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Illusion

#1727BGG ↗

2018 · 2-5 players · 15min · weight 1.04 · 5,644 ratings

port: no portdifficulty: Easy
BGGv4 widev4v4 deep5Sources2Rules cardCandidate0.566Deep dive
Bayes
6.34
Users rated
5,644
Owned
9,395
Wishing
719

At a glance — v4 wide

Controlled-vocabulary primitives + 8-axis MDA aesthetic vector. Vocab v1.

Core loop (micro)

Look at a card showing colored shapes, estimate what percentage of the area is a given color, insert it in ranked order.

MDA aesthetic vector (0–3)
Sensation
1
Fantasy
0
Narrative
0
Challenge
2
Fellowship
2
Discovery
1
Expression
0
Submission
2
Mechanic-interaction primitives (3)
  • [3]_other:perceptual_estimation— “can you trust your eyes? How much color do you really see? These questions drive gameplay in Illusion
  • [2]simultaneous_action_selection— “rules that allow for gameplay to start immediately — who has the right perspective not to be fooled
  • [1]attrition_clock— “Illusion — 15 minute playtime, pattern recognition mechanism
discovery_score: -0.082

Archetype fits — v4 deep

How well this game shape maps to mobile archetype templates. Composite is a weighted sum of the 10 fit dimensions.

ArchetypeCompositeLTFSessionComboArcShare5inOnboard
Wordle
Strong Wordle fit: visual estimation puzzle + ≤30s onboarding + low loss-stakes + share-emoji-output potential (e.g., ranked-guess grid). content_extensibility 8 from procgen color-card generation.
6.809.09287810
Snap
60s rounds match Snap's match-length tempo and the stop-and-challenge mechanic echoes Snap's reveal moment. visual_legibility_5in_fit 8 because card-on-screen with sequence below is phone-native.
6.007.0737588
Cozy
Tonal-cozy tier — Pattern Recognition mechanism, no PvP combat, no anti-cozy primitives — no cap. Loss is gentle; perceptual delight is cozy-adjacent. solo_decision_density modest because rounds are short observation+place.
5.608.0825389
Coop
No shared fail-state nor information-asymmetry constraint in the base game. Could re-skin as 'team-of-2 estimates against the deck' but the loop shape isn't there.
5.307.0635478
Balatro
Pure perceptual_estimation — no engine growth, no combo stacking. Quick rounds suit short sessions but combo_scaling_depth caps at 2.
5.106.0625478

Translation candidate

Composite fit_score = bayes×0.30 + wish×0.18 + compress×0.17 + difficulty×0.20 + headroom×0.15.

bayes_norm×0.300.095
wish_norm×0.180.097
compress_norm×0.171.000
diff_norm×0.201.000
port_headroom×0.151.000
fit_score (total)0.566= 0.566
Difficulty reasoning

Visual estimation card game with stop-and-check mechanic is a perfect mobile party format; no current port.

Closest loop translation
none yet

Sources (2)

Inputs to rules-card synthesis. Click any pill with ↗ to open the original source.

BGG comments0.75LLM memory0.65

BGG tags

Mechanisms (1)
Categories (1)
Card Game