In a recent appearance on Gabe Barret’s Boardgame Design Lab podcast, Richard Garfield, designer of Magic: The Gathering, spoke about the interplay between luck and skill in a game. Garfield made the point that luck appears in many games we normally see as purely contests of skill. The argument goes like this. Chess is a »more
Tag Archives: Chess
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Design Patterns: Asymmetry And Opacity
Welcome back! This is the third part of the asymmetry series. You can catch up here, or just keep reading. No prior knowledge required! Well… except this bit. Last week I said: I am not addressing the asymmetry that arises based on the natural outcome of non-mirrored gameplay. Players take turns and make decisions and »more
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Design Patterns: Asymmetry (Part 2)
Last week I introduced the topic of asymmetry, and wondered out loud about all the different ways we use the term. Is there any hope of putting some order to all the chaos we uncovered? Probably not. But we’ll try anyway! It might help to identify different categories of asymmetry. I’m going to try out »more
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Design Patterns: Asymmetry (Part 1)
Recently I’ve been frustrated by the term asymmetry in game design. What are asymmetric games? Common examples are Cosmic Encounter, Chaos in the Old World, Twilight Struggle, Android: Netrunner, or Fury of Dracula. Looking over that list, it’s clear that we mean lots of different things when we talk about asymmetry! Twilight Struggle, for example, »more
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Design Pattern: May The Force Be With You
When I was about nine years old, I excitedly challenged my dad to a game of chess. I had just learned about the 4-move mate, which seemed like magic to me. My dad was a strong chess player, and he never took anything off of his fastball. I was excited to deliver a 4-move knockout blow »more
