I wish this article had come out a couple of weeks back while I was working on the Market Mechanic for my one page game! Really good round up of various market mechanics, I'll need to dive in for a bit more research!
This shows up in Garphill Games' Architects of the West Kingdom too, though with a bit of a twist. The number of workers you place on the marketplace space notates your level of access to the card row, but you can always pay to jump farther down the line. Does it show up in Scholars of the South Tigris too? I seem to recall there were mechanisms for moving about in the card row.
Oh wow! That's an interesting catch with AotWK. I've played that game many times, and really enjoy it. Hadn't considered that part could be considered a modified/variant Dutch auction. Thanks for pointing that out!
Canvas is great, yes. Discovered it this spring at Geekway to the West and I love the presentation and mechanics of the game. It's also pretty short, so you can play it multiple times or alongside another game in an evening.
I think it hits that sweet spot of being light and accessible enough that it’s quick and everyone can play… but also has enough tough decisions and agency to make it fun for more experienced gamers. Was thrilled to finally get to play it over the weekend!
The first time that I saw what you describe here as a Dutch auction is in the game “Small World”. There are six combinations of race+random power laid out in a sequence of six. If you want to bypass ones higher up the sequence you must put a coin on each card you bypass. When you purchase your card, all the others are moved up the sequence and a new one is added at the bottom.
Just as you explain, after a few times round even some undesirable combinations (e.g. seafaring dwarfs) start to look attractive as you get more gold for selecting them than you would spend.
This is much more likely to come into play later in the game of course when (a) some undesirable cards have been hanging around for a while and so have a stack of coins on them (b) the coins are basically victory points, and can give a late boost in the end game.
Such a good example! Thanks for pointing this out. I've played Small World a few times, but it's been many years. I had forgotten about how it uses the same mechanism as described.
I wish this article had come out a couple of weeks back while I was working on the Market Mechanic for my one page game! Really good round up of various market mechanics, I'll need to dive in for a bit more research!
Glad you liked it! Thanks!
This shows up in Garphill Games' Architects of the West Kingdom too, though with a bit of a twist. The number of workers you place on the marketplace space notates your level of access to the card row, but you can always pay to jump farther down the line. Does it show up in Scholars of the South Tigris too? I seem to recall there were mechanisms for moving about in the card row.
Oh wow! That's an interesting catch with AotWK. I've played that game many times, and really enjoy it. Hadn't considered that part could be considered a modified/variant Dutch auction. Thanks for pointing that out!
Canvas is great, yes. Discovered it this spring at Geekway to the West and I love the presentation and mechanics of the game. It's also pretty short, so you can play it multiple times or alongside another game in an evening.
I think it hits that sweet spot of being light and accessible enough that it’s quick and everyone can play… but also has enough tough decisions and agency to make it fun for more experienced gamers. Was thrilled to finally get to play it over the weekend!
The first time that I saw what you describe here as a Dutch auction is in the game “Small World”. There are six combinations of race+random power laid out in a sequence of six. If you want to bypass ones higher up the sequence you must put a coin on each card you bypass. When you purchase your card, all the others are moved up the sequence and a new one is added at the bottom.
Just as you explain, after a few times round even some undesirable combinations (e.g. seafaring dwarfs) start to look attractive as you get more gold for selecting them than you would spend.
This is much more likely to come into play later in the game of course when (a) some undesirable cards have been hanging around for a while and so have a stack of coins on them (b) the coins are basically victory points, and can give a late boost in the end game.
Such a good example! Thanks for pointing this out. I've played Small World a few times, but it's been many years. I had forgotten about how it uses the same mechanism as described.