Embed the Rules

browne

game design, production

@article{browne-gapd2015a,
  author={Cameron Browne}, 
  title={Embed the Rules},
  journal={Game and Puzzle Design Journal},
  year=2015,
  volume=1,
  number=1,
  pages={60--70}
}

Embed rules in physical components to implicitly define, enforce rules

"Simplify the rules as much as possible, while ensuring that the game remains complex enough to be interesting"

Poka-yoke: Japanese term for mistake-proofing manufacturing processes by making mistakes physically impossible or drawing attention to them as they occur

Semantically embedded: Explicit rules text on cards

Implicitly embedded: Shape of board or pieces permitting specific uses

Delegated: Relying on outside sources, including common sense

• Scrabble, roleplaying games

Hex grids are trivalent, so in two-player connection/control games, has a built-in tie breaker for each point

• As opposed to square grids, where both players may contest