{"id":88,"date":"2016-09-20T00:55:47","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T00:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.phantomknightgames.com\/news\/?p=88"},"modified":"2016-09-20T00:55:47","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T00:55:47","slug":"jeremy-geist-compares-board-games-to-a-tv-show-from-the-70s-because-hes-just-that-cool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.phantomknightgames.com\/news\/jeremy-geist-compares-board-games-to-a-tv-show-from-the-70s-because-hes-just-that-cool\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeremy Geist Compares Board Games To A TV Show From The 70s Because He\u2019s Just That Cool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Columbo picked up the red pillar and placed it off to the side. \u201cThat\u2019s my turn,\u201d he said, \u201cnow which card are you going to take?\u201d Smith smirked. \u201cSorry, Mr. Detective\u2013\u201c he delicately placed one of the cards in front of him\u2013\u00a0\u201cbut this is my win. I\u2019ll use my two copies of Helm of Invisibility to install the rest of my cards in my elysium. There\u2019s no way you can beat it.\u201d He got up to leave.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cJust one more thing, Mr. Smith\u2026\u201d said Columbo. Johnson froze. \u201cI thought you weren\u2019t allowed to have more than one copy of the same card\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This above hastily written fan fiction is an example of what I call \u201cColumboing\u201d. It is the bane of any game designer and the second-worst thing that can happen to you during gameplay, right after \u201cwatching someone else take a fifteen-minute turn in Once Upon A Time<\/em>\u201d. Columboing is the phenomenon in which a player\u2019s elaborate plan, or even multi-turn, game-winning strategy, is ruined because nobody at the table noticed a small, overlookable rule until it was relevant.<\/p>\n

The example I gave above is Elysium<\/em>\u2019s rule about not being able to have more than one card with the same name in your play area, not because it\u2019s the worst offender (players don\u2019t get the opportunity to hoard identical cards very often), but because it\u2019s almost the perfect encapsulation of the problem. The same-name prohibition is buried in the middle of the rulebook, can\u2019t be logically deduced through play, and significantly affects strategy once it\u2019s discovered.<\/p>\n

Basically two things can be done to prevent Columboing.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Remove excess rules<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Often, when designing a game, uncommon or small exceptions come up that can threaten to unbalance gameplay. It\u2019s the first instinct to simply add something in the rules that prevents these specific situations from happening, and sometimes this is the only workable way to go about it, but these rules are by far the most likely ones to be missed until it\u2019s relevant.<\/p>\n

    The biggest culprits here are rules that can<\/em> be ignored; that is, if a game makes complete sense while ignoring your small fix of a rule, people are definitely going to miss it. These most often occur in fiddlier Euro-style games that have a lot of moving parts; small rules often make the game more tense and cerebral, but it\u2019s also possible to play an entire game without realizing you were supposed to (or not supposed to) do something and still have an enjoyable time.<\/p>\n

    Part of my game design philosophy is not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. If a certain style of gameplay works great if people can keep track of a lot of fiddly rules, while another style isn\u2019t quite as good but is easier to remember, I go with the second variety every time.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Point it out in the rulebook<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Columboing also occurs because it\u2019s difficult to find a place for it in the manual. Many missable rules aren\u2019t part of the flow of gameplay (e.g. a rule about maximum hand size versus a rule about you can draw cards), making it more likely that it will be missed both by someone reading the book and people having the rules explained to them verbally.<\/p>\n

      The most effective way to fix this is to emphasize the rule, either by bolding\/italicizing it or setting it off in its own box. I personally prefer the latter, as it ensures the player sees it while also \u201ctaking a breath\u201d from the flow of gameplay so the reader isn\u2019t thrown off. However, both of them have their merits and text emphasis is probably better in lighter games with shorter rulebooks.<\/p>\n

      If the pesky rule in question only affects a certain subset of components, printing a reminder symbol or word on the components in question can be useful. People who remember what it does will remember the rule, while people who don\u2019t remember will be prompted to look it up.<\/p>\n

      Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

      The true danger of Columboing is the fact that it\u2019s very easy to say, \u201cthis may happen part of the time but it\u2019s not worth fixing.\u201d It definitely is worth fixing. If someone has a bad time during their first time playing a game, 80% of the time they\u2019ll be unwilling to play it again. And it\u2019s hard to imagine a worse experience than the game owner pointing out that your win was invalid because they overlooked something minor.<\/p>\n

      Columboing happens a lot in a lot of otherwise extremely good games, and sometimes it\u2019s impossible to help; however, if you have the ability to fix the problem you should make it a high priority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Columbo picked up the red pillar and placed it off to the side. \u201cThat\u2019s my turn,\u201d he said, \u201cnow which card are you going to take?\u201d Smith smirked. \u201cSorry, Mr. Detective\u2013\u201c he delicately placed one of the cards in front of him\u2013\u00a0\u201cbut this is my win. I\u2019ll use my two copies of Helm of Invisibility to install the rest of my cards in my elysium. There\u2019s no way you can beat it.\u201d He got up to leave. \u201cJust one more thing, Mr. Smith\u2026\u201d said Columbo. Johnson froze. \u201cI thought you weren\u2019t allowed to have more than one copy of the same card\u2026\u201d This above hastily written fan fiction is an example of what I call \u201cColumboing\u201d. It is the bane of any game designer and the second-worst thing that can happen to you during gameplay, right after \u201cwatching someone else take a fifteen-minute turn in Once Upon A Time\u201d. Columboing is the phenomenon in which a player\u2019s elaborate plan, or even multi-turn, game-winning strategy, is ruined because nobody at the table noticed a small, overlookable rule until it was relevant. The example I gave above is Elysium\u2019s rule about not being able to have more than one card with the same name in your play area, not because it\u2019s the worst offender (players don\u2019t get the opportunity to hoard identical cards very often), but because it\u2019s almost the perfect encapsulation of the problem. The same-name prohibition is buried in the middle of the rulebook, can\u2019t be logically deduced through play, and significantly affects strategy once it\u2019s discovered. Basically two things can be done to prevent Columboing. Remove excess rules Often, when designing a game, uncommon or small exceptions come up that can threaten to unbalance gameplay. It\u2019s the first instinct to simply add something in the rules that prevents these specific situations from happening, and sometimes this is the only workable way to go about it, but these rules are by far the most likely ones to be missed until it\u2019s relevant. The biggest culprits here are rules that can be ignored; that is, if a game makes complete sense while ignoring your small fix of a rule, people are definitely going to miss it. These most often occur in fiddlier Euro-style games that have a lot of moving parts; small rules often make the game more tense and cerebral, but it\u2019s also possible to play an entire game without realizing you were supposed to (or not supposed to) do something and still have an enjoyable time. Part of my game design philosophy is not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. If a certain style of gameplay works great if people can keep track of a lot of fiddly rules, while another style isn\u2019t quite as good but is easier to remember, I go with the second variety every time. Point it out in the rulebook Columboing also occurs because it\u2019s difficult to find a place for it in the manual. Many missable rules aren\u2019t part of the flow of gameplay (e.g. a rule about maximum hand size versus a rule about you can draw cards), making it more likely that it will be missed both by someone reading the book and people having the rules explained to them verbally. The most effective way to fix this is to emphasize the rule, either by bolding\/italicizing it or setting it off in its own box. I personally prefer the latter, as it ensures the player sees it while also \u201ctaking a breath\u201d from the flow of gameplay so the reader isn\u2019t thrown off. However, both of them have their merits and text emphasis is probably better in lighter games with shorter rulebooks. If the pesky rule in question only affects a certain subset of components, printing a reminder symbol or word on the components in question can be useful. People who remember what it does will remember the rule, while people who don\u2019t remember will be prompted to look it up. Conclusion The true danger of Columboing is the fact that it\u2019s very easy to say, \u201cthis may happen part of the time but it\u2019s not worth fixing.\u201d It definitely is worth fixing. If someone has a bad time during their first time playing a game, 80% of the time they\u2019ll be unwilling to play it again. And it\u2019s hard to imagine a worse experience than the game owner pointing out that your win was invalid because they overlooked something minor. Columboing happens a lot in a lot of otherwise extremely good games, and sometimes it\u2019s impossible to help; however, if you have the ability to fix the problem you should make it a high priority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phantomknightgames.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phantomknightgames.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phantomknightgames.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phantomknightgames.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phantomknightgames.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.phantomknightgames.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89,"href":"http:\/\/www.phantomknightgames.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions\/89"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phantomknightgames.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phantomknightgames.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phantomknightgames.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}