All You Need To Know About Black Tie

Black Tie Summary:

A game of international espionage is afoot! You've been given a mission to protect hard drives containing your organization's most important data. Years of research and technological advancements your opponents can't wait to get their hands on. You'll need to pull out all the stops in order to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.

But your opponents have their own data worth investigating, data your employers would be more than happy to get a look at it. And sometimes the best defense is a good offense. Recruit agents, activate dormant facilities, and deploy cutting edge gadgets to infiltrate your enemy's defenses, steal their data drives, and sabotage their agency. May the best player win!

What is Black Tie?

Black Tie is a light espionage themed deck building card game. In Black Tie players take on the role of director of intelligence for their own agency. They are given the mission to protect their data (in the form of Data Drive cards) and attempt to steal data from other players. The game presents lots of opportunities to upgrade your deck, recruit new agents, and build defenses in order to accomplish your mission.

Black Tie takes hand management to a whole new level with mechanics such as card storage, partial hand retention, and the ability to increase hand size. Careful hand management is more important than ever thanks to Black Tie's unique card stacking mechanism where players may play multiple identical cards as one move in order to pull off more and more powerful actions.

What are Black Tie’s specs?

Black Tie accommodates 2-5 players, but I plan on creating rules for a solo mode, which will be posted to the website and available to all players for free by the arrival of the game.

Gameplay generally lasts for 40-60 minutes, but truly it depends on the number of players. 2 player games may be faster and 4-5 player games may take longer. Players essentially choose how quickly the game moves by choosing when to purchase the Double Agent cards. But players are incentivized to not draw out the game due to the scarcity of Double Agents and the power if other players obtain multiple.

Our current age recommendation is 13+. We feel this is the age in which players would be able to understand the game on their own. With help, younger players would likely be able to participate.

Black Tie has some complexity but it is not a heavy game by any means. The cards are fairly self explanatory and the rules are short, without many nitpicky exceptions. We consider it to be a “gateway” game in terms of complexity.

What is a gateway game?

A gateway game is a tabletop game whose complexity sits between mainstream style games and more intense hobby games. This makes it perfect for people who are looking for games to introduce themselves or others to the more serious side of tabletop gaming. It is meant to provide a glimpse of the strategy and depth of hobby games, without the size, themes, or complexity that can be intimidating to newer players.

How do you play Black Tie?

Black Tie is a twist on deck builders where players are competing to gain the most points. Players earn points by procuring cards, called assets, and by stealing data cards from other players. Similar to most deck builders, players each have a revolving deck of cards which they are working to upgrade and hone to be the most effective. Players can utilize agents and activate gadgets in order to increase their assets, steal from other players, and sabotage opponents’ operations. Players can also play cards to the table which remain in effect until they are removed by another player.

Players can purchase new cards from the selection on the table and from the main deck of cards. Which looks a bit like this:

To learn more you can check out the rulebook, which is available publicly at this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mg5G6JpjUrXsPzqsuNWeOHus7mMnDpJO61eXhvucsSA/edit#heading=h.skqcutxqcg7g

What makes Black Tie unique?

Black Tie diverges from the typical deck building format in 3 main ways:

• There is no health, money or manna; instead the only purpose of the game is to collect cards and utilize your assets.

• The game is intended to maximize player interaction. You can steal and destroy other players cards, interrupt their plans, and defend your own deck with various upgrades.

• The unique espionage theme allows players to experience something new

Additionally Black Tie has a unique combination of gameplay mechanics to maximize strategy and allow players to more carefully craft their hand and deck. Some of these mechanics include:

Card Stacking

Stack identical cards and play them all in one go to greatly increase their potential. Don't have enough cards? Use the inventor to fill in the gaps!

Hand Retention

No victory in Black Tie is the luck of the draw. Instead, you can retain up to two cards in your hand between turns. This means you can stack, store, and steer your cards to make lethal combinations.

Unique Purchase System

Black Tie doesn't bother with money or purchasing points or any other system. Instead you simply discard cards at the end of your turn up to the cost of the card you want to purchase. This means you must build up your hand for more expensive purchases and forces you to choose between using cards for actions or for purchasing. Remember more cards is how you win!

The Devious Double Agent

The Double Agent card is not to be ignored. If played well, this card can increase your purchasing potential exponentially. Build your hand and deck to be able to purchase this crafty card. But do it fast, once all the Multiply cards are gone its game over.

What is the current status of Black Tie?

Black Tie is currently in stock and ready to ship!

Why did I create Black Tie?

I created Black Tie for two reasons. First, when I started the project I was in love with deck builders, but I wanted to create a game that broke the status quo that traditional deck builders had created. Most of them were solitaire style games with maybe some combat or effect cards thrown in as player interaction. Also despite being called deck BUILDERS, the optimal strategy in most games was actually to hone your deck down to your most powerful cards. Meta Card, the original project behind Black Tie, was created to change up these rules. Second, I wanted to create a deck builder that felt approachable and fun for new players. Not everyone loves the head down strategy aspect of heavier games, but the almost party game level interaction in Black Tie means that players can enjoy the social aspect of this game just as much as the strategy aspect.