Hello all!
During early testing of
Seoul Journey, I realized something uncomfortable: if players could plan perfectly, the trip felt too safe.
Some travel games feel curated. You assemble the ideal experience. Everything is visible. Everything is controlled.
That’s not how I travel.
My best memories usually come from the wrong turn, the unexpected market, the random event I didn’t plan for.
That idea became the core tension of the game.
On your turn, you can either:
Play from your hand (Book a trip!)You know what you have. You discard one card face-up as cost (Time is limited!), play what fits your tableau, and keep control.
or
Take a pile from the City (Experience)Some cards are face-up. Some are face-down.
You
must play one of them.
Then you keep the rest.
As piles grow, they become more attractive.
Because the City only refills after a pile is taken, players are constantly adding cards to existing piles. Over the course of a Day, some piles quietly become huge.
A 4-card pile is hard to ignore. More cards means more flexibility… at least in theory.
But here’s the catch: when you take a pile, you must immediately play one of those cards.
Not from your hand.
From the pile.
Sometimes that’s perfect - often the case if you play a face up card.
Sometimes it derails your plan.
You might be building a Day with zero green cards because you’ve decided to ignore Nature this round.
Maybe you’re chasing Red Hallyu bonuses.
Maybe Green doesn’t align with the Trend.
Then you grab a fat pile of mostly face down cards and the only playable Highlight inside is green.
Suddenly your perfect plan collapses, and you have to improvise.
That moment of adapting to the unexpected is exactly what traveling through a city feels like.
Now what?
Do you pivot your strategy?
Do you accept weakening your majority?
Do you play a Tiring Highlight earlier than you wanted and risk locking yourself out later?
That moment is intentional.
I didn’t want travel to feel curated. I wanted it to feel reactive.
In Seoul Journey, you’re not building a perfect itinerary from a brochure.
You’re adapting to what the city throws at you.
Sometimes the best stories start with a plan.
Sometimes they start with,
“Well… I guess we’re going there now.”So the question isn’t only:
“Is that pile big enough?”It’s also:
“Am I ready for what’s inside it?”
Thanks for following the journey so far!
If you enjoy seeing how the design evolved, sharing the campaign with a friend who loves travel or city-themed games really helps the project grow.
