Mechanics Exercise Infosheet With Games
Mechanics Exercise Infosheet With Games
Each kind of material includes a basic suggestion for a starting point and several possible uses of that material in a game. You do not have
to pick one of these uses. Feel free to mix and match, make up new mechanics, and take ideas from other materials too!
• Roll to do something. The die number is how far you move or how well you succeed at something.
• Roll and choose a die. Roll a few dice but only choose one of them as your action.
• Sort. After you roll them, sorting them into groups or an order depending on what you rolled.
• Assign dice. Roll dice, then choose how to use the number on each one in different ways.
• Match. Try to get particular combinations of results on multiple dice.
• Poker style. Roll a handful of dice, then choose to roll some or all of them a second time.
• Real-time rolling. Rolling the dice as quickly as possible to try and get a particular result.
• Dice as units. Dice can be pieces on a board or map.
• Information storage. The number currently facing up can be used to store information.
• Design a hand of dice. Before the game or between rounds, strategically choose which dice to roll.
• Replace the faces. Instead of pips, change the faces into icons or other non-numeric elements.
• Hidden dice. You keep the results of your die rolls secret.
• Instead of keeping score. Your pile of tokens is how close you are to victory.
• Different kinds of tokens. The size or color determines how they are used in the game.
• Collecting sets. Try to corner the market on one color type. Or collect Poker-style matches.
• Tokens as units. Tokens are your soldiers. Or pets. Or words in a conversation.
• Bag them. Put all the tokens in a cloth bag and pull out a few each turn.
• Secret tokens. Keep your tokens hidden from other players.
• Tokens as money. Use them to buy things, bid for other items, or just amass your wealth.
• Blind bidding. Each player selects tokens to bid each round without knowing other players’ bids.
• Physical actions. Depending on the tokens, they can be tossed, flicked, or stacked.
• Different shapes. Tiles do not need to be square! They can be hexagonal, round, irregular...
• Multiple shapes. Lots of different shapes, each shape with a unique game meaning.
• Arrange into larger shapes. As with Tangrams, build a larger object out of tiles.
• Shuffle and turn over. Tile have different information on the back. You turn over one each round.
• Arrange in front of you. Keep your tiles to make sets or words or patterns.
• Stack them vertically. Your tiles become a pile. Perhaps the order of the stack is important!
• Make a board. Each tile becomes part of a larger game board or space.
• Physical actions. Tiles can be great as pucks or other things to shoot and flick.
STRUCTURAL MECHANICS
The first game listed after each mechanic is required – you MUST play it. Other listed games are optional, recommended games.
VICTORY POINTS
Splendor, Ticket to Ride, Tokaido, Roll Through the Ages, Settlers of Catan, Lords of Waterdeep, King Domino
• Players get points during the game in some way.
• Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins.
• There can be other kinds of points or currency, but “victory points” determines the winner.
• Tip: Give players multiple ways to earn victory points. Can you create different approaches to victory?
A TICKING CLOCK
Forbidden Island/Desert, Pandemic, Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Heads Up, Clank, Boggle, Fortress
• Something moves the game steadily towards a conclusion.
• Are there ways for players to pause or even reverse the clock?
• What happens when it reaches zero?
• Suggestion: DON’T make the clock an actual real-time clock. Make it tick down once per turn or round.
SHARED OWNERSHIP
Hanabi, Dvonn, Zertz, Colossal Arena, Cheating Mages, El Grande, Tiny Epic Kingdoms, Acquire
• The main units or elements in the game are not owned or controlled by a specific player.
• That means anyone can jump in and take charge of them when it is their turn to play.
• The key is making sure that things still can advance towards an endstate.
• For example, make sure that it is not easy to just “undo” what another player just did.
MODULAR UNITS
Quantum, Galaxy Trucker, Dominion, Checkers (“kinging” a piece), Tiny Epic Quests
• Simpler parts combine into more complex wholes.
• How do they fit together and what do you do with them?
• How different can you make the final combinations of parts?
• Tip: This can quickly get overcomplicated! Start with a simple system and a handful of elements to combine.
REPEATING SHORT ROUNDS
Zombie Dice, 7 Wonders, Dixit, Resistance, Codenames, Skull
• The game plays from start to finish in a minute or less.
• But then I players get to prepare in some way before the next round starts.
• Are players accumulating something between rounds?
• Are they making decisions about their setup for the next round? Or somehow improving their position?
RANDOMIZED FIELD OF PLAY
Labyrinth, Forbidden Island/Desert, Settlers of Catan, Set, Five Tribes
• When the game starts, some or all of the board, terrain, or starting conditions are randomized.
• Ideally, each game feels very different. Different starting combinations lead to different kinds of games.
• Make sure that no one player gets a big advantage due to random luck.
• Suggestion: make your game short so that you have time to playtest lots of different permutations.
MOST IN A REGION
Carcossone, El Grande, Tigris and Euphrates, Stone Age, Diplomacy, Kemet
• Players take turns putting a resource into a region or category.
• At certain intervals, if you have the most in a region, you score or capture that region.
• What does it means when you have the most (or maybe the least?) in a region?
• Tips: Pay close attention to player order and rotation. Build in multiple paths to victory.
REAL-TIME PLAY
Magic Maze, Falling, Space Alert, Galaxy Trucker, Set, Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Pit Crew, Space Cadets Dice Duel
• Players do not take turns. They take actions (or choose to wait) whenever they want.
• Build in constraints on player action, such as using only one hand, or acting once per round.
• Avoid full-body sports or overly chaotic play.
• The challenge here is to make a game that is still focused and strategic.
BUILD A NETWORK
Waterworks, Burrows, Ant Trails, Ticket to Ride, Power Grid, Tsuro, Twixt
• Tiles or cards or board elements are used to create interlocking paths / pipes / roads / etc.
• It can be a single common network or players can each have their own they are building.
• Perhaps players travel along the network. Or try to build the longest or biggest network.
• How do you win? By getting rid of your network elements? Or building up to a particular size?