Dead of Winter and interior design combine in co-op board game Décorum
Compromise over cushions.
Work together to decorate a house whilst attempting to fulfil your own personal objectives in Décorum, an upcoming board game about interior design and ulterior motives.
A co-op board game for two to four people that challenges players to decide on the decoration within a brand new house, Décorum is all about balancing individual desires with the good of the whole group. In the game, the players are holding a discussion about how to decorate each room in the house, with each of the inhabitants having their own personal ideas on what items should be where and which colours should adorn what room.
In a similar fashion to the horror-themed board game Dead of Winter, Décorum features a number of different scenarios - up to 30 unique ones - for players to tackle, with some having the players take the role of new roommates or an argumentative family, with the general goal of each one being for players to collaborate together. However, in another similarity to Dead of Winter, Décorum sees players getting their own personal objectives that they must keep secret - at least initially - and balance alongside the overall group goal.
Though there is no traitor mechanic, Décorum presents the challenge of players needing to fulfil their own decorative desires whilst not throwing off the entire design of the house. From wall-hangings to lamps - which may be one of four possible styles and colours - players can decide to place various decorative items within the house’s different rooms, but when they do they must announce it to the other players who are then allowed to give feedback. Any feedback given must be limited to simple phrases such as “I don’t like it”, “I love it!” or “I’m fine with it”, without any explanation as to why they think that.
Using this information, players can gradually devise what they think their fellow decorators’ objectives might be. At the end of each round, players are able to have a house meeting in which they are able to share one of their secret objectives with the other players. With this information, and anything else players have managed to gather, they will attempt to decorate their home to satisfy as many personal objectives as possible. At the end of the game, the players tally the points they score from fulfilling objectives and their final total indicates how well they managed to collaborate.
Décorum was co-created by Charlie Mackin, Harry Mackin, and Drew Tenenbaum, with this being the team’s debut board game design. The artwork was created by Komboh Creative, an illustrator who has previously made artwork for several playing card sets such as one inspired by Bruce Lee and classic jazz.
Floodgate Games is the publisher behind Décorum, with the studio’s previous releases being Sagrada - a dice-drafting board game about building stained glass windows - and the nature-themed tabletop title Bosk.
Décorum is set to be released in January 2022 at a retail release price of $44.95 (£32), with the game set to make an appearance at Essen Spiel 2021 and PAX Unplugged 2021.