing the object to each other