On the way back from GENCON this year it occurred to me that something had changed.
I had bought only 4 games. One was available last year but having just recently become employed I only had so much spare cash. So it waited until this year. 2 were from small publishers. One of those I was aware of from their website so I tried it out. Nice little card game with good interaction. The other I was only aware of because I had seen a video review of it. The final game is from a major publisher. They had posted up a link to an online demo of the product on FaceBook. If I hadn't checked it out there the odds are I wouldn't have even noticed it at GENCON.
There was another game that caught my eye. Mechanics seemed good. The pulp fiction theme worked well and made it fun. The fact that it could be played cooperatively or competitively got my attention. Supports 1-8 players. Kewl. List price: $99.95. Not so kewl.
There were plenty of new games that I looked at. A few prototypes I demo'd that looked promising. But by and large my reaction was "Oh, game X with theme Y. Next."
Don't get me wrong. Game X with theme Y can work. That describes just about every sports movie ever made and many of them are fun to watch and few are quite good.
But you aren't investing between $40 and $100+ on that movie.
Just so you know where I'm coming from, there are a few hundred games in my house, so it's rare that any of them get played more than once or twice. I played my first traditional hex and counter war game in 1972 at the age of 11. It was one of the most complex wargames available at the time. I played my first D&D game in 1979. I was the DM. I went to my first GENCON in 1983 and haven't missed one since. It's likely that I've sold as many games at the GENCON auction over that time as I now own.
I've seen a lot of games, and I've liked most of them.
Of course, what has changed is me. I still like games. I'm still going to play games. I'm a big believer in the power of games to provide social settings and connections, to educate, and to entertain.
One event on the first day of GENCON illustrates well how most people select games to buy.
This booth had 3 different board games out on their table. Two were older games. One was their new title. As I walked up this woman was talking with the people at the booth. She was obviously a satisfied player if not owner of their previous titles. She then looked away from the people behind the booth and looked at the new game. Her hand immediately went to the pile of plastic gems in the middle of the board and stayed there. The people in the booth gave a quick overview of the theme and then talked about the roll of the little plastic gems (in 3 colors) in the game as money and score keepers. As they talked the woman's eyes occasionally glanced up at the speaker but were otherwise riveted on the little plastic gems. What I realized, and what the people behind the booth knew already, is that she was going to buy a copy. She simply didn't know it yet. The shiny board, the little plastic gems, and the cute little tokens had already caught her attention. She didn't know how to play it. She didn't know how many players it supported. She didn't know what ages it would be appropriate for. She didn't know what level of player interaction there would be.
But she was going to buy it if only because it was shiny.
Game companies must love this. Make nice components and a reasonable game, and you'll sell some copies. Make a good game and you can fund the company for a while pumping out expansions.
Game companies probably don't like me.
I've stopped buying expansions. If the game is only going to get played a few times, why would I need the expansions?
My taste in games is a bit wider than what usually appeals to the group I typically play with. There are a number of games I have not bought over the last few years because I knew they’d never get played.
Nice components certainly catch the eye, but in the end it’s the game that matters. There’s not a single game I bought this year that I didn’t demo first. There were several demos I walked away from wondering if I would have enjoyed it more with a different group of people at the table. If I had enjoyed it more I might have bought a copy. In each of those cases the components were quite well done. On the other hand, a few of the games I bought have good but certainly not spectacular components.
So what are the questions you ask when you’re considering buying a new game?
Here are mine,
1. Will I enjoy playing it? After all, that is the point. Playing a demo game is good if you can find one. Conventions aren’t the only way to do this. Some game shops will run demos. There are a few game reviewers that I trust to give me a good feel for the game. There are some other good online resources such as the Prof. Easy portion of the Catan website.
2. Are the components serviceable? Superb would be even better but if they aren’t at least serviceable I’ll look for something else.
3. How many players does it support? If you typically have 5 players that really cuts down on the number of titles.
4. What mechanics does it use? Some players simply don’t get along with certain mechanics. Know yourself and your audience.
5. What ages is it appropriate for? There are no children in my house anymore so this isn’t as big as it used to be, but we’ve been known to drag games along to family events. It becomes a bigger issue then.
6. Do you like the theme? Some games have themes more or less glued on. Themes aren’t vital. But if you have a knee jerk fear reaction to spiders, the odds are you aren’t going to like a spider themed game. Unless of course it involves smashing spiders.
7. What level of player interaction is involved? Some people don’t like games with little or no player interaction. The term multi-player solitaire comes to mind. Other people hate it when their plans are constantly being interfered with by the weasels at the table.
8. Does it allow for cooperative play? Some people love cooperative play. Some people hate it. And when you get to semi-cooperative, well that word weasel comes up again. Know your audience.
9. How much luck is involved? Personally I don’t mind a luck element. Some people do. When playing games with experienced players it's not uncommon that some decision on turn 3 eventually decides the outcome of the game. Nothing wrong with that. Other players had a chance to react. But I also have some games that once you figure out the basic process, the game hits a point where everyone is one step from winning, and they're all waiting for card x or landing on space y. That kind of luck I can do without.
10. How much downtime is there between turns? This can be highly variable. Number of players is likely to push it up. The nature of your gaming group will affect this as well. Analysis paralysis is more prevalent in some people than others. Design will also affect this. The 8 player game I mentioned above has all the players dues step A of the turn, then step B, and so on. If one player did all the steps then the next player, and so on there would be no effect on outcome, but it would drastically increase the downtime between taking actions. I’m betting that came up during playtesting.
11. Does the designer/developer/publisher actively support the game online? I don’t care how well the rules are written, there are always questions. For experienced games most can be answered on the fly, but occasionally something comes up that needs some clarification. Nothing wrong with making some house rules, but it’s nice to know what the intent was.
12. What’s the price? I have to admit. I did consider buying the $99.95 game. It’s rare to find a game that supports 8 players. Divide the price by 8 and…. Since I was buying something else as well I decided I couldn’t afford both. I’ll wait and see what the price is like in a few months. I know I can get it cheaper than that.
No, I don’t consciously go through all these questions when I look at a game, but once I decide I like the game, the next question is will other people in my usual play group like it. That’s what most of these questions are really aimed at. Once I buy it, will it ever get off the shelf?
What questions would you add?
