Category: Game Musings

Since Neuroshima Hex is a relatively sedate and easy going game, why don’t we double the excitement with the “Neuroshima Hex Doubling Cube”. Add a timer like the type used in speed chess and we have a real heart pounding challenge. Warning, the following content may cause heart palpitations or induce an anxiety attack. Small children and old farts should not proceed any further. (Myself excluded, I happen to be both.)

As any serious Backgammon player knows, the doubling cube makes the game fast paced and more intense, with push your luck elements. Getting inside the opponent’s head can only be done with this tiny cube. Many Backgammon players wouldn’t even consider playing the game without it.

I was thinking of adding a special doubling cube to Neuroshima Hex. It would provide the following advantages:

• You don’t have to finish a game if it’s clear your opponent is wiping the floor with you. You simply concede and start a new game.
• You can push your luck by doubling the odds if you think you’re ahead, which can be quite interesting if the advantage is shifting back and forth between players.
• There is a certain Meta aspect to using this die as well as a good portion of ‘Yomi’ as you try to get into the opponent’s head.

The players would have to play a number of games, keeping track of how many points they win each game. This would require some type of timer like a standard chess timer set to 15 seconds or so, in order to keep things moving. (No AP allowed). A standard victory where one player has less damage than the opponent will count as one point. If a player captures the enemy base by exceeding the required damage, they win two points. These points, of course, are multiplied by the doubling cube if it is in play. It is actually possible to win by 32 points in a single game.

How it Works

Each game will start with the doubling cube off to the side. At any time, either player can take the cube and present it to the opponent starting at the 2x side. The opponent receiving the cube can either concede the game at the current odds or accept the cube and continue for double the odds. They now have possession of the cube and can offer it to the opponent immediately, or at a later time to double the odds again. (There are also two special options on this cube which will be discussed later.) This can happen up to 4 times, increasing the odds to 16x in a single game.Play continues until there is a victor or a player concedes the current game.

Instead of a standard doubling cube used in Backgammon, four of the sides will have the numbers 2, 4, 8 and 16. One side will have ‘Surrender’ and the last side will have ‘Seige’. It will be used the same way as a typical doubling cube in Backgammon with the following exceptions:

• When a player is in control of the cube (or before any player takes possession) they can flip it over to the ‘Surrender’ side and immediately concede the game.
• After the cube is introduced, the player in possession of it is the only one who can offer double it again.
• Before anyone has doubled, a player can flip the cube over to the ‘Seige’ side. In this case, they must capture the enemy’s base for a five point win. If they fail to do so (even if they manage a standard win) they lose three points.

This new cube, along with an old chess timer will add some spice to those boring old Neuroshima Hex games. 

In this hidden movement game, one player is a legendary hunter and the other is the great bear. The hunter starts out with a general idea of where the bear was last spotted. The hunter must, then, set out to find the bear’s trail and start tracking it. The hunter gains experience as he tracks the bear and learns more about its habits and can better anticipate it’s next move. These experience points gradually accumulate, increasing the potential game score if the hunter can manage to “Bag” the bear. At a certain part of the game, however, these points start to dwindle.

Meanwhile, the great bear roams around, hunts for food, and is the master of it’s domain. The bear has an acute sense of smell and can tell when the hunter is near. It is also aware that the hunter is dangerous and becoming more dangerous as he gets closer and that this danger increases over time. Does the bear try to evade the hunter as he grows more powerful, or does the bear try to investigate and risk an early encounter with an inexperienced hunter, which is likely to miss his shot. The more the bear knows about the hunter, the more likely it is to avoid being shot.

Once the hunter spots the bear, the game changes. The hunter’s experience points start to dwindle and the hunter has a limited number of bullets. The pressure is on and the hunter must decide to take a long shot or try to get closer to the bear. All the while, his experience points are dwindling.

Once the bullets run out, the tables are turned. The Bear becomes the hunter, and the hunter must make it back to his camp before the bear overtakes him. If the Bear captures the hunter, it claims all his victory points. Taking a risk by leading the hunter far into the wilderness where he gains more experience might pay off well, unless of course, the bear gets shot in the process.

If the hunter makes it back to the camp, then nobody wins, but the hunter and the bear both survive to hunt another day.

I haven’t figured out the mechanics yet to make this game possible, but it could be quite fun if I or somebody else could make this work. If anyone wants to collaborate on this idea with me, or even take the idea and run with it, you are welcome to try. Drop me a line if you’re interested, and leave a comment if this type of game appeals to you.

Happy Gaming

RogerDogerGames

I learned a new term today, it is Intelligence Augmentation (IA). Many of us have heard about AI, or Automated Intelligence, but the term IA was something I haven’t really considered much until now.  It’s not a new concept, in fact it’s as old as dirt. If you’ve ever notched a stick to keep count of something, looked up a mortgage payment in a mortgage table, used a slide-rule or one of those fancy new electronic calculators, you have Augmented your Intelligence.

IA is simply the act of using an external means to keep track of something or perform minor decisions for us while we focus on more important matters. How many of us currently have a cell phone nearby which is sifting through news to bring relevant information to our attention, keeping track of our schedules, and providing a link to the “Hive Mind” so we can ask it just about anything. IA has become an integral part of our lives. Many people fear AI (Artificial Intelligence) will somehow take over and make us obsolete, but in reality, we’ve been using technology to enhance our intelligence from day one and this can lead to newer and better versions of ourselves.

There are many examples of IA in tabletop games. The unique decks for each character in “Un-Matched” spare the player from having to create a custom deck and trying to get it to work properly with each character. The player boards in many games like “Scythe” and “Brass” reveal bonuses and actions as you remove components or re-arrange them on the player board. This reduces the rules overhead and pushes the player towards the fun and interesting decisions rather than the menial bookkeeping and minor decisions that don’t contribute much to the gameplay. Even a minor thing like placing an action token onder each spider token on my “Arachnid” game helps to reduce unnecessary rules overhead. As soon as a player places a new spider onto the web, an action token is revealed providing an additional player action.

Many of us have experienced AI in some form in a board game. It may have been an “Automa” deck used in a solo variant of a game like “Wingspan”, or perhaps the “Bots” used in “Power Grid” or “Root” to emulate additional players. Most of us, however, may not have considered how prevalent IA is in our board games and life in general. It is good to know that games are trying to make us smarter and our gaming experience more fun. I will gladly hand over the boring bits of a game to some device, or even an app. if this means more fun for me.

I welcome your thoughts on this?

Why is there an alpha player problem……”Because I Said So!”. This is, maybe, an extreme example of a problem that often plagues cooperative games. One player can dominate the game and try to control the direction of the game, which is usually only fun for only one person, the Alpha Player. The other players can experience everything from mild annoyance to outright anger. Some people consider this a fault of the game, while others believe it’s a problem with the game group. Regardless of who’s fault it is, it’s a problem which must be addressed and I believe I may have a solution.

I believe the problem isn’t so much that there is an Alpha player, it’s more about who takes on that role. In order to keep the game flowing, decisions must be made amongst differing opinions, and sometimes these decisions are arbitrary. The game must carry on and a dominating player will occasionally step in to attempt to break a stalemate.  This problem is even more likely to occur when one player is more familiar with the game than the others. Pushing through a decision is a necessary function for any group task, but it doesn’t have to be performed by the most dominant or aggressive member of the team. Why not elect an Alpha player who is fair and whose decisions will be readily accepted by the group. Players can elect one member of the group as the “Alpha”, who will make the final decisions whenever the group reaches an impasse. This player doesn’t necessarily have to be the most experienced player, just the one who can make the most impartial and fair decisions.

The players will hold a simple election before the game begins. Each player will pick a first choice and a second choice. (A player cannot pick themselves as a first choice.) The votes are tallied and the player with the most total votes is elected “Alpha”. In the event of a tie, then the one with the most first choice votes will be the winner. If it is still a tie, then the winner will be determined randomly. The “Alpha” will have the final word whenever the players cannot agree. This might help to alleviate the Alpha player problem.

I was listening to a TabletopBellhop podcast the other day, and one of the listeners asked what book or literary world would make a great board game. This is my pitch for a game based on one of my favorite science fiction novels.

Fahrenheit 451 is a science fiction story where the Firemen are actually burning books and trying to eradicate the written word, while a handful of people are risking everything to try to preserve them. Players each are assigned a book and have to run around collecting chapters while the firemen are removing the books. Sometimes the firemen are getting close and you have to pick a chapter from a book other than yours. If the fireman catches you you lose one or more of your own chapters and are forced to replace them with whatever is at hand. Once you acquire enough chapters, you become the book. The story you tell from the bits and pieces you have acquired could be quite funny. For example, you can be “Oliver Twist”. Your story might take an interesting turn in chapter five because that chapter came from “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, and finally, end with Oliver replacing his Canoot’n valve because the final chapter came from “Reader Digest Home Plumbing Repairs”. Once the last book is read, the player with the most complete book will be declared the winner.

Ray Bradbury might not be impressed with the light hearted approach to such a serious topic, but the game might be quite fun to play.