In Between Games – quick games while you wait (Topic Discussion)

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I think many of us like games that take an hour or two to play, maybe even longer. I guess that's at least true when you've got a game group you play regularly with. I love longer games, but I also love those quick games that take less than half an hour to learn and play. They're ideal to play before, after or even in between other games. They're also perfect for game groups, because you can play them while you wait for others to arrive, after some people have left or in between other games, while some of you freshen themselves up. So in this article, I want to look at these "in-between" games.

Not for the Win – games aren’t necessarily about winning (Topic Discussion)

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If you're a competitive person, you want to win. If you're a really competitive person, winning is your absolute goal. Competitive games will probably be your favourite, but even when you play cooperative games, you probably still try to do everything in your power to beat the game and take the win for the team. However, I don't think playing games is necessarily about winning. There are many other benefits of enjoying a board game together that I want to talk about in this article.

Cultural Games – board games as cultural assets (Topic Discussion)

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The term Kulturgut is very hard to translate into English. In fact, I don't think there is a similar concept in the UK. "Cultural asset" doesn't really do it justice, because the term describes things that have a cultural value and need to be preserved. Literature is a type of Kulturgut for example. As a British person, you can easily see how the works of Shakespeare have a cultural value and require to be preserved. Yet, when it comes to our hobby, people don't necessarily think of modern board games as Kulturgut. In this article, I want to look at this a little closer.

Early Finish – why we don’t always have to finish games (Topic Discussion)

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There is an unwritten social contract that, when you choose to play a board game, you agree to play it to its conclusion. Everyone around the table expects to finish the game. Everyone wants to have an equal chance of winning. People want to be able to come back from behind and snatch their victory right on their last turn. I think that expectation is perpetuated by how games are designed. So in this article, I want to explore this a bit further.

Round and Refined – when games are perfectly designed (Topic Discussion)

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Games come in all shapes and sizes. Designers create them in different ways and with different intentions. Some games are an interesting mix of mechanisms, others are a passion project that tries to evoke certain emotions when people play them. Games can have simple rules with deep emergent gameplay or they can be rules-heavy. While some games take minutes to play, others can take hours to complete. However games are designed, there are some that feel round and refined, while others seem awkward or overly difficult. So in this article, I want to investigate what it is that makes a game perfectly designed.

Rule Breakers – when breaking the game rules is more fun (Topic Discussion)

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Good games will have had a lot of time put into them to ensure they create the experience that the designer wanted. The rules will have been created with intent and purpose. Rules are the skeleton around which the muscles, sinews, skin and the whole living body of the game grows. Games are meant to be played by their rules, or at least that's what we're being told. In this article, I want to look at why rule-breaking can be a better option.

UK Games Expo 2024 – looking ahead (Topic Discussion)

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Another year has gone by in a flash and it's time again for me to start another convention season. Well, I say "season", but that's exaggerating it. I'm actually only attending two board game shows this year. I just can't afford to fly everywhere and spend time away from home. So I chose two events that I really enjoyed last year and that won't cost me the world. The first of these is, of course, UK Games Expo 2024.

Boiling Point – why tension and escalation matters in games (Topic Discussion)

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Hi, it’s Joe Slack here. I’ve written a few guest posts for Oliver in the past and I was delighted when he requested another guest blog, so here we go!Something I think about a lot as a game designer is how to create tension in a game as well as ensure that players feel a sense of progression as they play.

Exotic Games – cultural appropriation in board games (Topic Discussion)

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I grew up at a time when "cowboys and Indians" were a popular topic in literature. Westerns, spaghetti or otherwise, were on television pretty much all the time. Similarly, Kung Fu films were regularly shown on the small screen. The jungles of India also often featured heavily. Board games often followed the same trend and portrayed these seemingly exotic and alluring themes and settings that appealed to children of my age. Yet, much of what was created was clearly guilty of cultural appropriation. So in this article, I want to look at the trend in our hobby specifically.