Playtest Till It's Smack Deck

This one came from playtesting until we had enough ideas — no grand plan at the start.

I’d been watching a fun card game influencer play a drinking game with their friends. I liked the quick-reaction part of it, but it needed proper context to hang the game on. So I got my daughter to test the quick game with me, just cooking up a way to smack.

The motion reminded me of swatting a pest around the house. So I threw the idea out: why not smack the cockroach? She laughed and asked for more variety. We landed on two more — mosquito and fly. That was it, the whole cast.

The smack rule came in when we needed a way for players to decide which pest to smack. From there we kept piling on wackier rules, as if the pest were crawling on your own body. And that was the game.

Smack Deck stayed simple through all of that, which turned out to be the point. We’ve played it with kids as young as 3 and adults past 60 — same laughter, same fun. It’s a good icebreaker exactly because it’s this simple.

Curious how the pests actually play out at the table? Check out Smack Deck.