Mac Gerdts for President

The Rondel: A simple wheel of 8 choices that are selected each turn rotating clockwise.
The Rondel: A simple wheel of 8 choices that are selected each turn rotating clockwise.

Mac Gerdts is a prolific board game designer who is most known for his invention of the Rondel. This simple mechanism is one of the most inventive uses of a circle to come to the hobby since the infamous Game of Life spinner. Essentially, there is a circle with player markers on it. Each turn players select their action from any of the next three in the circle. Anything skipped over cannot be chosen again until a that marker makes it’s way around the circle again. Think of it kind of like a Merry-Go-Round of actions. This simple use of an action selection circle makes for wonderfully complex decisions. On the one hand, players want to do actions in the most efficient order as they go around and around. On the other hand, what you REALLY want to do on a given turn may require you to skip the other actions.

Bob
Pardon the art. The Goldilocks Problem.
There's a lot going on, but it's all dictated by the Rondel in the corner.
There’s a lot going on, but it’s all dictated by the Rondel in the corner.

The Rondel Merry-Go-Round of choice is a really brilliant way of giving the players important choices to make each turn, but not overwhelming them with too many choices at once. It also makes the timing of choices matter more than ever before. This solves the “Goldilocks Problem” of board game choice. If you give players too few choices on their turn, it can feel like the game is playing them. If you give them a giant menu of choices, play can bog down as players need to decide from a large array of possible actions. With the Rondel, players can make one of three choices, but these choices then inform what choices they have on their next turn.

Up until recently, every one of Mac Gerdts games featured this familiar circle of actions, with the actions themselves, the theme, and the ultimate goal of the game changing around that central mechanism. Imperial and Imperial 2030 take a chilling look at countries warring and conquering each other, while the players play investors that can control countries that they have a majority share in. Despite looking on the surface like Risk, this game is more about the manipulation and politics that happens behind the front lines. Navegador has players controlling trade ships navigating around Africa, and colonizing and trading on their way. Antike takes on the familiar Greco-Roman Civilization them and has players warring and building structure throughout the ancient world. At the heart of all of these is that strategic Merry-Go-Round, the brilliance of the Rondel.

The legend himself.
The legend himself.

Gerdts branched out recently with a big hit Concordia, his first game that did not feature a Rondel. Instead in this game Gerdts adopts the popular deck building mechanism. Players add action cards to their deck which dictate their future action choices. While it is a fantastic implementation of deck building, it is missing a little bit of that strategic timing that game with the Rondel. Still, here too Gerdts limits the choices a player has on their turn in order to keep the game moving and allow for on your toes thinking wrapped inside a strategic whole.

While he is German and in no way eligible to run for the US Presidency, he is most certainly my candidate for the Cardboard party. Perhaps politics, and the world in general could use a bit more clockwork thinking, one choice at a time around the Merry Go Round.

The semi-digital future: App integration in board games

Countless games have made the jump from cardboard to digital. Many of my favorites are available on the iPad or Android, from Carcassonne to Agricola, to Galaxy Trucker. However, many new games are experimenting with a new hybrid format, supplementing the traditional board game format with a tablet app. I have played several of these new format board games and each of them brings something different to the board game experience, depending on how the app works.

The app is central to One Night Ultimate Werewolf
The app is central to One Night Ultimate Werewolf

One Night Ultimate Werewolf uses the app as a moderator, and narrator all in one. The dulcet toned Eric Summerer walks through which roles in this social deduction game do what. The cards are still essential for keeping track of the shifting identities and status of the players, but otherwise I would argue that the app is the game itself. This would have not been possible even a decade ago. There were many attempts at interactive technology in board games even then, from the VHS versions of clue, to a childhood favorite of mine, Omega Virus, which was a simple voice box that players could interact with by entering the number codes of rooms on the space station that they entered. But all of this pales in comparison to the One Night Werewolf app that can add and remove roles, and players with a few swipes.

In Alchemists players fill out their chart of elements by experimenting with different elements cards using the app
In Alchemists players fill out their chart of elements by experimenting with different elements cards using the app

While One Night Werewolf uses an app to replace what could be a human element, Alchemists flexes more of what computers can do best, randomization. The game premise is one of logic and deduction. Players are alchemists who are studying various fairy tale like ingredients to determine their properties. When you combine two ingredients, the result can be positive or negative, and one of three colors. Each time you play the game, the combinations are different, and the results of any combination are handled by the app that each player can individually download for their phone. All players enter the same seed number, so the alchemical rules for the game are the same from player to player. This solves two major problems at once. For one thing, no one player has to set up this puzzle like aspect of the game, and potentially discover the answers for themselves and ruin the deductive fun. Secondly, each player’s interactions with this puzzle are handled on their own device so that only they gain the insight from their own experiment.

The app is not the whole game here, and there is plenty of player interaction as players claim action spaces on the board to gather these ingredients, test them on unfortunate students, sell them to wandering adventurers, and gather expensive rare artifacts on the side. However the puzzle that supports all these actions is handled elegantly by the app, and no two games are ever the same.

In XCOM: The Boardgame the app functions as a timer and director.
In XCOM: The Boardgame the app functions as a timer and director.

XCOM: The Board Game uses the app as both a director and a timer. In this co-op game the app tells players what to do, and what happens in terms of the board game “fighting back” against the players. It also counts down how long each player has to make a given decision, keeping the action moving and the tension high. This solves a common complaint about co-op games where players will discuss what to do and one player will drive the decision making of the whole team. By keeping everything directed through the app, but on a timer, each player must acts independently and this prevents the single player “quarterback” syndrome. Each player is also assigned a different role in fighting off the alien invasion, from the science officer who researches new technology to the commander who fight in combat encounters. The app certainly helps capture the spirit of the video game and gives this co-op a unique feel.

In Mansions of Madness the app handles the scenario and the players handle the decisions.
In Mansions of Madness the app handles the scenario and the players handle the decisions.

Finally there’s my favorite app integration yet, Mansions of Madness Second Edition. What was a clunky game with a lot of set up when it first came out in 2011 is now an eloquent and smooth experience, thanks to an app that runs the show. The app handles what tiles come out to build the environment that players explore. It presents skill checks for players to roll against and handles the results and their impact on the environment. There is still plenty of board game here, with players handling the dice rolls, decisions, inventory etc… But the app provides the music, the story, and most importantly the variety and ease of set-up that the first game could not have had. Over this past weekend different people played through the first scenario multiple times, and each time there were new wrinkles and wholly different mansion layouts.

I personally cannot seem to dig into the all digital versions of my favorite games. There is something missing, even in an excellent execution of a cardboard to digital transition. But these new hybrids are very promising indeed. These days, our iPad or our phones are always by our sides. And while I do value an escape to board gaming to get away from these digital companions, I enjoy when a digital app makes that on the table experience richer and more entertaining.

Gen Con 2016 watchlist

GenConWith Early August comes the advent of the biggest gaming convention in the United States, Gen Con. Each year publishers release hundreds of new game at the enormous convention that takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana. This year it has gotten so big that organizers even co-opted some of the space of the neighboring Lucas Oil Stadium. Crowds rush to grab the latest games before they sell out, Cosplay is everywhere, and special events are run throughout the weekend including tournaments, shows and role playing of all kinds.

Gen Con is on my bucket list to attend, but given that I am still recovering from Essen it was not in the cards for me this year. Nonetheless, I do have my eye on a few games, and wanted to share a few previews of what is coming out this weekend.

The unique card crafting system makes Mystic Vale stand out.
The unique card crafting system makes Mystic Vale stand out.

In terms of bring something new to the table, Mystic Vale is certainly unique. It is described as a “card crafting’ game, and takes this concept very literally as you insert new transparent plastic attributes into your starting cards, which act more like card sleeves. This makes a twist on the now well trodden territory of Dominion and other deck builders in that you are changing the individual cards in a very small deck vs just changing what cards make up that deck.Certainly and interesting concept, but I do worry a bit about taking all the cards apart and putting them away after the game is over!

The iPad does the heavy lifting in Mansions of Madness Second Edition
The iPad does the heavy lifting in Mansions of Madness Second Edition

Mansions of Madness brings Cthulhu goodness to the convention with a new second edition. The original game featured one player  setting up and running an adventure for the other players. Setup time was a big complaint as the game features lots of different cards and tiles, and if things weren’t set up correctly the adventure could break ruining the experience. This new edition continues the trend of board games going semi-digital by introducing a tablet or iPad app that handles the game master role from the original game. This means that setup time is drastically reduced, and players can all cooperate together against the “brain” of the game in the app.

Plenty of wooden chairs to arm oneself with
Plenty of wooden chairs to arm oneself with

After years of having crazy tavern adventures in their RPG campaigns, The Dragon and Flagon looks to bring that chaos to a 3D board game space. The game embraces the environmental hazards of a classic tavern, with “rugs” that are cards you can pull out from under players, cardboard furniture that can be weaponized at a moment’s notice, and barrels that can bowl other players over. While it may not exactly be the most strategic, thinky kind of game it looks like a load of silly fun.

The beautiful components of Scythe
The beautiful components of Scythe

For those that do want something deeper and a bit more crunchy, Scythe is getting a lot of the buzz leading up to this year’s show. The game combines war, economics and resource gathering in an alternate World War I era setting where Mechs roamed the countryside. It is certainly a sight to behold all set up, as a lot of care and thought went into the pieces, which are different for each faction in the game. We have come a long way from the earlier board games with simple pawns, dice and a board, where now board games with board and pieces that are like a work of art are becoming the norm. This game was also a Kickstarter success story, where players invested over 1.8 million dollars in the vision and idea behind the game long before it came out, allowing the company Stonemaier games to put together a great end product.

The best news is that even if you, like myself are missing this great gaming event, all these games will be coming to local stores sooner rather than later. While Gen Con is the big release event for a lot of these games, the true test of time will be which games get into people’s hands after the show, and which ones we will still be talking about a year from now, when all of the glitz and glamour has died down, and the game must stand up on its own merit.