+1 for all the people saying not to set a limit on how many Playtests you do before doing a thing. The whole point of playtesting is to figure out what works and what doesn’t and you sometimes find things right away!
My memory is absolutely terrible, so for Plan Z I made a quick half-page playtesting booklet in Word, printed it, stapled it together, and have been using it in every playtest https://i.imgur.com/XOqyURy.jpg
I’ve only just made a second version that captures more data and asks more questions (what was the winning player’s strategy, what’s the focus, game version). If anything, it reminds me why I made certain changes and I can go back to the New Rule Ideas when I’m feeling stuck.
After 34 Playtests I’m finally at a place where I think the game is pretty solid (and still needs small changes haha). Almost every other time I’ve done a playtest I’ve changed something right after.
When you sit down with your friends to playtest make sure they know that the game is broken. Take in their feedback—understand when they are saying they feel restricted by the rules or if they’re frustrated because they lost.
There’s a lot of info out there on good playtest practices like this blog or this video. Overall: have fun with it and keep testing until everyone feels there’s nothing big to improve :)
