Good Game

• I like a game that is highly interactive. Many games are primarily multi-player solitaire games. Each player works on their own player board with very little interaction. But “Diplomacy” is a game that is highly interactive. It’s a wargame in which you cannot expand without support from other players.
• I like a game that has no random aspect after the game is set up. “Gaia Project” is an example of such a game. At the beginning of the game, tiles are randomly selected, and the players get their factions. But after that, nothing is random. The only part of the game that is difficult to predict is the other players’ moves.
• I like a game with an asymmetric aspect, by which I mean the different players start in different states. In “Scythe”, each player gets two player mats that are different from those that the other players have.
• I like a game that is different each time you play it. “Terraforming Mars” has a deck of over 200 cards, which means there are more than 80 sextillion possibilities for your initial ten-card hand. And that number only increases as you draw more cards.
• I like games that give you many options each turn. I don’t like to be forced to make a certain move. I once played a game of “Lucky Numbers” in which, on 7 of my first 10 turns, my only options were to discard the tile I drew or replace a specific tile with it, both options being bad.
• I prefer competitive games over cooperative games. “Underwater Cities” is one of my favorite competitive games.
• I prefer longer games to shorter games. A game of “Advanced Civilization” can take eight hours to play.
• I like games with many players. I say, the more the merrier. “Caverna” can take 7 players.
• I like games where the players have no secrets. In “Chess”, you can always see every piece in your opponent’s position. The only thing that’s hidden is the thoughts in their head.
• I like a game in which the players can play simultaneously with no waiting between turns. In “Roll for the Galaxy”, each player rolls their dice and assigns them to actions at the same time as the other players. Then the players all do each action simultaneously.
• I think it’s best for each player to have the same number of turns. In “Wingspan”, each player gets exactly 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 = 26 turns.
• For a game with rounds, I think it’s good for a different person to play first in each round, and each person should get to be the start player the same number of times. A game of “Orléans” has 18 rounds, so, with 2 or 3 players, each player gets to start a round the same number of times. (Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for 4 or 5 players.)
• The victory condition of most games is to earn the most points, but for some games, you don't know how many points each player has until the game ends and the points are counted. I prefer for there to be a way to easily see who is winning and by how much. For example, in "Circus Maximus", the winning condition is to cross the finish line first, so you can see at a glance who is winning the race and by how much. (It's just as good for a game to have a victory points track and no endgame scoring.)
• I have a poor memory, so I favor games that don’t benefit people with good memories. In “Ticket to Ride”, whenever a player takes one of the face-up cards, everyone sees it. But then, the player who took the card hides it in their hand. If you can remember what cards your opponents have, you can try to predict what they will do, giving you an advantage over someone like me who can’t remember the cards.
• I’m nearsighted, and my glasses aren’t good enough to give me 20-20 vision. So I have trouble reading small print on the gameboard. In “On Mars”, there are no words (at least, none that matter) on the blueprint cards, scientist cards, earth contract cards, and the gameboard. It’s all symbols.
• I dislike discarding cards. I find it difficult, because I tend to fall in love with my cards. In “Race for the Galaxy”, the cards are money, so you have to discard a lot of them during a game.