This card game lets you build the ideal social network — or the most toxic

One Billion Users is currently on Kickstarter. | Image: Mike Masnick / Kickstarter

My social network was booming. I had attracted top-tier users: the coveted Trendsetter, the popularity-lured Investor. I had bested server problems and bad press. Then, somebody picked a particularly unlucky card out of the One Billion Users deck I was testing. Sixty seconds later, I had lost it all.

One Billion Users is a new card game from Techdirt and Diegetic Games, and at its best, it lends itself to moments like this. Currently in its last days on Kickstarter, intended to fund a single run of the game rather than a wide release, it’s the latest in a string of projects from the team-up — including the digital games Moderator Mayhem and Trust & Safety Tycoon as well as CIA: Collect It All, a card game built on real CIA training materials.

One Billion Users is a lot less nerdy than any of these. It’s inspired by the relatively simple 1906 racing-themed card game Touring, better known through a popular 1950s adaptation called Mille Bornes. Only, instead of trying to drive the fastest while sandbagging competitors, you’re trying to build the biggest social network while sabotaging everyone else.

A set of blocker, community, influencer, hotfix, and event cards.

Read the full story at The Verge.

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