Three Jewels
Three Jewels is a competitive board game in which princesses from different kingdoms compete to become the queen of a new kingdom.
To win the game, a player must collect the three precious jewels and deliver them to the king before the other players.
Game Concept
Each player controls a princess competing for the crown. The three types of precious jewels are placed in different locations around the board.
Players must move around the map, collect the required jewels, and then deliver all three to the king. The first player to complete this objective becomes the queen.
The game was designed around a fantasy and princess theme, with the goal of creating a competitive experience that was accessible and enjoyable for the intended age group.
My Role
I worked as a Game Designer as part of the team. While the board's spaces were created collaboratively, I was responsible for several important gameplay ideas and contributed to the rules, cards, player interaction, and overall structure of the game.
- Designed the idea of a rotating section of the board.
- Helped define the victory condition involving the three jewels.
- Designed some of the game's cards.
- Participated in creating the board spaces with the team.
- Contributed to gameplay rules and overall game structure.
- Participated in playtesting and balancing discussions.
Core Gameplay Mechanic
The Moving Board
One of my main design contributions was the idea of making the central section of the circular board rotate during the game.
Players could draw cards that instructed them to rotate the board, such as turning it one or two positions to the right.
Because the board's layout changed, a route that was useful in one round could become inefficient or even harmful in the next.
This created an additional strategic layer: players had to adapt their route instead of simply following a fixed path toward the jewels.
Cards & Player Interaction
Cards were used to introduce variation and unpredictability into each round.
Depending on the card, a player could rotate the board, move forward or backward, lose a turn, or affect the current flow of the game.
For example, a card could instruct the player to rotate the board to the right one or two times. This could either help the player or make their current route more difficult.
The interaction was intentionally indirect. Players could influence the board and the overall situation, but they could not directly attack or deliberately harm another player.
All players shared the same basic movement rules and abilities, keeping the game relatively easy to understand for the target audience.
Design Challenge
One of the biggest challenges was creating a competitive experience that remained fun without encouraging overly aggressive interactions between players.
Since the target audience was around 12 years old, the team wanted the competition to feel exciting without turning the game into an experience centered around directly sabotaging other players.
Balancing & Playtesting
An important balancing goal was making sure the game lasted long enough to remain engaging.
It was intentionally difficult for a player to simply follow the optimal route to all three jewels, because the board could change and force players to adapt their plans.
We playtested the game primarily with classmates and also tested it with a smaller number of people closer to the intended target audience.
These sessions helped us evaluate the game's rules, pacing, and overall enjoyment.
Design Inspiration
The concept of collecting three important objects was influenced by the structure commonly found in classic fantasy and fairy-tale stories.
The visual and thematic direction focused on princesses, kingdoms, and precious jewels to fit the intended audience.
What I Would Improve Today
If I redesigned the game today, I would experiment with giving players more control over when certain cards can be used.
This could create additional opportunities for strategic decisions during a round instead of relying mainly on the card drawn at the beginning of the turn.
I would also test alternative versions of the jewel system. For example, one version could use only three physical jewels in total and introduce a mechanic that allows players to steal a jewel from another player.
This could increase direct interaction while significantly changing the game's balance.
Key Takeaway
Three Jewels was an important project for exploring board game design, player interaction, pacing, and accessible competitive mechanics.
The rotating-board concept allowed me to experiment with how changing the game space itself can influence player decisions and force players to adapt their strategies.
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