Buy the Rights
Bringing the Fun of Award-Winning Party Game 'Buy the Rights' to the Next Level Through Innovative Game Design and Exciting Illustration! An Engaging Challenge That's Sure to Entertain!
The Movie Pitching Party Game
Buy the Rights is a party game about pitching terrible movies. Four decks — genre, descriptor, hero, and plot — combine into ideas like Kung Fu Cat Lady or Super Hero Elvis Impersonator. Players take turns as the Screenwriter, trying to sell their ridiculous movie to whoever’s playing Producer. The whole game depends on people being willing to look a little stupid in front of their friends.
Literally Wizards already had a working prototype and a successful Kickstarter, but it still looked like a homemade proof of concept. They brought me in to turn it into the real thing — logo, four card decks, character illustrations, play money, and packaging. The tone mattered as much as the design. If the game looked too serious, people might play it seriously, so the art had to give everyone permission to be ridiculous before they even read the rules.
CLIENT
Literally Wizards
STUDIO
Weirdo Works\
YEAR
2016
ROLE
Game design, illustration, and identity
Justin Gammon
RESULTS
Full visual identity — logo, four card decks, character illustrations, play money, and packaging
Major Fun Award for play value
Kickstarter-funded and shipped to production
Creating a Card Game for All Film Lovers
A Pitch–Perfect Party Game Design
I handled everything visual, from the identity and packaging to the cards, illustrations, icons, and play money. I kept the whole system bright, loose, and cartoony, with ridiculous characters pulled straight from the kinds of combinations the game creates. Nothing needed to feel too polished or precious. The goal was to make the game feel approachable enough that everyone was already in on the joke before the first pitch started.
Telling the Cards Apart at a Glance
Play Your Cards Right
The category cards are the engine of the game, and players are constantly moving between four different types. Each deck got its own color and set of movie-making icons so you could tell what you were holding without stopping to read a label. It’s not the flashiest part of the design, but it makes a big difference once the cards are actually in your hands and the game gets moving.
Funny Money
Pitch and Get Paid
Winning pitches get paid in play money, so I illustrated the currency with American historical figures dressed up in Hollywood props and costumes. It was another place to push the joke a little further and make even the money feel like it belonged in the same ridiculous movie world as the rest of the game.