tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27194800546402898462024-03-13T20:51:26.553-04:00Dr.Wictz Board GamesTips from Dr. Wictz on board game design and updates on Dr. Wictz's own board game designs.Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.comBlogger111125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-14164876361817891722023-05-23T14:24:00.002-04:002023-05-23T14:39:17.805-04:00Anatomy of a Card -Driven Wargame<br /><h2 style="text-align: center;">Robotech: Reconstruction <br />Board Game Geek Designer Diary</h2>I wrote a designer diary on Robotech: Reconstruction titled "Anatomy of a Card Driven Wargame." In particular I talk about the development of Robotech: Reconstruction's event cards and why science fictions games still can feel like historical games.<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href=" https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/146698/designer-diary-anatomy-card-driven-wargame-or-deve">Board Game Geek Designer Diary</a></span></h1><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZImvhkCSnPraN8e04X31CngnhvtJvyfkG1pPdJRLEqSMtByQkJQTqazuFV362gAjb1MZjrSHULsD2DR8FQ_a-mOCFm2abADhLGN01mSQHLcGWe4bVbwTZER-CHN4rjrKen2RDMUW3ATuzJjzakOpcGVfRoRiO7SKXoWNOnlhQpMdtDLaWZyDjqTXa/s512/2021-02-03%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZImvhkCSnPraN8e04X31CngnhvtJvyfkG1pPdJRLEqSMtByQkJQTqazuFV362gAjb1MZjrSHULsD2DR8FQ_a-mOCFm2abADhLGN01mSQHLcGWe4bVbwTZER-CHN4rjrKen2RDMUW3ATuzJjzakOpcGVfRoRiO7SKXoWNOnlhQpMdtDLaWZyDjqTXa/s320/2021-02-03%20(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-50276295962851069452023-02-22T05:58:00.006-05:002023-02-22T05:58:00.171-05:00Designer Advice- Helping Yourself by Helping Others<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are reading this you are either a regular follower of Dr. Wictz or…OR…you are the purpose of today’s discussion.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6dec1ac4-7fff-5e54-1c0b-bf14e6960542"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today I am talking about how the <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/11940/button-shy-rookie">Button Shy Rookie </a>series is a concrete example of applying Cardboard Edison lesson </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">on how to <a href="https://youtu.be/7dpC4KAxjE4">help yourself in boardgaming by helping others</a>.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I do not want to completely go over Cardboard Edison’s points, you can see them make those points at the link above. Instead I am going to focus on how the Button Shy Rookie series helps me by helping others to hopefully inspire you to take on a similar style project.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Ly-IOIa1kk-wiHc4caUOjUA9NMxTRTW-smxuwwwM8mTjDTTd3frv1PHY0rkDNLritRQ6ePASTeTi2yleqWT7YhWDJ7dWOyx3r7NH8OFR8-1cdJ0Ca2RO5Mq6u9USsheukD6jpm1O5EHhSOHI24jGejtP7Hl1zZNI4FswNtfuc7BVKI6JcfPnX6dr/s863/pic1975625.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="863" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Ly-IOIa1kk-wiHc4caUOjUA9NMxTRTW-smxuwwwM8mTjDTTd3frv1PHY0rkDNLritRQ6ePASTeTi2yleqWT7YhWDJ7dWOyx3r7NH8OFR8-1cdJ0Ca2RO5Mq6u9USsheukD6jpm1O5EHhSOHI24jGejtP7Hl1zZNI4FswNtfuc7BVKI6JcfPnX6dr/s320/pic1975625.png" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For those of you unfamiliar with the Button Shy Rooke series, I wrote a <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/135247/button-shy-rookie-mission">series of posts</a> on Board Game Designers whose first published game was released by Button Shy who also later had another boardgame released by a different publisher. Each post connects something from each designer’s first publication to their most successful non Button Shy publication.</span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Despite the word order of the adage, the first step is to help others. There are three key groups helped by the Button Shy Rookie Series. Designers are getting publicity about their games. In particular the series introduces fans of specific games to other games made by the same designer. Because the series focuses on commonalities between games designed by the designer, the series nudges fans of a particular designer to consider if they are in fact a fan of the designer in general. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Publishers benefit too, especially Button Shy. The series introduces fans of Button Shy games to titles published by non-Button Shy publishers. For Button Shy, the benefit is two fold. First, the series introduces folks unfamiliar to Button Shy to the company’s games. Second, the series provides a way for current fans of Button Shy games to further explore in-depth the Button Shy Universe they love. The series may even introduce Button Shy fans to new Button Shy titles they wish to try out.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That last part makes clear who is the third group that is helped out by the Button Shy Rookie series, boardgame players. The series provides boardgame players with a greater understanding of the connections to the games they love. Be it a particular title, designer, or publisher.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How does the Button Shy Rookie series help me? Remember, the key lesson I want you to take away is Cardboard Edison’s advice on how you can help yourself by helping others. There is the oblivious, some of you are reading a Dr. Wictz blog post for the first time because you saw the reference to this post in the Button Shy Rookie series. A careful scan of the series will also turn up something else, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/135248/dr-wictz-button-shy-rookie">Dr. Wictz is a Button Shy Rookie</a>. Creating the series enables me to promote my own games, You Fool and Robotech: Reconstruction. By writing about other designers, I attract a larger audience to my games than if I just wrote about myself.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While a project like the Button Shy Rookie series takes a ton of work, I started working on it in February 2022, it has the benefit that I know the project will get published. Robotech: Reconstruction just hit retail at the end of 2022. I cannot guarantee any boardgame media will cover the game, but by creating my own media content, I insure there is at least some coverage. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-86940911905728657762022-02-23T05:00:00.003-05:002022-03-14T00:43:04.674-04:00Cutting Through the Noise - Matching Boardgame Creators with Content Creators<p>Content creators want board game creators or publishers that fit their interests and goals on their shows, podcasts, and blogs. Board game creators are looking to spread word about their work. </p><p>So finding a good match is easy, right? Right???????</p><p>No. There is too much noise and too much unknowns that make it hard for content creators and board game creators to match up with each other. </p><p>For the content creators they have to sort through all the noise stemming from the thousands of board game releases each year. There is no way a single content creator can be aware of every new game that is coming out. Content creators have limited time and knowledge, preventing them from being omniscient about all the new releases.</p><p>But do not despair, there are ways content creators can make it easier for the right sort of boardgame creators to find you. The key is taking steps to make it easier for board game creators to get the knowledge they needed to figure out if they should be reaching out to you. </p><p>Just like content creators, boardgame creators face lots of noise to identify which content creators might legitimately be interested in the boardgame they are making. For boardgame creators, the challenge is that there is no reliable list of all content creators. Plus the sheer number of content creators make it unrealistic for a board game creator to listen to every show or read ever article to figure out which content creators are a good match. </p><p>So here is a quick list, with examples from my work spreading news about my game, Robotech: Reconstruction.</p>1. Thematic Match of Game <div>2. Game Style Match </div><div>3. Content Creators Format Match </div><div>4. Personal Interest of Content Creators </div><div>5. Content Creators Networks</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Thematic Matches of Game</b></div><div><br /></div>Thematic Matches are boardgame themes that match themes a content creator wants to regularly cover. Creating content with explicit titles about those themes makes it much easier for me to find you and reach out.<div><div><br /></div><div>Because there is not a uniform list of all content creators, one of the ways I discover is a google or YouTube search where I search for the theme of my boardgame and then I add the word board game to the search. </div><div><br /></div><div>For example, my game Robotech: Reconstruction is set in the Robotech Anmie. When I did a Google search for Robotech boardgame reviews, I came across this great video from DiasExMachina where he explores the history of Robotech boardgames.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KD0VegW2E3Q" width="320" youtube-src-id="KD0VegW2E3Q"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>DiasExMachina is clearly passionate about Robotech Boardgames. After I reached out to him we quickly arranged an opportunity for me to show him the game. And afterwards, he kindly decided to do a preview of Robotech: Reconstruction.<br /><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QgdqHSXrXAQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="QgdqHSXrXAQ"></iframe></div><br /><b>Game Style Match</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Game Style Matches are finding board games that match the type (mechanically speaking) that interest the content creator. Similar to matching themes, the ability to match styles of games is easier when content creators create content with titles that highlight the style of game itself or cover multiple games with the same style.</div></div><div><br /></div>My game Robotech Reconstruction's design is inspired by GMT'S #COIN system. So when I looked for content creators with an interest in COIN games, I came across The Player's Aid's video Ranking COIN Volumes 1-VIII<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dr4rBtai8Lw" width="320" youtube-src-id="Dr4rBtai8Lw"></iframe></div><br />Bonus, when I watched the video I learned The Player's Aid were particularly interested in playing a Sci-Fi COIN style boardgame. Again, when I reached out they generously took a look at the game and covered it. Which is when I learned Grant is a big Robotech fan.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GRr1VnEKqUM" width="320" youtube-src-id="GRr1VnEKqUM"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><b>Content Creator's Format Match</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Content Creator's Format Match is when something I do as a designer fits into the larger purpose of the creators content. Be it talking about game design on a design content or talking about teaching with boardgames on a content creator focus on education and boardgames.</div><div><br /></div>Having a tile or a clear about me section on your webpage makes it much easier to identify you and reach out. Take the podcast <a href="https://www.boardgamingwitheducation.com/drwictz/">Board Gaming with Education</a>, the tile by itself makes it clear what is the podcast's focus. Or look at the tag line on the front page of the <a href="https://ninjavspirates.libsyn.com/who-what-why-s28e06-whats-the-point-with-dr-wictz">Who What Why</a> podcast where it clearly states the podcast is "about topics in game design featuring the man people who come together to make games possible. <div><br /></div><div>Since I already write a blog on advice for boardgame designers (duhh, you are reading it right now), it made sense to reach out to the Who What Why Podcast to discus my writing on <a href="https://dr.wictz.com/search/label/Victory%20Point%20Architecture">Point Salad vs Point Journey</a>. One, it fits the format of the show and two, it allows me to also talk about Robotech: Reconstruction since the game fits in my Point Salad vs Point Journey pardamine.
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<br /><div><br /></div><div><b>Personal Interest of Content Creators</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div>Personal Interest of Content Creators is harder to identify. The interest may not be apparent from your content, especially when not the main topic of an episode. Show notes, even if just a minimum listing of things you talked about, alerts me to see if we are a good match.<div><br /></div><a href="https://twitter.com/AgainBoard">Board Again Games</a> had a show note that listed Liberty or Death in their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtYnb5DNGh8">Dr. Patrick Real Episode</a>. I listened and discovered that one of the hosts enjoy playing COIN games even though they do not get to play them too often.<div><br /></div><div><div>So when I reached out about my COIN inspired boardgame Robotech: Reconstruction they kindly welcomed me as a guest.</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QIYrzbInewA" width="320" youtube-src-id="QIYrzbInewA"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Show notes are helpful, but not the only place where you can stumble across a mutual interests. Public Social Media, Twitter for example, is searchable, and if a content creator takes the time to say, "I want to try out your game Robotech: Reconstruction" on social media, then there is a real possibility the publisher or designer will find you.</div><div><br /></div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">I’ve had my eye on Robotech Reconstruction because Robotech was my favorite show as a kid. But, it’s got a minimum player count of three, so probably not one I’d play often. Haven’t even really looked into the mechanisms.</p>— Chris - Board Game Hot Takes (@2MuchEnthusiasm) <a href="https://twitter.com/2MuchEnthusiasm/status/1439582474321809410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 19, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">I am the designer of Robotech Reconstruction, would you be interested in doing an online teach and play of the game?</p>— Dr. Wictz (@drwictz) <a href="https://twitter.com/drwictz/status/1440814796610281477?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UuYmfMSmEjE" width="320" youtube-src-id="UuYmfMSmEjE"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Content Creators Network </b></div><div><br /></div>
Content Creators Network is a way content creators can help matchup designers to interested content creators. The idea is for a network of content creators to hang out in a single place where designers show up and someone can quickly let the designer know who to talk to<br /><br />The network has to be large enough to cover a variety of things, but not so large that a single person is unable to direct you to who you should talk to. A great example is the discord for <a href="https://twitter.com/GeektoGeekMedia">Geek to Geek Media</a> . When I sought them out <a href="https://twitter.com/CraftingRogue">@CraftingRogue</a> quickly answered my questions and introduced me to the content creators who were interested in Robotech.<br /><br />The end result was getting to teach and play Robotech Reconstruction with the hosts of the <a href="https://twitter.com/NerdbergReview">Nerdberg Review</a>, and one of their spouses who is a big Robotech fan. Afterwards they put together an episode describing their experience playing the game.</div><div><br /></div>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="102px" scrolling="no" src="https://anchor.fm/thenerdbergreview/embed/episodes/048-Robotech-Reconstruction-e13jq6m/a-a60s99f" width="400px"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Help Me Help You</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>In essence these are things that you, content creators, can do to help me help you. I do not want to waste your time. I do not want to pester you. I want to identify who legitimately is interested in what I am cerating as a board game designer before I even reach out to you to limit the spam coming in your email boxes/twitter feeds/discord channels, etc. </div><div><br /></div><div>Something I want to make clear is that things you write down are easier for me to find since I can use various search engines to find it. Show notes, even if the notes are just a list of board game covered in an episode, dramatically makes it easier for me to find you. Episodes with titles that include key words that reference to a larger trend, be it a mechanic, theme, or game, also are searchable, making it easier to find. Even having a written about section where you define what your project is all about is much easier for me to digest because I maynot be able to clearly identify the video or episode where you defined yourself.</div><div><br /></div><div>And in the end, when it works out, we get to enjoy creating content together that you want to create that may not happen if I cannot find you.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgoi_qK9EOW4ulNzGVM7d3c9s-e-07Qywkffwh1ImnZOGBKqRfnF8Jf7ucEab3DlGKEXbzScJybXxXV2Wc6Td_u0OhYJ2MMme83DwmKn_jVB16ZTpJRY2jl7x8HVjnId6qRdECQApqEVxLQ69F7VzgIvbgn6ayiUE3aRQcuo6Uew6cq2WOTxBQmNd03=s1117" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1117" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgoi_qK9EOW4ulNzGVM7d3c9s-e-07Qywkffwh1ImnZOGBKqRfnF8Jf7ucEab3DlGKEXbzScJybXxXV2Wc6Td_u0OhYJ2MMme83DwmKn_jVB16ZTpJRY2jl7x8HVjnId6qRdECQApqEVxLQ69F7VzgIvbgn6ayiUE3aRQcuo6Uew6cq2WOTxBQmNd03=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-44086466217740918462021-06-18T12:53:00.003-04:002022-07-14T00:14:00.292-04:00Talked Victory Point Journey vs Point Salad on Who, What, Why Podcast<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s1117/DrWictzLego3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s320/DrWictzLego3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>On the Who, What, Why Podcast Episode: <a href="https://ninjavspirates.libsyn.com/who-what-why-s28e06-whats-the-point-with-dr-wictz">What's the Point with Dr. Wictz</a> I dive into the impact Point Journey and Point Salads have on player experience in Boardgames. </p><p>Highlights includes how certain games, like <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/331795/robotech-reconstruction">Robotech: Reconstruction</a> combines Point Salad and Point Journey. Where does Burgle Bros fit into the Point Salad and Point Journey dichotomy. And why Point Journey is a better description then calling something a Race game. </p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" height="90" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/19519628/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/000000/" style="border: none;" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-67179975087454631402021-06-01T03:00:00.087-04:002021-06-08T00:29:01.392-04:00Victory Point Architecture: Oversimplified Point Salad vs Point Journey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s1117/DrWictzLego3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s320/DrWictzLego3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span id="docs-internal-guid-37c8f0a0-7fff-144e-983e-740a20690721"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are stereotypes of what experiences take place within a <b>Point Salad</b> and a <b>Point Journey</b>. Neither of these victory point architectures have to meet their stereotypes, but certain design decisions within either framework increases the likelihood the games will match their stereotypes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Point Salads and Point Journeys have natural flavors that alter players experience. A stereotypical Point Salad, say Agricola, gives players freedom to build in their sandbox a series of decisions to maximize your points. The interesting part of that statement is not point maximization, but sandbox. I am building my own world in the way I want to view it. That means I am making my own special brew in VivaJava, neutering my bird sanctuary in Wingspan, and running my brewery my way in Brew Crafters. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Points award me for what I build, but at the end of the day, what I construct drives my enjoyment of the game. In any building point salad, say Suburbia, Chinatown, or Tiny Towns, joy is found in whatever you are able to construct.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Point Salads lend themselves well to games where you really want players to feel like they created something.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having an open ended point salad with many ways to score points lends to the feeling of building something. That experience is magnified by the popularity of building themes within Point Salads. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Point Journey lends well to narrative experiences where there is a start and an end.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chess is all about the struggle players undertake to capture each other's Kings. Formula D is a journey where you race to be first.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">What Design Choices Contributes to Stereotype</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Point Salad: More Freedom, More Options, More Custom Sandbox.</i> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The more legitimate options provided for players in a Point Salad, the more players will have the opportunity to create their own custom world. Imagine playing New Bedford without the town building element. New Bedford is a town building and whaling game, where players can invest in expanding the town or in their whaling expeditions. When players expand the town, they receive ownership for their particular part of town. To expand the town, players must collect the resources required to build a particular building. Each building added is unique, and will add a different character to the overall town. Removing the ability to legitimately win by adding on to the town, dampens players ability to create a custom world where the player feels they are contributing to the development of New Bedford. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The creative space in Point Salads can be enriched with game expansions. More legitimate paths an expansion creates, the more a player can customize their own custom world. Terraforming Mars base game begins with 208 cards representing a project the player’s company can undertake. The projects the players choose to undertake, and the timing of their projects enables them to create their own custom version of Mars. The Terraforming Mars expansions broaden the possible ways for players to create their own custom world. Now, players can not only choose to Terraform Mars, but also affect the colonization of other planets, interplanetary shipping, and the outcome of solar system’s politics.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ironically, Point Salades can also create different flavors each game by limiting your ingredients. Beginning each game with a different subset of options allows players to experiment with combinations that may be lost if all everything was available. The Quacks of Quedlinburg limits the types of ingredients available each game to all players, quak doctors, to make their custom brew. Working around this limitation results in players exploring custom combinations that would not exist if all ingredients were available every game. Similarly, Dominion creates a different flavor each time you play by varying which card types are being used each game. The limitation encourages players to explore different card combinations since the relative effectiveness of card combinations is alter, a different flavor I will say, because of what other cards are or not available.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Point Journey: Detail Narratives or Clear Overarching Narratives</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Providing players with Detail Narratives or a Clear Overarching Narrative enhances player connections to the Narrative experience in a Point Journey. Each location in Arkham Horror draws a location encounter that weaves a narrative to that moment, at that location, in the overall story of the game. Players do not need to create the narrative when a detailed Narrative is provided, they just have to embrace the story they are experiencing from the game as the game tells them the story.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Point Journeys that rely on Clear Overarching Narratives use the clear objective of the Journey to propel players to create their own narratives as they seek to fulfill their predestined purpose. Pandemic makes it clear, you are on a mission to save the world from a series of deadly diseases. When players see an outbreak spread across North America, the players create a story about the gravity of the situation and how they will respond.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">When a Clear Overarching Narrative is missing, it becomes harder for players to create narratives as they play. Compare Checkers with Chess. Both are Point Journeys where a player wins under very specific conditions. Yet in Chess, I have the goal of capturing a King, with pieces based on positions that existed in real life. That means my pieces can have personality, a story. In checkers, there is no Clear Overarching Narrative. I win if I take all of your pieces. The pieces are not mystical bears fighting wise but overconfident unicorns. There is no accomplishment of destroying my opponent’s Kingdom at the end of the game. Just a piece on the board, and then a piece off the board. No story to help lean players into the natural tendency to develop a narrative as they undertake a Point Journey. </span></p></span>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-70406193982739566072021-05-25T03:00:00.002-04:002021-05-26T10:23:43.587-04:00Victory Point Architecture: Building a Point Salad or a Point Journey<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidVYhwuGNfNNJ5l8DBu61QNHcypjsfjRd_E27u1H12Zd_jM_NRc5LlnKPigl-RrAryUYIzWO5oMBcAns9AtcEi4J5NdQvldTcixV5acJRQ2QwNdsod-dBBssBSKHMHCraSittArEgh-44/s1200/2020-10-20.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidVYhwuGNfNNJ5l8DBu61QNHcypjsfjRd_E27u1H12Zd_jM_NRc5LlnKPigl-RrAryUYIzWO5oMBcAns9AtcEi4J5NdQvldTcixV5acJRQ2QwNdsod-dBBssBSKHMHCraSittArEgh-44/w320-h180/2020-10-20.png" title="Dr. Wictz Logo" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Victory points are integrally tied to the end of a game. They can be used in two different ways that shape the entire experience of the game. Either as a <b>Point Salad</b>, where victory points measure performance during a period of play, like in a Soccer game. Or as a <b>Point Journey</b>, where victory points is the measurement that ends the game, like a tennis match.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Salads can be delicious or pungent. Journeys can be a joy or a toil. The question is not whether I enjoy Point Salads or Point Journeys, but do I understand what they even are and the implications these different victory point architectures have on a player's gaming experience.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Winning a Point Salad is not decided by being the first player to achieve a particular outcome. Instead, players are trying to pile on as many victory points as possible before the game ends. The game will end. Be it in a certain amount of time, or rounds, or when some other in-game threshold is reached. The threshold can be a depletion of an in-game resource, or a resource accumulated by the players. The threshold can even be the amount of victory points, but once that is reached, players can accumulate more. After the game ends, players then compare their victory points to declare a winner.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Winning or losing a Point Journey happens immediately when a Victory Point condition is achieved. The condition can vary as simple as being the first player to 5 victory points, to being the first car to pass the finish line in a race. The key is that once a victory condition is achieved players are clearly crowned as either winners or losers. If I am the player who defeats the last monster, I win, end of story. That does not mean there has to be a single victory point condition that defines the game. In the same game everyone can lose if a critical system runs out of power, or when the capital is captured by aliens, and one player can win if they control eleven cities.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Monopoly is a Point Journey. When played by the official rules the goal is not the accumulation of most money over one's opponents. But that money helps you with your true goal, the bankruptcy of all the other players in the game. Once that happens it does not matter if all but one of your properties are mortgaged and you have $1 on hand, you’ve won.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Scythe is a Point Salad. During play players are trying to complete 6 of 10 goals. But while this feels like a journey game, after the goals are complete players then need to convert star tokens, territories, and resources into victory points (money) to determine the winner. And while the player who completed 6 goals first is usually the winner, if it were a true journey game there would be no need for the second step of seeing who has the most money at the end of the game.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Do not assume all games are either Point Salads or Point Journeys, there are hybrid games where the game can end as a Point Salad or as a Point Journey. In boxing either someone wins by knocking out their opponent, or if there is no knockout, by seeing which boxer has the most points after time runs out Hybrid game designs are not limited to sports, 7 Wonders Duel is a hybrid system. In 7 Wonders the game will crown an instant winner if one player archives a scientific supremacy or a military supremacy; otherwise, after completion of the three ages points are tallied and the player with the highest Victory Points wins a “Civilian” victory.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So now we are clear on what is a Point Salad versus a Point Journey, we can explore in the next Victory Point Architecture lecture the way each victory point system affects the player experience.</span></span></p>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-62938890341176209152021-05-13T09:48:00.001-04:002021-05-13T09:48:20.590-04:00Robotech & Diplomacy's Influence on Designing - Robotech: ReconstructionIn a conversation with Board Again Games, I talk about how Robotech, Diplomacy, and my game design philosophy of players playing players impacted the design of my board game <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/331795/robotech-reconstruction">Robotech: Reconstruction</a> coming from <a href="https://strangemachinegames.com/robotech-reconstruction/">Strange Machine Games</a>.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="387" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QIYrzbInewA" width="466" youtube-src-id="QIYrzbInewA"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><div><b>Podcast Version:</b> <a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/1354651/8508843">Board Again Gaming: Dr. Wictz - Robotech: Reconstruction</a></div>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-6471029065560613042020-12-14T23:52:00.004-05:002020-12-14T23:52:52.387-05:00You Fool Legacy - Joining the Circus<p> To make your holiday merrier, I have posted to BoardGameGeek a Print And Play expansion to my game <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/229007/you-fool">You Fool</a>. </p><p>Here is a link to the <a data-cke-saved-href="https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/213208/unofficial-expansion-you-fool" href="https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/213208/unofficial-expansion-you-fool" target="_blank">Print And Play for the expansion</a>.</p><div>If you are looking for a copy of the original You Fool, you can order <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.pnparcade.com/products/you-fool?_pos=1&_sid=21e446a2c&_ss=r" href="https://www.pnparcade.com/products/you-fool?_pos=1&_sid=21e446a2c&_ss=r" target="_blank">the Print and Play</a> from PNP Arcade.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>You Fool Legacy - Joining the Circus Rule </b><span style="text-align: left;"><b>Explanation</b></span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f4ARt2r5KJc" width="320" youtube-src-id="f4ARt2r5KJc"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Original You Fool Rule Explanation</b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EqY_GJMgfj4" width="320" youtube-src-id="EqY_GJMgfj4"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-36819831763654641052020-09-23T06:00:00.004-04:002022-09-15T00:04:51.412-04:00Thoughts on Winning - Retrospective<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s1117/DrWictzLego3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s320/DrWictzLego3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Thoughts on Winning explores what about the game playing experience keeps players wanting to come back to play more games. To be fair, most players are going to lose over 50% of the time , so what keeps bringing players back to play. <p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Articles:</h2><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://dr.wictz.com/2014/11/thoughts-on-winning-losing.html">Losing</a></h4><div style="text-align: left;">Most of the time players lose a game, so one cannot talk about the experience of winning a game without talking about the experience of losing a game.</div><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://dr.wictz.com/2014/12/thoughts-on-winning-psychology-of.html">The Psychology of Winning</a></h4><div style="text-align: left;">Game structure and the environment in which we play board games mitigates the negative effects from losing. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://dr.wictz.com/2015/01/thoughts-on-winning-goals-besides.html">Goals Besides Winning</a></h4><div style="text-align: left;">Players keep playing a game because they have goals beyond just winning the game.</div>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-81603415996436126022020-08-11T06:00:00.001-04:002021-01-11T01:05:19.957-05:00Economic Principles in Games<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s1117/DrWictzLego3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s320/DrWictzLego3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Dr. Wictz talks about Economic Principles in Board Games with Dustin on the <a href="https://www.boardgamingwitheducation.com/drwictz/">Board Gaming with Education</a> Podcast. We talk about how and why to utilize Economic Principles in game design and how to use games with Economic Principles as a teaching tool.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" height="90" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/13266809/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/4d8f91/" style="border: none;" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-75082271770649964052020-07-14T11:25:00.001-04:002021-01-11T01:06:55.893-05:00Game Design in Education: Board Game Design Workshop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s1117/DrWictzLego3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s320/DrWictzLego3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Dustin Dowdle and Chris Anderson talk to Dr. Wictz about using Game Design as a teaching tool for education.<br />
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<a href="https://theboardgameworkshop.com/podcast/76-game-design-in-education/"><span style="font-size: large;">Board Game Design Workshop: Episode 76</span></a>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-3084283026832120462020-05-31T06:00:00.001-04:002021-01-11T01:07:27.511-05:00Hosting Board Game Design Events: Interview on Board Game Workshop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s1117/DrWictzLego3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s320/DrWictzLego3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Dustin Dowdle, Chris Anderson and Dr. Wictz discus the logistics of setting up and recruiting playtesters to a board game playtesting event.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://theboardgameworkshop.com/podcast/75-game-design-events/">Episode 75 of the Board Game Design Workshop</a></b>.</span>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-44926920954595696002019-09-11T05:00:00.001-04:002021-01-11T01:07:50.259-05:00Interview with The Board Game Workshop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s1117/DrWictzLego3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZAb7dwLOYQMSnsZX2RqPqfy894UwwKdI2eWS-Bp4QaHfAWliydimBYctIe7AJMaiPnV2ibsqAXKP95aQy5rqQCKsFFXdjeGsOQRMYQGVZOFtRRDuF99NWLkgk0Swgq8ESQCIf-wqZuw/s320/DrWictzLego3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>I was a guest on The Board Game Workshop where I join Bez and Andrew Miller to talk about Simultaneous Action Selection Game Mechanics.<br />
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<a href="https://www.theindiegamereport.com/2018/04/the-board-game-workshop-36-simultaneous-action-selection/"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Board Game Workshop: Episode 36</span></b></a>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-78350922502208573642019-03-28T08:09:00.000-04:002019-03-28T09:22:52.538-04:00Interview with Happy Fun Time Live at Unpub 9<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nzkpSMeJXDE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nzkpSMeJXDE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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Talk to <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/happyfuntimelive">Happy Fun Time Live</a> at Unpub 9 about Cookie Bandit, Real World Mechanics, and how pitching game designs has changed for game designers in the last few years.Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-37764668644629297202018-11-15T01:00:00.001-05:002022-07-14T00:46:47.770-04:00Real World Mechanics Nessicate Innovation<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">An obstacle to implementing a<a href="http://real%20world%20mechanic/"> real world mechanic</a> is translating that mechanic into a functioning mechanic in a board game. Many real word mechanics have yet to be built into a board game design, so the problem of making rules and and a board game interface is key challenge for creating a real world mechanics board game. To successfully create a real world mechanic board game, the designer must innovate. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Take my game Bookies & Bettors. Bookies & Bettors is a horse betting game where players experience the thrill of making bets with other players in a betting market modeled on naked short selling. In the real world, a betting market's primary purpose is to facilitate trading information. A bet communicates information between the bettors. One bettor has information a horse is going to improve and the other bettor has information the horse is falling back. Skilled player can watch other players' bets to deduce what other players know and use the information to more accurately predict the outcome of the race. Having the most accurate prediction for the outcome of the race enables a player to make better bets to help them win the game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the onset Bookies & Bettors was crafted to implement the real world mechanic of naked short selling. The challenge with Bookies & Bettors was creating an interface and rule set that made the experience accessible to board game players. Since a naked short selling mechanic was not in other board games, there was limited guidance from looking at other betting board games or other market games. Nor, could I rely looking at how modern financial markets and betting markets operated in the real world since real world markets are lucrative enough to afford computer programs to track and handle the processing of bets. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had to come up with an interface to reduce the complexity of playing and learning the game in a form that a publisher can afford to produce. Notice, there are multiple problems I had to solve. First problem, can an interface be created that players understand, can smoothly convey information, and operate without distracting from gameplay. Whew, that is a long list of problems to fix the “first problem.” but if you want to implement a real world mechanic, these are the sort of problems a designer must be prepared to tackle. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">I want players to have a real ‘trading floor’ feel while they played the game. To make that happen the interface for making bets on the ‘trading floor’ needs to enable speedy trades without wasting time moving around fiddly bits to complete the bets.<span id="docs-internal-guid-0f5c427a-7fff-16bc-3f61-0df60780fb36"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">The solution was to create a betting slip the bookie handed to a bettor with all the information needed for the bettor to collect on their winnings at the end of the race. </span></span>Initially, I had players hand write the initials of the horse on the betting slip. Writing initials meant players had to pause, make sure they wrote the right initials, and hope their handwriting was legible. Time was being spent administering the game and not playing the game. Simple fix, replace writing a horse name with circling a horse. Players no longer had to think what is the name of the horse and if the handing writing is legible. They just swiftly circle the correct horse, move onto the next bet, and keep playing the game.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><img alt="" height="119" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/tIjBqd-ydJChzaia2T7OS38u5j_hlNYFmRPjamHHL1u7Ypvh75czy2u9k3SWMPRUJNiKCiTjnZHSsov7M8oiJaLVuuV6iAZh6xZ7KhT8gL1weQBVXjTkkEMqe4i4M_rg9IrYlSDi" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" title="Original Betting Slip for Bookies & Bettors" width="180" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><img alt="" height="120" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4107W1TxHjJs3pedqsqOkNf5qm1pMI9zlw2RqN1SQs8kB6tKjuBBs9Jhg-5DVz20sWDjNp8clk8QgcGCv6nbSflJgmprZHxsCBUEknOX93z3moLeYo6Re4CA-wmmp6kWgeKt9vsQ" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" title="Later prototype betting slip Bookies & Bettors" width="185" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Second problem, can the mechanic be taught in a reasonable timeframe to players. Coming up with a solution with the fiddly bits used to play the game does not mean you have solved how to teach players to play the game. In the early version of the game I had a table which let players track all of their bets they booked during the race. To use it, I taught players the meaning of multiple columns, how you should aggregate things, and the meaning of each row. While the setup made intuitive sense to an expert player, say the designer of the game, it was a complex and confusing element that extended the rule explanation and over complicated learning the game. Solution, get rid of it all together. Players, I later discover, already know how to make their own lists. Their personal tracking system they make up on the spot makes sense to them because they created it. Getting rid of the table also reduced the time to teach the game because I do not have to teach them the way I like to make a list. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Third set of problems, make the game affordable to publish. Having the greatest idea for a game in the world means nothing if you cannot deliver the game with components that are affordable for players to buy. Remember my betting slips I mentioned earlier? Well, I failed to mention they were disposable betting slips. You write on one once and at the end of the game you throw it away. Disposable betting slips, while clear and effective at making the game easy to play and learn, are an expensive nightmare for publishing the game. The innovative tools to solve my earlier challenges must be refined again. How about dry erase board slips. Dry erase markers are not cheap. But multi-colored clips on a card clearly communicates the key information from the old betting slips and is made from off the shelf cost effective components. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><img alt="" height="118" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/dpIltoS9i3t30Q-3rBUVU14YpfSSMd3ecM4vd5lRHpvE2IIgrMpTDNgdSglm-uuX_EZo5_YmiUxyLxGJNwZMdSmP-FCHmpfu3ppwLAggcHX4WKhbsz-fLXSZibflEgFc0ey51fmv" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" title="Current betting slip for Bookies & Bettors" width="207" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><img alt="" height="37" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/9DefTQo_RsWsKTco9WHENyZurN9Km02ynPTL2RqAz0etK7m8OCIlVG6oRxWyDKPOmA3hnSVYXFwGVxdXk91ALOqNM6Pcq8IxLCmJLSQyFQ22QDBMx9g9FuW7PvL8auJv16xU8s_J" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" title="Plastic Paper Clips" width="71" /></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Patience is needed to address the problems of implementing a new real world mechanic. There will be multiple problems that will need to solve. In the case of Bookies & Bettors, I spent years solving how to make the game playable before I was able to spend additional years solving how to create a version with the right sort components to be economical to publish. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Real World Mechanic is best used when a series of strategic choices people make in the real world is ported into a board game. Numerous real world mechanics are a powerful enough experience they do not need to be overshadowed with other mechanics that distract you from a new exciting strategic experience. Designers just need to make sure they understand what part of the real world mechanic they want players to experience and how to remove things in their design distracting them from the core experience. Refining a real world mechanic into a playable game will challenge designers, and requires patience to work through all the steps to develop a successful real world mechanic game. </span>Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-28728873082566294902018-11-13T01:30:00.001-05:002022-07-14T00:42:50.777-04:00Implementing a Real World Mechanic<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Implementing a <a href="https://dr.wictz.com/search/label/Real%20World%20Mechanic">real world mechanic</a> is hard for many designers because they are too tempted to keep too much of the real world in their board game. When designing, I preserve the experience of the mechanic in the real world, even though I do not always preserve the theme. In the real world, that mechanic is part of a larger more complicated system that can be too complicated to implement in a board game. When I implement a real word mechanic there is a particular aspect of the mechanic I want players to experience. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first step to utilizing a Real World Meachic is to distill the mechanics down to most basic components and purpose. This simplicity focuses in on the fun in the singular real world mechanic. Stock is a form of cooperation. Stock enables people to form partnerships that divide ownership within something that they can easily trade. Stock is also part of a larger financial system that interacts with banks, bounds, hedge funds, etc that complicates what stocks can do and is not part of the experience of stocks I want to partake in my board game design of Hoboken. Hoboken is about the experience of using stock to work together in a competitive environment.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4owyDVaep0vhDD_JblRvPnnCPy17bKLJvCpHDtdaxCxKWzb6LUZbQYBulzH6rj-o7uMLUGOjETW_0_pZ-kxNiHa7x1EjDdCi42mNy9n_7f7gI877SYho4KtX1WV7NuIfd-iZDVXCrH7g/s1600/IMG_20170615_133301276_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4owyDVaep0vhDD_JblRvPnnCPy17bKLJvCpHDtdaxCxKWzb6LUZbQYBulzH6rj-o7uMLUGOjETW_0_pZ-kxNiHa7x1EjDdCi42mNy9n_7f7gI877SYho4KtX1WV7NuIfd-iZDVXCrH7g/s320/IMG_20170615_133301276_HDR.jpg" title="Hoboken by Dr. Wictz" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Hoboken players are hotel operators trying to build new developments along the waterfront of Hoboken. No single player has the cash on hand to construct these hotels and no means of obtaining new cash until a hotel has been built. The only way to get a hotel constructed is by forming partnerships with other players, splitting ownership and the potential income in future turns. By removing many other means of raising capital investment found in the real world, players in Hoboken focus on the fun of negotiating the price of a share, deciding how to divy up ownership in a new construction, and who they want to form partnerships with to build their real estate empire. Players are not sidetracked from the core real world mechanic by unnecessary themes or actions. </span></div>
Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-38281628786362628662018-11-08T01:30:00.001-05:002022-07-14T00:47:57.333-04:00Real World Mechanic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The real world is fun. The real world contains a variety of ways to make strategic choices, dare I say game mechanics. These mechanics are games, but a lot of people do not realize they are games.</span><span style="color: #ff9900; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you sit a person down and try to teach them the concepts, they may think it’s too complicated, or get board and not pay attention. But if I sit that person down at a board game, teach them some rules with a win condition, they'll pick it up quickly, and may even find their good at it. Odds are decent, they already have developed skills to utilize the mechanic because they unknowing use it already in their everyday life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What does a<a href="https://dr.wictz.com/search/label/Real%20World%20Mechanic%20Lecture%20Series?m=0"> real world mechanic</a> look like? Let’s say you wanted to make a game about building a treehouse using Real World Mechanics. A real world mechanic would focus on the physical actions taken to build a treehouse, say hammering a nail in a 2x4. While building a treehouse is a wonderful theme, the mechanic of hammering a nail into wood does not excite me. Notice that when talking about Real World Mechanics I focus on the </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">experience</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of building a treehouse, not the </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">excitement</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of having a treehouse. I am bringing strategic decisions from the real world into a game, not necessarily the theme that goes with those decisions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Inspiration for Real World Mechanics can come from any process. And there are fields of study devoted to translating human behavior in the world, like economics, and political science, which I conveniently like to steal from to make board games. The key thing I look for are processes in the real world where people make strategic choices with other people and porting that experience into a board game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what is an example of a real world mechanics I want in a board game. Here is one, mortgage backed securities. Wait, stop running away and hear me out. I have strategic information telling me who will survive and who will be swept away. I want to use that information to ensure I am the one who survives and others are left holding the bag when things come tumbling down. That is a tense, exciting, and competitive situation, which also happens to be a mortgage back security. As I said earlier, my goal is to provide players the experience of the real world mechanic, not necessarily the theme. I could have designed a game themed about mortgage backed securities, but instead I themed a game as life in the mob. </span></div>
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<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/G-rJRxfoRPCxQbRDP0S1HvDoU169aUTSNX3oIZp119JNDJau4ONU34rOsBzf4_3qMta6znfQv8SOLzJlGbvWiX4MA3QHxfL2K6h6wkUQIsAMlESNgEVtXsYpxhsrKExr8qj6d-lB" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="209" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/G-rJRxfoRPCxQbRDP0S1HvDoU169aUTSNX3oIZp119JNDJau4ONU34rOsBzf4_3qMta6znfQv8SOLzJlGbvWiX4MA3QHxfL2K6h6wkUQIsAMlESNgEVtXsYpxhsrKExr8qj6d-lB" style="border: none; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; transform: rotate(0rad); white-space: pre-wrap;" title="New Jersey Syndicate by Dr. Wictz" width="387" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">In New Jersey Syndicate you carefully place your goons in cities. Goons placed earlier in the city are less likely to be picked up by the FBI than goons played later in a city. Players are scouting the riskiness of each city while trying not to give away their inside knowledge on risk to their competitors in an effort to gain a competitive edge. Eventually, the game comes to a climatic end where players learn if they made a sound strategic placement of their goons or if the FBI is sweeping up all their goons, blocking them from becoming the new Don of the New Jersey Syndicate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">No where do players think they are partaking in a game of mortgage back securities. New Jersey Syndicate lets the players experiencing the excitement that takes place within the mortgage back securities market without ever learning about the intricacies of the mortgage back security market. More importantly, porting a real world mechanic into the game enables me to provide players with a fun new game experience they have not seen in other board games.</span></div>
Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-47387874917919728292018-04-12T08:20:00.002-04:002019-03-28T09:17:51.025-04:00Colloquium on Games of Strategy: Chapter 11<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="140" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://archive.org/embed/PaulOwenDrWictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp11" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="500"></iframe></div>
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<a href="https://ia601506.us.archive.org/25/items/PaulOwenDrWictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp11/Paul_Owen_Dr_Wictz%20Colloquium%20on_Games%20of%20Strategy_Ep%2011.mp3" target="_blank">Click here</a> to directly download the MP3</div>
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<a href="https://youtu.be/p6X0CdeX2Ns" target="_blank">Click here </a>to watch the unedited version on Youtube<br />
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Welcome to the Colloquium on Games of Strategy. Games of Strategy is a textbook on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory" target="_blank">game theory</a> written by Dixit (not the game), Skeath, and Reiley that we are reading to help improve our analysis of board games and board game design. <a href="http://paulowengames.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Paul Owen</a> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Third-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393931129" target="_blank">owns 3rd edition</a>) and I (own the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Second-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393924998" target="_blank">2nd</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Avinash-K-Dixit/dp/0393974219" target="_blank">1st editions</a>) record a discussion about a chapter or two from the book every few weeks.<br />
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In the eleventh episode we talk about the Prisoner's Dilemma in board games. Highlights include a discussion on different ways Paul's wife will prevent him from ever ratting her out to the police, multiple ways of escaping the Prisoner's Dilemma within a game, and how repeatedly paying games with a group of people creates an opportunity to escape the Prisoner's Dilemma within board games.<br />
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Note: Aaron misspoke when he said gambling is not a zero sum game. Aaron was trying to emphasise that games with gambling can provide a marginal benefit or loss that changes player behavior when compare with games where either a player just wins or loses (e.g. a 12 run win and a 1 run win in baseball is still one game win).<br />
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You can find our previous discussion on <a href="http://dr.wictz.com/2017/11/colloquium-on-games-of-strategy-chapter.html">Games of Strategy here</a>.</div>
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Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-57821544752347589672017-12-05T09:41:00.001-05:002018-01-04T11:29:11.447-05:00Colloquium on Games of Strategy: Chapter 10<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="140" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://archive.org/embed/PaulOwenDr.WictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp10" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="500"></iframe><br /></div>
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<a href="https://ia801501.us.archive.org/1/items/PaulOwenDr.WictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp9/Paul%20Owen%20%26%20Dr.Wictz%20Colloquium%20on%20-Games%20of%20Strategy-%20Ep%209.mp3" target="_blank">Click here</a> to directly download the MP3</div>
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<a href="https://youtu.be/gTQMe4GiRUs" target="_blank">Click here </a>to watch the unedited version on Youtube<br />
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<div style="font-family: "times new roman"; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
Welcome to the Colloquium on Games of Strategy. Games of Strategy is a textbook on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory" target="_blank">game theory</a> written by Dixit (not the game), Skeath, and Reiley that we are reading to help improve our analysis of board games and board game design. <a href="http://paulowengames.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Paul Owen</a> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Third-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393931129" target="_blank">owns 3rd edition</a>) and I (own the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Second-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393924998" target="_blank">2nd</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Avinash-K-Dixit/dp/0393974219" target="_blank">1st editions</a>) record a discussion about a chapter or two from the book every few weeks.<br />
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In the tenth episode we talk about how strategic action - in essence the art of creditable threats or promises to deter or compel other players to alter their actions within a board game. Highlights include a discussion on how to apply these tactics to Setters of Catan and the question whether or not people what to play games with players who are good at using these tactics.<br />
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You can find our previous discussion on <a href="http://dr.wictz.com/2017/11/colloquium-on-games-of-strategy-chapter.html">Games of Strategy here</a>.</div>
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Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-65094122057272245522017-11-14T09:29:00.000-05:002017-11-14T09:29:06.996-05:00Colloquium on Games of Strategy: Chapter 9<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="30" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://archive.org/embed/PaulOwenDr.WictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp9" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="500"></iframe><br /></div>
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<a href="https://ia801501.us.archive.org/1/items/PaulOwenDr.WictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp9/Paul%20Owen%20%26%20Dr.Wictz%20Colloquium%20on%20-Games%20of%20Strategy-%20Ep%209.mp3" target="_blank">Click here</a> to directly download the MP3</div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U57q3-z7P3A" target="_blank">Click here </a>to watch the unedited version on Youtube<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: "times new roman"; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
Welcome to the Colloquium on Games of Strategy. Games of Strategy is a textbook on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory" target="_blank">game theory</a> written by Dixit (not the game), Skeath, and Reiley that we are reading to help improve our analysis of board games and board game design. <a href="http://paulowengames.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Paul Owen</a> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Third-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393931129" target="_blank">owns 3rd edition</a>) and I (own the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Second-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393924998" target="_blank">2nd</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Avinash-K-Dixit/dp/0393974219" target="_blank">1st editions</a>) record a discussion about a chapter or two from the book every few weeks.<br />
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In the ninth episode we talk about how players respond to uncertainty and information within games. Highlights include a discussion on the benefits of holding asymmetric information and tactics to counter your opponent's information edge. Can players provide a creditable signal in your game or is everything just cheap talk.<br />
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You can find our previous discussion on <a href="http://dr.wictz.com/2017/10/colloquium-on-games-of-strategy-chapter.html">Games of Strategy here</a>.</div>
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Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-82847105858468236122017-10-10T06:00:00.000-04:002017-10-10T06:00:23.897-04:00Colloquium on Games of Strategy: Chapter 8<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="30" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://archive.org/embed/PaulOwenDrWictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp8" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="500"></iframe><br /></div>
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<a href="https://ia801504.us.archive.org/4/items/PaulOwenDrWictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp8/Paul%20Owen_Dr_Wictz%20Colloquium%20on_Games%20of%20Strategy_Ep%208.mp3" target="_blank">Click here</a> to directly download the MP3</div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-3BBdjSfYc" target="_blank">Click here </a>to watch the unedited version on Youtube<br />
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<div style="font-family: "times new roman"; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
Welcome to the Colloquium on Games of Strategy. Games of Strategy is a textbook on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory" target="_blank">game theory</a> written by Dixit (not the game), Skeath, and Reiley that we are reading to help improve our analysis of board games and board game design. <a href="http://paulowengames.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Paul Owen</a> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Third-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393931129" target="_blank">owns 3rd edition</a>) and I (own the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Second-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393924998" target="_blank">2nd</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Avinash-K-Dixit/dp/0393974219" target="_blank">1st editions</a>) record a discussion about a chapter or two from the book every few weeks.<br />
<br />
In the eighth episode we talk about games with mixed strategy nash equilibrium. Highlights include a discussion on the effectiveness of mixed strategy nash equilibrium when other players cannot do math and the growing importance of knowing game theory at the start of the design process when players are going to repeatedly play your game. <br />
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I cannot help but also point out we took some time in this episode to rip on our good friend<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/103386/keith-ferguson"> Keith Ferguson</a> whose game <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-3BBdjSfYc">Santa's Workshop </a>is coming out December 2017. (Great game, you should buy it).<br />
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You can find our previous discussion on <a href="http://dr.wictz.com/2017/09/colloquium-on-games-of-strategy-chapter.html">Games of Strategy here</a>.</div>
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Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-29366097264944389032017-09-26T07:15:00.000-04:002017-09-26T07:15:04.505-04:00Colloquium on Games of Strategy: Chapter 7<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="30" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://archive.org/embed/PaulOwenDr.WictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp7" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="500"></iframe><br /></div>
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<a href="https://ia801503.us.archive.org/28/items/PaulOwenDr.WictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp7/Paul%20Owen%20&%20Dr.Wictz%20Colloquium%20on%20-Games%20of%20Strategy-%20Ep%207.mp3" target="_blank">Click here</a> to directly download the MP3</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://youtu.be/EH8zZHu4a8c" target="_blank">Click here </a>to watch the unedited version on Youtube<br />
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<div style="font-family: "times new roman"; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
Welcome to the Colloquium on Games of Strategy. Games of Strategy is a textbook on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory" target="_blank">game theory</a> written by Dixit (not the game), Skeath, and Reiley that we are reading to help improve our analysis of board games and board game design. <a href="http://paulowengames.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Paul Owen</a> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Third-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393931129" target="_blank">owns 3rd edition</a>) and I (own the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Second-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393924998" target="_blank">2nd</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Avinash-K-Dixit/dp/0393974219" target="_blank">1st editions</a>) record a discussion about a chapter or two from the book every few weeks.<br />
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In the seventh episode we talk about zero sum games with mixed strategy nash equilibrium. Highlights include a discussion on if a mixed strategy equilibrium takes away meaningful decisions from the players.<br />
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You can find our previous discussion on <a href="http://dr.wictz.com/2017/07/colloquium-on-games-of-strategy-chapter.html">Games of Strategy here</a>.</div>
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Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-31449845476184892232017-07-25T10:34:00.000-04:002017-09-26T07:16:09.896-04:00Colloquium on Games of Strategy: Chapter 6<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="140" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://archive.org/embed/PaulOwenDr.WictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp6" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="500"></iframe><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://ia801507.us.archive.org/18/items/PaulOwenDr.WictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp6/Paul%20Owen%20&%20Dr.Wictz%20Colloquium%20on%20-Games%20of%20Strategy-%20Ep%206.mp3" target="_blank">Click here</a> to directly download the MP3</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://youtu.be/a_EhmnQKE68" target="_blank">Click here </a>to watch the unedited version on Youtube<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: "times new roman"; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
Welcome to the Colloquium on Games of Strategy. Games of Strategy is a textbook on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory" target="_blank">game theory</a> written by Dixit (not the game), Skeath, and Reiley that we are reading to help improve our analysis of board games and board game design. <a href="http://paulowengames.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Paul Owen</a> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Third-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393931129" target="_blank">owns 3rd edition</a>) and I (own the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Second-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393924998" target="_blank">2nd</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Avinash-K-Dixit/dp/0393974219" target="_blank">1st editions</a>) record a discussion about a chapter or two from the book every few weeks.</div>
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">In the sixth episode we talk about games that combine simultaneous and sequential move games as well as about strategically switching between the game types. Highlights include a discussion on how players can drastically change a game outcome outcome by sutley switching a game from a simultaneous game to a sequential game or vice versa.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Below is a link the <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w7798" target="_blank">Sumo Wrestling paper</a> brought up in the discussion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">You can find our previous discussion on <a href="http://dr.wictz.com/2017/04/colloquium-on-games-of-strategy-chapter.html">Games of Strategy here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">You can find our next discussion on <a href="http://dr.wictz.com/2017/09/colloquium-on-games-of-strategy-chapter.html" target="_blank">Games of Strategy here</a>.</span></div>
Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-82553290448029494452017-05-23T11:08:00.000-04:002017-05-23T11:08:26.648-04:00Colloquium on Games of Strategy: Chapter 5<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="140" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://archive.org/embed/DrWictz5002JPG500" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="500"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://ia801503.us.archive.org/9/items/DrWictz5002JPG500/Paul%20Owen_Dr_Wictz%20Colloquium%20on_Games%20of%20Strategy_Ep%205.mp3" target="_blank">Click here</a> to directly download the MP3</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://youtu.be/RU0E6fOvha8" target="_blank">Click here </a>to watch the unedited version on Youtube<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: "times new roman"; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
Welcome to the Colloquium on Games of Strategy. Games of Strategy is a textbook on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory" target="_blank">game theory</a> written by Dixit (not the game), Skeath, and Reiley that we are reading to help improve our analysis of board games and board game design. <a href="http://paulowengames.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Paul Owen</a> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Third-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393931129" target="_blank">owns 3rd edition</a>) and I (own the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Second-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393924998" target="_blank">2nd</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Avinash-K-Dixit/dp/0393974219" target="_blank">1st editions</a>) record a discussion about a chapter or two from the book every two weeks. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">In the fifth episode we talk with <a href="http://lucidphoenix.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Douglas Schulz</a> about his <a href="http://lucidphoenix.blogspot.com/2017/03/is-solo-game-game-and-other-thoughts-on.html" target="_blank">blog post </a>on if the authors of Game of Strategy consider a solo game to be a game. Douglas's post was inspired by the <a href="http://dr.wictz.com/2017/02/colloquium-on-games-of-strategy-chapter.html">first episode</a> of the Paul Owen & Dr. Wictz Colloquium on Games of Strategy.</span><br />
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You can find our previous discussion on <a href="http://dr.wictz.com/2017/05/colloquium-on-games-of-strategy-chapter.html">Games of Strategy here</a>.</div>
</div>
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Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719480054640289846.post-61116758042115084052017-05-08T00:20:00.000-04:002017-07-25T12:04:37.909-04:00Colloquium on Games of Strategy: Chapter 4<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="140" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://archive.org/embed/PaulOwenDrWictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp4" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="500"></iframe><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://ia601502.us.archive.org/19/items/PaulOwenDrWictzColloquiumOnGamesOfStrategyEp4/Paul%20Owen_Dr_Wictz%20Colloquium%20on%20-Games%20of%20Strategy%20Ep%204.mp3" target="_blank">Click here</a> to directly download the MP3</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://youtu.be/RkMmxa8QSQY" target="_blank">Click here </a>to watch the unedited version on Youtube<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: "times new roman"; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
Welcome to the Colloquium on Games of Strategy. Games of Strategy is a textbook on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory" target="_blank">game theory</a> written by Dixit (not the game), Skeath, and Reiley that we are reading to help improve our analysis of board games and board game design. <a href="http://paulowengames.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Paul Owen</a> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Third-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393931129" target="_blank">owns 3rd edition</a>) and I (own the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Second-Avinash-Dixit/dp/0393924998" target="_blank">2nd</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Games-Strategy-Avinash-K-Dixit/dp/0393974219" target="_blank">1st editions</a>) record a discussion about a chapter or two from the book every two weeks. </div>
<div style="font-family: "times new roman"; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">In the forth episode we talk about continuous simultaneous move games and criticism of Nash Equilibrium in Chapter 5 (there are some differences between editions). Highlights include a discussion on how certain sequential Euro games are really slow moving simultaneous games and game theory's solution for strategic discussions when there is no Nash Equilibrium.</span><br />
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<div style="font-family: "times new roman"; text-align: left;">
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You can find our previous discussion on <a href="http://dr.wictz.com/2017/04/colloquium-on-games-of-strategy-chapter.html">Games of Strategy here</a>.<br />
<br />
You can find our next discussion on <a href="http://dr.wictz.com/2017/05/colloquium-on-games-of-strategy-chapter_23.html">Games of Strategy here</a>.</div>
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Dr.Wictzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17880199562978081307noreply@blogger.com1