March 16, 2018

51 Mechanics: Pattern Building

March 16, 2018/ Jon Cassie

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?

In education, despite the fact that (as of this writing) it is 2018, we still discuss 21st century skills as a discrete concept from a more general basket of skills. I don't know how strongly I believe that there are skills that are uniquely "21st century" as much as I once did, but it is certainly true that the 21st century offers radically different challenges to our society than we've faced previously. Moreover, the learning habits of Millennial and post-Millennial learners require teachers to develop a toolkit that I might call "21st century." Occupying pride of place in that 21st century toolkit are those teaching practices that maximize a student's capacity for critical thinking, perhaps the most important of the 21st century skills. Inherent to building very strong critical thinking skills is being as good at pattern building as you can be. Pattern building demonstrates a capacity to use building blocks to assemble information of some kind into a different form. It's about information management and the transformation of one kind of information into another. It's an essential skill that makes critical thinking possible. Of all of the critical thinking skills, this one (as well as pattern recognition) is one of the easiest to build up through gamified instruction.

Castles of Mad King Ludwig (BGG Rank: 75)

A modern classic (by the designer Ted Alspach, whose games are among the most acclaimed of the last decade), in Castles, players are attempting to design a castle retreat for the famous Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria (he of Neuschwanstein). Players are given an assortment of different kinds of rooms to select with each room being at a different price point. In order to win, players not only need to understand how well the rooms they buy relate to the rooms they already have, but also how to manage the costs of the rooms they want to buy. Complex but with an easy to understand set of rules.

FITS (BGG Rank: 1244)

"Tabletop TETRIS," essentially. FITS is a design by the peerless Reiner Knizia. Over the course of four turns, players are trying to fit TETRIS-style pieces into their game board to accomplish certain patterns that generate victory points. Some are relatively straightforward while others are much trickier. Some of the boards players have to work with actually have negative point areas that players have to cover or suffer the penalty.

Ingenious (BGG Rank: 325)

Another Knizia design, in which players place hexagonal domino-style pieces onto a playing field trying to expand parts of the broader pattern to maximize their point scoring (and not set up their opponents).

Kanagawa (BGG Rank: 529)

A singularly beautiful game experience in which players take on the roles of apprentices to the Japanese painter Hokusai, internationally famous for his series "36 Views of Mount Fuji." In this game, players are trying to create their own paintings featuring different landscape elements (animal figures, trees and so forth). A classic German-style game with straightforward mechanics that strongly engages the pattern building mechanic.

Ubongo (BGG Rank: 817)

Ubongo is sort of a tangram-like puzzle game in which players compete against each other to solve the puzzles in the fastest time possible. This is a fun game, but it can be unforgiving if you're not as fast a thinker as your opponents!

Cover image from: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3430970/kanagawa

March 13, 2018

51 Mechanics: Partnerships

March 13, 2018/ Jon Cassie

Games using the partnership mechanic are a bit of a hybrid between a more typical game where each competitor is in the game for themselves and fully cooperative games where the players are trying to collaborate to beat the game system or a single opponent. Partnership games are great models for gamifed instruction precisely because they modify the competitive framework. Not everyone values competition in the same way. By sharing the responsibility with an appropriate partner, the benefits of competition can be mastered while also modifying the negatives. And moreover, games in this mechanic tend to be among the more accessible games in the current marketplace.

Bang! (BGG Rank: 1011)

In Bang!, the players secretly take on the role of one of four wild west stereotypes: the sheriff, the deputy, the outlaw or the renegade. Only the sheriff's role is public - everyone else's is secret. On your turn, you play a card from your hand. These cards simulate the classic O.K. Corral sort of shoot-out. Your object is to fulfill your role's objective (the renegade wants to be the last person standing, for example). A very straightforward game in many respects and easily accessible.

Codenames (BGG Rank: 42)

I've written about Codenames before and it is a virtually perfect partnership game. Indeed, as there are only ever two teams, even if those teams have multiple players per side, the game still works. I've written about Codenames in other contexts before. I think it's model is virtually perfect. Even better, for teachers who don't know about games and gaming, it takes all of three minutes to teach and a really long game takes twenty minutes. Go play right now!

Concept (BGG Rank: 555)

Concept is a great take on a trivia game/20 questions. In Concept, players work together to try to sort out what one of their fellow players is thinking about (something straightforward like a VW Beetle or something abstract like expressionist film). In this game, the board is used by the main player to share abstract data about what he/she is thinking. These abstract icons help point the team in the right direction.

The Resistance (BGG Rank: 166)

The Resistance is a social deduction game in which teams of players either play Resistance Operatives or Spies for the Empire. The goal of each side is to win three missions. A partnership game in which it's only clear to Resistance Operatives if they're on the same team. Imperial Spies don't know who the other spies are. This makes the game play super intense.

Shadows Over Camelot (BGG Rank: 316)

One of the great cooperative games, Shadows Over Camelot is noteworthy because on each turn, every player must take both a heroic action and an evil action, with the heroic action moving the team forward to victory and the evil action moving the team closer to defeat. One of the most insidious factors in this game is the fact that one player might, and I repeat, might, be a traitor who is working against the team. If you're interested in learning about level design and quest design, this is a good place to start.

Cover art from: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/2467989/concept

March 01, 2018

51 Mechanics: Modular Board

March 01, 2018/ Jon Cassie

Depending on how the board is built (at the beginning of the game, or during the game), the modular board mechanic offers an intriguing take on the question of replayability. In essence, when the board is set up, for each and every game the board is different. For a player who has a lot of experience playing a particular game, that means that there's no benefit for being a regular player in mastering the board itself. It remains a place of strategic contention. Modular board games are exciting in part because of their modularity. They're great examples of game mechanics for gamifying teachers because what they allow a teacher to do is construct an otherwise abstract space (a house, an island, a continent) in a way that maximizes the importance of random factors. The random factors might then be integrated by the students in some way during game-based learning. Indeed, the mere building of the modular board might serve a valuable game-based learning lesson.

Betrayal at House on the Hill (BGG Rank: 412)

One of the most fun games of the last fifteen years, Betrayal features a team of not-especially clever haunted house enthusiasts who decided to visit the titular House on the Hill for an evening of wackiness. As players move their characters in the house, they draw floor tiles that correspond to the floor they're on (attic, basement, etc.). In this way, the floorplan of the house is revealed. Players can generally only reveal one new tile at a time and as certain kinds of floor tiles are placed in the house, it triggers a "haunt check" to see if the cooperative game that they players are playing converts into a "traitor vs. team" game at that point. It always converts...when and in what way makes the game especially exciting.

Catan (BGG Rank: 278)

The game that in many ways got the modern board gaming movement off the ground, Catan (or Settlers of Catan for us old timers) has a board that you construct from a series of hex tiles every game. There is a pattern one might follow from the rules, but experienced players just put the tiles on the table and go for it. A very strategic resource game melded to a luck mechanic that determines what kinds of resources will be produced on a particular turn. If you haven't played Catan, you really should.

Dominant Species (BGG Rank: 49)

The heaviest game on this list, Dominant Species is a simulation of the rise of life on Earth. Players take on an abstract kind of life form (amphibians, insects) with very specific advantages and disadvantages. The players object is to become the Dominant Species. A good example of a game one could play out of the box (in a high level Biology class or Ecology), This game will strongly challenge even the most sophisticated players. And it's got a highly strategic action point system that adds to the challenge.

Dungeon Twister (BGG Rank: 759)

In Dungeon Twister, two players face off against each other with two goals in mind - escape from the dungeon...and/or prevent the other team from accomplishing this goal. Every game is different as the tiles that form the map are set up randomly. What Dungeon Twister uniquely brings to the modular board mechanic is a fiendish square on every board that when activated allows the player on the square to rotate the board she's standing on...and the other board in the game that shares the same number. Fantastic, maddening game play.

Escape: The Curse of the Temple (BGG Rank: 414)

The Escape games are great because they play in real time and the modular maps make it impossible to remember how best to escape. Because this game plays in real time, it might be a good fit for a short review exercise or an equivalent task.

February 23, 2018

51 Mechanics: Hand Management

February 23, 2018/ Jon Cassie

Hand management is a very popular mechanic because it presents a high level of strategic challenge. The games below offer very different takes on that challenge, but even at its most basic level, hand management games are ones you should be playing if you are a teacher interested in gamifying education. The reason is straightforward. The better you are at playing these games, the better you will understand them and be able to use their unique strategic depth to inform your own teaching.

Gloomhaven (BGG Rank: 1)

Very possibly the most fiendish example of hand management I've ever played. Gloomhaven is a legacy (which means the game is meant to be played once as a campaign) dungeon crawler in which the characters undertake short adventures to accomplish a goal of some kind. Characters in dungeon crawlers inevitably have hit points. In this game, the hit point concept is captured by your hand. As you play, you lose access to cards in your deck (and you lose their abilities as well). Run out of cards before the scenario ends and you become "exhausted." When everyone exhausts, you've lot. Getting the hand management right is a brain burner. Such a great game...and so much stuff!

Love Letter (BGG Rank: 206)

Proof that a hand management game can work even if you've only got one card! Love Letter is a fast playing game of social deduction in which you are continually trying to assess the strength of your card's position against the rest of the cards in play. Strategically straightforward, but not easy.

Rhino Hero (BGG Rank: 599)

Ever build a house out of playing cards? That's the basic idea of Rhino Hero. You have a small hand of cards that dictate the way the tower of cards you're building needs to be constructed. Every now and again, you have to place a rhino figurine on the tower you've built...and when it doesn't collapse, you get to carry on! A great game for all ages and the idea of building something from cards based on the cards in your hand is an accessible way to understand this concept for everyone.

Terraforming Mars (BGG Rank: 5)

The constructing of the hand is the order of the day in Terraforming Mars. Cards doing different essential tasks in the terraforming effort are available for you to reserve and then buy if you are so inclined. The cards you reserve and choose to buy and most importantly in my experience DON'T buy makes the difference between a winning strategy and a losing one. Because so much of this game is hand management, its high level of complexity is nevertheless fairly manageable. Don't hesitate to play this. It's a dynamite game.

Ticket To Ride (BGG Rank: 122)

One of the classic gateway games, TTR's hand management mechanic centers on collecting railroad cards with the same colors so as to be able to build colored routes across the map you're playing on (Ticket to Ride has dozens and dozens of maps at this point). Super easy to teach and related intimately to the critical set collection mechanic, TTR's hand management requirements are definitely a gateway experience for less experienced teachers. Play this first if you haven't played other games like this!

Cover Image: [https://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/3865925/gloomhaven?size=large]

February 20, 2018

51 Mechanics: Grid Movement

February 20, 2018/ Jon Cassie

Forbidden Desert (BGG Rank: 261)

Forbidden Desert is one of those great maddening games that seem impossible to win at the start and then, once you've gotten a handle on it, becomes incredibly satisfying. Designed by Matt Leacock, the "Forbidden" game line (Island, Desert and the forthcoming Sky) are excellent examples of this mechanic because effectively managing movement is really the only way to succeed. Seeing the grid, therefore, is the difference between survival and disaster.

Formula D (BGG Rank: 426)

Any game about grid movement can be designed to be a race game, so why not cite one of the great examples of the racing genre right here. I can't deny that I love racing games. Even though they're not the most sophisticated genre, they're just so dang fun (and I've got dozens in my collection). Formula D is a pure and virtually perfect racing game. Get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 race car and use a variety of gear-aligned dice to move through a race track (generally based on actual race tracks). Defeat your rivals and get mastery of how to design a grid movement game.

Ghost Stories (BGG Rank: 187)

"Merciless and brutal." This is how I describe the indescribably fun Ghost Stories. Ridiculously difficult on even the "bunny hill" setting, in Ghost Stories you are trying to defend a Japanese town against Japanese ghosts. If you've seen "Ringu" or "Ju-on," you know that this is an assignment that ain't going to be a walk in the park. Like Forbidden Desert, managing movement is essential to success.

Santorini (BGG Rank: 68)

One of the most beautiful games on the market, Santorini is all about building structures. Movement determines the nature of the building each player is able to bring about. Meant for two players but expandable to four, the best part of Santorini is how it updates the structure building framework.

ZÈRTZ (BGG Rank: 471)

Part of Project GIPF, ZÈRTZ is a game where the players are each trying to capture a certain number of marbles from the board. Your strategy will lead you to focus on one of the three colors or on all of the colors collectively. The pieces move just like checkers do. The trick? Each time you make a move, you have to remove one cell in the game board. Over time, therefore, the changing board changes the nature of the moves and the relationship of the pieces to each other and the board itself. Crazy fun!

Cover image: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/966753/zertz

February 08, 2018

51 Mechanics: Dice Rolling

February 08, 2018/ Jon Cassie

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.

January 24, 2018

51 Mechanics: Deck/Pool Building

January 24, 2018/ Jon Cassie

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]

January 11, 2018

51 Mechanics: Commodity Speculation

January 11, 2018/ Jon Cassie

The Commodity Speculation mechanic has long been a personal favorite. It combines aspects of other mechanics I like in ways that make all of these games that follow especially tense, strategic and difficult to manage. The upshot of these games is this: the player who wins is going to have the most of a particular asset (e.g. paintings, stock certificates) at the end of the game. The tricky part - the players are going to be making decisions over the course of the game that will determine the ending values of these assets. They don’t all have to start or end in the same place and generally won’t. The shrewd player will be able to manage the degree to which they are at the mercy of other people’s decisions while also forcing other people to act in ways that both help themselves…and you.

The Gallerist (BGG Rank: 67)

The Gallerist is one of these great modern games that comes in a box half-again as large as a typical “big box board game,” and weighs approximately its BGG rank, at this writing, 67 pounds. I jest only because if you are a hard-core gamer or wish to become one, this is the game to which you should aspire. The Gallerist is a relatively straightforward Set Collection and Commodity Speculation game embedded in the heart of a wickedly complex Worker Placement game. One of the most fun and most complex Worker Placement games I’ve every had the chance to play. You are an art gallery owner. With the help of however many assistants you choose to hire at the Unemployment Agency, your job is to find a few artists and then flog the hell out of them on the art market to make their stuff worth some sweet, sweet $$. Stay tuned for a new podcast featuring my partner and me discussing games we own but haven’t played enough of yet called “Game of the Week.” Our first episode will be about The Gallerist.

Modern Art (BGG Rank: 221)

I have sung Modern Art’s praises so many times and for so many reasons, I thought perhaps I’d leave it out. But it’s just too good a game to leave out. So it’s in the list! Now go buy it. It’s the most sublimely balanced auction game there is. What makes its balance perfect is the Commodity Speculation mechanic. There are five artists. How much their art is worth at the end of the turn depends entirely on how many pieces of their art were offered at auction. In the event of a tie, the artist whose work is more common in the communal deck loses out. Playable in 45 minutes. And replayable for a lifetime.

La Città (BGG Rank: 532)

La Città is an oldtimer on this list, published in 2000. You control two cities in the Italian countryside. Your object is to build them up over six turns such that they have attracted away the populations of your opponents far drabber and inferior cities. I’ve never won this game…no idea what I’m doing wrong. And it’s a bit long, but a slick design and concept.

Container (BGG Rank: 571)

There are lots of gamers whose opinions I deeply respect who say this is their favorite game of all time, period. For the right kind of player, I can see why. It’s fiendishly difficult economics engine keeps even the most subtle number cruncher at the limits of their brain processing power. Did I just mistakenly produce the wrong kinds of goods? Did I buy the wrong kinds of commodity’s off my competitor’s ships in a way that down the road is going to advantage the player on my left? I thiiiink so? A very fun brain melter.

Tesla vs. Edison: War of Currents (BGG Rank 1654)

This game deserves way more love than place 1654. Dirk Knemeyer has designed a very easy to learn but difficult to master game about the age of industry in the United States at the end of the 19th century. A player is assigned the role of one of the age’s visionary inventors (like Tesla…and Edison) and is put in charge of making sure that that company comes out with the most cash at the end of the game. The value of stock and both DC and AC technology shifts in response to player decisions, so it’s critical to keep a very close eye on what your competitors are doing.

La Città cover image from: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/172550/la-citta?size=large

June 29, 2017

51 Mechanics: Cooperative Games

June 29, 2017/ Jon Cassie

Another recent addition to the library of game mechanics is cooperative games. In a cooperative, players are playing against the game, and potentially against one player who is a "traitor" or is in some other way trying to defeat the rest of the players. Cooperative games are often repositories for great storytelling game mechanics as well as offering some of the most challenging play experiences in contemporary board gaming. In short, cooperative games are fun and they are hard. The best part of the cooperative gaming scene is that these games offer dozens of different models one might use as an engine to do gamified instruction. And because the players are working together against the game, the players aren't working against each other. This is a highly desirable trait in a classroom setting, as sometimes students don't want to be in conflict with each other.

Arkham Horror The Card Game (BGG Rank: 23)

Perhaps the most accessible of all the Arkham universe games, TCG gives one or two players an opportunity to build decks of cards that they then use to battle Lovecraftian nightmares in the New England countryside and beyond. Like very Arkham universe game, this one is a difficult, tense challenge that can just as easily be won as lost...no that's not fair, it's much easier to lose. But if you do lose, it will always be within an interesting story.

Battlestar Galactica (BGG Rank: 54)

"But I'm not a Cylon!" she says, mindful that no one believes her and, besides, it's not true anyway. There are no games that better capture the tone and spirit of a pre-existing property than Battlestar Galactica. A nearly perfect game that has all of the players working together except a Cylon or two who, until they reveal themselves, are unknown to the rest of the party. Perfect in its tension and an excellent game to learn how to build a complex gamified challenge.

Ghost Stories (BGG Rank: 169)

If you ask veteran cooperative gamers what the hardest or least forgiving game is, and they're bound to settle on Ghost Stories. Ridiculously difficult even at the bunny hill level, Ghost Stories remains one of the most enjoyable cooperative experiences simply because it is so murderously hard. Its commitment to its theme is a great example of how to build great theme into your gameplay experiences.

Thunderbirds (BGG Rank: 813)

Is this one of the best cooperatives? I think yes, even though it isn't in the top 5% of BGG rankings. Thunderbirds is based on the old British supermarionation programs from the 1960s in which a team of brothers (marionette brothers) lead an organization called International Rescue. IR works across the globe and beyond to solve the problems that are just too hard or complex for mere governments to solve. A great program and a great game.

T.I.M.E. Stories (BGG Rank: 38)

One of the most original game designs I've come across in years, in T.I.M.E. Stories, players collaborate to solve a mystery that takes place in the past. Tight management of resources and the correct use of characters is essential to defeat this game. If you are interested in story elements in your cooperative games, this is the place to go.

Cover Image from: [https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3244348/thunderbirds?size=large]

June 15, 2017

51 Mechanics: Card Drafting

June 15, 2017/ Jon Cassie

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]

June 07, 2017

51 Mechanics: Campaign/Battle Card Driven

June 07, 2017/ Jon Cassie

The campaign/battle card driven mechanic is built generally around a deck of cards that is distributed between the player and which generates the action potential/capacity of each player based on those cards. Sometimes these cards provide players with action points that they can spend on an assortment of different choices. Often, these cards have not just the action point value but also some special bonus event that you could choose to play instead of playing the card for its action point value. It's up to the player to decide what's more valuable for them. This mechanic is about managing the player's capacity to act. In this regard, it's an excellent potential tool for the gamifying teacher, because it allows the teacher to create activity decks that could be tied to performance on previous assessments or allows students, by virtue of having a hand of cards with different values, to select the action they'd like to do on an exam. Ultimately, what makes this mechanic great (complicated, but great) is the degree of choice it affords the player. Which is to say, a lot.

1960: The Making of the President (BGG Rank: 143)

Like most (but not all) of the games in this mechanic, 1960 is complex, and its battle deck design is sophisticated and difficult to manage as well. This game, a simulation of the 1960 presidential campaign, has a lot of moving parts, but it richly rewards the player who gives the game her attention. The 1960 campaign had a huge number of idiosyncratic events that shaped the election campaign and so was a good fit for simulating in this way.

Castle Panic (BGG Rank: 747)

Castle Panic is perhaps the most accessible example of this game mechanic in the top 2000 of BGG games. In Castle Panic, the players are cooperating to defend a castle under attack from a variety of fantasy monsters (the game has been reskinned for Star Trek as well). The battle deck stipulates what the player is allowed to do on any given turn, just like in any other battle card driven game.

Gloomhaven (BGG Rank: 4)

The hottest of new hotness, Gloomhaven is a narrative-informed, dungeon crawl, legacy game played over more than 90 adventures. Each player controls a character in an adventuring party. That player has to assemble a battle deck for their character from an assortment of spells. That battle deck determines not only what the player's character can do, but also how much life energy the character has. Once the battle deck can't be refreshed, the character is considered exhausted and is out of the game. This game is ridiculous in its ambition and scale (the box is like a container off a Panamax ship), but is perhaps the best implementation of this mechanic on the market. The second printing of the game will come out towards the end of the 2017 calendar year.

The Napoleonic Wars (BGG Rank: 1,114)

One of the grand-daddy's in this mechanic, this game makes nearly perfect use of the balance between the action point part of the card and the event part of the card. The theme isn't for everyone, clearly, and it's got a 1970s-era rulebook complexity, but if you are in for a very complex game, this is a good one.

Twilight Struggle (BGG Rank: 3)

Designed by the same folks who brought us 1960, Twilight Struggle was the #1 game on Board Game Geek for years. It held that position for a good reason - as a game, it's essentially perfect. A simulation of the Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, it captures the tension of those years through its sophisticated and knife-edge game play. Definitely a game all American history teachers should know as it could be played out of the box to great effect.

Cover photograph from: [https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1487986/castle-panic?size=original]

May 31, 2017

51 Mechanics: Betting/Wagering

May 31, 2017/ Jon Cassie

The betting/wagering mechanic has similarities to the auction mechanic and to the (to be discussed) commodity speculation mechanic. In this mechanic, you are obligated to bet money (generally in-game fake money, but there’s no reason why it couldn’t be real money in certain games or certain contexts) on an assortment of outcomes. There’s an obvious overlap here between racing games (you’ll see a few of them below), too. From a teaching and learning perspective, what a great way to teach students about the concept of value. Not just the value of money, but proportional value. When a player makes a decision about betting and how much to bet, s/he will come quickly to learn how strong or weak their position was and be able to adjust it going forward. These games are often simple to learn and difficult to master, which makes them oftentimes great gateway games.

Fauna (BGG: 565)

Fauna masquerades as a light animal-based trivia game (is the animal native to New Guinea or Canada? Is it bigger than a breadbox or smaller than a Matchbox car…) but it is in fact and in gameplay a competitive betting game that rewards one’s knowledge of the animal kingdom in the same proportion as it does one’s ability to master the board and make good betting decisions. Great for kids and adults.

Kobayakawa (BGG: 2164)

One of the great Oink Games titles from Japan, Kobayakawa is accessible even to the most novice of gamers. The idea is that you’re trying to decide if the card you have in your hand is going to have the most value at the end of the betting round. The trick? If you’ve got the weakest card at the end of betting, you get to add the kobayakawa (the card face up in the center) to your card. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, but it’s a great, great game at learning value.

Long Shot (BGG: 1147)

Long Shot is one of two horse racing games in this list. In Long Shot, you are buying horses and betting on them to win, place or show. Some horses move more regularly than others based on die rolls, others have the potential for more dramatic spurts of movement. Its all in how you bet, however, that will make the difference between winners and losers. Is this the most exciting game for 8? It scales beautifully, and I think, yes!

Winner’s Circle (BGG: 617)

The other horse racing game on this list. Winner’s Circle is quite astute at getting the player to make judgments about value. The rate at which horses move in this game is very thoughtfully baked into the betting process. Tightly balanced but with the right balance of luck to make it genuinely interesting. Worth a premium to have in your collection.

Wits and Wagers (BGG: 469)

One of the classic party games, in W+W you get a chance to bet on answers to trivia questions based on how close you think those answers are to the correct answer. A fantastic take on trivia games, which aren’t for everybody, and fun for everyone.

Photo from: [https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1170562/winners-circle?size=large]

May 18, 2017

51 Mechanics: Auction/Bidding

May 18, 2017/ Jon Cassie

We've finally arrived at Auction/Bidding, one of my favorite of all game mechanics (and one of the very best for beginning gamifying instructors to try in their lessons). In Auction games, players bid something (generally money) in the hopes of gaining some kind of benefit or positional advantage against the other players. Sometimes this mechanic is embedded with other mechanics, forming just a part of the broader story. At other times, it is the central mechanic. In either case, these games are accessible, challenging and fun. A gamifying teacher should have one or two of these under his/her belt without question.

Bausack (BGG Rank: 751)

At its heart, Bausack is a dexterity game, but embedded within that mechanic is a fiendish auction mechanic that makes Bausack unlike any other dexterity game. In the auction portion of the game (most versions of the game, that is), you have a choice to make: select a piece that you want to build into your structure (and that you want to win at auction), or select a piece you want to force someone else to bid (which they win because they can't or won't bid enough to NOT win the piece). Devilish.

Modern Art (BGG Rank: 222)

A contender for my favorite game of all time, Modern Art is part of a series of auction-mechanic games designed by eminent designer Reiner Knizia. In this game, you play art dealers attempting to buy low and sell high in the competitive international art market. Five artists are in contention. The artist who sold more works gets valued higher than the others. Extremely competitive play but highly accessible to new players.

Princes of Florence (BGG Rank: 95)

A great classic, Princes of Florence features game play where one half of a particular turn is an auction. In that phase, each item available for purchase can be purchased only once. If you don't have the green, you're out of luck, at least that turn. There's a lot going on in this game and its complexity is rich, but it can be hard on beginners. Having said that, its beauty as a game and elegant game play mean that it would pay dividends to give it a go.

Ra (BGG Rank: 123)

Another Knizia auction game, this one themed to ancient Egypt. In Ra, you are acquiring tiles that represent different aspects of Egyptian society (pharoahs, flooded Nile, civilization development and so forth). You acquire these tiles by bidding on them with "suns" you have face up in front of you, each featuring a different number value from 1-16. I can honestly tell you, trying to decide if a series of tiles is worth 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 is a brain teasing exercise of the highest interest.

Vegas Showdown (BGG Rank: 351)

In Vegas Showndown, each player is trying to buy rooms/salons in their Vegas hotel to make the most agreeable resort. As rooms are left unpurchased, their cost goes down, making them ever more enticing. A straightforward auction game with an economic component.

Cover Image from [https://boardgamegeek.com/image/166617/bausack?size=original]

May 12, 2017

51 Mechanics: Area Movement

May 12, 2017/ Jon Cassie

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 “Area Movement” mechanic is a kind of specialized movement mechanic in which the board is divided into a variety of spaces which don’t necessarily have the same shape or conventional connectivity. What’s important in this mechanic is that the areas have some kind of connectivity. A cursory review of the most popular Area Movement games on BGG strongly implies a connection between heavier games and this mechanic. Perhaps because it is so, well, “old-fashioned?” Or perhaps “classic” might be the better way to put it. Definitive examples of the old-school version of this mechanic would be games like Axis & Allies and Risk. Some of the 5 games that follow, I hope, are on the more accessible side of the mechanic.

1775: Rebellion (BGG Rank: 220)

Like it’s sister game 1812, 1775: Rebellion is a straightforward war game simulation of an episode in early American history. Also like its sister game, 1775 can be learned by folks who’ve really never done wargaming and be won by them. Simple mechanics, really well written rules and attention to detail…all good!

Britannia (BGG Rank: 479)

Quite possibly my favorite game of all time, Britannia is a simulation of the repeated invasions of Great Britain from the Romans through the Norman Conquest in 1066. In Britannia, each player is responsible for playing an assortment of different invading (and then occupying) nations. At any given time, the player might be responsible for three, four or (if they’re skillful) even more powers all vying for control of the island and the territory that, historically, belonged to them when they were at the height of their powers on the island. Flawlessly balanced, intriguing, historically compelling, long and at times too long, Britannia is, nevertheless, a game you must try if you have an interest in its topic.

King of New York (BGG Rank: 328)

Among the most accessible games anywhere, in King of New York, like its sister King of Tokyo, you are playing a kaiju (think Godzilla) trying to take over New York. This version of the game incorporates today’s mechanic (unlike its sister game). Easy fun and learnable by a six-year-old.

Kingmaker (BGG Rank: 1584)

Another game set in Great Britain, this one, from the 1970s, reflects its now 40-year-old design. Beset with a myriad of problems (an end condition so tenuous it sometimes can’t be reached…a map whose coordinates don’t coordinate with the cards referencing the map), it remains nevertheless a nearly perfect game representing this mechanic. Because the land of the board is divided in ways that simulate the way the land in the country was divided at the time, there are places where the board subdivisions are very small and others where they are quite large. Understanding how the map is organized goes a long way towards victory. Find an older player who’s got some experience to teach you this one.

Terror In Meeple City (BGG Rank: 549)

A ridiculously fun and over-the-top tabletop rendition of the old videogame Rampage (this game’s original name…which, seeing as it no longer has this name, suggests that the videogame publisher was asserting itself). Gameplay involves you moving a monster through the city crushing buildings, consuming meeples and generally raising hell and mayhem. What’s not to like!

BGG's next mechanic, the Area-Impulse mechanic, is an esoteric version of Area Movement. Because there are a limited number of accessible games featuring the mechanic, I'm going to skip it and move on to Auction/Bidding...one of my favorites.

Cover image from: [https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1962526/terror-meeple-city?size=original]

May 05, 2017

51 Mechanics: Area Enclosure

May 05, 2017/ Jon Cassie

Area Enclosure games are games where the players use their pieces to wall off and take control of territory on the game board or map. This makes them distinct from Area Control games, where the zones are generally already printed on the board. There are few games that are better at teaching spatial awareness than Area Enclosure games. They call on a player's logic, reason and perception in ways other mechanics don't. Often abstract, these kinds of games are sometimes great starter games for players who have given games like chess a try, but are looking for something new.

Android: Mainframe (BGG Rank: 1704)

In Android: Mainframe, players take on the role of powerful cyber criminals in the Android universe. The player's goal is to establish greater control over the mainframe of the fictional corporation at the heart of the story than the other players. Players accomplish this goal by taking actions on their turn. This is a fun game, accessible and with a small level of mechanical complexity. It's a decent introduction to the Android universe's core concepts.

Blokus (BGG Rank: 472)

Super accessible, Blokus is a game of abstract strategy where players have to get rid of as many of their pieces as they can while their opponents have the same goal. The trick? You can't place one of your pieces so that it is adjacent to another of your pieces. There's way more gameplay in this than you might suspect. Playable by pretty young children, particularly if they've got a little bit of game experience.

Go (BGG Rank: 101)

Surely Go ranks as one of the most elegant, perfect game designs of all time. It also ranks as one of the oldest (at least three thousand years old, at a minimum). In Go, two players use white stones, black stones and a straightforward set of rules to attempt to capture areas of the board. One of the definitive examples of wildly interesting emergent play coming from a straightforward rules set. Well deserving of its reputation for being a brain burner.

Mexica (BGG Rank: 506)

All of the games in the Masks Trilogy are well-regarded and rightly so. They are thoughtful, fun and engaging designs with great art. Mexica is probably my favorite. In it, players are working to create and control the city of Tenochtitlan. The ancient capital of the Aztec Empire was noteworthy for being built on an island in a lake. The game uses this water/land relationship in the game mechanics. One of the best Area Enclosure games and one of the best Action Points games as well. I was delighted to see it come back into print. Go get one straight away!

Through The Desert (BGG Rank: 400)

This is a great game representing this game mechanic, but there are few games at which I have less skill. Maybe I'm being hypnotized by the pastel camel figurines in my edition, but there's really nothing I can do to keep from finishing dead last. In my most dreadful play, my partner managed to secure something like two-thirds of the board for himself (and he wasn't just playing me, he was playing one of our most clever friends...we both got skunked). Having said all of this, this game is an old classic, diverting and particularly on point with its mechanic.

[Cover image from: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/13630/through-desert?size=original]

Next Week's Mechanic: Area Movement

April 24, 2017

51 Mechanics: Area Control / Area Influence

April 24, 2017/ Jon Cassie

Area Control / Area Influence is a venerable and very popular mechanic that has had a long life. In this kind of game, you generally have a board split into zones which players vie to control by means of influence (of a military, political, economic or other type). These games are interesting because they mimic the expansions of systems and the decline of these systems under pressure from outside forces. Moreover, they can help someone learn how influence works, where it fails and how it interacts with other systems of control. Games featuring this mechanic are often heavy. The 5 games below that a gamifying teacher should play are selected from the lighter versions, rather than the heavier (with one notable exception).

Carcassonne (BGG Rank: 128)

Long considered one of the great gateway games (games for those newest to the modern board gaming hobby), Carcassonne is a beautiful game with straightforward mechanics. Each player has a handful of meeples to use to mark control of cities, cloisters, roadways or fields, each of which scores points in one manner or another. A great game for learning the basics of this mechanic and for getting your feet wet in the hobby.

Civilization (BGG Rank: 182)

Not remotely light! But a well-regarded classic nonetheless. In Civilization, you are tasked with managing the growth of an ancient civilization from its technological dawn through its emergence as a fully developed Iron Age society. Each civilization has the same basic start in life, but there is a high degree of geographic determinism in the game (the geographical reality of a society starting on Crete is fundamentally different from that starting in the Nile Valley). Societies engage in trade, suffer calamities, acquire technology and compete for land on their frontiers. A long and slow, but deeply rewarding game experience.

Small World (BGG Rank: 152)

Small World, a reimplementation of Vinci, is a game in which you take control of a fantasy race (ratfolk, dwarves, skeletons) with a unique quality or power (bivouacking, dragon master) and you use units derived from the combination to conquer land in a fantasy world. A pure expression of this theme and easy to learn. Younger players will like the combination potentials even more than free-spirited adults.

Smash Up (BGG Rank: 543)

Like Small World in some respects, in Smash Up you take two decks of cards representing, generally, themes/gestalts from sci-fi/adventure tv and film (pirates, ninjas, animate plants, zombies) and shuffle them together to create powers in combination. The player then uses those cards to conquer "bases" or areas. Great fun, straightforward gameplay. Accessible to younger players.

Tigris and Euphrates (BGG Rank: 56)

An old (and bewildering) favorite that has just been re-released in a new edition. In Tigris and Euphrates, players are jockeying to be the most balanced civilization at the end of the game (the winner is the player whose score in his/her poorest area is better than everyone else's...hence the bewildering). A well-respected classic of the German design aesthetic. Pure, simple to learn but difficult to master and elegant.

[Carcassonne image from: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/145982/carcassonne?size=original]

April 07, 2017

51 Mechanics: Action Point Allowance System

April 07, 2017/ Jon Cassie

ACTION POINT ALLOWANCE SYSTEM

Action Points are one of the most popular, enduring, creative and challenging of all game mechanics. In an Action Point game engine, players are given a certain number of points to spend each turn on a wide assortment of different actions. Players have to buy these actions with the action points they've been allotted during that turn. Successful players are the ones who understand how the action point engine operates and connects to the victory point engine. Often this meta-analysis is the heart of the game, or at least what makes it a fun mechanic!

Teachers interested in using this kind of mechanic in their classrooms (and action points are an unusually good game mechanic for in-class gamification) should give these five a try:

Burgle Bros. (BGG Rank: 274)

Before even discussing its action point system (which is lean and elegant), it simply must be stated that Burgle Bros. is one of the most ridiculously entertaining games to be published in the last couple of years. One could flippantly describe it as "Ocean's Eleven - the board game." You and your team have to crack three safes on three different floors of a building and escape off the roof with the contents of the safe. The guards on each of these levels get more and more difficult to elude the longer you take to get the job done. There's never quite enough action points to go around. Seriously, just go play this.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark (BGG Rank: 63)

A classic of the dungeon crawl theme, Descent is much more accessible to a broader range of players than the first edition (though to be fair, I think I like the crunchiness of that first edition better at the end of the day). Players have only so many choices they can make and it's easy to make the wrong ones. Great fun.

Mesopotamia (BGG Rank: 1527)

Mesopotamia is a beautiful game with beautiful components in which you are bringing sacrifices to the ziggurat. Delivering these sacrifices requires you to use your action points to explore the board, harvesting materials from quarries or from forests and ultimately banking the resources you need to win.

Tikal (BGG Rank: 187)

If there were a BGG ranking for how well each game implements its main mechanic, Tikal (and its sister games Mexica and Java) would be number 1. In Tikal you are playing an archaeological expedition exploring the Mexican jungle looking for pyramids and other evidence of ancient civilization. The action point system is one of the most sophisticated in all of board gaming. A richly rewarding game experience.

Through The Ages: A Story of Civilization (BGG Rank: 2/16)

A classic civilization building game (if you like the computer game Civilization you will love this game), Through the Ages is accorded a very high place among all games because of its balance of complexity and ease of play. It's super rewarding, even when you don't win.

[Thumbnail photograph from: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/106332/tikal?size=original]

March 31, 2017

51 Mechanics: Action/Movement Programming

March 31, 2017/ Jon Cassie

ACTION/MOVEMENT PROGRAMMING.

Action/Movement Programming games require the player to secretly, but unalterably, make decisions about what s/he is going to do on their next x number of turns. Once the decisions have been made by all players, the consequences of these decisions are executed. Very, very frequently, a move that seemed perfectly reasonable, even genius, when it was programmed becomes a disastrous error when it is executed because of the way the state of the board has changed. These kind of games strongly stimulate algorithmic thinking in players and are really good at helping younger players develop a capacity to see various strategic states that might develop on a board as a result of players' decisions. They're strategic, intriguing, maddening and exciting in equal measure. Here are five you should consider picking up at your friendly, neighborhood game store:

Colt Express (BGG Rank: 255)

Colt Express is worth having in your collection if only for its three-dimensional board (and the fact that its great fun). It implements the action/movement programming mechanic in an especially crazy-making way. Players follow the game's instructions and play action cards into a common pool of action cards which are executed in order once all players have put cards on the stack. Insane, but there are rewards for being able to understand the board (a skill I sadly lack...).

duck, duck, Go! (BGG Rank: 3,458)

Any game whose pieces are rubber duckies is going to get special attention. This game's adorable! And it's a good game for younger audiences to begin to get their brains around the notion of programming. Players give ducks certain movements and they execute these movements trying to find their way to a number of checkpoints in a race. The first duck to complete the circuit wins. Great for kids...totally interesting for adults, too, though.

Gravwell: Escape From the Ninth Dimension (BGG Rank: 765)

Another very accessible game, in Gravwell you are the pilot of a ship stuck in a black hole's gravity well. Your object is to use a variety of fuels that you harvest from the gravity well to get your ship out of the event horizon first. The problem is that fuels have different firing times (the earlier in the alphabet is a fuel's name, the earlier it triggers) and, moreover, some fuels pull you towards other ships or push you away from those ships. A trickier prospect than it would seem. Great fun and accessible to younger players.

Robo Rally (BGG Rank: 287)

The definitive example of a action/movement programming game, Robo Rally gives a nice balance between exciting play and infuriating play...it gives both in more or less equal measure. Your object is to move a robot through a simulated factory floor while conveyor belts, pits and your fellow players are trying to thwart you. And you have to program your movement before you execute it. And you can't see what the other players are doing first. MADNESS.

Room 25 (BGG Rank: 769)

Designed by my friend François Rouzé, in Room 25 you are attempting to escape from a prison which has no discernible exit. You must program your actions before you take them, sometimes resulting in surprising turns of events.

The Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game, Star Trek Attack Wing and an old classic, Full Thrust, also feature this mechanic in one way or another and would be worth your consideration, mindful that they can very quickly become VERY expensive!

[Thumbnail photograph comes from: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1581209/room-25?size=large]

February 21, 2017

"Game?" = Play These Games or Use Them In Class Out of the Box

February 21, 2017/ Jon Cassie

Featured

Jul 15, 2016

"Game?" = Play These Games or Use Them In Class Out of the Box!

Jul 15, 2016

February 21, 2017

51 Mechanics: Acting

February 21, 2017/ Jon Cassie

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]

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