Playtests Nov 24 & Dec 11, 2025

Visiting two new game stores late this year gave me the chance to playtest GridCore with new groups — and I hit a jackpot of thoughtful feedback from experienced, engaged gamers.

Nov 24 · Trailside Games & Hobbies (Matthews, NC)

Players: Andrew, Jack, Dell, Josh, Omar

This table brought focused, analytical feedback around clarity, crashes, and OffGrid agency. At least one player felt friction when pickers went unused or when crashes resolved too early. That led to concrete adjustments: Crash Cards now resolve after Play the Grid, and players can use a Challenge Coin on behalf of someone else.

More importantly, this group surfaced a deeper signal: players weren’t frustrated by uncertainty — they were frustrated when it felt unjustified. That distinction stuck. As a result, if you have a leftover Picker but didn’t collect a coin, you can now spend that Picker to cancel a crash effect.

Dec 11 · Carolina Tabletop Games (Charlotte, NC)

Players: Mitch, Becka, Hanna, and one additional player

This table changed the frame entirely. The room was full, fast, and alive with table talk. The group that graciously agreed to test GridCore intentionally went OffGrid to explore the OffGrid flow.

Mitch, a game designer, raised the sharpest question yet:

When you win alignment, does Play the Grid feel like lived consequence — or an add-on?

This prompted me to finally address and on-board-randomness that occurs in the game..

Introducing… CityFlow. CityFlow reframes the Grid as a system you are inside of, not controlling - that means there are conditions outside of your control, and the focus of the board movement is REACH:

• Movement isn’t about the routes you take, it’s about what you can reach.

• Detours, congestion, and delay are normal — not punishment (think traffic).

• No coin doesn’t mean no progress, but it means you’re setup for the next round. (Signal persistence provides future benefits)

City Flow isn’t a “thing”, it’s a reframe only and lives in language, story design, and metaphor.

This locked in several non-negotiables:

• GridCore is about navigation, not construction.

• The two-step loop is intentional: align → enter the world → see what unfolds.

• The board is not an add-on — it is lived consequence.

Two rooms. Two energies. Amazing feedback as always.

The core loop stays protected.