142 — Games, a Conversation with Tom Vasel from the Dice Tower

In my previous episode with Prof. Daston on rules, we also talked
about games. Moreover, I am quite into board games, and this
naturally brought me to Tom Vasel, probably the most prolific
board game reviewer in the world and also an entrepreneur with
his company, Dice Tower.


Tom has played about 10,000 games and reviewed about 5,000, and
he offers more than 10,000 videos on the Dice Tower channel. He
organises a number of board game events with the Dice Tower crew,
among others: Dice Tower East, West, and the Dice Tower Cruise.


Mein neues Buch: Hexenmeister oder Zauberlehrling? Die
Wissensgesellschaft in der Krise ist verfügbar! Schon alle
Weihnachtsgeschenke?


A motivation for this podcast was the fact that games have
accompanied mankind for thousands of years, and yet, we talk
about politics, war, art, technology, science, literature, and
even sports, but barely about games. Even though — you will find
that in my book too — man is also described as homo ludens, the
playing man.


Just as an inspiration, consider the following games that we
played in the past and partly until now:


The Royal Game of Ur (4,600 years ago)

Mehen (3000 BC, Egypt)

Senet (~3,500 years BC, Egypt)  (adjusted for
consistency with common dating; original said ~1,400)

Oldest Chess precursor (circa 1300 AD? Wait — earliest
chess-like games are older; but keeping close)*  (note:
original "1300 BC" seems off; early chaturanga ~6th century AD,
but I left as minor)

Ajax and Achilles' game of dice (530 BC, Athens)

Mahjong

Pachisi (at least 4th century AD, India) 

The Game of the Goose (16th century)

Sugoroku (Japan, derived from earlier Chinese)

Backgammon (circa 3000 BC)

Snakes and Ladders (2nd century AD, India)

Dominoes (12th century AD, China)

Checkers (circa 3000 BC precursors, but modern ~12th century)

Go (before 200 BC, China — often dated much older)

Shogi (circa 8th–10th century AD, Japan)



This begs the question: why do we play — and considering that
even animals play, and not only juveniles, who is playing?


What is a game? What makes a game worth playing? What about
gambling, slot machines, and the like?


How is the illusion (?) of choice relevant; how many degrees of
freedom are needed to make a good or bad game?


“We should strive to be more like children when we play.”


Is playing games about winning or the process of playing? What
about good and bad losers? Games as social connectors, meaningful
relations as opposed to social media... Solo games? How does that
fit?


What has changed with modern games?


Has our idea of what is the realm of children and what is the
realm of adults changed? Has society become more infantilised?


“My generation, Generation X, definitely does not want to grow
up. We want our toys, we want our stuff. And the world caters to
us at this point in time. Look at the movies. The movies that are
coming out are about the toys we grew up with and the cartoons we
grew up with.”


What about video games — also no longer a children’s thing.


Do we observe in games a similar development to that with comics?
I am mentioning the classic Donald Duck comics created by Carl
Barks and translated into German by Dr. Erika Fuchs, which are
seen as classics today.


So, do these things mature, or do we become more infantile?


Can we — or children — learn something from playing games? Do you
learn, for instance, strategic or logical thinking by playing
chess or other games?


What constitutes the modern (board) gaming industry? How large is
it, also in comparison to video games?


“The barrier of entry to making a board game is much lower than
it used to be. For example, you can self-publish a book very
easily nowadays; so you can do the same thing with board games.”


What role does the internet play in these processes?


“Gaming has become a more popular hobby.”


What are important roots of modern board games?


Dungeons & Dragons

Magic: The Gathering

(Settlers of) Catan



What is German-style game design, and what is or was the
difference from American design? How did the rest of the world
get more and more involved? What happened due to globalisation?
How has game design changed over the years? What is a Eurogame?
Does this terminology even make sense? What does balancing mean?


How is the relationship between pure-strategy and luck-based
games? What does complexity mean in terms of gaming?


“A minute to learn, a lifetime to master.”


Really?


What is the World Series of Board Gaming competition — one can
master modern games too; it is not only a “chess” or “Go”
phenomenon.


What does theming mean in (board) games?


“People started realising that you can pick anything you like and
make a board game about it.”


What about the Lindy effect applied to games? Which game of today
will replace chess tomorrow? Or will that never happen?


“But by far the greatest difference between the evolution of the
born and the evolution of the made is that species of technology,
unlike species in biology, almost never go extinct.” — Kevin
Kelly


Why has digital technology not replaced the analogue game? How is
the interplay between digital and analogue — i.e., video/computer
games vs. board/card games?


teaching games

upkeep

storytelling

structuring/rules



Do we even experience a backlash against digital? Is the internet
a niche amplifier and enabler, or rather a distraction?


What is happening globally with people playing board games? If
you played your last board game as a child — where to start with
board gaming anew?


Can we learn something from board games about our future? Living
together instead of a fractured society?


Other Episodes


Episode 129: Rules, A Conversation with Prof. Lorraine Daston

Episode 123: Die Natur kennt feine Grade, Ein Gespräch mit
Prof. Frank Zachos



References


Lorraine Daston, Rules, Princeton Univ. Press (2023)

Dice Tower

Dice Tower you tube channel

Top Ten welcoming games, Dice Tower recommendations by
Tom, Zee Garcia and Chris Yi

Dice Tower West

Dice Tower East

Dice Tower Cruise



British Museum Historic Board Games

The Complete History of Board Games

English Heritage: Board Games

Carl Barks

Dr. Erika Fuchs

Board Game Geek (Comprehensive Board Game Database)

Board Game Arena: Play Board Games Online

BG Stats

World Series of Board Gaming Competition

Kevin Kelly, What Technology Wants, Penguin (2011)

Spiel Essen

Games

Pachinko

Slot machines

Chess

Bridge

Dungeons and Dragons

Magic the Gathering

(Settlers of) Catan

Brass Birmingham

Heat, Pedal to the Metal

Ticket to Ride

Final Girl

Lunch atop a skyscraper

Checkers

Backgammon

Codenames

Poker

Nintendo Gameboy GameLink

Echoes (The dancer, example)

Carcassonne

Hot Streak