Game of the Month!
If you've been following the comments here at GamerChris.com for the last month or two, you've probably noticed some pretty intense discussion about our Game of the Month! program. Since there have been some differing opinions about what it's all about, especially among some of our newer members, I thought I'd take a little time to explore what it's for, how it came about, and what makes a good Game of the Month!
History
The Hypermind Boardgamers started back in January of 2007, at which time I threw myself headlong into the modern boardgaming hobby, doing my best to download as much information about it into my head as quickly as I could. One of the main routes that I chose was to listen to as many podcasts as humanly possible, and one of the founding fathers of boardgame podcasting is Mark Johnson and his show, Boardgames to Go. In listening to his back catalog of episodes, I came across a show from back in April 2005 in which he discussed the Game of the Month program that his game group (the Santa Clarita Boardgamers) used. He also mentioned an article that he wrote about it for The Games Journal.
From the get-go, this idea totally resonated with me. Even though the group was only something like 3 months old, I could already see how an open-play game night like this seemed to promote a very broad but shallow experience with games. We were all so desperate to play as many new games as we could that we rarely went back to our favorites and played them enough to really get to know them. So, starting in April 2007 with Tigris & Euphrates, we adopted the program and never looked back.
We've had a total of 41 different Games of the Month! to date (which you can see on our BGG guild page), and we have never missed a single month! So in reality, we've been a lot more dedicated to the program than Mark and his group ever were. And through the years, I think that I've learned a thing or two about the value of the program, so let's take a deeper look at it.
Purpose and Plan for the Game of the Month!
There aren't really a lot of official rules regarding the Game of the Month! Basically, we elect it by popular vote or consensus on the last game night before each new month. In doing so, we are committing that the group as a whole will play the game at least one time each week. Not every single player has to play it each week, but it has to hit the table every week in that month.
Just to be clear, the first and foremost purpose of the Game of the Month! program is to foster an opportunity for us to learn, explore, and gain a deeper understanding of a particular game, rather than always flitting from one new game to another.
There's nothing wrong with playing lots of different games, but if that's all you do, then every game you play turns into a learning game (even if you played it once a few months ago) and you never get to experience the meatier, more advanced strategies available in these cool modern boardgames. As players get more familiar with the game they become capable of playing at a much higher level of skill, which can be very rewarding.
Taking this kind of time with a game can also give you the opportunity to explore different strategies within a game. Most of the time, a game has one or two pretty obvious approaches that you can take when you play it. But there may also be other paths that you can take that may not be as clear cut, but that may ultimately be more successful or at least more interesting. And if you never get past the superficial level of understanding with a game, you'll never have the chance to see how many of these alternate strategies might exist.
And in addition to individual players having a deeper understanding of the game, having a GotM! allows us as a group to have a wider understanding and familiarity with the game. If you play a game once, then 3-6 people basically know how to play. But if you play it once or twice a week for a month, a much larger portion of the group will know how to play and possibly even know how to introduce and teach it to others.
And finally, Game of the Month! is one of the tools that I have tried to support as a method of building a group identity for the Hypermind Boardgamers. It's about turning games into something that we, collectively, understand and can bring back out with fond memories and a deeper level of strategy for a long time to come. Plus, loyalty to the program itself can help to foster group loyalty and spirit.
Keys for a good Game of the Month!
Through the nearly 3 and a half years of experiencing this program, here are some thoughts about what makes a good Game of the Month!
- You need to really pick a game as the Game of the Month! - Yeah, this sounds stupid and obvious, but I say this particularly in response to ideas that you might want to pick a series of games from a particular designer or theme as GotM! rather than a particular game. Resist the urge, because having more than one game for a month will defeat the prime directive and purpose of the GotM! program, which is to gain a deeper understanding of a particular game.
- You need to like the game before you make it GotM! - Resist the urge to make the new hotness your Game of the Month! before anyone has actually played it. There's nothing worse than getting a week or two in and realizing that no one wants to play it anymore.
- The game needs to have enough depth to support repeated play - Not every game needs to be a long and involved brain-burner, but you also don't want a filler as Game of the Month! I'll say it again, the purpose is to "go deeper" with a game, so it needs to have a "deeper" place to go. We try to pay attention to how many game nights there are in a month as well, and reserve the 5-week months for games that are even deeper than normal.
- Pay attention to how many players the game will support - Two-player games may have plenty of depth to explore, but it'd take several copies and lots of space to let the game group as a whole get the chance to do so. And due to the size of our group, we sort of have an unwritten rule that at least 2 or 3 people need to have copies of the game, just in case someone can't make it one week and, again, to make sure that everyone has the chance to play it as often as they want.
- Pay attention to how long the game is - Obviously, there should be considerable depth in a 3 or 4 hour game. But playing a game for 4 hours every week (especially on a weeknight like our group) is going to preclude its players from doing much of anyting else. Getting in the game each week will become a chore, and people may start to rebel. So really, the game needs to strike a balance between having depth and still being playable in the time and setting where you hold your game sessions.
Variations to Drift the Program
What I've laid out above are the core elements of the Game of the Month! program that has been successful for us over the last 41 months. But clearly (and despite what I may tell you at other times), I am not the be-all, end-all authority of exactly what a Game of the Month! can and should be. I'm sure that there are many other directions that you can take it, many of which would still work out just fine.
The one that comes to mind most obviously to me is something that has already begun to happen in our group. A couple of months ago, one of the members of the group (Alton) floated the idea of having a "championship game" for those players who had done best at it throughout the month. I was excited about it mainly because I knew that it would be a game at the highest level of understanding and skill, where we wouldn't have to even have a rules explanation, but could instead get right down to playing as hard and well as we could.
For the most part, I think that the "final table" has been a positive addition to the month. And Mark even mentioned in his original article that games that lend themselves to league-styIe play work really well. But I'll merely caution my group and others out there, however, to be careful that you don't lose focus on what the underlying purpose of Game of the Month! really is, and that the "tournament" aspects don't overshadow that.
So, what do y'all think? Do you have any ideas about Game of the Month!? Do many other groups do this, or something like it? Are there any other variations that you'd like to share?
Good article Chris! Yes, I think your main points about teaching/playing it to the point where you don't have to pull the rules out every time, and taking it to another level of possible competitive play are great ideas. I still think that we should try to incorporate the idea of getting everyone in to the game who want to try that next level and be competitive with it for the Championship game at the end of the month. It may be hard to do (giving the competitors the chance to play every week) since the main goal up front is for people to learn a game they may not have already played, and this gives a good amount of time to learn it.
Some people may not play it every week, and we run the risk of someone getting locked out of a game (for ranking - Alton's system) because not enough interest for an additional game to start up. I'm not sure what answer we could have to combat that, but I guess it's not a big deal.
Great article! Thanks for sharing.
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A "championship" game is antithetical to the intent of the game of the month.
Competition can spur exploration of new strategies for the sake of winning, but learning for the sake of learning does not coincide with competition.
Chris, if I understand the GoTM---of which I have participated since May 2007---the GoTM was and is meant to be inclusive of regulars and newcomers. A championship game excludes gamers who can't play the GoTM every week or at the time when others hope to play it. The GoTM should create interest, but having a "championship" game may instead create disinterest in those who are not able to play the GoTM as frequently as others---a "why bother" effect.
The "championship" game should not become an official part of the GoTM.
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Not so Britt, the formula for figuring the final players is base on three parts avg. scores and total points scored by all players to find the STD Dev. and placement with in games played. So it is possible for someone to play the GotM just once and do very well and be in the GotM Championship Game and it also means that one bad game out of several played is not going to keep you out of being in the final GotM Championship Game.
Bottom-line line is you roll your dice and take your chances; all the while having fun with the learning a new game and the fellowship that GotM provides.
Besides, it's all about ones luck and never about gaming skills, right!
Sorry you will not be joining us for the GotM championship game; you could have been a contender.
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Alton,
You've made my point.
If the GotM has a "championship" game then the purpose of playing is not learning and trying new, diverse strategies, but winning.
As an educator, the greatest learning occurs in a value-free, unstressful environment. Learning is not about winners and losers. If GotM is about learning, players will try new strategies to see how a game plays differently. If the GotM is about winning, players will be less likely to try new strategies and more likely to copy a winner's strategy to become a winner, too. A "championship" game places the focus upon winning, not learning. This does not create diversity. It creates uniformity. It also creates less fun and less desire to play a game longterm.
As Chris noted, if the goal of the GotM is about reaching the "championship" game, why would a player that wins after the first play simply not play again, knowing that a perfect record will place him into the "championship" game. Contraversely, if a player does not win and misses a week or more of playing, may be disinclined to play the GotM when he does return b/c there is no incentive if he can't participate in the "championship" game.
I am a very competitive person, but the "championship" game irks me. It is the opposite of the original intent of the GotM. I boycott the silly notion of a "championship" game for GotM.
That said, I am now a bystander to Hypermind's gaming until Thanksgiving.
Happy gaming to you all. The Summer of George returns in 176 days!
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I was thinking about this the last couple days and I would like to offer an alternative to the championship game...
I think Alton's idea of playng a game to get to a championship game has huge merit, but I do not think it should be the same month as Game Of The Month. Chris has some great points about bringing GotM for learning, teaching, getting better at it, and playing it over and over to develop ideas etc.
I personally think we should have GotM like we do (Each week we play it, etc), but maybe don't track the winnings for the final table that month.
Then in the next month or a couple months later have a "Tourney" for previous game(s) of the month and those that are interested to battle for the final table could be included in that tourney.
For example: Since we have GotM this month as Nexus Ops, play it and learn it, etc like Chris stated in his article.
Then return in, say, October and the people who would like to be in the Tourney play it several times that month as well to establish their ratings for the final table (Which would be the end of the month as usual).
That way, people who really don't care if they are at the final table have a great time learning/teaching/playing a game that they may or may not have played before. And it also gives the competitive players (who want to vie for a spot in the final table) a chance to bring on their "A" game after they have learned the game, etc.
I think that would give people who want to be competitive a better chance at achieving their goal by at least playing it several times before they have to compete, etc...sort of like practice rounds going into the tourney.
I know in Video Games this works out well. I'm sure we could make it work with Board Games too.
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The only problem with this is that we'll still have a new Game of the Month! in September and October. So will people ignore the new GotM! in order to play in the tournament for an old GotM! (which would be even worse than a championship game interfering with a GotM! in its own month)? And if one or the other other games is on the longer side, will anyone have time to play in both games, even if they wanted to? Or what if they wanted to actually play some other games in addition to past or current GotM!'s?
I totally see where you're coming from, Shawn, and I agree with what you're trying to get at (to protect what GotM! is all about), but I don't know that adding in another whole scheme of organized play to an open-play game night is a really good thing. I don't mind a few people setting up games in advance every so often, but if you start to schedule too many games or events ahead of time, then you're going to start excluding more and more people, and the group will become less welcoming to new players.
If you're going to do something like this, I'd see it working better to have a literal sign-up for a short-term tournament on a single game night (so that anyone, regardless of how they did in the "learning games", could participate). If a game could hold the number of players that signed up, then you'd just play it once and declare a champion. If more signed up, then you'd have a preliminary/semi-final round, and then the final game. I can't imagine that more players than that would be interested (given that some don't like the idea of a championship game and others are ambivalent), though I could be wrong. That way, you'd have at most 2 plays of the game "getting in the way", and still get the same basic effect.
It might be an issue for this alternative if the game is longer (2 hours or so), but people would know that going in. And hopefully, it wouldn't interfere with playing the regular GotM! very much.
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No...I think you missed what I was talking about. Let me see if I can clear it up. GotM would still exist, and then you could still have a separate tourney that month for another game. I don't think people would stop playing any of the games. Since most of us play at least 3 games minimum each game night we would have an opportunity to play GotM, The tourney game (Which I don't think would be the whole gang, I think it would really just be the hard core competitive type...I may be wrong, but I'm gambling on this one), and there would be other games.
I know I have been averaging at least three games or more each time I have showed up.
So with that in mind, I would play GotM (To learn it, teach it, etc...)
Being competitive I probably (Not always, depends on if I like the game or not) would join the tourney game for that month, and would play any other pick up games.
Also..Maybe with something like this, we should go to a quarterly tourney rather than monthly? It would also not take away from the ideas of GotM plus other games as often.
Again..just thinking out loud..not trying to stir things up, but thinking of ways that would support all aspects of every player that wanted these options.
Also, this would not require extra nights or extra time, etc...At least not the way I am visioning this.
It would however be a problem if it was longer than a 2 hour game. Hence, I would not recommend a tourney or Game Of The Month for that on the regular game night anyway, necessarily (Because I think that would take away from the same aspects you are talking about in your prior statement. It's nice to learn the longer games too (Heck I'm playing one this weekend with some of you at Hypermind), but having that as GotM or even a Tourney game on our regular nights would deeply decrease players from getting into games, etc (Even newbies to the Game night).
Heck we already schedule games (even games that are not game of the month) for our regular game nights. So it does not really change anything there. Just saying.
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No, I got what you were saying; I just think that you're being way optimistic that it would work out that way. Having two "obligation" games each week would inevitably cause conflicts.
I mean, just think about it. Last week, I walked in at 7:30 and because I was an hour "late", I totally missed out on the Game of the Month! for that week (because two games were already being played). Scheduling on game night is a tricky thing as it is, and I personally don't think that it needs any more complication or obligation to get in the way.
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:/ ...ummm.... Amen?
I'll see you tonight
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I'm a little concerned about the effects of the "championship game", but I don't necessarily see it as antithetical to the purpose of GtoM!* The purpose is about learning the game on a deeper level, but the intent of the learning is really still up to the individual. It's okay for people to want to participate with the idea that they want to "get better" at the game. And even while I mainly like to explore the game (as I explained above), I also like to get better and take my "skills" up a notch too. So having a game at the end of the month that gives players a chance to play against the "best" others is still in line with what GtoM! is all about.
However, we need to watch out that this does not end up interfering with the other aspects and benefits of the GtoM! program. Now that Alton has made it clearer how it works, I could see someone winning the first time they played and then refusing to play again because they didn't want to "hurt their chances" of making the final game. But that attitude is what would be antithetical to the spirit of the Game of the Month!, not the game itself.
And really, what does the "championship game" really mean anyway? There's no trophy or prize. It's just another game, and a short-lived title. It certainly doesn't need to be the only play of the game that week, and by then, most every game will probably be between "experienced" players anyway. So as long as we make sure that it stays harmless, I don't see a problem.
* Oh, and by the way, the proper way to write Game of the Month! is with both bold and italics, and with a required exclamation point. If you abbreviate, the GtoM! must still have all three of these elements as well. So please use it correctly...
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How I wish there were a place to play a Game of the Month around here! I'm trying to just get ONE game afternoon at the local library, but it might not happen for another month or so. Unless I just want to bring Monopoly, Apples to Apples, and Candyland from my own game cabinet.
The main problem is simply having the communication tools in place. Our library has no forums or email discussion group (that I've found) so it's really just "post it on the corkboard." Plus I want to be sure to have enough "GMs" there with several games to offer before announcing it to the public. So I'm really only in the talkitup phase.
The secondary problem is moolah. How on earth do you afford a new board game every month? Do you have a pool your group contributes to? Or are you lucky enough to meet at a game store that lets you check out the games?
Just a few questions from someone inspired by your organizational skills, Chris!
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Yeah, the first issue is definitely in starting and maintaining a game group. I probably need to write an article about that too sometime, but here are some things that I did. Of course, we play in a game store, so we have always gotten at least a few members from "walk by" traffic, which you may or may not get in other settings. But when I started, I first went to BoardGameGeek and searched for gamers in my area (that's how I found Chip!). I then sent them geekmails directly to them and invited them to game night. I also posted a thread on the Southeast region forum advertising the game night and giving my contact information.
Something that I haven't done (but lots of others have) is to use other online resources, such as meetup.com. While these groups tend to be a little more traditional/party-game oriented, some are also pretty onboard with more modern games as well.
Of course, a few people have found me through this site as well, so start a blog and work it for 3+years!
The other thing is to decide what your goals are for membership and attendance. The cool thing about boardgames is that with even 2 or 3 people, you can have a great evening of fun. It gets a little more complicated with 6 or 13 or 25, but by then, more and more people will hopefully own and bring games as well. I pulled from some pretty game-geek-heavy places as well, so I probably had less trouble finding others to buy and explain games than if I had tried to base my group in a church or library, but then again, in those places you'll probably want to start more along the party game avenue, which even some non-gamers might be able to help with.
But as for money... Well, we tend to spend too much. When the "bug" first hit, many of us went out and bought a lot of games up front, so we've always had a good selection of games to pick from. At a few points, there was a decent amount of pressure on me and a couple of others to buy and teach most all the games, but as the group has grown and matured, a few other "buyers" have also joined or developed. And while there may be a month or two here and there when I don't buy any games, I usually make up for it in other months when I receive (as gifts, or more recently, review copies) or buy a lot more than one game. So my answers is that, yeah, basically, you gotta buy games in order to play them. But especially if you're not trying to support a local game store, there are a lot of online retailers that give 30+% discounts and offer free shipping at $100 or so (my favorites are Game Surplus, Thought Hammer, Fair Play Games, and Time Well Spent).
Thanks again, Jodi!
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Thanks for the info. Yeah, I think this needs to be a blog topic for your future. Not just a "how I did it" but "how the general public could do it."
We are in the western part of NC and there a few--very few--gaming stores around here. The one game store that is closest to us usually has Magic players hogging the tables. Honestly, I don't visit it often since it's 20 minutes away.
I'm not really trying to recruit from the general public. I'm just hoping to get some gamers together for a night of fun. Routine night of fun? Even better. Otherwise I'll just wait until the next convention.
I'll let you know how it goes!
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I realize that I am late to this posting party. However, as a future regular I want give my input since GOTM! will be a weekly part of my gaming experience. Overall I favor a championship game though I agree with Britt that a focus on getting into the championship game works against exploring a game. I don't think the impact will be nearly as adverse as Britt indicated because of other conditions connected to the GOTM! I will get to that, but first:
Britt - your points were well made. You stated your position clearly, cited to your experience as an educator to giving your argument weight and clearly explained how a focus on winning deemphasizes exploring. That matches my experience. When winning counts, such as the online annual Cannon tournaments, I win by sticking with what I already know works, not by trying something new and untested. I only feel free to experiment in two situations. 1) when winning does not count and 2) when I am so new to a game that all play is experimental.
It is that condition of being new to a game why a championship game won't have that much of an adverse effect on the GOTM!. The motivation for having a GOTM! is valid. We play such a diversity of games that there are a lot of players in the position of having so little experience with the GOTM! that any play must be experimental. There is no choice for many but to explore. As a side benefit you get a shot at the championship game.
Alton's formula is well devised to avoid penalizing those that have to miss a gaming night or two. If there is going to be a championship game then the month tied to that game is the best time. One long term effect of a championship game that I am not sure how to evaluate is that it seems likely to become the domain of the regulars. Winning\qualifying is more a matter of applying experience than gaining it and newcomers will be at a disadvantage.
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Not much to add, just wanted to say that it warms my heart to see GotM! be so successful for you guys. My own group is very small right now, so our GotM's have been intermittent. We do one, then take a month or so off before trying another. I think our previous two were Carson City and Caylus Magna Carta.
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