Tabletop Mechanics -- Game End and Victory

• Victory Points and Game State - An event causes the Game State to be evaluated relative to some scoring condition. Players earn points based on how that state matches the condition. There are a variety of score triggers

  • Scheduled - there are predefined intervals for when scoring will happen, and players know when they are approaching
    • A Scheduled trigger is best suited for more strategic games, as it allows for long-term planning
    • If players know exactly when scoring will occur, the final actions leading up to scoring can be subject to over-analysis and game lengthening delays as players attempt to optimize their scores,
  • Player Action - players are the ones who trigger scoring.
    • Sometimes this is completely at the discretion of the players
    • sometimes the precise timing falls within a band of possible values
    • Excellent at creating tension but can reward players who simply happened to be in a superior position when scoring occurs
  • Random - there are Scoring cards or tokens that are mixed in with other items. When these are drawn, scoring occurs
    • Can be highly strategic or quite tactical, depending on implementation

• Victory Points from Player Actions - Players earn points by performing actions.

  • Consider Feedback. Does the game make it easier or harder to gain more victory points with a set amount of victory points.
    • Negative feedback loops encourage players to plan when they will pivot from building to scoring
    • Positive feedback loops encourage players to keep up momentum.

• Temporary and Permanent Victory Points - Some Victory Points (VPs) are never lost. Others depend on the game state and may be lost if that state changes.

  • This mechanism is typically used in games where the ending condition is a player reaching a certain number of VPs.
  • Gaining permanent VPs is important to help drive the game to a conclusion. If all points are temporary, it encourages players to try to take down the leader and pull them further away from winning, which can lengthen the game
  • Temporary VPs can provide opportunities for players to suddenly catch up or make a comeback.

• Victory Points as a Resource - Victory Points (VPs) may be spent as a currency to impact the game state.

  • Apparent in Economy games where money represents victory.
  • This forces players to think about valuation and Return on Investment as key drivers in their decisions.
  • People are more likely to spend VPs if they are framed as money rather than something abstract.

• Hidden and Exposed Victory Points - VPs may be Public or Private Information

  • If the end is known, then players will over-analyze and optimize their last turn.
  • the points are hidden or if players are not sure what other players can do, through hidden information, this tendency is alleviated.
  • Having too many hidden bonus points at the end of the game can lead to an unsatisfying play experience

• End-Game Bonuses - Players earn bonus VPs at the end of the game

  • Gives players more strategic options.
  • Bonuses can either be personal (one person) or public (multiple people)
  • Public goals provide a natural interaction point for players and can be used where there is not as much player interaction through the other mechanisms.
    • They can also turn puzzles into a competitive game.
  • Private goals help differentiate players and can give a strong direction to their play
    • It makes it impossible to determine who is winning.
  • Another consideration is how the goals for bonuses are assigned.
    • If goals are assigned randomly, later in the game, players may luck into points by being randomly dealt a goal that they have already achieved.
    • Thus, prefer early assignment of bonuses or offsetting random goals with penalties for not achieving them.
  • Consider forcing players to choose only certain goals — those that they are confident they can do.
  • Consider the ratio between points earned during the game and points earned at the end
    • Bonus / End-game centric points mean that players find it difficult to assess their standing.

• Race - The winner is the first player to reach the end of a track.

  • When the game ends, a victor is clear.
  • Any game that has players trying to reach a certain target quantity of VPs is, in essence, a race game.

• Player Elimination - The winner is the only player remaining in the game.

  • Considered an anti-pattern because elimination means a player will not participate anymore. Downtime is the downside.
  • It can be effectively used in shorter and lighter games that may be played multiple times in rapid succession
  • It can also be effective if the game is interesting to watch, or the player can still win even if they’re eliminated (i.e. their team one).

• Fixed Number of Rounds - The game ends after a set number of rounds.

  • If possible, a more natural way of tracking the current round is advised (i.e., not using a dedicated token for this)
  • If the players know that this is the final round, it may change their behavior, which may be undesirable.

• Exhausting Resources - The game end is triggered by a resource being exhausted. Players can affect the length of the game by how these resources are used.

  • A nice balance between driving the game toward a conclusion and giving the players some control over the pacing
  • This technique is frequently used as a loss condition for cooperative games.

• Completing Targets - The game ends after a set number of targets or goals are completed.

  • Gaining accomplishments is thematically more coherent in most cases than exhausting “mission accomplished” tokens.
  • As there is no reason to end the game if you’re not going to win, this type of trigger can lead to over-analysis. Some techniques to mitigate this:
    • Keep information about player standing hidden
    • Give a bonus for triggering the end of a game.

• Fixed Number of Events - The game ends after an event occurs a specified number of times.

  • Most closely associated with card decks. A number of special trigger cards are shuffled into the deck. When the last of these is turned up, the game will end
  • This system can add a lot of variability and tension to a game, as players know approximately when it will end, but not exactly
  • The special cards may all happen very early in the game or very late, which creates long stretches with no scoring. A counter to this is to incorporate a mechanism to ensure the special cards are well distributed.

• Elapsed Real Time -The game ends after a set amount of actual time has elapsed.

  • Players know exactly how long the game will take, which helps them schedule and plan and which adds tension
  • This mechanism needs extra attention when used in competitive games since players can stall time, meaning other players have less time to move. Some measures
    • Everyone loses when time runs out
    • Simultaneous play
    • Individual timers

• Connections - The game ends when a specified number of connections are made on the board.

  • Analogous to Bridge and Chain Drawing Puzzles.
  • Connection games need to deal with topology issues relating to the game board.
  • Can players cross paths with other players? Often if this is not allowed, there is an optimal strategy.

• Circuit Breaker / Sudden Death - The game has a fixed and known victory condition and a special variable condition that ends the game prematurely.

  • They can help end a game once one player is far in front. This is called a Circuit Breaker.
  • This ends a lopsided game quickly without having the losing side play an obviously lost game.
  • This can be an alternative victory route which introduces more strategic options.

• Finale - When the main game ends, a special mini-game is played to determine the victor.

  • It transitions to an alternate play mode at the end
  • This mechanism makes it clear to players what they need to do during the game to win and adds an exciting end-game element
  • It can also cheapen the meaning of the first part of the game, as a player may dominate the main game but still lose the finale.
  • It is more suitable for lighter and quicker games.

• King of the Hill - Players earn points by occupying a special position on the board.

  • A simple victory condition to understand.
  • It forces players into conflict. It discourages turtling and staying idle.
  • Battles are more casual since players can rebuild if they are weaker and strike again.
  • It leads to a Catch the Leader mechanism.

• Catch the Leader - The game systems advantage players that are behind or disadvantage players that are ahead.

  • If it is too strong, it can be advantageous for players to stay back to make a strong late move rather than be penalized earlier.
  • If it is too weak, the player in the lead can go further ahead.

• Tug of War - A marker is moved up and back on a track toward or away from a neutral position.

  • The location of the marker can also award points or abilities at certain times
  • Easy to understand.
  • When used in an end-game, it is used as sudden death.
  • An inherent dynamic of this is that when one player moves closer to victory, the other moves further away.

• Highest Lowest - Each player’s score is equal to the lowest value of several categories. Whoever has the highest lowest value is the winner.

  • It forces players to pursue multiple paths equally rather than specialize.

• Ordering - The objective of the game is to rearrange a group of game elements from a disordered to an ordered state.

  • It is simple and has a clear goal.
  • It has many possible starting positions. However, note that depending on the rules, not all of them may have a solution.
  • It is more puzzle-like and more appropriate for cooperative games.

Links §

• Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design - An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms by Engelstein and Shalev - Ch. 5