At end the episode that's.
Hello, and welcome to building the game, documentary
podcast. Today is Monday.
Open it in. Keep it there.
Yeah.
Okay. Okay.
Oh, gosh. What day is this gonna be?
This is going to be...
What's this week? Next week is 06:34,
06:35.
This is...
Okay. Yeah.
Hello and welcome to building the game. On
documentary podcast. Today is Monday,
July 20 ninth and you're listening episode 635.
The 1 piece of information I did know.
As always I'm your host Jason,
here today joined
by c host and game designer, Emily Vincent
inc.
And then the master of definitions, the dictionary
of a... It's explain person
out of the jab.
Wow. You are el today, Jason.
I'm so glad to be here for this.
Yeah. Yeah. No. So I am...
Yeah. Been a busy week. Trying to get
school stepped done, and then we're going camping,
like, tomorrow morning for
I don't know. 9 days or something, and
then we have Gen con and then everything
is just... That's a lot between not being
prepped for Gen con at all.
So that's fun.
Yeah.
Emily, how's your, Gen con stuff going?
I think it's going well. I actually
I... I've sort of par down what I'm
planning to bring, had a new idea for
a different spin on cross stitch, and I'm
just sort of trying to bring
you know, pirates and cross stitched and cutting
flowers, and I'm actually feeling like, I have,
like, 2 weeks to get ready. This is
like so much time. I'm totally fine.
And so I'm feeling I'm feeling great about
it.
That's
that's great. I'm happy for you. You're happy
before. Me. The person who made the best
decision in this room know is is John,
who's not going to Gen con. Correct? And
therefore has nothing to get ready? For, that's
right. I do have some some materials. I'm
I'm prepping to send along
in my s, but I'm not... I don't
have to attend in person this year. I
I
recently
got to go to Pro, Michigan.
The
the premier
location, I guess,
which is always like like homecoming every year.
So
really really happy to do that. That was
super productive, very fun got to see a
lot of people that that I never get
to see in person. And
Yeah. So now I'm... I just have a
lot to get done
for
for a little bit farther in the future.
Right? We're
running
the kick... My publisher has decided to, run
a kick kickstarter campaign for the next set
of holiday hedging games.
Mh. Rather than them playing out piece. So
it's gonna be a, a big bundle of
the next 3 games and an option to
get the Opens course. And as part of
that,
there's going to be a pledge level for...
Well, anyone who buys the... Physical product, and
then also a separate pleasure for
a puzzle hunt that I'm going to be
running as part of the campaign during the
campaign.
So doing a lot of work putting that
together now. It's a it's quite an under
undertaking undertaking. But funnel.
That's awesome. At just last weekend, I was
playing games with some friends, and
they play out a 2 player games and
Officer sudden I was like, wait.
Do you like escape rooms and they were
like, we love escape rooms. We never get
to go and I was like,
I have good news. I said, so when
I'm at Gen con, I'm gonna pick you
up,
a couple of the,
holiday hi inks and
see what they think about those. And then
let them go to town and ordering the
rest,
because I have a feeling they're really gonna
jam with it.
So
what in your opinion,
since we're just talking between us here.
What in your opinion would be 2 good
ones to pick up for somebody to start
with,
who has never done 1 before. Likes sports
games, but has never done 1 of your
style escape room in a box games, but
is is a puzzle. Okay. Yes. If they
like puzzles. Yeah.
I would say,
very good intros would be
the Turkey trial
and the pumpkin problem. Awesome. Those those are
both kind of
middle of the road,
not to
bonkers, but do kinda show all the different
types of types of things those games do.
Perfect. Awesome. Those are the 2 I will
seek out then.
At the Grand gamer skill booth where you
can also find tune in an oak and
you could buy that there too.
In the so, yeah. But,
Yeah. So I will do that then, and
I appreciate that. I I felt dumb because
I know they talked about escape rooms before.
It never clicked that, like,
you like us, don't never get to go
to escape rooms because you have kids.
So the wires aren't old enough to go
now if we want to.
How much help is provided is debatable, but
yeah. Yeah.
Alright. I'll shall it get into it? Yes.
Yes. We shall. So
I'll let,
Jonathan, why don't you take it away with
all of the
crazy. This is a follow episode. I will
put. That some people may have survived by
likely whatever the title is and also
by, the fact that it's 3 of us
here. So the builders can go back to
episode 06:22
to see our previous
conversation on this topic.
We're gonna follow up with more.
So a little review of that is that
we
started to talk about what's a euro game,
I think is kinda how that started.
Yep.
And kind of the lens we're looking through
is
as a designer,
what
do you need to know about these various
terms in order to
be a part of the conversation
that the design community has around these things
and to know whether you're interested in trying
to make games that fit these various molds
or not,
and
what
what makes those various kinds of games shine.
Yeah. Yeah. And
I think my favorite thing about the last
episode was the fact that
the difference between classic hero and what we
call euros now. And I will... That's all
I'll say about it. Yeah. Really go listen
to the episode if you haven't because
it is not the discussion. I thought we
were going to have, but it was amazing.
So
and I wanted to also recap
my personal bug boo on this topic, which
is that
this can be a dangerous
conversation to have if you're not if you're
not aware when you're having it because
language can be,
exclusive,
exclusionary, very easily.
We think about that often and when we're
talking about, you know,
gender language and things like that, but it's
easy to overlook all of the
click ness that also
happens with regard to language. And
you know, the the classic example, I I
can I can talk about my own personal
growth in this area?
I was a person who would,
sn make a make a distinction between a
game and an act activity. This isn't a
game. It's just an activity... Guilty, guilty
and that is something that I've
I've personally been able to grow past.
But it's...
That's that's a that's a good example because
there is a meaningful distinction to be had
there. And it's not the distinction and there's
the problem. It's
that not everyone needs to hear that.
Right.
Okay. Wait a minute wait a minute. I'm
gonna derail immediately because yeah. This is this
is feedback that I got.
At some point. I'm gonna say recently. It
was within the last 2 years. And that
was, like, a moment for me where I
was like, oh,
what does that even mean? And definitely made
me feel bad. Yes. Because I feel my
game wasn't a game. It was
activity.
But there was something in there of, like,
I must not have recognizable
sign posts of, like, and maybe this is
where we call Zoe in from the chat
for, you know, multi victor or whatever. But,
you know, there's the, you know, no 1
can win this. Therefore, it's not a game
or... I I don't know
I can't remember which game it was. Right?
It was probably cross. Right? Of, like, it's
fun to place the tiles, but there's nothing
else there. Gosh not. I'm not the 1
who said that.
Well, yeah. So... I don't know. As I
remember talking about Was like, this is really
fun, but like, we're not actually like, they're
what are we doing
just
join placing these things.
And all of these, like, this is... I
I picked that example who is 1 of
the most loaded, but a lot of these
are less less obvious and and can have
the same problem if we... If we're not
careful.
So
it
you can have language that is useful if
you're talking about it academically.
Like, we're going to... We're gonna make this
taxonomy, and we're gonna make everything fit into
it for our paper or our book.
If you're looking at the
you know, the fantastic
book from Jeff and Isaac, the building blocks
book. You know, they... They're they're doing that
academically. They're saying we're gonna try to put
everything into these buckets and it's gonna help
our conversation.
But that doesn't mean that the same
those same terms are useful when you're talking
to someone who isn't in that context.
Gotcha. So, like, it can... The same...
Like, if we if we
assume the best intentions, which we can't always.
But if we assume the best intentions on
the person who said that to you.
The
the best thing they could possibly be saying
is
I didn't feel
the amount of player agency
I wanted to feel
in this game.
Mh.
So, you know, I would once have said
that Bingo isn't a game. It's an activity
because there's nothing I can do to affect
the outcome. That doesn't mean it's not fun.
Yeah. But when I say that to someone,
it sounds like I'm saying, Bingo is awful.
Well And that's not what I mean. I
mean, it's a different kind of thing.
I I've found myself saying before, which also,
I'm not saying you should say this, but
in referring to some kids games, Bingo is
a great example of this. Candy land. Is
I will say the game plays itself. Yeah.
Because you don't play the game. You just
do fifth things. Right? Which also sounds
like it's being dismissive
But it doesn't have to be meant that
way. It can be meant as a classifier
as opposed to a judgment call, but it's
hard to make that come across.
It's hard to think of any way to
say that. Because when I'd say, like, well,
I just feel like, you know,
this game lacks you know, having any really
player agency. That just sounds like a sn
way to say the game plays itself, it's
an activity. Right? Like, that's
all of those sound bad. Like, I can't
think of a way to say that.
Like, maybe if I was giving feedback, I
could say, I wish I had more choices.
As a point.
I I think you're on a track there.
Right? So I think there's
there's the judgment piece of this, which is
where we started. Right? Is it good or
bad as opposed to, like, it exists or
it doesn't.
But I think there's always the, like,
giving feedback as a negative of, like, it
lacks this thing versus the, like,
I was hoping for more direction. In my
choices. Right? Or I was hoping for a
little bit more choice in what I could
do. Right? Because I think, honestly, I think
I've said this to someone recently, and I
can't remember how I said it. I I
think I was play testing something in origins.
Right? And it was 1 of these things
where it was, like, pleasant to do, but
I didn't know which direction to go because
I didn't really understand what Right? So mine
was, like, it's a great activity,
but I don't know how I
finish it. Right? I don't know, like, what's
the end condition Right, you know that kind
of thing. So
yeah, I think I don't know, for me,
the sort of takeaway here is, like, always
think about how I'm framing it and maybe
frame as, like, player wants
versus, like, this game
lacks.
Right? Mh Yeah. Mh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You
can always If I had play tested your
game, I would have sold you that... Sorry.
I mean, it could have been
you know, you could say,
you know, this feels like
right now, the kind of thing that people
who like bingo would like.
You know, you could you can frame it
positive like that, And then you can say,
is that the audience you're going for? And
if the answer is no, then you can
say, oh, okay.
Yeah.
Do you like do you want your people
to feel like they're playing candy land? A
child's game?
Oh, it's your... My favorite thing about ka
land is you have no inputs. Yet. It's
still wildly unbalanced.
Well, you can't... So candy land... I mean,
it
in that sense, it is an activity. You're
not a game if we're gonna do that
kind of thing. But it's important. I mean,
it's it... It's
for the age group, it's for,
those are people who need to learn how
to do those things. Take turns.
And follow rules even when they don't like
the outcome. Exactly pulled the little critter that
sends you back to the first spot. Even
in the Man that makes them mad. Yeah.
I treat those out and my kids got
mad because I was asking came with those
in there. They saw it. Yeah.
Yeah. Oh, I like this already. We're already
defining game. We are You even though that
wasn't find... Yeah. Let's just define the word
game.
Yeah. I mean,
but there's plenty to say there. Actually there
was a a good early
episode where they attempted to do that. And
I think I listen. They to them... An
entire episode and didn't manage to quite do
it. There's no way there. Right.
To Yeah. And I also wrote down here
in this kind of intro thing as an
another example of that, just a little personal
experience, I'm currently having with this definition stuff.
Is the marketing of the game series we
were just talking about. These these things that
I tend to call escape room games.
And
for a
for an audience,
that is a very descriptive term
that works really well.
And we're now wrestling with...
Well, we've got a, marketing professional on the
team who really didn't know that term.
As those room. The der escape... Yeah. Or
escape room game in particular.
Because when I hear a escape room game,
I know what that is.
I know that that is a set of
puzzles that was inspired by the physical escape
room craze of the,
you know,
20 10 ish.
Yeah. And
that it's going to be a particular kind
of thing. I know it doesn't mean I'm
literally trying to escape a room. Even narrative
or in real life.
But that's what it says it is.
Yeah.
And so is that does that mean the
term
needs to have a new term, you know?
Or
or should I call it something else when?
Speaking to certain kinds of people that it's...
I don't have an answer to that yet.
Gosh. Even escape room as
as it, like, like, you're in an escape
room. Right? Like, mh. That terminology is is
really problematic. Isn't it? Like, it could be
interpreted as that. I mean... Yeah.
I mean, eventually room, maybe it's better. I
I mean, I'm not gonna call it. If
other people aren't but I... It just occurred
to me that, yes. That could be
concerning for some people
that way. Yeah. It's how about trying to...
But I've been trying to play around in
my head with just saying cooperative puzzle game,
which doesn't.
Which is less expressive.
Yeah. But definitely accurate.
Yeah. Because it's a timed cooperative puzzle game,
and that really rolls off the tongue.
Yeah.
Yeah. So we're gonna see that over and
over, I think of these things where I
know it when I see it. Yeah. I
can't say is... You can't say escape the...
Game because then if they've ever watched
deep space time, they're gonna have a very
different opinion of what that's like,
because of that 1 episode. Game So... Yeah.
So we thought for today, what we're gonna
try to do is go through genres,
and we don't know how many of these
were gonna get through
and should be 1. That's...
Yeah. Exactly. No. I think I think at
least 2. We put down what 25. So
we're doing gonna try to get down through
2 or 3. We're gonna very generous. Left
off in the next 1. Yeah. Yeah. Jonathan
generous by we put down 25, Jonathan put
down 25. And Jason, I were like, we're
in. Yeah.
Yeah. And
1 of the things I wanted to point
out is we're gonna talk about genres, which
overlaps with mechanisms, we're not really talking about
mechanisms.
Mh. So there are a lot of games
that will have a lot of different mechanisms,
but you would call it a...
Well, the first 1 on the list, a
worker placement game. Right. Other games might have
worker placement. You might not think of them
as worker placement games. So
so
How about we start there?
What do you think of when you hear
worker placement?
I think of my an about worker placement
versus action selection.
Okay. Okay. So I've just hit number 2
on the list? It's good come So so
let... Let's... But what game do I think?
Yeah. What games?
Yeah.
Ever.
Okay.
Stone age.
Mh.
I so a euro.
Yeah. First 1 I think of is a
g.
Yeah. Yep.
Other work... Yeah. I don't know Ever, but
I assume you're right. I mean, I I
know of it. I've not played it.
Yeah. I mean, I think it's... I don't
know if it's a worker
placement game so much as there is a
work replacement mechanic and maybe more of a
tableau builder game,
and it just has work placement. But, yeah,
some of the earlier euros makes me think
of that. I don't think of
weirdly enough, like Puerto Rico were back to
apparently, my favorite game, my favorite problematic game
in Puerto Rico,
but has literal work placement,
but I still don't know if I think
of that as a work. Replacement game.
Yeah. Puerto Rico. I would say,
it... It it's kinda like worker replacement, but
the the workers that you're placing are not
a worker plays of mechanism.
Right.
Yeah.
So that's
selection game. I would say. Right. It's an
action selection.
And maybe a little Tableau build. Right? Yeah
Man man, I feel weird that I can't
think of
action or work replacement games. So...
What does the Google machine say? When I
just... Oh, go ahead.
No. Go ahead. If you got an examples.
Oh, I was just gonna say that I
just searched Bg g for well... Okay. To
be clear, I didn't search anything on Bg
g because that's useless.
I went to Google and said search Bg
g, and then it did a great job.
Doing Imperium, I see on the list. Mh.
It's a new 1. Can you just sort
by rating?
Who knows?
Yeah. It's gonna come up with Vi culture.
It's gonna come up Yep. With,
yeah. Kayla list
the...
Yeah.
Is on the list Emily.
Yeah.
So what I think of
to distinguish worker placement.
As... And again, this is kind of as
a mechanism, but it bleeds... Please bleed together
is that
you are
classically putting a worker
a a piece of wood that you have
that is your your limited pool of workers,
on something
to do a thing
and
that prevents or
makes it difficult for other people to do
the same thing.
Yes.
It's blocking. Right? Yeah blocking or increasing the
cost or
yeah. Whatever.
It'll reach your comforts.
Just around that. Yep. Yeah. Also,
tier og work replacement. I had to double
check because
you're replacing workers but it's for drafting.
It's listed as hand management, open drafting and
worker replaced. Me. Yeah. So that's a kid...
That's a good 1. So I would argue,
you could
you could say it...
Has some
flavor of a worker placement mechanism, I would
not call that a worker placement game.
I don't... No. No. It says I'm not
taking a clear action by putting my worker
some place. I am. It's more almost a
bidding feel.
Or
or drafting sure. Sure.
Now, just to be clear, though, it's just
listed under mechanisms. It's not looking Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Genre. You know? I mean...
But
maybe I'm...
Yeah. No. Yeah. It's we're Okay. I guess
we're trying to think about, like,
what what the game is not what the
game has.
Yeah. Yeah. Like what is the core definition
of it. Right? Like, what is
when you look at the game if you
said, this game, Like, to me, Stone age
is
Like, everything that drives Stone just work replacements.
Like, every action you take in the game
is only done via worker placement.
Via via putting those workers
somewhere.
Yeah. Right?
Like, everything thing is
you battling for the space.
You are placing a thing that you're calling
a worker.
Right. But if if I said, I wanna
play a worker replacement game and someone plop
down turn in og. I'd be really surprised.
Yeah. Oh, yeah Yeah. If somebody said I
wanna play a draft game,
I would feel more comfortable In no totally
say, oh, yeah. Okay. This is cool. This
is scratches my address. And, obviously, hand management
is like the core of the game because
you've got cards and every round you're gonna
get new cards, you have to play some
cards and you're gonna have to check a
card at the end, which starts off real
cozy and by the you're just swearing,
so... Yeah. Yeah. I was actually saying to
someone when I was teaching them. I said,
this game is a lot like a rolling
right in that you continually just lose options
throughout the game. Like, it just the options
get worse and worse the farther you go,
which is what people tell me rolling rates
are supposed to do. I like
do not do that, but that's what people
tell me they're supposed to do. So... Yeah.
So Emily, you brought up action select So
maybe this would be a good 1 for
actually comparing contrast. What what games come to
mind when we hear action selection. Well, Puerto
Rico.
Because this is only a game I know
apparently.
But, no. I... So I'm... Yeah. The first
1 I think of is San juan, which
is the card game version, which I prefer
of the 2, but they're, like, doing a
similar thing there.
Yeah. So the reason I have this, like
an is because
prior to the high ts,
I call it a set collection game. Yeah.
It's heart it is set collection. And then...
But the thing that sort of drives that
is a action selection that looks like a
work replacement.
And so I don't know how to talk
about it. And so I'm always saying, it's
got this little work replacement action selection thing
going on that you do here on the
pirate ship. Right?
And I think that's probably the right way
to do it. Because you like, regardless, if
we... If we came in here this is
the definition. That doesn't do anything. You know?
Because that doesn't affect what people...
What what we're trying to think think of
is what are the connotation
Yeah. So that.
So I think the thing for me for
action selection
is... So to me, work replacement is you
tend to be placing
in a physical area where where you go
mean something. Right? So I go to the
quarry to get rocks. Right? I go to
the house
to knit my sweater. Whatever it is that
I'm doing.
To me, action selection, I'll go back to
Puerto Rico is saying this turn
I'm going to
unload my ships. Right? And I'm the only
1 who gets to do that because, apparently,
this is how ports work. But, like, when
you take the action, generally, no 1 else
can take it. I think that this is
oh, what's that huge forex game?
Oh,
I don't know. The really famous Forex x
game that, like, takes forever twilight Imperium, maybe.
That 1 has that 1 has an action
selection as well. Where, like, you take the
thing, and no 1 else gets to take
that action.
And so I think that piece there. The
other thing that I like about action selection
is I usually associate it with,
turn order differences. Right? So in work replacement,
on my turn, I go to the quarry,
I take rock it's your turn, you go
to the woods you take wood.
But when it's action selection, I pick my
action and that slots me into a turn
order.
Usually
where now I might be going later,
you know, there's some... There's this disconnect of
sort of when I choose
versus when I take,
whereas work replacement, I think is has a
very strong you place and you take immediately.
Yeah. Thoughts.
I agree that that is the...
At as a default,
I agree.
I think there's a lot of room in
there for
But in this 1, you know, there's a
lot of... We're all gonna pick...
We're gonna do worker replacement, and then we're
gonna resolve them in this or other order.
That certainly happens. But again, we're just trying
to do
genre and broad feel as opposed to the
nitty gritty of the mechanism, so people are
gonna say, well, that's action selection. That's role
selection. I don't think message dot prep. That's
what I was gonna say. So
I I looked on here because I might
choice for this was gonna be citadel for
action selection. That's the core of the game,
but some ways are launch role selection. It's
an activity.
But
yeah. I didn't see role selection on the
list. So roll selection to me
is like a
specific version of action selection because why did
you pick the role? Because you wanna do
something? I think it's also a specific version.
It mc mechanically speaking,
it's a it's a
specific version of worker placement. It is it
is... Way back to back to. I don't
even know what episode number to call back
to. The episode on iso morph. It is
iso morph to worker placement with 1 worker
per person and
right. And, yeah, that's the same, but it
feels way different. What if we just call
it worker selection?
Let's just put
when I hear it that's when you get
more workers. But I...
No. You have to use the you have
to use the mating for that. In
Yeah. So in the... Immediately, next turn, they
are full grown and ready to do 1.
So I... But I... What I... The definition
that I really like, though, that Emily said
is,
like, I guess to boil it down, workers
is putting things out there to get things,
selection or action selection wherever is taking things
away. Like, we're... You are taking something to
get something.
So to me, in that case,
action selection is really just the second half
of work placement.
Sometimes you just skip the worker replacement parts
or no.
Worker placement is the first step of some
action selection games.
Alright. Let me let me add a foot
further wrinkle to this. Oh, When I when
I hear action selection, I don't think about
what you're describing at all.
Because my assumption
before it gets clarified is that this is
going to be a simultaneous
action selection.
What? Oh so something like l talia,
for example, or So hot... Tell me because
please. Where everyone everyone's got a set... Let's
say everyone's got a set of cards. They
got the same set of cards. Oh, everyone's
gonna pick 1. That's the action we're picking,
and we're gonna reveal. You know, that
And
I think action selection can clearly mean both
things to people, but it's a it's a
difficult term for me to use
but
because that... That's where your cla your still.
Right? Because, like, that's simultaneous
action selection. Right. But I'm saying that for
me, if I don't hear the the clarification
that it isn't. That's what I'm going to
assume you mean. Oh, sorry I think. Yeah.
You go ahead. No. No. Go ahead. Go
ahead. I enough. I mean, I think there's
also been, like, the scythe thing right, of,
like, we'll all have to select our actions,
but you can't do the 1 that you
did last time. Right? I'm like, this action
selection. That's part of scythe. Right? Or programming
games. I didn't even have that on the
list. That's another, like, flavor of that where...
That's your you're slot in. These are the
actions I'm going take in this order, and
then we're gonna do them in order. And
and my plans are gonna I go to
hell because I never never played 1 of
those games or where it's not just embarrassing.
Like
you played I think Red Dragon in maybe
or something like that or no. It wasn't
that. It's some game where you fight in
its accent selection. Oh, yeah yeah. Pretty much
what happened for most of the game was
people punched the air and kick the air
and swung
through the air.
And somebody I played a robot game where
you, like, program these paths, and you just
kept practicing into everything. We we may have
just been really bad at it. Rally probably.
Might been... Yeah.
The to me, the those can be really
fun,
a lot of it is mindset, but
the ones that work the best for me
are the ones where There's just a little
bit of fuzz. So
River Dragons was 1 I liked quite a
bit, but you're you're picking... Like, we
if it's a case where you're picking say
3 things and the first 2 are probably
gonna go about what you wanted and the
third one's a little bit iffy, Like, that
feels... That's through like the sweet spot for
me. Yeah. That feels good. Yeah.
Okay. So anyway, that I was just calling
that out is I don't I don't tend
to use that term without qualifier
because,
action selection because I think it can mean
a couple quite different things.
Well, and it doesn't feel like worker replacement
has the same
squish to it, like, it feels Correct. Worker
placement feels much more fully. So I I
think you're right. Back what you said that
I just need to call pirates. It's not
a worker placement slash action selection. I can't
decide. It is a worker placement
action selection mechanism. Right? It is that type
of action selection. There's a there's a game
called Village just a little older now. About
other you played that 1? No.
It's it's a game that
kinda opened my eyes to this because in
that... In this game,
There are places on the board that have
little cubes on them,
and you have
a set of little mee, your workers.
And during the course of the game, you
put those... Workers on the board.
And there are effects of that.
And what I realized after a while is
that it is a worker placement game, but
the worker placement is not you placing the
workers.
The worker placement is that the main mechanism
is you remove 1 of those cubes from
a spot
and you do that thing. No interesting. And
that is the blocking thing. That is actually
the worker placement.
You you just happened to also have little
people that go on the board, but those
isn't
but those... Not in that same limited sense.
And so it was just
I just pulled up that game, Jonathan, and
the first thing that comes up is a
picture of a graveyard with open graves where
you put your peoples because they're dead. Yes.
And you score points for that.
Yes. They get older
through, various mechanisms and you score points for
having the most prestigious graves.
Some amazing.
Why.
Yeah.
So
So genres are hard y'all.
Yeah.
I mean, I feel better about work placement
and more like, oh, action selection feels a
little like the wild. But, like, I think
what I'm taking away from it is action
selection doesn't mean as much to a lot
of people. Mh. Whereas as worker replacement, I
think I think it evo, it's more evo.
Yeah.
You you know...
I think when I hear worker plays, not
only do I think, okay. I'm gonna have
some people,
but I think it's gonna be a game
where I'm probably just trying to do my
own thing, but I'm gonna get in another
people's way.
Yeah.
Indirect conflict right There's gonna be some brink
ship of... Yep. I wanna wait
until that thing gets j, but I can't
wait too long because Someone's gonna take it.
Yep.
Yeah.
Sweet. Alright. I think Alright.
We've beaten those in into the ground.
Someone picks something they like.
I wanna know what queen games are.
Oh,
okay.
I am not an expert in this. Okay.
But
Here we go. So so this coin isn't
in all the caps for the listeners. Yes.
I know that coin, this is this is
Me talking without research here that that Coin
games are never a game I'm going to
ask to play.
I I believe I have played some.
Because they tend to be long, and I...
And that's the first
thing that raises an eyebrow for. I like
short games.
Coin stands for counter ins search.
Oh,
the model
often usually model real life conflicts
where
with with
very different
factions, very asymmetric factions. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
So is everything Avalon hill ever made?
It's more modern than that, I believe. Yeah.
Okay.
It's a subset of war games. Right?
Or Adjacent to war games. It's, like, think
you can say that, but not But I
hear war. Okay. War games is a good
1, because your game, I immediately
assume
unless it's qualified
that it's probably going to be like a
miniature miniature game, like something where I'm gonna
have to measure stuff.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which is not fun. But
it doesn't have to be because war is
way broader than that, but that's the first
thing that comes to mind.
I assume it's gonna be some sort of
simulation and that
it will fall into 1 of 2 categories.
1 of its historical
you know, reinvent,
recreation or
maybe some sort of fantasy,
you know,
Fantasy realm. Right? That's where I feel like
war games live for me.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
This may be, I may be mis remembering
this. Was there some debate about whether root
was a coin game? Yes. Yeah. So I
think that that definitely
is. So in terms of we got these
very asymmetric
factions that are
doing their own. I'm just looking through the
list of these
these
games that I don't want to play.
Liberty or death, the American interaction, falling sky,
the gallic revolt against Caesar.
Cuba libre.
Yeah. Yep. So very well respected games for
people who like that sort of thing.
So,
yeah. So I I'm am not
going to step in it by trying to
say what
the
qualifications there there are, but this is something
to be aware of, I guess as a
genre.
Yeah.
But, yes. I would say,
definitely a subset of war game, but
but
But when I hear War game, the first
thing that comes to mind minis, which I
know is a tiny subset of the war
game pants on. You got
a lot of them that are much more
discreet as opposed to continuous
there. I I will say I also think
of dice rolling.
In war.
Right? Then, like, what's gonna happen is determined
by the role of a dice or a
die. Yeah. Yeah.
Even some... From what I understand, like,
war games that you might run, like,
professionally. Right? Like, with, like, you know, you
just gotta sometimes you make a random choice.
Right? So there are Rng g's in in
in war games is my understanding. I don't
play war games though. So
Yeah. And I've... You know, I there was
a also, you know, the card driven war
games of, you know, twilight struggle, and
I have suffered through
some,
3 to 4 hour games of,
There's only 3 to 4 hours? Labyrinth Thor
on terror.
Which was
I I am glad that I have done
it.
Don't It's so much darker than I can
to do it again. I can must for
my evening.
So, yes. So perhaps we should go back
into
more of the territory of things that we
do play.
Alright. I'm I'm gonna ask a question here.
Party games. Yeah.
Okay.
So what's a party game? It's a game
that when you play, it feels like you're
at a party.
K. So we can probably move on from
that 1.
I mean,
that's close.
I'd say,
That's not bad.
So I think of party games as 1
where you can play with a lot of
people.
Mh. Right? So
a high player count. I'm gonna list
Trades
victory.
Yep. High interrupt
but very small
units of fun. Right? Where you can do
a assurance, then everyone can go get a
drink, You can come back and do another
round. Right? So I think of these, like,
sort of
round based things. I also think of
ind determining length Right? You can play to.
That's nice.
That's really good. That's 1 of the things
that I, like, usually try to work into
party games where I'll say.
Here's how long you can play. Like, here's
a timer meg time mechanism of. Everybody gets
to do this 1 rule. But really just
play till you feel like you're done. Because
Oh, in the points don't matter. Like, that's,
you know. Yeah. Like, there is a scoring
mechanism that is not necessary
because you wanted to feel like a game
not an activity.
You do you... Or do you want it
to feel like an activity and not a
game if the points don't matter.
The bet... Won't, but see, that's the, like,
this the number 1 rule. I you're saying.
You're saying the points are there in order
to. The points they're because they matter to
some people
And Yes. In the way to trick,
like, hobby gamers,
not people like us because we're cool. But,
like, hobby gamers that are little more like,
I don't know. The sn? Yeah. That's. Thank
you. That's what I looking for. Hobby games
is it a little more sn about their
the games they would choose.
They
are less likely to just play a game.
They're the ones that would say this is
a game. This is an activity again because
there's no way to win. There's no points.
Gotcha
you throw a score in to make them
happy.
The score does not matter, except for to
them.
And that's about it. You know, I... I
remember somebody saying, like,
If you're concerned about
who's winning this game, you you're not understanding
the game. Like, you don't get it. Like,
can I thought, Yeah? That feels accurate.
For a lot of party games...
Party games is are especially good 1 because
it it highlights the fuzz of these of
all of these
definitions that I think we could come up
with
probably
4 or 5 ish qualifying
questions or qualities that make something a party
game.
And a lot of them will fail
some of these tests, and we would all
still call it a party game.
So we talked about number of players accepted.
Yeah. High player count. High player count or
plenty of single player count.
Okay high slash flexible. Okay. High slash flexible
player count.
Performance,
I'd say, games where games have a performance
element.
It doesn't have to have a performance. It
certainly it doesn't have to you Yeah Exactly.
But if it does, that's a... It's feels
Probably party adjacent. Probably party adjacent. Yeah.
It's there's there's an element of game weight
that goes
with this. So
that's really a separate thing. You know, whether
a game is complex or not if it's
a party game it really can't be complex.
Correct. Yeah. Yeah.
But
there are more complex games I've played that
I would say, well, that's just a complex
party game. It's a party game except for
the fact that it's complex. What's the example
of that?
Pick,
picked man is... I mean, wouldn't I wouldn't
say it's, like, heavy. But for a party
game, it's heavy.
It's a game. It's 1 of the,
I think it's a Cg of a lot
of, I think, game
that is
is it's multiplayer dictionary. So
you get a list of of words on
the table.
Everyone sees them.
Everyone draws a card secretly that tells them
which of those words they're drawing,
and
everyone draws all at the same time.
And whenever you want to,
you can put slap your guesses down on
everyone else's drawings.
And you decide how to allocate your time,
the earliest person to guess right on each
player gets most points. So If you decide
when you're drawing is good enough, that you
can stop and focus on guessing other peoples.
But if your drawing is bad and one's
gonna guess yours, you're not gonna get points.
The points are
all in... The the scoring rules are all
important to incentivize the right behaviors, but they're
not trivial,
and it's not a game for non gamers
at all. Mh.
But
the
feel of it is hundred percent party game.
Right. That's like code names. So, I mean,
Code names Code. Yeah. I'm look at just
1 party party game. Like, I think I
think it's a party game because it is
a game, like,
To me the most quintessential
definition of a party game is, would you
play it with a gathering of friends,
especially friends who aren't super gamers. Right? Not
how gamers?
And code names is the fringe of that
because Yeah. Like, for me It really only
need 2 people who are good at games
to play code names. Those are the people
who are gonna be your your spy masters
or whatever.
Everyone else can just suck. That's why there's
a team, you know,
Mi code names is decidedly in the non
party game.
So
I mean, I
I think that if there was, like, a
serious party game section.
What would what would you call... What would
you call code games that? I don't know.
It's a word game.
Definitely a word. Oh, see. But it's to
me. It's less of a word game than
most word games because
you're not writing downwards words. You're not... I
don't know. Like, I...
I have an idea.
Is it a social deduction game? Oh we're
d reducing a social setting?
I'll see myself out now. Jason likes so
mad.
Frankly, I like that better than a word
game.
Wow.
Because jamie a word game
is a word as a game where you're
making
or
altering
or doing something like that with words.
Okay. So there are... Wow, these are just
kinda flowing in 1 to the next.
Word games, I would say there are 2
distinct camps of word games.
There are word games. You are the define
on this for sure. There are word games
that are games about
effectively spelling. There are art lithography games.
And there are games about definitions. Is it
is it the the semantics of the words?
Code names is again about meaning. As is
password
as is
scatter.
Those are these are all
these are all word games about meaning as
opposed to
sc
or
Quid. Yep. Or... Letter jam. Letter jam. Qui
we're 1 of the ones that I think
of, like, quintessential word games
Yes. Oh, so I think word games applies
to 2
very different
categories of games.
I...
Yeah. I still think code names is less
about the meanings of the words and more
about how were your friends
like, knowing how your friends connect different concepts.
And knowing if your friends are stupid or
not.
I I am still Robbed because 1 time
in John You remember this, I gave a
clue to Rob that was the single greatest
clue ever given in code names.
The
the 2 words I needed in the guess,
were gold
and spike.
And you can give a proper noun as
a word even if it's multiple words. So
I said promo point Utah.
Is
gucci ultimate.
Till everyone knows
is where the
railroads connected with a golden spike.
You knew that right, Jonathan?
I did not know that, but I maybe
get it from context.
I know the golden bike part. I wouldn't
have known the location.
Rob did not know that. And
and it became a real point of contention.
It's probably why that on the show anymore.
It really it really, you know, for years
was just this, you know,
teething teething rage that Hand underneath. Specific knowledge
is always a problem with code names. I
I had a friend who got really angry
because, no 1 was able to guess
his intended target of Turkey
when he gave the the clue transit.
Because
because there's a ford transit manufacturing plant in
Turkey.
That that is awful.
But so all of this, this sort of
storytelling about the game. Party party.
Right? Well, it's definitely a game that tells
a story.
Yeah. Yep. But... Not a storytelling game, Jonathan,
don't even try. But if you... But if
you
observe a group playing code names.
Though moments of laughter
Mh are going to be rare
between long periods of silence.
I. I... So I used to bring party
games to work from my team to play,
and we wanted the feedback from my 1
of my teammates who loved playing games. She
was like, I hate this game because we
just sit here and stare at each other,
and it's boring.
And Yeah. I will give that code names
is incredibly boring,
sometimes.
So...
So I I will say so every year
a Pax season, I think all the packs
is they do the Omega, which is, like,
a gaming
competition
And so we go and watch most of
it, always the final. And 1 year the
final was
competitive code names,
and it was the worst final to watch.
Right? And there was this whole thing of,
like, our people stalling because it's timed because
it's, like, a live thing.
And so are people stalling and pretending to
think really hard for their full 30 seconds
because they wanna run out the clock for
the next person. Like, it was this it
was silence. Whereas normally, that is, like, rockets
and you're, like, watching people do stupid things
and playing bad pac man or you know,
keep talking and nobody blows up, You know,
any of these games, and then you're, like,
oh, they chose code names.
That's Sounds like a great idea though. Like,
shirt up. Yeah. I get it. But it's...
I also completely understand why it's not. I
mean, 1 of the most fun times I
ever had was that
Gen con playing code names of the group,
the first time when... The first year came
out.
And we just had a table and in
1 of the big halls where you can...
Out, like, you know, open gate... Well. Chen
kinda doesn't have open gaming. It was a
table we took that no 1 was using,
and people just kept walking up and joining
a team and then, like, leaving, and that
was fun. Because no 1 knew what was
going on.
And it was just kind of silly, but
we had a great time.
Yeah. Yeah. But III
have not played code names in a while
and I get it because it is
it is a lot of sitting around in
silence.
So
is our Trivia games party games?
No. They're Trivia games, Jonathan. It's in the
name.
Trivia game, I think our trivia again a
subset. I don't know, I think they I
think Trivia games are a subset of party
games. I think they're usually a subset. Yeah.
That's like, you know,
the storytelling or the...
The apples to apples is a whole genre
in itself. And most of it is garbage
but some of it is good.
Clearly part of games. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's
really party games. I... I mean,
unfortunately, I think the game that, you know,
apples apples was a success. But, I mean,
we all know that it was cards humanity
that really blew that genre up. But unfortunately,
I also think they're the ones that took
it down too. Right?
They were the peak of it.
And then they just dragged down into the
dirt,
and, you know, because everyone wanted to copy
that. Right? Like copying apples to apples is
1 thing, copying
dirty apples to apples or mean apples to
apples
over and over and over again. That just
gets tiring by a third game. Right? Know
it's like, season 47 of the walking dead,
like, zombies are still popular, but everyone is
just like, come on. Maybe you might have
just been me. But
So
similarly, since we're talking about what genres might
live under party games. Right? I can't think
of a trivia game that I wouldn't put
under party games, but I'm curious
your thoughts on social deduction, and whether that
lives under party games. Like, are all social
deduction games, party games?
I don't think I don't think so.
No. I I think.
Not
the 1 that's not a party game. Yeah.
No.
I don't know, Jonathan name 1.
I don't tend to gravitate toward them, so
this is a little h harder for me.
Let's I'm starting starting with the obvious ones
of
guess who resistance? Like, resistance. So
like think of
the resistance
compared to werewolf.
Werewolf is solidly partying game to me. Mh.
Mh The resistance,
I would say less so on this continuum.
Still probably more party game than not.
Right.
But it's starting to be more
deduction and less social. You know, those those
both those 2 aspects aren't.
I feel like party game should stress you
out. Because you're embarrassed to make a fool
of yourself.
And the resistance stresses you out at least
me because I just... It was just it
was a lot happening.
Like, then... I it was
people were dying, but
the... Let's see.
The...
There there are games that especially if they
crossover over
between
between genres get fuzz even even there.
So
let's see.
For example,
Tanner Simmons game inside job is a social
deduction game. It's also a trick taking game.
It is definitely not a party game. Agreed.
Yeah. Agreed. Okay. I think here's the best
way I could describe it by title.
These are both social deduction games
that I just made up off top my
head. I'm gonna pitch them, but these are
the titles of these 2 social exchange. You're
not going to pitch them together there. I
have our list already. Okay.
Covert ops, to me sounds like a social
deduction game.
Covert mop
sounds like a party game.
And you'd like to fit back. That sounds
great.
I do kinda of wanna make a game
with a lot of pictures. Like, is that
a mop? Is it is it a motto
or a no? Is it something else? I
was just picturing him mop in a Fedora.
Yeah. It in a trench coat, unlock trench
coat in Dora with sunglasses.
Yep. Covert mop.
Now I really... I'm not gonna... I really
wanna make that game.
Yeah. So I mean, I... So I brought
up this specific combination because I was at
a play test of last week, I think.
And someone brought a very fun game
that they described to us in the sort
of, you know, give 1 sentence on your
game before we all break out as a
social deduction game and our advice to that
designer was when you go pitch this, which
you should pitch because it's a fabulous game,
you should pitch it as a party game.
A party game that uses social deduction as
opposed to a social deduction game because I
think it's gonna get you the wrong
Mh.
Attention. Right. And it... Which it it fact
very clearly party. Which goes back to the
core of why we're having this conversation because
it doesn't matter if you're right.
It matters. Yeah. What how other people will
react to the term? Right. Yeah. What are
the connotation of that? If people if people
hear party game, they
they think of... They don't think about the
mechanisms that make something a part of a
game. They think about the atmosphere in which
you're playing the game. Mh. Yep.
Yep. Alright. I think that's probably good for
now our
definition games part. We have so many more
for next time. And we'll think of games
that Jonathan neglected to put on the list.
Because it's hard to find good help these
days.
And yeah...
So okay. So we're gonna do the same
thing last time where I
went to chad Gp and asked it to
create
names of games. It's gotta list of 10.
I'm gonna read them, and then y'all can
pick 1 and then pitch that.
So...
But I wanna tell you the process I
with through. I'm only gonna read you the
last version of the names.
But so we kept adding more game type.
So I said, create intentionally bad names for
a complex war game that combines work replacement,
action selection, and Coin, which it's called counter
on its own, mechanics,
do that for me. Right?
So it did.
And then I said... And then somebody was
like, but it's gotta be a party. So
I said, great. Take that list give it
a subtitle
that tells me it's a party game.
And
And then we started talking about word games
real quick. So I said... Now add a
second subtitle that makes it a word game
as well.
So okay. Here are the games. And 2
of these names are gonna make Emily laugh
a lot.
Number 1.
Tea party tactics,
the most civilized warfare ever a battle of
words.
Number 2.
Board at the Barracks. Game night gone wrong,
phrase warfare.
Okay okay. No. Number 3, knit and conquest.
Yarn for victory. Stitch and spell.
Number 4, suburban struggles,
a erased, h hoa showdown extra letter blitz.
Oh, this is funny, because this actually is
a game on number 5 Picnic Panic,
ants, allies and Anarchy. Word picnic.
Garden No Gorillas, gorillas as in gorilla Warfare,
lawn order mayhem,
No culture,
No nomenclature clutch.
But it did as no.
Like it did. Yeah. It did
nomenclature do.
Yeah.
Wow.
Laundry line
liberation, sox, and sabotage,
word wash out.
Bureaucracy accuracy battles,
paperwork party pin,
lexi ledger,
Mundane Militia, the neighborhood watch game, sent in
siege.
And finally, cubicle conflict, office prank and Power
plays, office word play.
I will reread any ones that you remember
as sounding funny too. I am drawn
first to cubicle conflict,
laundry
liberation
and the
knit 1.
Knit it conflict.
Get it knit in whatever that was called.
I'm in for those although I would add
suburban struggle to the list just because I
grew up in the suburbs. I'm I'm open
to that.
When I when I heard... I actually... I
heard the word suburban and tuned out immediately
because it felt like every other every other
board game, but I think you could probably
do an interesting take on it. Okay. Wait.
So we had the suburban struggle we had.
What was the knit 1?
Knit and conquest yarn for victory, stitch and
spell.
Okay. And then over the other 2? Cubicle
something?
Cubicle conflict, office springs and power plays, office
word play, and laundry line liberation, sox spies
and sabotage word wash out.
Has there been any any games you can
think of about laundry lines like that like,
you're drying your drying your laundry. Covert mop
is close. Mh but that's probably the closest
button better.
I don't know. Cubicle. How do you think
Cubicle? Cubicle is great.
Alright. Read read that title again?
Cubicle conflict, office prank and power plays, office
word play.
Office
play power plays.
Okay.
And you're challenging us here, Jason to incorporate,
like, 6
genres in 1
Well, I mean, that is what the name
implies. So
All the information is on the task, Jonathan.
Alright.
Have you worked in a cubicle, Jonathan?
I do work... Well, I work in a
semi cubicle, low wall cubicle. Yeah. Yeah.
Alright. So cubicle prank. I'm just gonna start
from what I know. Right? So there's the
leg wrap everyone's stuff in wrapping paper. There's
the, like, fill it with balloons.
There's the, like,
steal their stuffed animal that's on the
on the wall or whatever
there's... But there were something about letters in
their word play. So what if it's like,
writing messages on, like, their whiteboard
or on there, You know, how I can
like, pin stuff into this the the
the fabric sides of their cubicle wall. Right?
So maybe you're writing, like,
dirty messages or mean messages or something.
On people's walls.
Yeah. So
it is
hard, but not impossible to combine
word games with other things because, you know...
Like, how are the words
Are we talking about
words being used again? Are we are we
gonna do the the spelling side of things
or the meeting side of things? The advantage...
The spelling side of things is easier to
have
kind of
yeah, just like, a more objective scoring criteria.
Yeah. When you go with meeting, it's either
you're either doing judging or you're doing some
sort of guessing
usually. Yeah.
Let's let's do spelling because that feels easier
to
to roll my that around right now. It
could be
if if we're just gonna try to incorporate
that in some way, it could be, like,
cards or tiles that have
letters or fragments of words or even whole
words that
that have points when chain together in certain
ways.
Yeah.
That's
that's nice way to incorporate that kind of
thing.
Yeah. Of course, there's always, like, the little,
like, poem tiles, which now we're getting it
to meaning.
Yeah, you know, like, the fridge... The fridge
poem tiles. Yeah. Alright. So let's tell the
story of the game. Who who are we
and what are we doing? And then we
can figure out how we
making that into a game.
Oh, okay. So we work in cubicle. Right?
I think that's where
whatever.
Engineers, office workers,
and
we are trying to be... I mean, we're
trying to be crowned, you know? Are we
trying are we trying to pass a time
and get through a boring job? Are we
trying to achieve success at the job? What
what is our motivation you think? I was
thinking we were trying to get named, like,
class clown or something like that.
Yeah.
Maybe while don't know if it's well not
getting caught by the boss. Right? But there's
something about,
you know, you wanna be... You wanna be
really good at prank.
And also not getting trouble for it.
Okay.
Alright. Cool. So...
Because the so the power plays thing does
it isn't as strong probably there, but
I think it's a good canvas to work
on. So so Power plays were war game,
what if we're different departments?
In Cubicle. Right? And so our war game
is we are trying to control the most
cubicle
because that makes our department stronger.
And we do this through prank.
Okay? Okay?
Maybe... Maybe,
you're trying to get...
Okay. So
you're pulling the prank on
the
boring people in the office that you want...
Do you want them to request transfers out
other departments so that your friends can sit
in the places next to you. There we
go.
So we've got, like... So we're office bullies.
I like. So we're we're... Yeah. So so
we're are starting... This could be a
geographically based game. You got a board with
all the cubicle in the cubicle farm, and
we're starting in different places and kinda growing
out from there as we.
Yes.
Yeah. Love it. And so, like, I'm marketing
and your
I don't, engineering. Right? Whatever it is. Right?
Yeah. But.
Quality, your quality and I'm marketing let's yeah.
Okay. Yes. So
the things that you can play
then
you have a... You'll have a target, and
you... We could do maybe some kind of
your area control
or something like that for for claiming, basically
claiming territory
mechanically. But Mh. Them,
irritating this person.
Yes. And so I think I think you
play
prank. Right? So there's gotta be a series
of, like, escalating prank. Where, like, 1 is,
like, you misplaced their pens. Right? And 2
is, like, you coat everything in tin foil.
Right? Whatever it is that you... So, like,
you have to choose the strength
of your prank.
And then
maybe there's something
where, like, Can you how do you defend?
Can you, like, fortify your team
with, like,
inspiring notes on the fridge?
I don't know. I'm trying to bring words
back into it. Well, maybe you don't defend.
Maybe this is A race to claim
the neutral
stuff. Yep. And moment.
The the spatial aspect comes in because it's
a cube farm, so you're gonna have a
certain number of neighbors and the more of
those neighbors are you, the easier it is
for you to team up, like, quote, team
up with yourself. And And. And from different
angles, you're doing different
different little
Json on this person.
Yeah. So
I like it. I like it. Sorry Go
ahead. What you're gonna say? Yeah. So, like,
maybe a turn is your clearing a target
and
based on the
geography of the office
that affects what you do to try to
turn it. Yeah. So so we had work
replacement in there. So you've got your little
army of office
minions. Right? And so presumably,
you know, you place a person to say
which cubicle you're targeting. Right? That's how you
target.
And maybe there are some supply spaces where,
like you go to get
tape and
tin foil or wrapping paper, Whatever it is
your using balloons. Right?
So we've got some work replacement in, like,
how many people do you want executing the
prank
versus getting the supplies for the prank because
presumably a more ornate
prank will take more people to do it,
whereas you could send lots of people to
like, steal pens from lots of cubes,
So we have cards that describe the various
things that have
have needed
criteria.
Yeah. And you can only execute those
Maybe you don't even even get the stuff.
You can only execute those things if you
have your workers on all of those spots
when it comes time. So... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
We're all placing our stuff, and then that
becomes the menu of which cards
can be activated that turn.
Yeah. And so you could
defensive
block someone by going to the tape closet.
Right? So they can't do their frank that
involved tape, but then they can pivot
to something else
that involves some of the same things. Yeah.
And we could have a a card draft
of some sort where you are
the inspiration. So Where you somehow have control
over do I go for the
I'm just going to
stick a bunch of post notes on their
monitor, and all I need is post it
notes. Yep. Or I can do the more
elaborate crank that requires me to have drawn
on all of them with different colors of
markers or whatever. And I'm risking not
not having all those things when I want
to do it?
Yes. Yes. So there can be... Yeah. Either
you pivot to a different card or each
card could have, like, a
set of upgrades or downgrade grades. Right? The
the holy grail of this 1 is, you
know, x y and z. But if you
can only do x, here's here's what it
does.
Alright. So cubicle conflict is a game of
office prank and Power,
in which
you
try to get
inspiration by,
for for
the most elaborate prank to play on your
cubicle neighbors in order to
get them to move out and have your
friends take their place.
And you're gonna do this by
getting inspired for these prank and then
preparing to do them by
sending
your
colleagues your colleagues. Yeah. Yeah.
2
2 various places in the office to the
kitchen and into the supply closet into the
printer into the copy machine
to get the things that they need. But
while you're doing so, Everyone else is trying
to do the same thing and getting in
your way.
Mh. Mh.
Yeah.
And then yeah. And then based on
how many desks you turned
you might be getting some points or you
might toward victory or you might just be
getting more colleagues that can help you get
stuff next time.
Yeah.
Yep.
Yeah. And I think you can also leave
passive aggressive notes on places, and that absolutely
to somehow, and that's how we make it
a work game. How would that?
It helps... You put them on the fridge,
You put them on
and then it helps you make it a
word game. Oh, totally the the prank could
be on the things that were you're getting
supplies.
Yes. There you go. So you you demo
them by putting passive aggressive notes on the
printer.
So rather than getting territory by getting another
cubicle and another worker that I can use
next time.
Maybe I spend my time
making the
the printer or print everything upside down or
something like that. And yes. And then no
1 can use that 1 next time or
something. Yes.
There we go. That's good. That's good. This
is good.
Would you sign it, Jason? I definitely sign
it to my company that doesn't exist for
publishing big crazy party word games that Follow
Covid games. Yeah. Yeah.
Well,
yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So
this was another fun time to defining things.
I enjoyed it. I look forward to doing
it again.
And the not too distant in future, later
this year. I am sure we will do
this again.
Yeah. So Jonathan,
how can people get in touch with you
if they would choose to do so for
some reason? Go to the chapters dot com
slash news. And there are links there to
either join my discord or sign up for
my mailing list where I sent out
a pack of free puzzles every month.
And I will still plug that Jonathan mailing
thing is the only thing I actually read
most of the time with the mailing I
get. So
I don't do the all the games and
stuff in there, but I do of them
and I enjoy it. So
Emily.
Yeah.
So you can find me on my website
ping hawk games dot com.
That's my handle on Instagram as well or
on discord. I'm Emily keeps kitties. But I
know this is coming out right before Gen
con. If you're at Gen con, come find
me at the flat out booth,
booth number 04:03,
and check out the giant poster of knit
circle and also the game. That will be
there, and we're gonna die. Awesome.
Awesome. Well, hey, if you wanna get touch
with the podcast, you can go building game
podcast dot com or you can email us
a building a podcast at gmail dot com.
At the website, you will find a link
to the discord, which is the best place
you can go. Our weekly meetups are
lit,
fire, whatever it can say,
Skip toilet r. I don't know.
Oh, what ads. I'm pretty sure it's bad.
Because I think you say skip toilet r
Ohio maybe.
Which all sound like bad things to me.
Anyways,
yeah. You can keep coming back every single
week. And until next time, good night. Good
night. Tonight building the game, building the game,
which is france which jason france, building the
game, building a game. Which jason and france?
Which jason?
End not the episode. That's The?