Making Board Games More Complicated

Speaking of more complicated kinds of games, back when I was a wee lad, I had
always dreamed of finding a board game that was just a bit more fascinating and
engrossing than those typically available. Something like this:

The way movement takes place in the game, to the extent that this is not obvious
from the board, is as follows:

On the outer periphery of the board, movement is clockwise, and players throw
two dice to determine the number of spaces to advance on each turn. This also
applies to the large circle inside the board.

There are eight arrowed spaces on the outer periphery of the board that lead the
player inside the board. When a player lands on one of these, on the next turn, he
uses only one die to advance in the direction of the arrow.
Four of those arrowed spaces lead players on short side trips, on curved paths
that avoid the four corners on the board. Note that one of these paths skips the
square with a light green arrow in the lower left corner of the board as shown;
this is the square which grants players their normal salary when they pass it, and
this salary is missed when it is bypassed with the side trip. The side trip paths are
circular, and note that movement on them, although clockwise relative to the
center of the board as a whole, is counter-clockwise relative to the centers of the
circles of which those paths would form a part.

Arrow squares inside the board also change the direction of a player's movement
as well. The ones that cause the player to move to the large circle also lead to
using two dice for each move, instead of one die, once more.

When a player lands on one of the four arrowed spaces in the middle of one of
the sides of the outer periphery of the board, the normal course of events is that
the player will advance to the small circle in the center of the board, there to
remain for a short time until landing on one of the four arrowed squares in that
circle, and then to proceed on a diagonal path which then brings the player to the
second half of one of the four side trips in the corners of the board.

However, on the way in, the player has one chance to land on an arrowed square
by means of which he can enter the large circle within the board. As well, on
three of the four diagonal paths heading outwards, the player has one arrowed
square which forms a second chance to enter the large circle. On the fourth one,
the arrow points along the diagonal path instead, and that arrowed square is the
one by which players moving along the large circle are returned to the outer
periphery of the board.

Note that there are four stacks of cards that bring surprise events when landing on
the colored squares which cause a player to draw one of those cards. Squares for
drawing the blue cards are present both on the outer periphery of the board and
on the large circle within the board. The yellow cards belong to the outer
periphery of the board only, and the green cards belong to the large circle within
the board only. The orange cards are available only within the first half of the
four side trips on the board.

It is intended that the outer periphery of the board is the main play area where
players start building their fortunes. The large circle is an attractive place to be,
where players can earn money more quickly, but the stakes are also higher there,
and it is generally only advantageous to be there once a player has already
accumulated more money than he started with in the other parts of the board.
Note that this circle does not contain a salary square which provides the player
with a certain amount of money when it is passed. The side trips in the corner
provide players with the chance to accumulate valuable prizes, including the
orange cards, many of which, perhaps about a third, are kept after being drawn,
and allow the player to choose his next move instead of rolling the dice.

The problem with a game structured that way, of course, is that, particularly
when there are two players, the game would threaten to become less interesting
and unbalanced while one player is on the outer periphery and the other is in the
large circle within the board.

Note that when a player is sent to jail, the jail being located in the very center of
the board, he exits by the one diagonal path that doesn't provide the chance to
start moving along the large circle within the board, and also ends up on the side
trip path whose exit is the farthest one from the annual salary square.

Or similar principles might be applied to a somewhat more elaborate game board:

Here, the striking diagonal square is relatively difficult to reach while the large
circle within the board is only moderately difficult to enter. The central circle
performs the same function as before, but this time with two entrances and two
exits instead of four entrances and four exits.

Two squares on the main board lead to entering the large circle, and four lead to
entering corner paths.

On two of the four corner paths, and on one space on the large circle, are squares
which set the player on the two paths to the center circle. On these paths, there is
the opportunity to enter the diagonal square in the center.

There are two paths back out from the center circle; one of these gives a second
chance to enter the diagonal square; the other one, which is the road a player
takes when leaving jail, does not. That path allows no side turnings, and is
instead the path by which a player would leave the diagonal square, and one of
the paths by which a player would leave the large circle. It leads into the corner
path through which a player would miss the salary square on the main board.

Finally, to go even further, perhaps one might design a hexagonal game board
with the following structure:

One red hexagon surrounded by three blue and three green ones takes this
principle to a large enough scale. Movement within each hexagon is clockwise,
as the arrows at the various types of intersection squares or triangles indicates.

Simulating the Stock Market

Many different games based on different principles have been devised for play
with a theme based on stock market trading. One of the reasons for this is that
none of the existing principles is fully satisfactory.

Two of the principles that have been used in such games, I feel, could be
combined to make a more realistic stock market game. But the problem with that
is that the result is, I fear, too complicated.

A set of tracks, giving the value of each of, say, six stocks might have to the left
of it a table like the following:
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
----------------------------
100 144 192 240 288 336 384 [SPLIT]
92 138 184 230 276 322 368 (slow)
88 132 176 220 264 308 352 [SPLIT]
84 126 168 210 252 294 336 (slow)
80 120 160 200 240 280 320 [SPLIT]
76 114 152 190 228 266 304
...
44 66 88 110 132 154 176
40 60 80 100 120 140 160
36 54 72 90 108 126 144
...
20 30 40 50 60 70 80
16 24 32 40 48 56 64
12 18 24 30 36 42 48 (slow)
8 12 16 20 24 28 32 (slow)
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 (slow)

Given some arrangement of dice that selects a stock to move up or down, and
indicates that it will move up or down 1, 2, 3, or 4 steps, indicating some lines on
the scale as (slow), meaning that stocks move up or down only one step, instead
of the number of steps indicated, when starting from those lines, means that
having one end of the scale where stocks become worthless, and another end
where, to keep the length of the scale reasonable, each share is replaced by two
shares of half the value, no longer means that there are situations where a stock
can go down only one step, or up only one step, but several steps in the other
direction.

Making the vertical scale a completely dead-even proposition, however, is not in

itself an improvement.

But adding the horizontal scale now lends a significant dimension of skill to the
game.

The number heading each column of numbers is a multiplier.

The multiplier is limited to the fixed range of values from 2 to 8, and can't go off
the ends of that range. 5 would represent normal economic times, 3 would
represent a bust, and 7 would represent a boom.

In addition to causing the values of all the stocks to change suddenly, because the
range is strictly limited, all the values of the multiplier are not equal. While
motion of an individual stock vertically is inherently even-handed, with a stock,
whether it is high or low, still being equally liable to move up or down, if the
multiplier is low, someday it can be expected to move up; if the multiplier is
high, someday it can be expected to move down.

So it would be trivially obvious to always buy stocks when the multiplier is low,
and always sell when the multiplier is high.

If one balances that with making stocks less likely to move up, and more likely to
move down, when the multiplier is low, and more likely to move up, and less
likely to move down, when it is high, and also making dividends more likely
when the multiplier is high, then two conflicting factors are present.

The balance between them would depend on how frequently the multiplier
changes, compared to the greater frequency of vertical movement (presumably,
one stock would move vertically, or pay a dividend, on every, or nearly every,
turn). This could vary during a game, depending, for example, on how many
cards calling for a multiplier change are drawn from a deck of cards calling for
random events, or whether any players on a gameboard are near a space that calls
for a multiplier change.
The vertical motion gives individual stocks individual changing values, and it can
be controlled so as to counterbalance the horizontal motion of the multiplier. This
would afford the opportunity for subtle and complex strategies to improve one's
chance to profit.

As I've noted, I was thinking in terms of this stock market as being part of a more
conventional game, in which players move their pieces around a track, and on
some spaces, draw cards telling them to win or pay money and move ahead or
back and so on. If the board is large enough, players might roll three dice to
move.

If so, even with 6 different stocks (let's just call them A, B, C, D, E, and F) if
each roll of the dice was looked up on a chart like that above, perhaps before the
total is also used by the player to move, there would be enough possibilities to
offer a range of vertical movement:
111 - A div 5 112 - A -3 113 - A -2 114 - A div 2 115 - A +2
116 - A +3
222 - B div 5 122 - B -3 223 - B -2 224 - B div 2 225 - B +2
226 - B +3
333 - C div 5 133 - C -3 233 - C -2 334 - C div 2 335 - C +2
336 - C +3
444 - D div 5 144 - D -3 244 - D -2 344 - D div 2 445 - D +2
446 - D +3
555 - E div 5 155 - E -3 255 - E -2 355 - E div 2 455 - E +2
556 - E +3
666 - F div 5 166 - F -3 266 - F -2 366 - F div 2 466 - F +2
566 - F +3

124 - A -1 234 - A div 1 125 - A +1

134 - B -1 126 - B div 1 135 - B +1
235 - C -1 136 - C div 1 145 - C +1
245 - D -1 146 - D div 1 236 - D +1
346 - E -1 156 - E div 1 246 - E +1
356 - F -1 345 - F div 1 256 - F +1

with the two remaining possibilities, 123 and 456, calling for changes of the
multiplier; 123 might call for a new multiplier to be chosen at random, while 456
would call for its value to take one step up or down.

One way a random change in the multiplier might be achieved is to have,

somewhere inside the main area of the game board, a small circular track with
different multiplier numbers on it, with a piece that would be advanced by the
roll of dice when a random change is desired.
The multiplier step change would involve rolling a single die, reducing the
multiplier by 1 if 1, 2, or 3 is rolled, and increasing it by 1 if 4, 5, or 6 is rolled,
and advancing the piece to the next space with that number on it.

The distribution of numbers on the track should be somewhat like a normal

distribution. For example, there might be 36 numbers along the track, in the
following distribution:
2) 3
3) 4
4) 7
5) 8
6) 7
7) 4
8) 3

perhaps in the following sequence:

2 6 5 3 6 4 8 5 6 7 5 4 2 6 3 5 7 4 8 6 5 3 4 5 2 6 4 7 5 4 8 4 3 5 7 6

But this would seem to be certainly far too complicated, requiring players to look
up the meaning of a roll of three dice at every move.

A simplification would be to have players, when rolling three dice to move, also
roll one special die to indicate the stock to be affected. Then, at least when the
multiplier is at 5, the significance of the total of the three dice would be:
3 div 5 11 up 1
4 div 2 12 up 2
5 multiplier random 13 up 3
6 div 1 14 up 4
7 down 4 15 div 1
8 down 3 16 multiplier step
9 down 2 17 div 2
10 down 1 18 div 5

Some additional complications, however, would be nice for adding to the realism
of the stock market simulation, even though what has been described already
seems to be beyond the practical level of complication available in a board game.
(And, what is worse, hiding the complication by using a computer would mean
that the multiplier and the vertical position of a stock wouldn't be visible
separately, thus preventing this scheme from having its benefit of permitting
more sophisticated strategy; thus this obvious option for dealing with complexity
seems to be at least limited in its applicability.)
The first such complication would be to reduce the predictablity of the
multiplier's return to its other possible values by requiring three dice to be rolled
after every change of the multiplier, to indicate stocks the value of which is
unaffected, or nearly so, by the change in the value of the multiplier.

Each number from 1 to 6 on the die would correspond to one of the six stocks. If
all three dice roll the same number, only one stock is unaffected; if all three dice
roll different numbers, all three stocks indicated are unaffected. When two dice
show the same number, and the remaining die shows a different number, the
stock indicated by the two dice is unaffected, and the stock indicated by the
remaining die has the effect of the change of multiplier reduced to half its value.

This is achieved through vertical movement of the stock, which follows the
change of the multiplier, but which is part of a single move, and takes place
before any further stock trading is allowed.

This movement is to the vertical position that would give the stock the desired
value under the new multiplier, subject to certain limitations.

The desired value is either the value the stock had in its present vertical position
under the old multiplier, for a stock to be unaffected, or the average of that value
and the value the stock would have in its present vertical position under the new
multiplier in the case where the effect of the multiplier change is to be reduced by
half.

The three limitations are:

 If a stock is on any of the rows of the chart which say (slow) (this would
also apply to the rows labelled [SPLIT], except a stock is always moved
immediately when it reaches these rows) it is not moved vertically, and
instead experiences the full effect of the multiplier change;
 No stock will be moved vertically to a row which says (slow) or [SPLIT]
in order to reduce the impact of a multiplier change on the stock; instead,
the vertical movement will stop one step short of the area in which these
rows are found, at the end of the vertical scale its movement in response to
this would have normally led it; and
 Where the exact desired value is not available under the new multiplier,
the vertical position of the indicator piece for the stock is moved to the
row the value of which is the closest to the desired value that
undercompensates for the shift in multiplier, never to a value that would
overcompensate, even if it is closer to the desired value.
To illustrate the effect of the third limitation, let us suppose that a stock has the
value of $112 per share under the existing multiplier of 7, and the multiplier has
now changed to 3, and this stock is to be unaffected in value by the multiplier
shift.

Under the new multiplier of 3, the two available values nearest the desired value
of $112 are $114 per share and $108 per share. Although $114 per share is only
$2 away from $112, and $108 per share is $4 away from $112, the stock is
moved upwards vertically to the position that will give it a value of $108 per
share under the multiplier of 3 since this compensation is intended to eliminate if
possible, or reduce, the downwards effect of a decrease in the multiplier, not
create an increase in the stock's value.

Similarly, if the multiplier increases, and a stock is unaffected, if the stock's value
cannot be completely unaffected, it may increase slightly, but it may never
decrease at all as a result of the vertical motion downwards to eliminate or reduce
the upwards effect of the increase of the multiplier.

If a stock had a value of $112 per share under the existing multiplier of 7, and the
multiplier changed to 3, and it was to experience half the effect of the multiplier
shift, then, since its value if it had not been moved vertically under the new
multiplier would be $48 per share, the desired value is, in that case, $80, which is
halfway between $112 and $48.

Even where the effect is halved instead of eliminated as far as possible, the rule
that only undercompensation and not overcompensation is allowed still applies.
Under the multiplier of 3, the available values near $80 are $84 and $78, and so
the stock is moved vertically upwards to have the value of $78 per share under
the new multiplier of 3.

The second additional complication would be to allow it to be visible that some

stocks are likely to perform better than others. One could have a small board
where each of the 6 stocks could be either normal, a star performer, or a poor
performer. The multiplier would be the same for all stocks, but rolls of the dice
indicating vertical movement would be interpreted as for a multiplier of one
greater (if possible) for a star performer, or one less (again, if possible) for a poor
performer.
Such a status for a stock would be temporary. Again assuming the stock market
element in the game is accompanied by a conventional board game, one way to
achieve that is to have all the stocks be reset to normal performance whenever a
player lands on or passes the start square on the board (which might stand for a
monthly payday when one's salary is recieved).

Another factor not yet dealt with is that dividends should be proportional to a
stock's value.

This might work as follows:

 For multipliers of 2 and 3, no dividends are paid.

 For a multiplier of 4, a dividend of 1 is a dividend of $1 per share for each
full $50 in the value of a share of stock;
 for a multiplier of 5, a dividend of 1 is a dividend of $1 per share for each
full $20 in the value of a share of stock; and
 for multipliers of 6, 7, and 8 respectively, a dividend of 1 is a dividend of
$1 per share for each full $18, $15, and $10, respectively, in the value of a
ahare of stock.

This could be indicated through color coding in the chart of values for each
horizontal line in the vertical movement chart for each multiplier.

Something Simpler

On the other hand, a game that involves players landing on properties owned by
other players and paying rent on them - like Monopoly... or The Landlord's Game
or Finance or Easy Money - should not have a complicated board in which
players can spend long periods of time immune to landing on the other players'
properties.

Instead,
perhaps something like this might be a suitable board for a more elaborate game
of this genre.

Players move around the outer board until they reach a certain level of wealth.
They pay one-tenth of the "normal" rent on properties when on the outer board.
The inner board doesn't have a space on the corner providing a monthly wage
when it is passed.

As for stocks, a layout similar to the board for the game Stock Ticker is provided.
But the value of a share of stock doesn't increase by uniform steps; instead, the
step size is adjusted at intervals to be roughly proportional to the value of a share:
Share Value Price Increment
$1 - $19 $1
$20 - $48 $2
$50 - $95 $5
$100 - $200 $10

To allow the values of stocks to change during the game without intruding into
gameplay, when players roll two dice to move, the two dice indicate
the two stocks that change value in the same fashion. A stock may move up or
down 1, 2, or 3 steps; this depends on the square the player lands on; if the player
lands on a square near the corners, no change in stock values takes place.
The change, up or down, and 1, 2, or 3 steps, is indicated by the writing in the
strips above the spaces on the board, towards the center of the board. If doubles
are rolled, then the one stock indicated by the number on both dice pays a
dividend instead, of 1, 2, or 3 units: the size of a dividend unit is given by the
legend to the size of the track of stocks. A stock valued at under $10 does not pay
dividends.

Stock changes and dividends would be the first thing to happen in a turn,
immediately after a player rolls the dice and moves his man, before any other
actions are taken in the turn, so that no one can buy or sell stocks at their old
value when their new value is already known.

When a stock hits $180, $190, or $200 in value, a stock split takes place; either
twofold, to $90, $95, or $100 respectively, or tenfold, to $18, $19, or $20. The
rule might be that the first stock split is twofold, and any subsequent ones are
tenfold to keep splits from happening too often.

Both the possibility of dividends, and the increasing step size on the scale of
share values, which means that stocks having certain values will move up by
larger amounts than they would move down, makes holding stocks profitable,
and, thus, represents a source of productivity in the game.

Note that on the four sides of the board, the first side is biased towards stocks
moving up, the second and fourth are evenly balanced, and the third side has a
bias towards stocks moving down which balances the bias of the first side. This
allows players to exercise some degree of skill in anticipating a favorable or
unfavorable climate for stocks, but probably not on a practical time scale. One
way that might work would be to have some of the random event cards drawn by
players set global rules such as changing "up 3" to "up 2" during an unfavorable
time, and changing "down 3" to "down 2" instead during a boom. A more severe
economic setback might be represented by a more elaborate rule, such as
changing both "up 3" and "up 2" to "up 1", but only for stocks with values of $50
or greater, so that stocks aren't driven too quickly off the board.

The problem in the design of a game like this might be to ensure that both stocks
and properties play a significant role. Properties are the means to directly address
the primary goal of bankrupting the other players to win; stocks appear to merely
be a way to earn a little extra money with one's spare cash. But that might be
enough.
Monopoly, Finance, and even The Landlord's Game are trademarks of Hasbro as it currently owns Parker
Brothers; Easy Money is also a trademark of Hasbro as it currently owns Milton-Bradley. Stock Ticker is a
trademark of Copp Clark.
[Nex Hacer los juegos de mesa más complicados
Hablando de tipos de juegos más complicados, cuando era un niño pequeño,
siempre había soñado con encontrar un juego de mesa que fuera un poco más
fascinante y fascinante que los típicamente disponibles. Algo como esto:

La forma en que se produce el movimiento en el juego, en la medida en que esto

no sea obvio desde el tablero, es la siguiente:
En la periferia exterior del tablero, el movimiento es en el sentido de las agujas
del reloj, y los jugadores lanzan dos dados para determinar el número de espacios
para avanzar en cada turno. Esto también se aplica al círculo grande dentro del
tablero.
Hay ocho espacios con flechas en la periferia exterior del tablero que llevan al
jugador al interior del tablero. Cuando un jugador cae en uno de estos, en el
siguiente turno, usa solo un dado para avanzar en la dirección de la flecha.
Cuatro de esos espacios con flechas guían a los jugadores en viajes cortos, en
caminos curvos que evitan las cuatro esquinas del tablero. Tenga en cuenta que
uno de estos caminos omite el cuadrado con una flecha verde clara en la esquina
inferior izquierda del tablero como se muestra; Esta es la casilla que otorga a los
jugadores su salario normal cuando lo pasan, y este salario se pierde cuando se
pasa por alto en el viaje lateral. Las rutas de desplazamiento lateral son
circulares, y tenga en cuenta que el movimiento en ellas, aunque en sentido
horario en relación con el centro del tablero en su conjunto, es en sentido
antihorario en relación con los centros de los círculos de los cuales esos caminos
formarían parte.
Los cuadrados de flecha dentro del tablero también cambian la dirección del
movimiento de un jugador. Los que hacen que el jugador se mueva al círculo
grande también llevan a usar dos dados para cada movimiento, en lugar de un
dado, una vez más.
Cuando un jugador aterriza en uno de los cuatro espacios con flechas en el medio
de uno de los lados de la periferia exterior del tablero, el curso normal de los
eventos es que el jugador avanzará al círculo pequeño en el centro del tablero, allí
permanecer por un corto tiempo hasta aterrizar en uno de los cuatro cuadrados
con flechas en ese círculo, y luego continuar en un camino diagonal que luego
lleva al jugador a la segunda mitad de uno de los cuatro viajes laterales en las
esquinas del tablero.
Sin embargo, al entrar, el jugador tiene una oportunidad de aterrizar en un
cuadrado con flechas por medio del cual puede ingresar al círculo grande dentro
del tablero. Además, en tres de los cuatro caminos diagonales que se dirigen
hacia afuera, el jugador tiene un cuadrado de flecha que forma una segunda
oportunidad para ingresar al círculo grande. En el cuarto, la flecha apunta a lo
largo del camino diagonal, y ese cuadrado con flechas es aquel por el cual los
jugadores que se mueven a lo largo del círculo grande regresan a la periferia
exterior del tablero.
Tenga en cuenta que hay cuatro pilas de cartas que traen eventos sorpresa al
aterrizar en las casillas de colores que hacen que un jugador robe una de esas
cartas. Los cuadrados para dibujar las tarjetas azules están presentes tanto en la
periferia exterior del tablero como en el círculo grande dentro del tablero. Las
tarjetas amarillas pertenecen solo a la periferia exterior del tablero, y las tarjetas
verdes pertenecen al círculo grande dentro del tablero solamente. Las tarjetas
naranjas están disponibles solo dentro de la primera mitad de los cuatro viajes
laterales en el tablero.
Se pretende que la periferia exterior del tablero sea el área principal de juego
donde los jugadores comienzan a construir sus fortunas. El círculo grande es un
lugar atractivo para estar, donde los jugadores pueden ganar dinero más rápido,
pero las apuestas también son más altas allí, y generalmente es ventajoso estar
allí una vez que un jugador ya ha acumulado más dinero del que comenzó en el
otro partes del tablero. Tenga en cuenta que este círculo no contiene un cuadrado
de salario que le proporciona al jugador una cierta cantidad de dinero cuando se
pasa. Los viajes laterales en la esquina brindan a los jugadores la oportunidad de
acumular valiosos premios, incluidas las cartas naranjas, muchas de las cuales, tal
vez alrededor de un tercio, se guardan después de ser robadas, y permiten al
jugador elegir su próximo movimiento en lugar de tirar los dados. .
El problema con un juego estructurado de esa manera, por supuesto, es que,
particularmente cuando hay dos jugadores, el juego amenazaría con volverse
menos interesante y desequilibrado mientras un jugador está en la periferia
exterior y el otro está en el círculo grande dentro del tablero.
Tenga en cuenta que cuando un jugador es enviado a la cárcel, la cárcel se
encuentra en el centro del tablero, sale por el camino diagonal que no brinda la
oportunidad de comenzar a moverse a lo largo del círculo grande dentro del
tablero, y también termina arriba en el camino lateral cuya salida es la más
alejada de la plaza salarial anual.
O principios similares podrían aplicarse a un tablero de juego algo más
elaborado:

Aquí, el cuadrado diagonal llamativo es relativamente difícil de alcanzar,

mientras que el círculo grande dentro del tablero solo es moderadamente difícil
de ingresar. El círculo central realiza la misma función que antes, pero esta vez
con dos entradas y dos salidas en lugar de cuatro entradas y cuatro salidas.
Dos cuadrados en el tablero principal conducen a entrar en el círculo grande, y
cuatro conducen a entrar en caminos de esquina.
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