When I was a teenager, somebody accused me of self-sabotaging my own success. After a couple self-help books and some introspection, I realized that I actually have been setting myself up for failure. I was hard wired to fear success. As long as I was constantly aware of this, and overrode these natural tendencies, I could manage ok. Over the years, constantly pushing ahead and committing to success has done me well. Even my catastrophic failures have turned into funny stories and life lessons.

I was wondering how often this fear of success finds its way into our board games. Even in the Magic Circle of the game group, people may be reluctant to leave their comfort zone, or to stand out too much. It takes more than a little effort to commit to a successful path, which sometimes involves responsibility to your teammates, or even opens a player up to higher expectations in their future performance. The primary goal of a board game is to have fun, so I can never fault anybody for laying back and not taking things too seriously, but I wonder if a fear of success could cause a player to play sub-optimally, or even make some serious mistakes.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, or some personal experiences which might be contributed to a fear of success. Feel free to comment, even if you think I am way off base with this oddball theory.

A player uses extreme actions which will  indirectly affect the advance or decline of the game state which trends in one direction or the other due to its own momentum.

It will work much like a person running around on a heavy platform which is balanced in the middle. The platform starts to tip, so the player has to run over to the high side to reverse the action. As it starts heading back down, the momentum will carry it too far, so the player has to run over to the other side to bring it back. This continues with the player running back and forth, making smaller and smaller corrections until a state of equilibrium is almost accomplished. Random events occasionally occur which result in the player having to run toward the edge, starting the whole thing over again. Speed and timing is critical to keep the platform from tipping over.

This can be accomplished in an economic game where the players actions create advances and declines in the market. The market momentum will carry the market toward either extreme.

Feast or famine can also be simulated this way, with the players creating surpluses or deficits to try and correct the trends. These corrections can be extreme, while the over abundances and shortages can be slow and very hard to stop.

An adept player could instigate severe shifts to take full advantage of either extreme, but if they push things too far, or their timing is a little off, it could end in disaster.

I wanted to implement this in my Arachnid board game, but I couldn’t fit in in. The game was much too complex and plodding to incorporate this whiplash effect between abundance and starvation. Sadly, It ended up on the editing room floor. I hope to use it someday in another game, perhaps a stock market day-trading game. Done right, it could add a lot of tension to a game, where the players are constantly on the verge of losing control.

Keep posted, this wonkey idea might become a reality some day.

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.