1. Most of the spaces that players land on offer them choices, usually choices of what to buy. Where they land might not be up to them, but what they do once they land there certainly is.
2. Players eventually acquire Move cards that they can play in leiu of rolling the die, letting them override the randomness when it really matters to them. Deciding when to use up your Move card and when to save it for later is a big part of the strategy.
3. The object of the game is to acquire a set of four items unique to your character, and then make it to an Embassy space unique to your character -- without letting anyone figure out which character you are. Because the game is mostly about this hidden identity mechanic, a lot of the player interaction takes place above the board instead of on it. It also makes the randomness feel mostly like a positive. Oops, I randomly landed on the password space I wanted -- I guess I might as well buy it! Whereas choosing to move there would be really suspicious.
Memory games and roll & move are still popular for small children, at least here in France. But lemme tell ya, my former university colleagues (ESL teachers) weren't too pleased when I suggested that their roll & move "Let's Speak English" game was infantilizing, haha... But hey, it sometimes worked for short bursts to get some students to speak a bit, so maybe I was being an ass.
Great write up as always! I wanted to point out a limitation on Take That that I like. In Dungeon Mayhem (a D&D-branded card game), the players are literally fighting each other. (There is player elimination, but rounds aren’t too long, so that’s okay.) To stop people feeling ganged up on, in games with more than 4 players you are limited to attacking only the players to your right and left. It’s an easy change that essentially eliminates the risk of getting knocked out before you take your first turn.
For a fantastic example of Roll & Move done well, I suggest you check out Spy Alley (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1986/spy-alley). It does three things that make the mechanic sing:
1. Most of the spaces that players land on offer them choices, usually choices of what to buy. Where they land might not be up to them, but what they do once they land there certainly is.
2. Players eventually acquire Move cards that they can play in leiu of rolling the die, letting them override the randomness when it really matters to them. Deciding when to use up your Move card and when to save it for later is a big part of the strategy.
3. The object of the game is to acquire a set of four items unique to your character, and then make it to an Embassy space unique to your character -- without letting anyone figure out which character you are. Because the game is mostly about this hidden identity mechanic, a lot of the player interaction takes place above the board instead of on it. It also makes the randomness feel mostly like a positive. Oops, I randomly landed on the password space I wanted -- I guess I might as well buy it! Whereas choosing to move there would be really suspicious.
Sounds like it has a lot of ways to modify and change the basic roll and move mechanism. Sounds interesting!
Memory games and roll & move are still popular for small children, at least here in France. But lemme tell ya, my former university colleagues (ESL teachers) weren't too pleased when I suggested that their roll & move "Let's Speak English" game was infantilizing, haha... But hey, it sometimes worked for short bursts to get some students to speak a bit, so maybe I was being an ass.
These are all good mechanisms for children's games!
Great write up as always! I wanted to point out a limitation on Take That that I like. In Dungeon Mayhem (a D&D-branded card game), the players are literally fighting each other. (There is player elimination, but rounds aren’t too long, so that’s okay.) To stop people feeling ganged up on, in games with more than 4 players you are limited to attacking only the players to your right and left. It’s an easy change that essentially eliminates the risk of getting knocked out before you take your first turn.
I’ve got a soon-to-be-announced roll and move design that I’m very excited about.
Oooh, very excited to learn more about this!
Agree on expectations. I think the type of player and what kind of fun they are expecting matters a lot!