Lucky number 13

It's Friday and we are at issue number 13. Let's fight the triskaidekaphobia by talking about luck aspect in board games.

Many games are using dice as randomizers. What differs is the ratio between luck and skill (or strategy). In some games like Monopoly or Zombie Dice luck is prevalent, almost no skill or strategy is involved and much relies on a dice roll. On the other hand, there are games like chess or Onitama with no luck involved. Modern games have revolutionized the use of dice. In games like Roll for the Galaxy, Tiny Epic Galaxies or Roll Player there are almost no bad rolls. Each die can be used to improve your character or perform some action.

Some people really dislike dice in strategy games. Others, like Isaac Childres went to a great length to create a game without dice but with a factor of randomness. Gloomhaven uses a deck of cards as a randomizer because the deck is customizable. The deck can be made better by removing negative cards or worse by adding some.

You can read more about this in Luck and Skill in Modern Board Games by The Board Game Snob and Luck in Board Games: How Much Should There Be? by Best Dang Games.

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Influencers

Bruno Cathala

Bruno is one of the most well-known French board game designers. He designed or co-designed hits like Shadows over Camelot, Mr. Jack, Cyclades, Five Tribes, Abyss and #7 overall game on BGG, 7 Wonders Duel.

Last year we saw many new games from him, like Kingdomino and Kanagawa, just to mention a few. His latest game is gorgeous Yamataï, a 2-4 player game in which the players compete to build palaces, torii, and their own buildings in the land of Yamatai.

To learn more about him, check out the GoPlayListen interview, Würfel Reviews interview, his website (in French), BGG page, Twitter and Facebook.

That's it for this week. I hope you have enjoyed reading this issue. Please share with your friends, subscribe if you have not already and follow BGW on Twitter and Facebook.

Thanks for reading and until next week,
Miro

Influencer image was taken from BGG image by Rob Robinson.

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