Posted April 15, 2021 by Matthew Ng
Following a recent and more thorough playtest of BestPanel at PeopleCon I had no personal involvement in playing the game, only observing. What I saw was players responded well to the roleplay aspects of the game, even though it isn't explicitly stated in the rules. Additionally, the "Host" played the game differently than I had originally imagined, by asking questions in a triple round-robin before making the final guesses. Ultimately, this version was more engaging, entertaining, and all around fun, so I decided to change the rules to reflect this playstyle. Finally, observing players in the "Chat" suggested making the role more interactive by virtue of remaining unmuted so that the reactions of the audience can be heard, similar to playing a folk game in person. While I am unsure of the results, given the chaotic noise this may create, I added suggestions to do so. This feature will be observed closely for the future.