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AND GAMES
By Jeffrey D. Allers
Music has always been an important part of my life, especially when it has a
strong rhythm that quite literally moves me. Chill-out tunes have their time and
place, but the endless variety of beats from a good percussion trackwhether
analog or electroniccontinues to appeal to me, especially when listened to live.
Although Germany boasts the third largest market for music in the world, Berlin
is not well known for its musicians, with the exception being hard-rockers
Rammstein. Even so, when I first arrived here almost 20 years ago, one of my
favorite ways to discover the city that never sleeps and meet its colorful
residents was to explore the many unusual underground venues, and dance to
whatever local band or DJ was showcased there.
It turns out that Berliners share my love of rhythmic music. Industrial
complexes that were abandoned during the Cold War were turned into techno
clubs after reunification and used to attract the best DJs to the city, and the
largest street rave in the world was held here annuallyuntil the city grew tired
of having to pay for the clean-up afterwards.
But people here are also fascinated by music with African and Afro-American
influences, ranging from World Music to Hip Hop, although the rhythm is quite
differenteven challenging for the Germans at times. When our youth ministry
sponsored a professional-caliber gospel choir at a local high school several years
ago, the vocally gifted teens had difficulties keeping their clapping and swaying
synchronized. In fact, German audiences usually prefer to clap on every beat of a
song rather than only on the downbeatthe way they would to a polka tune
which may be one reason why techno comes so naturally to them.
In any case, its interesting to see how the rhythm in music both reflects and
drives the rhythm of life. Even the most non-conventional peopleand Berlin is
full of themare prone to routines and rituals that are repeated every day,
though they make variations or add different fills to keep their lives from
becoming too monotonous. Our interactions with each other have rhythms to
them, too, studies have shown, although we usually are not consciously aware of
them. A good conversation develops rhythm over time, as long as each
participant is given a turn with an equal opportunity to contribute.
Board games are instruments of social interaction, and it follows that people will
fall into these interpersonal rhythms when playing them. But each game also has
a rhythm of its own that is driven by its rules. Typical conventions such as player
turns and game phases all mark the downbeats of a game, giving the playing
duration of the piece, we want our games to have a story arc in which the
rhythms are allowed to change for all players, eventually building to a climactic
finish. We want the stadium drum-solo ending rather than the lip-synced fadeout.
Can a successful game have a lack of rhythm? Probably. There are always
exceptions to the rule. Chess and Go can have a sluggish rhythm, unless one uses
a timer, a kind of metronome for boardgaming that establishes an artificial
cadence. And for awhile, the action point allowance system was all the rage
despite its knack for bogging down a game, and Tikal and Torres even won the
Spiel des Jahres award. But I dont think that its pure coincidence that the SdJ
jury, in the years since, have turned back to games with snappier player turns
games that encourage a more distinct rhythm. After all, the award was designed
to highlight designer games that are accessible to most people, and the best way
to make that happen is to pick games with a more distinct rhythm.
Ive even received feedback from publishers for my own designs that confirmed
this suspicion. One of my latest releases, Artifact, co-designed with Bernd
Eisenstein, originally had players taking up to 6 actions each turn. A publisher
who was interested in the game, however, told us, It reminds me of the action
point games of a few years back. The turns were too long and the game had no
pacingno rhythm. That critique pushed us to find a different solution, and
limiting players to 1-2 actions each turn gave the game a better sense of rhythm,
eventually leading to a final round finish in a game design competition and a
contract with another publisher.
Just as a song with a good beat moves us to dance, it seems that the rhythm
designed into games can move us to play and publish them. We all may not move
to the beat of the same drummer, but whether were aware of it or not, most of
us do enjoy getting in sync when we interact with each other, whether its over a
conversation
Jeffrey D. Allers is a designer of board and card games in Berlin, Germany. You can
read more from opinionatedgamers.com and his blog, entitled berlingamedesign.