Enjoy the Thrill of the Chase in Fugitive

It is really hard for me to say anything negative about a game developer who has an "About" section on his website that simply features a GIF of him doing the robot in a bright orange shirt. This is Tim Fowers, and I like to imagine that this is a celebratory groove due to the extreme success of his latest Kickstarter project, Fugitive. With Fugitive having gathered over $120,000 in backer support so far, this will be Fowers third successfully funded Kickstarter game, so I guess a dance may be warranted.

Fugitive is a 2-player card game that revolves around deduction and bluffing. One person plays as a fugitive on the run from a marshal whose job is to uncover the criminals' hide outs and bring them to justice. Using a series of numbered cards, the fugitive must try and make their way to the airport, and ultimately escape. If the marshal is able to deduce where all the hideouts are, then they can capture their opponent and drag them back to prison. The game is broken up into a series of turns with the fugitive going first and the marshal following.

During their turn, the fugitive draws a card from their choice of three different decks which all simply have randomly shuffled numbered cards. These decks of cards are split into three distinct number ranges with the lowest holding cards numbered 4-14, the middle deck containing 15-28, and finally the highest deck containing 29-41. The fugitive also begins with a pre-set opening hand containing cards 1-3 and 42. The 42 represents the airport which the fugitive is trying to escape to and win the game. In order to reach the airport the fugitive must essentially chain together a series of ascending numbered hideout cards, which they play face down in front of them. Fugitives can only play a numbered card if it is no more than 3 numbers higher than the previously laid down card, unless of course they sprint (more on this later).

The marshal also draws from the same decks of cards that the fugitive has access to and since there is only 1 of each numbered card, uses those to try and deduce what hideouts the fugitive is using. During each marshal turn the player guesses a number or series of numbers. If the numbers are correct then the fugitive must reveal the correlating hideout card in front of him, which then gives the marshal that much more information to sniff out the rest of the hideouts. If the marshal manages to correctly guess all the hideout cards then the fugitive is cornered and loses the game.

The sprint mechanic adds further depth and strategy to the fugitive’s choice of hideouts, and complicates the marshal’s ability to properly locate the right areas. Instead of using one of the numbered cards as a hideout, players can essentially modify their face down cards by sprinting to get to higher numbered cards above the normal limitation. These sprint cards are also kept secret, but are revealed if the marshal guesses the modified hideout correctly, which equips them with even more information on the remaining hideouts.

This simple card game seems like a great fit for players hoping to get in and out of a game quickly and test their deductive or bluffing prowess. For more detailed gameplay demonstrations make sure to check out the official Fugitive Kickstarter page.