Bizarre Bazaar is a one-page-game, created for an analog game course.
Explained in the rules above, gameplay consists of players attempting to auction off their items that they chose, with actual prices being decided by randomly-picked cards.
While deciding on what to make, we spitballed over a hundred different ideas, with our team eventually settling on a haggling-based game.
The haggling aspect was inspired by my own trip to Goodwill, in which I considered how every item in the shop, whether its a shirt from an old state fair or a brand-new Uniqlo pullover, each have their own stories to tell.
Eventually, we came up with the ideas of players bringing in their own objects, testing players on their ability to lie about the value of their possessions.
I also designed the game’s rulesheet. Drawing from Persian and Iranian aesthetics, I added patterns and flourishes to give the game a unique visual look. Symmetry and contrast were also extremely important, until we had to fight for space on our paper.
Software corner
– made in Adobe InDesign
Credits
– Sebastian Lanz, Ethan Busa, and Duane James, game design