Project Overview

Presto - The Board Game was I project that I worked on in the Fall of 2025 while studying at the University of Delaware. I made this game while in a Introduction to Game Design course in my Junior year of college and did so in team with another classmate. At the start of the project, for the project, we we're randomly assigned to short animated films and tasked with making a game about it set in that world. Besides that prompt, as designers we we're only given the film to work with and no other constraints for the project.

My Contribution

Wrote the rule book and kept reworking it after every playtest, like bolding key words so players wouldn’t miss them.
Designed the deception system, splitting the moves into actions for Alec and reactions for Presto after testing showed neither player really had a way to respond.
Turned playtest feedback into changes, including reworking a move players found useless until it became one of the most played in the game.

The Rule Book

View rule book as PDF

Presto Evolution

Iteration 1

Settling On A Card Game

Playing cards are central to stage magic, so a card game was the natural fit for a game about a magician, and staying true to that core became one of our team’s guiding principles. We started by testing whether a two-player rock-paper-scissors duel could carry the whole game, an idea inspired by Card-Jitsu, the elemental card game from Club Penguin that my partner and I both loved as kids. Playing with a standard deck raised the questions that shaped everything after: How many cards should each player hold? What information should each player have? And most importantly, what third element could make it more exciting?

By the end of this iteration, we’d settled on a full deck, a three-card hand, and showing each player’s hand at the start of every round. With both players knowing what the other held, the game came down to bluffing about which card you played. That bluffing became the seed of the deception system we built in our second iteration.

Iteration 2

Adding Deception

With the core duel working, we needed that third element. We brainstormed several directions: simple card abilities, a game board played alongside the cards, and a mana system I pitched, inspired by trading card games like Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering. We agreed mana would add too much complexity for a two-person team on a three-week timeline, so we set it aside. Bluffing and deception won out because they fit the theme of Alec Azam secretly sabotaging Presto, without changing the rock-paper-scissors core that already worked.

Playtesting this version exposed a new problem: even with audience tokens as a win condition, there was no round limit, so games could go on indefinitely. That set our goals for the final iteration: produce printed cards and pieces, give the game a clear end, and refine each player’s deception moves.

Iteration 3

Final Stretch

For the final iteration, we printed our custom cards and audience tokens, which track whether Presto is winning or losing the crowd. With several goals and a fixed deadline, we split the work: my partner finished the card designs, while I took ownership of the rule book, the deception moves, and the win condition.

I brought the rule book to a complete first draft and refined each player’s set of deception moves. To fix the endless games, I capped the game at 15 rounds split into three acts, mirroring a real magic show; at the end of each act, the audience judges Presto with applause or boos. That gave the game a clear finish and a natural rhythm of rising tension.

Playtesting, Feedback, & Design Decisions

Playtesting

How Playtesting Evolved the Game

Presto is what it is because of playtesting, and every major aspect of it was altered by playtesting.

01
Tested and Found: A more simplistic Rock, Paper, Siccors mecahnic. Players found it repetitive and wanted more depth.
Design Changes: based on feedback we added a deception phase to the end of each round which became the backbone of the game.
02
Tested and Found: Players didn't use certain deception moves finding them useless or not workwhile in gameplay.
Design Changes: Reworked or got rid of deception moves that players either seldom used or avoided althogehter to better balance the game.
03
Tested and Found: The initial structure/ iteration of the rule book was initially very confusing for players which led to misunderstandings in gameplay or miss use of intended mechanics.
Design Changes: Reworked the rule book so it was easier to understand for players. One particular change was bolding key words or sections of rule book to draw players' attention to it.

Key Design Decisions

Working Through Conflicts

I owned the deception system, while my partner focused on the card designs. In early testing, both players chose from the same set of deception moves, and I found a problem: when both players tried to deceive at once, neither had a meaningful way to respond. I fixed it by splitting the moves into two sets: Alec, the saboteur, acts, and Presto reacts with moves of his own. My partner and I disagreed on that change, so we let a playtest decide, and players responded well to it.

From there, we worked together on a compromise that became the final structure: a 15-round game split into three acts, with each player getting their own ways to outwit the other. While researching magic shows, we found they’re traditionally performed in three acts, which made the structure fit Presto’s theme as well as its mechanics. I’m grateful for that disagreement, because working through it improved the game.

REFLECTION

What I learned From Presto

Presto taught me that a playtest settles a design question faster than any discussion. Writing the rule book also showed me how much clarity matters: small changes, like bolding key terms, decided whether players could learn the game on their own.

If I Touched The Project Again, What I Would Change & Focus On

01
What I'd Change: Tweak, add, or remove certain deception mecahnics.
Why: Although I am happy with the system, it still feels unbalanced and incomplete. If tackled again, I would want to further test and iterate this system to be better balanced as we found players were favoring certain moves and seldom using others.
02
What I'd Change: Rework the win condition to build more tension.
Why: The 15-round, three-act structure my partner and I settled on works, but audience points don’t build much suspense toward the end of the show. I’d keep the three acts and build on them, for example by raising the stakes in the final act.
03
What I'd Change: Push the custom deck beyond standard card values.
Why: Our suits are themed, but the cards still follow a traditional deck (2–10, J, Q, K, A). Changing the deck size or adding special or trump cards could make the cards feel as unique as the theme.

Presto - The Board Game