60
Board games with emergent complexity? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 month ago by naught101@lemmy.world to c/boardgames@sopuli.xyz
30 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Some games are complicated - they have really complex rules. Examples of this are games where you have to track many different types of tokens, with different rules for each.

Other games have really simple rules, but still manage to produce extreme complexity in they way they are played.

Go is the perfect example of this. It literally has 2-3 rules, but because you can play anywhere, the complexity it can produce is wide and deep, to the point that tomes have been written on how to play it.

What other boardgames exist that have very simple rules, but produce complex and interesting game play?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Aielman15@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

*Tokaido (in case OP or someone else wants to look it up.)

I played it a few times at a friend's house and really enjoyed it. Never won a match, but that's not the point - the entire game is about travelers making the most out of their trip throughout Japan. For this reason, the game feels very chill, despite being competitive.

It's not my favourite board game ever, but it was a nice change of pace for a while. I think it does get a bit stale after a while, though.

this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025
60 points (100.0% liked)

Board Games

1957 readers
111 users here now

Let's Play a Game! A place to discuss all things board game, regardless of genre. Everything from Scrabble and Catan to Ark Nova, 1830 and beyond is fair game! That means we have blackjack. Bring your own hookers, sorry.

Rules:

  1. Play nicely with others here.
  2. Discussion should be at least somewhat related to board games and all that entails.
  3. Self-promotion is allowed within reason. Don't go overboard!

Other comms that might be of interest:

  1. !longreads@sh.itjust.works
  2. !norway@sopuli.xyz

Other boardgame comms:

  1. !juegosdemesa@feddit.cl (Spanish)

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Profilename1@sopuli.xyz
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works
AwesomeLowlander@sopuli.xyz
Blaze@sopuli.xyz