Do you ponder the fact that many modern video games (and even some forms of human activities) can be represented as board or card games? Of course, the rules usually are very complex and there are a lot of game pieces and conditions; nonetheless, some similarities can be noticed. Let's take, for example, the famous game Plants vs. Zombies created by PopCap. If you try to look at the gameplay from a different angle, you can easily imagine that all plants in the game are virtual cards placed at the game table by a player. The zombies in turn are some form of cards too; they have special rules for moving and an invisible dice determines the conditions of random collisions. Some game pieces portray shots fired by plants; sunflowers generate tokens in the form of cartoonish suns. So yes, this is a board game, but very complex and highly automated, so it can work in real time. No wonder that many game developers use custom board games to prototype their future video games (or some of their functions). The incredible power of board games is hidden in their flexible nature, which lets them reconstruct a rich number of events and situations.
It can be assumed that the appearance of board games in the ancient times was a reaction to a complication of social structure, when one life paradigm was replaced with a new one. For instance, the forest gathering was displaced by agriculture; it taught humans that there could be orthogonal shapes (agriculture fields), regular, and straight/parallel lines (the invention of the plow). Life became more complicated, full of unpredictable factors and correlation and thus it was reflected in games with complex rules. Moreover, mankind at that period of time began to use abstraction, for instance, ornaments appeared. This illustrated not just a specific object, for example, a river, but its abstract and simplified representation: its zigzag shape. This means more than a graphic image because a little story was embedded: since the river flows in a zigzag manner, it has many turns.
Abstraction, simplification, and toleration are the foundation of any board game because all the elements—game pieces, game board, and rules—are only symbols, not real objects. Ancient Egypt was one of the first cultures that began to use ornaments to decorate houses and utensils. It is not surprising that one of the oldest known board games was created in ancient Egypt as well. It was called Senet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senet) and it was invented in around 3500 BC, so the game is about 5,500 years old.
A screenshot from Egyptian Senet (by Mohammed Ezzat), a digital interpretation of Senet available for iOS devices
Senet had all the attributes that associated with a typical board game; there were game pieces in the form of pawns, a random number generator—not a dice but special casting sticks—and a board consisting of 30 square cells (3 x 10). The main goal of the player was to pass the board (the original rules were lost in the sands of time, so now players use various reconstructions). So Senet is a race game. The most intriguing part is that the squares on the board come with special abilities, marked with symbols that work like reward or pitfall squares in modern board games. Various forms of strategies can be used in the game because the player can fight with his opponent and cunning can lurk not only on the board in specific dangerous locations but in an opponent's actions too. So it is a competition with the elements of nature and with other humans, which is why the board game became so popular all over the world.
Let's try to determine the basic components of a board game, using Senet as a tried and true example:
- Rules: The game cannot be played without a set of rules that define the main goal, principles of victory, a structure of turns, and many other things. They should be immutable to exclude any chance of ambiguity while playing the game.
- Board: This is the space where all the actions take place. Usually, this is a grid of squares or a path around the board (it can be looped).
- Game pieces: These are various figures that represent the player or his army. At the most basic levels, they look like discs (or stones) painted black or white.
- Random number generator: Dice, spin wheels, sticks, coins, and so on are optional ways to add some spontaneity to the game process. They can define the distance a game piece may move on the board or demonstrate the chances on certain actions, for example, fights.
- Cards: These are symbols or texts incorporated into the game board's single square or provided separately. Usually, they have certain feedback on the player's action.
- Bonus: This is a special prize that a player gets when he/she reaches a specific place on the game board. The position has a visual mark (by a card) or can be determined in the game rules; for instance, when a Draughts' game piece reaches the farthest row forward it is proclaimed a king and receives extra talents. Usually, the bonus zone rewards the player with a free turn, invulnerability, new types of attack, and so forth.
- Pitfalls (force majeure): These are the various types of unpleasant experiences the player has. He loses his turn, moves his game piece backward, and so on.
Amusingly, now you can try to remove some items from the list and then you can get new types of games. For example, if a game board is removed, a card game can be created. The cards can be a partial representation of many things: game pieces (each has a unique design and look), a random generator (in a case a deck is shuffled thoroughly), a game board (a sequence of cards can depict the game world), and finally, they can hold bonuses and pitfalls. The greater the number of cards a deck has, the more complex can the game is. Bear in mind that besides traditional playing cards, there are a lot of card decks with unique designs that let you play so-called dedicated deck card games. If you drop most of the game attributes but keep the random number generator, a world of dice games can be introduced to you.
The dice and the game board can together create their own class of games, a good example of this is Crown and Anchor, the game played by British sailors, which included special game board (playing mat) and original dice covered with symbols, not with dots (visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_and_Anchor for more info).
Many strategy and tactical games have no random generator, and bonuses and pitfalls are not clearly expressed.
Hypothetically, there can be a game without any actual rules; just imagine how chaotic it would be. There would be total freedom, and this would be fun, but this also means that it is not interesting to play such a game because there is no any objective, reward, risk, or anything else that makes for an exciting experience!
Now you can feel the connection between the elements of a board game; many of them can be transformed into another form, can be supplemented with new talents, or can be removed. In case the balance is right, a new game experience can be created.