51 Mechanics: Dice Rolling

BoardGameGeek (BGG) is a singular repository of gaming information, knowledge and wisdom that has been serving the modern board game hobby since 2000. I consult it regularly and have used its database to manage my own game collection. I also used it when I was writing my 2016 book on gamified instruction, particularly with regard to the game mechanics that BGG identified and organized content into. While there are more than 85,000 games, even now, there are just 51 mechanics. Since every mechanic offers something to the teacher who wants to use games in the classroom, I'm going to use this section of Game Level Learn and my own contributions to it to assess games from each of these 51 mechanics. Next up?

Is there any more ubiquitous mechanic in game design than dice rolling? If there is, I'm not sure what it is. Dice rolling is one of the ancient aspects of game playing. In my book on gamified instruction and game-based learning, I discuss dice rolling as a way of expressing a fundamental aspect of games - alea or luck. There is no tool better able to simulate the fates and fortunes of players being at the mercy of the gods than dice. I would need at least a handful of additional hands to count the number of times I have lost a game that I was all-but winning because of the roll of the dice. Let's face it, dice are fun to throw, they're fun to play with and they're fun to hold. They're a lot less fun when they betray you, but alea can often lead to the other great game mechanic that I cite in the book, ilinx, or disorientation. The advice I give to gamifying teachers is to beware overuse of luck mechanics in gamified instruction, as players will feel that their grade being dependent on a die roll is capricious at best. Still, if you're interested in how dice play a role in different kinds of games, give these five a try.

Near and Far (BGG Rank: 166)

Near and Far, part of a series of games designed by Ryan Laukat, is a campaign-based fantasy game where you develop characters, level them and compete with each other to ultimately conquer a world boss at the end of the game. Near and Far is a game you should play in any case because of how well designed it is and how easy it is to learn as a storytelling game. Its use of dice helps the players understand probability and making effective choices.

Roll for the Galaxy (BGG Rank: 55)

What I love best about Roll for the Galaxy is that it serves as the Platonic Ideal for dice-based civilization building and exploration games. I find Race for the Galaxy, Roll's parent game, totally bewildering, but for whatever reason, Roll is much more accessible. In Roll, you are given the opportunity to acquire a host of different kinds of dice that each do different things based on their fundamental identity and on how they're rolled. Use this game to give you a sense of how to create a gamified learning experience based on dice doing a host of different things based on defined factors.

Roll Player (BGG Rank: 390)

Roll Player takes what many consider the best part of roleplaying games, character creation, and makes that process the whole of the game. In Roll Player, you are trying to maximize the statistics and background factors of a specific character you've chosen to design (a female Orc cleric from a noble family? Sure!). Over the course of the game, you roll dice and select dice from a common supply and as you place them in your display, they trigger special powers associated with each of the six statistics. Great fun, and again, a very different way to use dice from what you've come to expect.

Sagrada (BGG Rank: 208)

Sagrada, published in late 2017, is a game where each player takes on the role of a stained-glass window creator. Each player is given a pattern to work from and a set of special abilities and special rules that apply only to him/her. The luminous dice themselves, over time, form the stained-glass window. One of the most beautiful games of recent memory, this one will give you a whole new appreciation for what dice can do in a game and how they can be used in very different ways.

Xia: Legends of a Drift System (BGG Rank: 155)

Xia is another game where you are exploring the galaxy and building. It's not a civilization building game. Rather, you are a ship's captain and over the course of the game you are attempting to improve your reputation in the "drift system" by means of dozens and dozens of different actions. The dice here are used in ways that are pretty conventional, but given all of the different ways you might win this game, they factor big time.

51 Mechanics: Deck/Pool Building

BoardGameGeek (BGG) is a singular repository of gaming information, knowledge and wisdom that has been serving the modern board game hobby since 2000. I consult it regularly and have used its database to manage my own game collection. I also used it when I was writing my 2016 book on gamified instruction, particularly with regard to the game mechanics that BGG identified and organized content into. While there are more than 85,000 games, even now, there are just 51 mechanics. Since every mechanic offers something to the teacher who wants to use games in the classroom, I'm going to use this section of Game Level Learn and my own contributions to it to assess games from each of these 51 mechanics. Next up?

When the deck building mechanic arrived on the scene about ten years ago (essentially with the publication of Dominion), it was widely regarded as one of the most innovative and intriguing mechanics to appear on the scene for a long time. In some respects, it is to this particular mechanic that we can look as the agent of the huge rise in the contemporary board game hobby. In deck building games, you start the game with a basic deck of cards that do very basic things (like allow you to buy other cards or attack monsters or build some kind of resource). But the key here is that these basic cards are exceptionally basic. The goal here is to build an "engine" of specialized cards that, when triggered off of or triggering each other, cause the player to gain dramatic benefits. In the early days of the mechanic, the cards were all there was. Increasingly this mechanic is featuring game boards alongside the cards. Indeed, some games that are primarily board games are using the deck building mechanic as an add-on or parallel. Because this mechanic asks the player to assess the relationships between different cards with regard to their synergy, the deck building mechanic is unusually aligned to those who want to do game-based learning or gamified instruction.

Dominion (BGG Rank: 65)

Dominion belongs on this list because it is the spiritual father of all of the other games that use this mechanic. Some might complain that its too Euro for their tastes (in other words, that the theme is a bit arid and the game is really about its mechanics), and I would acknowledge there's a bit of that that's true, particularly with the first few expansions. But Dominion has now been expanded nearly a dozen times, adding literally thousands of cards to the game and making the engines one might build essentially impossible to foretell or anticipate. It's this that makes Dominion so fresh even though it's more than a decade old. The basic mechanics of the game are unchanged, but by adding an assortment of different cards with supplemental mechanics or new implementations of old mechanics, the game which might have seemed so straightforward, becomes compelling again.

Above and Below (BGG Rank: 146)

Above and Below is the only game on this list that I've included that isn't purely about the cards. It's a deck builder, but its even more a card drafting and storytelling game. There's so much going on in this game. Totally worth your time as a playing experience, but not strict as a deck builder.

Paperback (BGG Rank: 300)

Paperback is a letter-based deck builder in which the players are buying letters in the hopes of being able to construct better and better (in terms of point value) words. Certainly one of the most innovative implementations of the deck building genre, and a great tool for helping students develop their vocabulary.

Mystic Vale (BGG Rank: 407)

Mystic Vale is a deck building game of the "card crafting" variety. The cards are all plastic and sleeved and as large as proper tarot cards. At the start of the game, some cards are entirely blank (they have no features or powers) while others have only a negative effect. Very few cards have a positive effect. Over the course of the game, your job is not only to buy the correct upgrades for your cards, but to sleeve them effectively so that their powers resonate rather than fail to trigger. One of the more fascinating developments in the deck building genre that sticks to the cards and doesn't introduce other elements.

Eminent Domain (BGG Rank: 419)

The fun thing about Eminent Domain is that it successfully captures what makes a civilization-building (exploration, discovery, technology trees, social development) great and melds it nearly perfectly with a deck building game. A pretty good example of a game you could play out of the box if you wanted to get your students some experience with playing around with civilization construction. The Eminent Domain engine is not super difficult to learn, either.

Cover image: [https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1928335/paperback]

51 Mechanics: Card Drafting

BoardGameGeek (BGG) is a singular repository of gaming information, knowledge and wisdom that has been serving the modern board game hobby since 2000. I consult it regularly and have used its database to manage my own game collection. I also used it when I was writing my 2016 book on gamified instruction, particularly with regard to the game mechanics that BGG identified and organized content into. While there are more than 85,000 games, even now, there are just 51 mechanics. Since every mechanic offers something to the teacher who wants to use games in the classroom, I'm going to use this section of Game Level Learn and my own contributions to it to assess games from each of these 51 mechanics. Next up?

The next mechanic on the hit parade is one of my all time favorites - card drafting. And judging from the ranking of card drafting games in the Top 100 on Board Game Geek, it is a huge favorite for millions of players. Card drafting games are all over the BGG Top 100, and they're there for a reason. These games, even when they are complex, have an accessibility that belies that complexity. Moreover, the ways in which the mechanic expresses itself can take forms of subtle difference, keeping the mechanic fresh even when it has been redeployed. In a card drafting game, players use some form of in-game currency (resources, cash) to shape their decisions about cards to buy from an assortment of cards or tiles that are presented to them. In some of these games (like 7 Wonders), players have a deck of cards from which they draft (acquire) the card amongst the deck that they believe will give them the greatest advantage. In other card drafting games, players might have to buy cards with resources from a tableau of cards (like Splendor). The upshot of this is that cards in combination give the player more power to buy, draft and acquire other cards that are more expensive and give greater victory points. There are very few games in my experience that feature this mechanic that aren't great fun. Here are five worth looking at:

Castles of Mad King Ludwig (BGG Rank: 66)

In "Castles" you're trying to build your own version of Schloss Neuschwanstein, the notorious 19th century castle ordered built by Ludwig of Bavaria. In this game you aren't drafting cards. Rather, you are drafting rooms in the castle, all of which are looking for different kinds of rooms to be next to, rooms to not be next to and so forth. A wickedly interesting valuation mechanic rounds this game's experience out.

Mage Knight (BGG Rank: 15)

On the heavier side of the board gaming hobby, Mage Knight is nevertheless worth the time required to get its unique opportunities under your belt. The card drafting mechanic is just one of many mechanics in use in this game, but it is an essential one if you're going to come out ahead in this game of combat and exploration.

Paperback (BGG Rank: 268)

In this game, you take on the role of a pulp fiction writer trying to write the best and most valuable book you can to make the most money before the end of the game. You do this by acquiring letter cards to augment your deck of "basic letters." The better letters you have in your deck the more likely it will be that you can make more sophisticated words, allowing you to advance further than your opponents. Written by the always engaging Tim Fowers. Don't miss it!

Sushi Go! (BGG Rank: 302)

Sushi Go! is one of the most accessible games on the market that actually features a set of strategies for success. In this game, you are trying to assemble combinations of sushi from a deck of cards that gets passed player to player. Getting the combinations right usually makes the difference between lots of points and not so many points. Fast and playable with anyone at nearly any age group.

Terraforming Mars (BGG Rank: 8)

In Terraforming Mars, you play global corporations collaborating to, you guessed it, terraform Mars. You want to make sure, however, that your corporation does the best possible job in terraforming Mars, which leads to the competitive nature in the game. You draft objectives and capacities from a huge deck of cards and use these to shape the destiny of your corporation and your perspective. One of the most popular games of the last year for a reason!

Photo from: [https://boardgamegeek.com/image/2459587/castles-mad-king-ludwig]

51 Mechanics: Acting

BoardGameGeek (BGG) is a singular repository of gaming information, knowledge and wisdom that has been serving the modern board game hobby since 2000. I consult it regularly and have used its database to manage my own game collection. I also used it when I was writing my 2016 book on gamified instruction, particularly with regard to the game mechanics that BGG identified and organized content into. While there are more than 85,000 games, even now, there are just 51 mechanics. Since every mechanic offers something to the teacher who wants to use games in the classroom, I'm going to use this section of Game Level Learn and my own contributions to it to assess games from each of these 51 mechanics. First up? ACTING.

Described by BGG as "a mechanic [that] requires players to use some form of mime or mimicry to communicate with the other player," the Acting mechanic is great for developing or assessing interpersonal skills, non-cognitive relational skills and social dynamism. When combined with a role-playing framework, it can be used to study social frameworks that otherwise might not be easily understood. There are some dynamite games that feature the Acting mechanic. The five you should consider playing straightaway are:

Cranium (BGG Rank 5616)

Cranium is a classic party/family game which is really closer to four distinct party games in one. In one segment of the game, players have to act out characters. Straightforward charades in some respects, but its the structure of the game that lends itself to the gamifying teacher. While you can certainly play this out of the box and get some learning benefit from it, what happens when you use its charades mechanic for a concept this isn't human, but more abstract (like "complementary colors" or "acute angle"). Asking students to do charades for "electron valences" or what have you could be an intriguing learning mode...at least for some.

The Last Banquet (BGG Rank 8497)

Being able to accommodate 25 players is not normally in the wheelhouse of the typical board game, but it works for Last Banquet. It's a rather nifty "intrigue at the royal court" scenario in which each player is trying to accomplish his/her goals by misdirection, manipulation and skullduggery. "But Dr. Cassie, I don't understand why anyone in Game of Thrones" would act that way?" Take out Last Banquet and, without the lurid sex, you've got an answer.

Mysterium (BGG Rank 121)

One of the great games of the last five years. In Mysterium, one player plays a ghost and the others play psychic investigators trying to discern the answers to "who/where and with what" that makes the game Clue work. The hitch? The ghost communicates only by means of abstract (and quite beautiful) image cards that are meant to suggest truths without actually pointing to them. Playable in an hour, this is a great game to develop the social skills of younger people.

Quelf (BGG Rank 13083)

Sort of like Cranium, but rather than playing yourself, you're playing a particular character. Fun...and a bit chaotic.

Spyfall (BGG Rank 255)

Ridiculously good fun and perhaps the epitome of the Acting mechanic. In a round of Spyfall, each player is dealt a card from a common deck. Every player but one gets a card showing a location. One player gets a card that says "spy." The spy is trying to figure out where everyone else is. Everyone else is trying to figure out who the spy is. Each player gets to ask another one question. Go. Fantastic fun. Easily reskinned for purposes of helping students understand literature or history.

[Thumbnail photo from: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/2955983/spyfall]

Around the Classroom In 80 Games: Campaign Trail

It’s election year here in the US and for the next couple of weeks, I’m going to detail an assortment of board games with election themes that one might use in classroom settings. Nearly all of these games are going to work just fine in a high school setting. I don’t know of any election-themed board games that are appropriate as published for elementary school students.

What’s good about this week’s game - Campaign Trail, published in 1983 by GDW and long out of print - is that it would be totally accessible to a middle school audience. In fact, it’s probably better for middle school students than for high schoolers. To its credit, it is just about the right length for what it is. It shouldn’t require much more than an hour to play this all the way through.

Campaign Trail, as a roll-and-move game, simulates the grinding quality of campaigns very effectively. It also does a good job of representing the value of successful planning. Its gameplay is very straightforward. I played the heck out of this game in the 1980s and enjoyed it because it did reward planning.

The game features a number of random event cards that captures pretty well the vicissitudes of a national campaign. Unlike Candidate, it isn’t very good with representing money in American politics and it doesn’t care at all about issues, identity or ideology.

If you can find a copy of Campaign Trail, you might use it in your classroom to:

• help your students understand the sheer size and scope of the United States and how easy it would be for a candidate to struggle to get his/her message to be understood across the full breadth of the country. It doesn’t hurt that the game makes air travel somewhat exotic and can serve to help the student understand the nature of retail politics before the air age was fully emerged.
• investigate how candidates had to position themselves near larger cities in order to maximize their votes.
• help students understand rudimentary polling. As candidates win states based largely on their visits to those states, a candidate needs to be able to discern how close they are to their opponents in a variety of states and determine whether that state could be won.
• provide a framework in which to jury rig part of the game. One could have students create candidates that would give the game greater subtlety and personality, for instance.

Around the Classroom In 80 Games: Candidate

Candidate. From: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/266101/candidate

It’s election year here in the US and for the next couple of weeks, I’m going to detail an assortment of board games with election themes that one might use in classroom settings. Nearly all of these games are going to work just fine in a high school setting. I don’t know of any election-themed board games that are appropriate as published for elementary school students.

The problem with election games lies in the complexity of what they’re trying to represent. Elections in the United States are vexingly complicated and long. There are intersections of questions about money, policy, character and history in play as well as sometimes significant differences region-to-region and state-to-state. These differences are quite difficult to model. As a result, games generally ignore them. This leads, unfortunately, to a situation where the game is really only modeling one aspect of the broader election experience. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s worth noting.

Candidate, published in 1991 by Avalon Hill, does a good job of modeling two aspects of the campaign: the importance of money and the transitory power of scandal to temporarily derail a campaign. The object of this and nearly all election games in the United States is to get to 270 electoral votes. This one is no different. It plays quickly and is pretty engaging, even though it is not a particularly thorough representation of federal election politics. It’s closer in some respects to a simulation of the primary process if the primaries were held according to the same rules that elections are held under.

I would use Candidate in the classroom:

• to give students a feel for how the money race in American politics works. Sometimes it really is a matter of simply having enough cash to hold on through rough patches and to wait for the news cycle to break against your opponents.
• to give students a very general feel of the rough-and-tumble of a campaign season. Each player has 5 cards normally to play in a particular context (there are rules by which a player gets more cards, but most players have only 5). How to manage those cards, this resources? If you blanket the campaign with scandals in the first pass, will you inadvertently create an opening for an otherwise weak opponent?
• to help students understand the relationship between lower electoral vote states and higher ones. Because this game pays no attention to issues or ideology, it’s useful to understanding electoral politics as a purely numbers game. It’s more like a primary simulator in this regard as well, as it comes closer to capturing the flavor of Barack Obama’s 2008 primary win (by cobbling together delegates from lots of smaller states).

Around the Classroom in 80 Games: Machi Koro

Machi Koro...player 1 nearing victory. From: https://instagram.com/p/zJD6uBDDhY/

For the past six months or so I’ve been playing Machi Koro as many times as I can get it to the table. The charming art goes a long way towards making it a game I’d like to bring to the table again and again, but in reality, the simple yet complex game play is probably what brings me (and I bet many others) back to the game over and over again.

Machi Koro is a game of city construction. Players are trying to gather wealth (from an assortment of city buildings they choose to buy over the course of the game) by rolling a six-sided die (or two, if the player’s city is sufficiently advanced) and having the die match wealth generating buildings in their city. The object of the game is to build four particular buildings called “landmarks,” namely the Station, the Shopping Mall, the Amusement Park and the Radio Tower. Once a player has built all of these landmarks, that player wins. Simple, strategic and with a healthy dose of luck.

Teachers, particularly teachers of elementary school age children, could use Machi Koro in their lessons in a number of different ways.

Consumption and Production: Buildings in Machi Koro represent different kinds of resources. Students studying the game as an artifact would be able to use its abstractions as a springboard to a deeper understanding of resources for consumption and those for production.

Wealth and Wealth Creation: a simple social studies unit on capitalist economics could be enhanced by playing just a couple of rounds of Machi Koro and having students then discuss how the different buildings worked, the effect of luck on their success and what buildings they might have purchased to have greater success.

Local Models: Students are often asked to think about what makes their particular part of the country special. Students could play a few games of Machi Koro and then redesign/reskin the game based on their interpretation of their own city and what makes it special. For example, I live in Pittsburgh. The four landmarks for Pittsburgh might be: Union Station (trains), CONSOL Center (hockey venue), PNC Park (baseball stadium) and Heinz Field (football stadium). Students could then share their different versions of their cities with parents who could be taught how to play the game. Machi Koro is so straightforward, it can be taught in two minutes.

Teachers interested in very straightforward urban studies could use this game as a model for thinking about cities. What makes them function? What’s missing in this game-utopia version of city life? Where are the people? The workers? Where are those things that make living in a city problematic? 

Machi Koro is an example of a game that gives great game play and immediate in-classroom application at all levels K-12.