I recently picked up an interesting book by Herb Cohen called “You Can Negotiate Anything”. It is an in depth look at how humans negotiate, and the underlying power struggles. I originally thought that this would provide some insight into player interactions, but I began to see that it was much more than that. Not only are there occasional negotiations between players, but the interaction between each player and the game itself could be perceived as a negotiation. This shines a new light on player behavior and portrays the board game as one of the parties involved in an ongoing negotiation.

I will go through this book with you, summarizing what I believe the author is explaining, then explore how it correlates with board games. This will be my interpretation, of course, and may or may not be what the author intended. I strongly recommend reading the book yourself because it is a worthwhile journey. I hope you can get something from this slightly askew view of a self-help book.

The beginning of the book

The author opens by defining what a negotiation is. “Your real world is a giant negotiation table” is the very first line and I can definitely see this as being true with board games. That stubborn piece of cardboard in front of you, has something you want and you may have to wheel and deal to get it. Not only do you occasionally have to deal with players, but you may have to outwit the dice and cards or try to outmaneuver other players on a player board.

The author also explains that almost everything is negotiable, even certain things that we assumed weren’t. You can’t affect the result of a die after it is thrown, but can can alter the odds by choosing to throw multiple dice or deciding when to throw the dice in order to maximize your return for the risk you’re taking. This can be viewed as a negotiation between you and the game. Cards are even more subject to manipulation, or negotiation. Once you have an idea what the other players want, know what cards have been played, and know the contents of the deck, you can make a good guess as to how the cards are going to come out. This translates into a subtle shift of power to you as the cards become more and more predictable. This, in a way, is like a negotiation between you and the game, where you are gaining the upper hand.

Cohen describes the three important elements to any negotiation:

  • Information – understanding the needs of others in order to gain leverage.
  • Time – a high time investment makes people less likely to back out of a negotiation. This relates to the “Sunk Cost Fallacy”
  • Power – The actual or perceived power held by an entity in the negotiation.

All three of these are present in most tabletop games and I will explore them each further in future posts as I read this fascinating book. I hope you can enjoy it too as you follow along.