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Side Effects

Created by Pillbox Games

Use drugs and therapy to treat your psyche in this beautifully illustrated card game for 2-8 players.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Magnifique! French Print and Play
over 6 years ago – Fri, Nov 17, 2017 at 07:53:47 PM

Merci, amis! We hit our stretch mark of 1,200 backers!

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We’re putting the finishing touches on the French print and play and will post a backers-only update next week with a download link and password.

In the meantime, practice rolling your Rs! At the next stretch mark of 1,400 backers, we’ll release a Side Effects print and play en español!

Which language would you like to see next? Danke schön for your language votes!

-PB

Gold Edges & Print and Play
over 6 years ago – Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 11:54:56 PM

Woohoo! You’re golden! You unlocked gold-edged cards!

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It’s already satisfying to hit somebody with a “You’re Having an Episode” card but to hit them with an ensconced-in-gold “You’re Having an Episode” card?! We cannot wait. Plus, these gold-edged babies are going to pair so, so well with the gold foil box—it’s a match made in beautifully-designed-mental-health-tabletop-game heaven.

Speaking of beautifully designed—handsome backer Riccardo Ranieri became the 1,000th backer, which unlocked our first stretch mark: a Side Effects print and play! Since it’s for backers-eyes only, we’ll post a link & password in a separate post.

Thank you for your support! And say bonjour to our next stretch mark: 1,200 backers will unlock a Side Effects print and play in French—très chic! Tell your best amis! We love translated print and plays and have a bueno idea of which language we’ll be including for the following stretch mark (1,400 backers), but feel free to make a request! Please know, though, that we might need a little extra time to perfect the translation for each print and play. The saying is true: you can’t rush a harvest or a Dothraki translation. We can’t promise to have it ready at the exact moment of hitting a stretch mark, but we will absolutely deliver.

Our next stretch goal reward is “Cards and Rulebook Upgrades.” Basically, it kicks everything up to the fanciest quality. That means 310g black core, professional-grade cards with a linen finish, a 128g art-paper rulebook with a smooth varnish, and a full-color game key. We want to be super clear, though—the current version of Side Effects is already very high quality and is comparable to any retail game. These upgrades would put it in the top echelon of games. On the Gilligan's Island scale of luxury, this stretch goal takes Side Effects from a Ginger to a Mrs. Howell. Both wear daytime sequins; one also wears a boa. Let’s put on the boa!!!

Thank you for your speedy design votes from update #4! We’re hitting the refresh button like crazy to read your votes—keep ‘em coming!

-PB

PS: Do you love cream cheese and/or games?! Us too—that’s why we’re heading to PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia this weekend! Will you be there?! Let’s meet up! We’ll be at Booth #352.

 

The Votes Are In!
over 6 years ago – Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 12:02:06 AM

We’ve counted your votes/heeded your hanging chads and are excited to announce the winning cards! Drumroll, please…

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High Tolerance and Misdiagnosis! We can’t wait to use these beauties to badger our opponents and advance our own clinical causes. Our very own Ben has been busy sketching designs for the new cards and we’d like to have another squeeze of your handsome brains—which two designs are your favorite?

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Please comment to cast a vote for your favorite designs by selecting either A, B, or C for High Tolerance, and A, B, or C for Misdiagnosis. For example, a vote may look something like this: High Tolerance: C / Misdiagnosis: A. We’d also like to high-five backer Bill Anders for his A+ suggestion to simply rename the Drug Shortage card “Martin Shkreli.” Drug Shortage/Martin Shkreli didn’t make the cut, but Bill, this charmer is for you:

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Our next stretch goal-d of gold-edged cards is quickly growing on the horizon, and to celebrate, we’re adding something new into the mix: stretch marks. Stretch marks are like stretch goals but are based on our total number of backers. Once we hit our first stretch mark of 1,000 backers, we’ll release a PDF print-and-play version of Side Effects to tide you over until delivery date. We can’t spill the beans of what our next stretch mark will unlock, but we can tell you that your encyclopedic knowledge of foreign swear words is really going to pay off.

Thank you for helping us pick our two new cards—we’re smiling-at-strangers excited to play the deluxe version of Side Effects.

-PB

New Cards on the Block!
over 6 years ago – Thu, Nov 09, 2017 at 10:58:57 PM

YES!!! Another stretch goal unlocked—thank you! Oh man, this one is monumentally fun: 10 additional cards to add into your Side Effects deck to create a deluxe game. Think of these new cards as a costume on a cat: not really necessary but a solid way to occasionally dial up the insanity.

The 10 additional cards consist of five copies of two brand-new card designs.

Here’s where it starts to get noisy: we’ve each come up with a (self-professed) genius idea for a new card and can’t decide which two to include—can you help? We’d love, love, love your opinion. Our contenders are:

Dumpster Dive: Pick a card out of the first three cards in the discard pile

High Tolerance: Stop your opponent from treating a disease—played during your opponent’s turn!

Misdiagnosis: Swap a disease in your Psyche with any disease in your concealed hand

Drug Shortage: Pick a drug that will be immediately discarded from all players’ Psyches

We want to pick all of them, but like mother says, there just isn’t enough love to go around. If you have a better idea for a new card, write it in the comments! If you like someone else's suggestion, mention it in your comment! We'll tally these as a kind of 'write-in' ballot and who knows, maybe one of your ideas will make it into the game. So, please, comment and tell us which two cards you’d like to see in your gold foil, deluxe edition of Side Effects!

And hey, speaking of gold, have you checked out our next stretch goal? Once we hit $30,000, all Side Effects cards will have gold edges. It is super luxurious and adds that special touch of class when giving your friends impotence. Let’s do it!

We’re so excited to include you in the design process for these new cards—we’ll update here with sketches, playtest results, and aggressive pleas for you to pick our individual favorites.

Thanks for your support and excitement!

-PB

Gold Foil Boxes! Yes!!!
over 6 years ago – Wed, Nov 08, 2017 at 11:48:00 PM

Thanks for getting us to this stretch goal—we can’t wait to deliver your (tastefully) blinged boxes. The expression is true: It’s what’s on the inside that counts, but if possible, always-always-always incorporate gold foil into the outside.

Our next stretch goal is literally a game-changer: new cards. We each have an idea for a new action card and we’d like our handsome backers to choose which cards will make it into the final, golden version of Side Effects. We’ll update here with our pitches for the new cards and warning: we’re all positive that our idea is the best, so get ready for some smack talk. Do you have a stop-everything-my-idea-is-the-best idea? Send it to us!! But be speedy—our second stretch goal is right around the corner.

Thank you for your support!

-PB

PS: We are listening to Weird Al’s instant classic “Foil" on repeat to celebrate.