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Join us as we talk about randomness in gaming — or, to quote a certain Despicable Me nemesis: “Unpredictable! Oh Yeah!” We talk about what level of randomness we’re OK with in board games, why randomness is a useful tool for game designers, and specific ways that dice and card randomness can be done well. Things wrap up with our usual recent plays. Show notes and mentioned games after the break.
00:17 – Introduction
01:14 – Why do we have randomness in board games?
- Mentioned games: Sheriff of Nottingham, Dixit, Samurai (our review), Skull, Russian Railroads, Puerto Rico, Tammany Hall (our review), Trouble
10:52 – Why is randomness a useful tool for game designers?
19:37 – Randomness with Dice (our good and bad examples)
- Mentioned games: Axis and Allies (good), Risk Europe, Lords of Vegas (good), Castles of Burgundy (good), Quantum (good), Feast for Odin (bad), Summoner Wars, Settlers of Catan, Mage Wars Arena, Escape: the Curse of the Temple, Beeeees!
33:29 – Randomness with Cards (our good and bad examples)
- Mentioned games: Arctic Scavengers (good), Star Realms (bad), Lord of the Rings Deck-Building Game (bad), Clank! (good), Onirim (good), Kingdom Builder (good. yup, I said good!), CODEX (good), Android: Netrunner, Doomtown: Reloaded, Smash Up (good), Aeon’s End, Thebes (bad), Eclipse (good), Hold the Line (bad), Memoir ’44 (bad)
49:27 – Recent Plays
- Andrew: Matryoshka, Safranito
- Tim: Dixit, Bastion
55:56 – Wrapping Up