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One Key

#4755BGG ↗

2019 · 2-6 players · 20min · weight 1.16 · 1,072 ratings

port: no port
BGGv4 widev4v4 deep5Sources2Rules cardCandidateDeep dive
Bayes
5.80
Users rated
1,072
Owned
2,474
Wishing
322

At a glance — v4 wide

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

Core loop (micro)

Leader indicates clue cards' affinity to the secret Key (strong/medium/weak); team eliminates wrong cards until Key alone remains or is removed.

MDA aesthetic vector (0–3)
Sensation
0
Fantasy
1
Narrative
1
Challenge
2
Fellowship
3
Discovery
2
Expression
1
Submission
1
Mechanic-interaction primitives (4)
  • [3]communication_constraint— “team leader tries to communicate by indicating degree of affinity: strong medium/weak
  • [2]semantic_overloading— “proposing clues by indicating their degree of affinity with the object the team must find
  • [3]partial_observability— “other players remove wrong cards step by step until the Key is all that remains
  • [1]cooperative_with_traitor— “Removing the Key results in instant defeat; tension of elimination risk throughout
discovery_score: 0.508

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
Coop
communication_constraint (3) + cooperative_with_traitor risk + partial_observability (3) match Hanabi shape closely; instant-defeat-on-Key-removal provides arc tension. Strong coop archetype fit.
6.207.0747487
Balatro
Tight 20-min session, but no engine-stacking; combo_scaling_depth bottoms out. Procgen-friendly Key card sets give content extensibility.
5.507.0827377
Wordle
Per-game length close to short Wordle window; deduction loop fits a daily-key puzzle but coop framing requires teammates or AI clue-giver.
5.507.0727477
Cozy
Coop-or-Solo tier (Cooperative Game) — no cap. Short, low-conflict deduction with friendly tone scores moderately well; not spatial cozy but tonally adjacent.
5.407.0926378
Snap
Coop puzzle in PvP archetype — wrong shape; bluff_info_asymmetry is shared-team not opponent-facing.
4.805.0726377

Sources (2)

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

Wikipedia0.70LLM memory0.10

BGG tags

Categories (3)
Card GameDeductionParty Game