King Charles III and I walked into a pub...

🕑 4 min read

For the purposes of this post, peoples names have been changed to protect the innocent and treasures of both national and local importance.

So, every now and again (couple of times a month) I get
drinking and discussing board games, designers and gaming groups with King Charles III. What will probably surprise you more than the fact that our monarch enjoys a board game or 10, is that he wears his crown at the pub! He says it gets him a greater number of drink offers, but more importantly, way more interesting chats with random strangers. It works for me; so I buy him whiskey and we chat about his heritage, and of course board games. Lots and lots of board games.

I don't know about you, but random jibber-jabber of this ilk, both inside and outside my regular gaming groups are where I learn the most about new games I've never heard of, or have yet to play. The wealth of board gaming knowledge out there - especially in our very own Norfolk, is kind of exciting right now. 

So I'd like to dedicate this post to a small slice of the conversations and serendipitous ramblings I've had with the King down the boozer. Enjoy.

I've not long come back to gaming after a 15 year hiatus and struggle to recognise or remember prominent designers and publishers. Charles doesn't make me feel silly when I'm caught blathering though. He simply glosses over it and waxes lyrical about his own favourites instead. With that in mind, let's chat about one designer in particular - the good doctor, Reiner Knizia. 

This prolific designer has managed to publish over 700 games, spanning a 25 year career. If you haven't already played any of his games, you will probably have played a game inspired by one of them. Both High Society and The Quest for El Dorado (published by Ravensburger) regularly make an appearance at NoBoG gaming nights each week. I personally have added 2 highly acclaimed titles, Ra and Babylonia, to my board game collections on the personal recommendation of our reigning monarch.

What's all the fuss about though? Why is it that one person can be this talented and so successful at board game design? Well, apart from the sheer amount of time he has spent working on and receiving earnest feedback for his great ideas - Dr Knizia appears to have developed a very particular set of design skills focussed on the human condition. Charles and I discussed this at great length and drew some conclusions. 

As a designer myself, my focus is mostly on fun. Obviously this can be highly subjective and genre specific, but our man Knizia has found ways to mine it, or to be more accurate, allow players to 'unearth' the fun themselves. Most of this 'fun' comes from clever player interactions and well-balanced multi-layered strategies. For example, in Babylonia, placing your tiles and surrounding locations of interest earn victory points and will deny them from your opponents. Basic. However, if you are imaginative, you can simply instead; rock up to those areas, let other players go to war over them and claim the spoils after the dust settles. Thus, collecting small rewards at regular intervals, which multiply up as your network grows and snakes its way into everyone's territory. Reiner's scoring mechanisms can sometimes be complicated, but boy are they rewarding for those players who just wanna explore, and spend some quality time with like minded folk. King Charles agreed with me, that there's something quite amazing about uniting players in a shared scoring mechanism. Dr Reiner Knizia signs off several of his most precious works with this approach, for example Tigris & Euphrates and Samurai. He does this so well, that I'm convinced he understands us better than we understand ourselves. 

Whilst I sit here and write this post I am hopeful that we ALL may eventually find a love for certain genres, mechanics, publishers and/or designers, as I think this matures us as aficionados for our chosen pastime. If you are anything like King Charles and I, then please raise a mug of ale or wee dram of whiskey to that thought. Just like the whiskey, it warms the heart. 

Do you have any favourites? Tell us about them. Even better, bring them along to a game night and entice us all with their majesty. 

Watch out for Ra and Babylonia on NoBoG nights - both games only last for about an hour. Plenty of time for chewing the fat, and playing other games. 

If you wish to learn some more about Dr Reiner Knizia's best to worst board games, then please click HERE for a more extensive look at his works of art.

See you soon!