I've recently become rather obsessed with board games. After a lucky find at Oxfam in Southwick on Saturday, I was struck by the utter simplicity of most board game rules. My current post-dinner activity is The aMAZEing Labyrinth, a treasure-collecting game where you rearrange the maze pieces on every turn, at once working your way towards you goal and stitching up your opponent. Surprisingly complex for such a simple premise.
Most board games have very simple ideas. Look at Chess, Go and other ancient games. I can't imagine any game with more than 30 words in its rule-set that would stand the test of time. And increasingly, the computer and videogames I find most compelling are the little ones that clearly started out as a personal project that happened to catch people's eyes and go viral. A few of my (PC) favourites:
Armadillo Run/Bridge Builder Scalextric meets game physics
Grow Cube Point, click, figure out the correct order of things.
Puzzle Quest Classic puzzle game gone global.
fl0w Musical evolution.
Guesthouse A Samorost-style point-and-clicker.
Launchball The Science Museum's take on Worms.
Once in Space Gravity gone mad.
Chain Factor Numbers, columns and rows win prizes in this puzzle game.
More from the experimental gameplay project.
More from Cactus Games.
Many thanks for the inspiration, bambino tostare, aaron, jay, toby, footy, pass, matt and sion
