Board Game Analysis: Notes

Some positives I found in Pandemic, Catan, Munchkin and Yu-Gi-Oh are as follows:

-Clearly defined game phases; players know when it is their turn, what the stages of that turn are, whose turn it is and what phase it is. For example, in pandemic, each player has 3 phases to their turn: the first phase, in which they have four moves, with which they can use their pawn, their role and their cards in hand to perform various normal or special actions; the draw phase, in which they draw 2 cards and execute any epidemic cards they may have drawn; and the infection phase, in which they draw an infection card and place an appropriately colored cube on the location listed on the card.

-Clearly defined actions; players know what they can do, what actions they can take, and what those actions accomplish. For example, in pandemic, players have an action card, detailing each action they can take, and a role card detailing a special action only they can perform, making it easier to decide what to do on your turn.

-Class/role cards; having special roles that differ from other players increases player engagement and playstyle diversity, which in turn increases replayability. For example, in pandemic, players each choose a role at the start of the game that allows them to perform a special action only they can perform, differentiating each player from one another and allowing them to complete certain goals faster than other players, encouraging cooperation and strategy.

-Cards; information is more digestible when put on a card. For example, each card in munchkins has all relevant information displayed on the card, including level, effects, treasures, and negatives of failing to escape, making each card far more digestible.

-Co-operative or competitive; when players can help or harm each other, this drives engagement and encourages diverse play styles. For example, in munchkin, players can use cards to help other players and harm monsters, or can sabotage other players and steal their things, leading to different players playing the game differently.

-Choice of difficulty; different variations of the game rules that adjust the difficulty allow players to play at their own skill level can greatly increase player enjoyment. For example, Pandemic has 3 different difficulty ratings, allowing beginners the ability to learn the ropes without significant challenge, while offering more difficult modes for more experienced players.

-Clearly marked board; a board that is easily read, often with bright colors, makes it easier to understand the game state at a glance. Pandemic does this by marking each part of the board with colors responding to their native diseases, and using colored blocks to measure the diseases, as well as colorful counters to note meters and gauges that players should be aware of.

-Choice of action; players are more engaged when what they do on their turn is decided by them, rather than by luck. This can be displayed by deck-building behaviors in Yu-Gi-Oh. In Yu-Gi-Oh, there is an event known as "bricking" when a player draws a hand that they cannot meaningfully use. However, players avoid this by building consistent decks, with multiple copies of the cards they want to draw, resulting in less randomness and more choice.

-"Our turn"; the ability for all players to play to a certain capacity, even when it is not their turn, drives engagement, as players are never in a state where they cannot play. For example, in munchkin, players can play cards on each other's turns, and join each other's battles, either on the player's side, or the monster's.

Negatives I noticed included:

-Too short; a game that is too easy or ends too quickly will not be engaging. for example, pandemic was incredibly short when played on beginner mode, the game was rather easy and incredibly short, in a way that was rather dissatisfying for all players.

-Too long; a game that is too long or too difficult will make players feel bored or stressed. For example, Some turns in Yu-Gi-Oh will take upwards of 15 minutes, even through interruptions, leading to significant player frustration as they sit and watch as their opponent essentially plays the game with themselves for a quarter of an hour.

-Complicated/long setup; if a game takes too long to set up, players may abandon the game before it has even started. for example, we never ended up playing Catan. the setup took long enough that we no longer wanted to play by the time we were half way through setup.

-Floodgates Bad; game pieces that prevent opponents from playing the game in a significant way are not fun. For example, in Yu-Gi-Oh, cards like dimensional barrier, droll & lockbird, and skill drain can completely prevent opponents using certain strategies/decks from playing, which detracts from the fun of the game.