I recently had the opportunity to try TimJim's Outpost for the first time, and I was left wondering why so many game groups are so enamoured of it. No, that's not quite true. I can see the appeal. Granted, I only played the game once, so I may be missing the bigger picture here and overlooking subtleties in the game. But after years of playing European games, Outpost felt pointedly lacking in many areas.
Outpost is a processional game, advancing predictable from quick early phases to later, more involved high-stakes turns. Decisions in Outpost are often obvious. Some technology is usually more desirable than others, some move is clearly superior. The only question is whether you can outbid the other players for it. And that, often as not, comes down to the luck of the draw.
So we have a game in which player interaction is entirely limited to the auction process. Not a problem per se, as games like Modern Art are successful with auctions at their heart. But the process in Outpost is cumbersome and ponderous— the simple math of adding the values of your cards gets less simple as your hand size grows— and doesn't merit its three-hour support structure.
In the end, two players can make exactly the same decisions, but at a key moment one of them wins out not because he was clever, but because he drew better cards. Other games have similar mechanics, but they tend to be shorter in length and are often beer 'n' pretzels games from the outset, ala Wiz-War. In a three hour game, I want my decisions and strategy to be more important than chance.
While we played, somebody asked my why I liked German games. An ironic question, made more so by my answer being interrupted by someone's arrival and never being picked up again. Germans would never have made Outpost. The element of player interaction, for one thing, is too small for a game so large. Each player's turn takes too long. There are few interesting decisions to make. It's a very American design. Which explains why it's popular here in America.
But it also makes me despair of German games catching on big in the United States. If players are content— more, enthusiastic— about long processional games with little interaction and few decisions, how will they ever look at German games seriously? German games are often lighter and shorter than American ones, yet pack lots of interesting decision-making and strategy into that time. Minute for minute, I usually enjoy German games more than American ones. Yet many Americans won't even glance at them because of the theme, or the lack of chits, or the absence of complex tables. Their loss, but we evangelists do so like to proselytize.
Searching for Bobby Fischer was on television recently. Even if you're not a chess fan, this is an outstanding film. Besides the usual fine performances from Joe Mantegna, Ben Kingsley, and Lawrence Fishburne, the film offers up some interesting perspectives on competition, gameplay, and genius.
Bobby Fischer was a chess prodigy who disappeared into seclusion at the height of his success. The film makes much of his ability to see patterns in the game which others could not, which got me to thinking.
There's no denying that I'm an above-average game player. I suspect most TGR readers would describe themselves similarly. We pick up new games very quickly, can see the way mechanisms interact, and develop strategies in short order. I'm sure a good part of it comes from experience with and exposure to a wide variety of games. The finer points may differ, but certain fundamentals carry over from game to game. If you've gotten good at Modern Art, for example, you've learned to watch not only how much you spend, but to whom you spend it. The distinction between overall score increase and increases relative to other players applies to many games, yet some players never grasp it.
So why does this clarity of vision come in some games, but others (like chess) remain opaque to me? Would the vision come if I spent more time playing? Do some games just take longer to assimilate?
And what of the meta-game? There are many layers, including the persuasion of opponents to play in such a way as to further your own interests; the analysis of opponent play styles to better predict their future behavior; the cultivation of a persona which makes it easier to beat opponents (such as never breaking a promise, always exacting revenge on opponents who hurt your game position, maintaining strict neutrality in all circumstances, etc).
Personally, I believe that grudges and retribution should end when a game ends and not carry over to future games, but that other aspects of metagaming are sound. If I know someone never breaks his promises, for example, I'm much more inclined to trade with him. If a player cultivates such an image over repeated sessions, it can pay off in the long term. Sharp players— players who see game patterns, perhaps— recognize and capitalize on this. Others either miss it completely or refuse to participate in the metagame. Does this overlook an opportunity for advantage, or preserve the purity of the game experience?
A new expansion for Die Siedler von Catan, "Staedte und Ritter", will become available in March [Editor's note 5/25/98: it is available now]. This expansion makes Siedler more complex, for players who want a longer game with more tactical and strategic possibilities.
Basically, the board game is extended with three elements:
1. Knights which can be moved on the board as tokens (mobile knights already existed in the first playable prototype, but Teuber moved them to the developmant cards somewhere along the way). Knights are bought with one ore and sheep and activated with a wheat, letting players interrupt or protect trading routes and chase away the robber.
2. City extensions. During the development of the Siedler card game, Teuber got the idea that to combine the board game with elements from the card game. While small wooden mini-universities, marketplaces, or libraries which one would have used to build their cities like a puzzle would have provided for great game atmosphere, they'd be cost-prohibitive and playability would have suffered since each building would have required a card that would describe the effects and the cost of the respective building. Instead, Teuber went with info cards as a compromise.
3. The enemy army. Many players asked Teuber for a more warlike Siedler, with the ability to destroy opponents' settlements. Fortunately, the designer felt such a thing would destroy the peaceful, constructive character of the game which has made it such a success. However, he reasoned, an alien enemy would not only be possible within the game universe, but highly probably. When the island is prospering, and settlements and cities are growing, greedy eyes in the countries on the other side of the great sea look longingly at Catan. Soon enemy fleets appear on the horizon, and the settlers must unite and mobilize knights to prevent the destruction of their cities.
Games with this expansion reportedly last around two and a half hours, about double the length of a basic game. A 5 & 6 player expansion to the expansion will be made available, as with Seefahrer.
[Thanks to Dietmar Logoz for translating the above information from the German found on www.die-siedler.com- Ed.]
Seeing Searching for Bobby Fischer got me thinking about other films which would be of interest to game players. So I did a bit of research. I soon discovered I could devote an entire article to films involving chess imagery, particularly as a murder mystery device. But I'll leave that to another day (and another author).
I'm concerned with films in which games play a major role, or which would be worth watching by a game player regardless of the film's other content. Films which have incidental game references (the kids playing D&D at the start of E.T., the post-hypnotic suggestion triggered by playing solitaire in The Manchurian Candidate, etc) are beyond the scope of this survey.
An article on my findings will appear next issue. In the meantime, perhaps you can come up with some films which I've missed. Know of one which meets the criteria described above? Drop me a line and let me know. Please tell me the name of the film and the way in which games figure into it.
While I'm at it, if anyone has a copy of Breaking All the Rules, a film about the creators of Trivial Pursuit, I'd love to borrow it for a viewing.
The Game Report Online - Editor: Peter Sarrett (editor@gamereport.com)