The Story Behind DEER!

Living in the mountains in small town Colorado, this design takes on the view point of my regular drive between my home and the major interstate that crosses the state. Deer, elk, and moose are not uncommon obstacles that are faced on that drive. When I decided that I wanted to design a game around the excitement, potential danger, and realities of driving in the mountains, a reaction style game seemed like an immediate fit.

It took several iterations for DEER! to be what it is today, but it’s better for the time and energy my friends and family have put in to helping me get this game ready to publish.

In DEER! players will take turns flipping from a deck of 18 cards, or if you have 5-6 players just rotate between a designated flipper. Once the card is revealed, players will race to slap their hand down onto one of the three stoplight cards in the middle of the table, indicating: STOP, SLOW, or GO. Players make this determination based on if the animals are in the road, on the side of the road, or the road is clear. Whoever correctly reacts to the situation on the card, claims the animal card, and play continues. When the deck runs out, the player with the most cards is the winner. Then shuffle up and go again!

The flip, assess, and react pattern of the cards coming out mimics the slightly stressful, white knuckle responses that occur when driving and reacting to these kinds of situations. While the feeling isn’t one that is enjoyable when driving, we are able to recreate the little bit of an adrenaline response for the duration of this fast and fun game in a safe and enjoyable environment! Players get caught up in the rush, the excitement, and the competition as they race against other players to be the fastest to respond correctly!

I hesitate to say that this game is also educational, but one of the engaging aspects for designing this game was not only for the fun, finding a way to recreate these kinds of reactions, but also to teach people how to react in these situations. As I leave near several popular tourist destinations for both winter skiing and snowboarding and summertime activities, we get a lot of people up in this area who aren’t familiar with the conditions up here. Colorado Parks and Wildlife reports an average of 3,300 wildlife hits reported each year, not to mention the unreported incidents.

If with DEER! I can create a fun, exciting and engaging way to teach people how to respond the safest in these kinds of situations, I consider each person who learns something new a huge success!