This is the one hundred eighty-second entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our one hundred eighty-second random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality is offering us all candy. It’s Rainbow World, by Wasteland of Enchantment Games (AKA Matt Bohnhoff), and its tagline in the bundle reads:

A short collaborative world-building tabletop game using a candy currency!

We’re about to build a world… with candy.

Rainbow World is a collaborative tabletop game, not exactly a role-playing game, but similar in some ways. As usual for such games, I lack the time and motivation to organize a group of players to actually play this, so I’ve just read through the rules and written my impressions here. The rules are pretty short, because Rainbow World was originally written for the 2016 200-word RPG Challenge, before being embellished a bit for the version available in the bundle. It’s still mechanically identical to that original submission, however, and even with some expanded text and nice images, it’s a quick read.

Rainbow World is about building a fictional world together. Players simply need a stack of index cards, some pencils, and a bowl of skittles. Yes, skittles are actually incorporated into the game. You see, players start the game by writing down certain facts about the world they’re creating on index cards — examples given are things like “there is very little water” or “tiny crab people secretly live in every home” — and if other players particularly like someone’s fact, they can reward that player by handing them a random skittle. Generally, facts written on cards cannot contradict others that have already been written and placed on the table, but later in the game players can start describing things that happen in the history of the world, which change previously stated facts. Perhaps another source of water is found, or the crab people are exposed and no longer live in secret. To do that, however, players must have some skittles. The player must eat one of their skittles before placing such a card, which will supplant another that’s already on the table. But the color of the skittle dictates the kind of changes players can make. One color might govern environmental disasters, while another governs the actions of particularly notable individuals in the world.

Since players award each other skittles at random, the color-coding of these responses adds a bit of randomized restraint to the proceedings, which are otherwise completely open (except for a rule that prevents submitting two cards in a row, so one player doesn’t dominate everything). A lot of the tabletop games that have come up in this series ask for full creativity, but I think that can be daunting. Sometimes a few limitations actually help ideas flow. If a player has an idea for what they want to happen, but none of their skittles match the color for that, then they have to adapt and come up with a new idea that goes in a different direction. I like this concept! With the right group this could be a lot of fun, letting people dream up a weird and wonderful world together while also getting to share some candy.

“Ah, but what if I (or others in my group) don’t like skittles?” I hear you ask, dear reader. Never fear! Included with Rainbow World from itch.io is The Peanut Butter Planet, a one-page supplement outlining how to play the game with Reece’s Pieces instead. Or, indeed, different colored cherry tomatoes or mini bell peppers. Or even just some colored tokens of some sort, for those who aren’t feeling peckish. I admit that I like the fact that eating stuff is incorporated into the game, though.

There’s no set endpoint to Rainbow World. The group simply plays until they like the world they’ve created, or until someone has to leave, or whatever. Since it’s all about creating a world, it’s not really a role-playing game (no one plays any roles) but the collaborative storytelling at the heart of it is similar to that of tabletop role-playing games. And, indeed, players could choose to play a full role-playing game set in the world they created while playing Rainbow World, if they wish. Rainbow World goes so far as to suggest a few free role-playing games that might work well for this: Fate Core (there’s a book for purchase, but the PDF version is pay what you want), Mini Six (digital version is free), and Risus (completely free). On the itch.io page, there’s a link to an episode of the KSUA Critical Hits podcast in which the team uses Rainbow World to generate a world for a game of Fate, if you want an example of how this might work.

Overall, Rainbow World sounds like a fun time. I like all of the examples given in this embellished version, which really help show how the game might work better than (I assume) the original 200-word rules could. It’s easy to explain to new players and could play quickly and with minimum fuss. And at the end, you’ll have a weird new world, to do with what you will. If you like thinking up new worlds, give Rainbow World a look. If you missed it in the bundle, it’s sold for a minimum price of $2.

That’s 182 down, and only 1559 to go!