Időfutár (Timerunner) is a young adult radio play that had gone through many adaptations in Hungary. Novel, stage play and board game had been created from it, so it craved for a card game adaptation. A competition was hosted in 2019 to design a card game related to Időfutár, so my colleague Gergely and I submitted our entries: his solution won the special award, mine won first prize.

A company of friends find a seemingly useless, worn-out, old object. The “compass” – as it will be revealed later – leads its user to a hidden treasure. Our story does not continue with treasure hunt but a desperate escape, as mysterious, dark figures in suits appear and start a wild hunt for the tool of fortune.

The Időfutár card game is an asymmetrical game for 2-6 players. Asymmetrical means – in this case – that a player handles the chaser suited enemies, while each of the other players play the role of a seventh grade student, who are the protagonists of our story. One against all. The adults aim to lure the children into a trap and get their hands on the compass. The latter ones, however, have to outmaneuver their chasers by dropping fake clues and creating diversions.
The game keeps up a slight tension throughout the chase for both parties. While the students have limited communication (as the opponent hears everything), trapmaking doesn’t always end up the same way, so sometimes we give away the position of the compass with our desperate fleeing. The player controlling the ‘suited ones’ cannot sit back either, as time is working against them, and it is easy to run out of time if the students play their tricks strategically.

Strengths

• easy to learn
• asymmetrical with overlord mechanism
• constant thrill throughout the game
• high level of cooperation
• simple setup

Designer’s note

The task was to maximize the experience from a mere deck of cards. My goal was to do so by creating an innovative mechanism. I was thrilled by the concept that the players do not really play a card game but flee: this is the key point through which we can experience the atmosphere of the story, and a good adaptation has to reflect the original story’s feeling. The jury found the attempt successful.