More on Strategy Game Components

[shannon_a]

Back on November 10th I talked a bit about strategy games, and finished up with considering classifications. I was brainstorming about it a bit more today, and the walk home, and decided that my classification of components was a bit simplistic. Here's my newest thoughts ...


My 11/10/02 entry classified board game components into three category: board, card, and dice. Actually, I think that was simplistic and that you actually have a two-dimensional array. On the one side is what type of playing field you have (the board) and on the other is what type of tokens you have on it.

(Thanks in part to Matt S. who got me thinking about no-board miniature games, which led to part of this brainstorm.)

Here's what the array looks like, with lots of examples.

	Singular Tokens	Multiple Tokens	Dice Tokens	Card Tokens
No Board	?	?	Yahtzee	Bridge
Minimalist Set Board	?	Chess	Boggle	Scrabble
Representational Set Board	Monopoly	Risk	?	?
Random Board	?	Settlers of Catan	?	?

A few definitions ...

Token Types

• Singular - each player has one token representing "him"
  
• Multiple - each player has multiple tokens representing different in-game resources.
  
• Dice - each player has tokens which have multiple values based upon random chance.
  
• Card - each player has tokens which have dramatically different values and are randomly selected.
  

Board Types

• No Board - Interrelations between tokens are irrelevent
  
• Minimalist Set Board - A board exists only to determine interrelations between tokens.
  
• Representational Set Board - A board exists that is representative of some locale, though that representation might be quite abstract.
  
• Random Board - The board is randomly created either at setup time or during play. It tends to be in some way representational.
  

It could be that there's better ways to represent this using multiple axes, like abstratction of board, randomness of board, number of tokens, uniqueness of tokens, randomness of tokens, etc. But I like having a big chart.

Any help filling in the ? game entries (or offering better known example) quite welcome. It's a bit lit for good examples.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

DungonQuest or HeroQuest has a randomized board and a single token. If i'm getting what you're calling things.

There were the set of dice wargames where you got a pack of special dice and used them as miniatures. I think this would be a representational board with dice tokens.

Neither of those are as well known as your choices though. :)

Where would something like M:TG fall in here? No board and card tokens? At least that would be my guess.

I'm not sure I like the distinction between tokens/dice/cards though. In something like WizardsQuest I could imagine a pile of Orcs, or a die showing how many where there. A number of games have character 'cards' that then have a token representing them that moves about the board. You could instead put the card on the board, but that would be a bit ugly.

Or what about something like Monster Derby? Random token/card selection at beginning. Pieces on the board, but no token is 'owned' by any one person. Anyone can move any token, in an attempt to arrange the ending acording to their goals.

I'll have to think some more on the break down.

-=- Matt

[(Anonymous)]

Upon further thought, let me propose a change i the naming scheme for some things. Perhaps we can talk about 'simple tokens' and 'complex tokens'.

A simple token is always the same. Like an army in risk or a pawn in chess or a city in settlers. Its self contained and simple.

A complex token is one that has variable stats, or a great deal of additional data tied to it. A panzer division, with its supply status, leadership, attack range, defense values, strength numbers, etc. Or a talisman adventurer, with all his/her equipment and stats.

This would somewhat allieveate the issues with representation. If there's a token on the map to represent a space ship, or a whole copy of its little ship sheet ... who cares? Its a complex token.

Now, this somewhat breaks when we're talking about things without boards. Card games for example. Does this use 52 simple tokens or 52 complex tokes, each of which has one of 52 possible values?

-=- Matt