‘A BIG hit with us,’ is how Board Of It reviewers have rated a new travel-size game by Oscar Kelly (25) of Union Hall.

They said they really liked the vibe of the game By Order of the King. They thought its Gothic style was cool.

They said they had a lot of fun playing it because BOOTK, as it is known for short, offered so many variables that it never became dull.

Oscar, who graduated in December with a Master’s Degree in History from Uppsala University in Sweden, set up a private limited company, Loosejaw Games, to produce the game in time for its official launch on Kickstarter in September.

Oscar, the son of artists John and Christina Kelly told The Southern Star it was game-tested at student clubs at uni and people loved its gallows humour, social deduction, and ruthless lies.

As a student of early modern Irish history, Oscar, as the designer of the game, wanted to do something medieval. And he said the Gothic artwork was done by the English artist Johnny Greenteeth.

The premise is that one player executes their friends while the rest bluff, lie, and try to survive.

It is ultimately a test-your-luck game suitable for between four and eight players and can take between ten and 20 minutes to play.

One player is the executioner, who is tasked with executing as many of their friends as possible. Meanwhile, condemned players lie to survive, while also fulfilling their own secret agendas.

Inspired by other social deduction games like One-Night Werewolf, Avalon, Among Us, and Mafia, Oscar said he and his games partner, James Middleton, noticed one flaw in all of them: ‘It was so annoying getting the role of the goodie-two-shoes.

‘We don’t play social deduction to be honest and virtuous,’ he said. We wanted a game where, no matter your agenda, you can always lie. That’s what makes BOOTK different from all the others.

‘In every game there are new roles, items and randomised events and rules, meaning no matter how many times you play, no game will ever be the same.’

Anyone interested in checking out BOOTK can try it for free on the digital applications and buy their own physical game after the launch in September.

Oscar  added that he will be returning to Union Hall for the summer and will be giving a talk about the history of Castletownshend at this year’s West Cork History Festival in August.