Catch-Up Mechanisms in Tabletop Games
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- Опубліковано 20 лип 2024
- In this week’s video, I discuss a number of different ways that games provide catch-up mechanisms when you fall behind (or to slow you down if you pull ahead). Thanks to the excellent suggestions from Stonemaier Ambassadors, I discuss the following games in mostly alphabetical order: After the Empire, AuZtralia, Barrage, Baseball Highlights 2045, Caylus 1303, Codenames, Dominion, Eclipse, Flamme Rouge, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Tapestry, 7 Wonders Duel, Isle of Skye, Munchkin, Gulo Gulo, MarioKart 64, Kemet, Odin’s Ravens, Patchwork, Power Grid, Quacks of Quedlinburg, Railways of the World, Rise of Queensdale, Sorcerer City, Steampunk Rally, Suburbia, Tiny Epic Dinosaurs, and Uno.
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My favorite catch up mechanic is from hockey (the sport). Normally teams play 5vs5 with goalies but any team can choose to "pull the goalie" to put a sixth player on the ice in lieu of their goalie. Playing 6vs5 increases their chance to score but not having a goalie also increases the chance of the opponent scoring even morso. Thus, it only makes sense for the losing team to do near then end of the game when they have nothing to lose. The fact that it's an option anyone can take but you'd only want to do if you are desperate makes it feel very fair while also making the end of every game more exciting for everyone.
I've been curious if a similar catch up mechanic could work in a board game.
I really like the application of this to a sport! Well done.
Yinsh is another good example of a game with a catchup mechanism. After players complete a 5-in-a-row, they are required to remove one large piece as a scoring marker, thereby permitting trailing players to continue with more options and moving markers (latter up to 5 pieces).
Hey Jamey! I really appreciate this new format, where essentially you go on talking a little bit about games in a specific context, instead of ranking them, but for a longer time (instead of the specific mecanisms shorter videos). It flows very naturally. Would love to see this for some future Sunday videos! Thanks and have a nice week!
I agree
Yes i will agree too if it is mixed in WITH the normal ranking videos because I also like those as well. But the new format is refreshing as well. So a balace of the two for me is best in my opinion.
I like Cubitos, you get to throw additional die the amount of red lines you are behind the leader.
Hi Jamey, I love your videos! These might not really be catch up mechanisms, but in Yinsh, as you are closer to winning, you actually lose pieces on the board, and Kingdomino has the player turn order mechanic which I really love.
Hey Jamey. Greetings from Greece. Not a comment about today's video's topic, just found the opportunity. Last week my copy of Red Rising arrived and I just played today with 3 of my friends. I have to say, OAW!!!! This game is fantastic 👍👍. I really didn't know what to do in the first rounds to be honest 😂, but as soon as the game started to flow it was just brilliant. Thanks for another great game Sir 👏🏼👏🏼
Thank you so much! I’m glad you’re enjoying Red Rising.
Gravwell has an awesome Catch-up mechanic. Which actually encourages you to fall behind to use. when you are behind, you can use a larger move card or cards really easily and jump forward really far.
Interesting topic.
An out there one would be Barenpark, where right at the beginning the 2nd, 3rd and 4th play order players start with a larger greenery (wheelbarrow) tile than the 1st player, meaning can cover more on the 1st turn.
The Quacks rat tails is a favourite of ours.
Just been playing My City, and the catch up at the end of each episode having to add better/worse features to the map depending on position.
In My Little Scythe the final turn rule where once game end triggered all other players can complete more than one trophy in that turn.
In Rising Sun, the catch-up occurs at the end of each battle, when war indemnities are paid. All losers in the battle receive the coins invested by the winner, divided equally. With more money in the clan, these players will have more deterrence in the next battle.
I recently replayed Lockup, a worker placement and area control game. If you compete for a particular part of the prison but don’t gain anything, instead of just pulling that worker back it instead goes to the Prison Library (representing learning from your defeat???) you can pull a library book which gives you a random “play anytime bonus”. This definitely helps you and tempers the disappointment of not getting what you need. Although it is luck based, the card might not help.
I'm looking forward to the Marauder Expansion for Root, which adds a catch-up mechanism where your ability to recruit "hirelings" on the board is based on how far you are behind the leading player in points
Dude, you would love Baseball Highlights 2045.
Best catch-up mechanism: Quacks
Best catch-up mechanism that isn't really a catch-up mechanism: Food Chain Magnate
YINSH - the players each start with five rings on the board. Every time a ring is moved, it leaves a marker behind. Markers are white on one side and black on the other. When markers are jumped over by a ring they must be flipped, so their color is constantly changing. The players must try to form a row of five markers with their own color face up. If a player succeeds in doing so, he removes one of his rings as an indication that he has formed such a row. The first player to remove three of his rings wins the game. In other words, each row you make brings you closer to victory, but also makes you weaker, because you have one fewer ring to play with.
In the extremely recent Tiny Epic Pirates. Losing a combat with a merchant ship or with another pirate will grant you a "sure-fire" tokens that let you flip a die on a face you want in a future combat.
Also in that same game, the more treasure you have buried (burying treasure is the goal of the game) the more movement the Navy ship have when it comes after you. The Navy ship is a neutral ship that will just wreck you if it gets in your space on your turn. It can be avoided by hiding, but hiding is essentially skipping a turn, slowing you down.
Great video Jamey! To add to the discussion, in many area control games/games with lots of player interaction you have a type of inherent catch-up mechanism as other players can collaborate to take the leader down (Root & Game of Thrones the board game come to mind, along with many others!). This is not really a true catch-up mechanism build into the game, but it functions similarily as it keeps players who are behind in the game. Additionally, it often makes for a great narrative (underdog wins ;)!
In Baseball Highlights, each card can potentially generate hits, and potentially cancel hits on the card before. When the first card is played, there's nothing to be cancelled. To balance that, the first player gets to play one extra card at the end just to cancel hits, but only if those hits would let the other player win/tie
Crokinole! It’s built-in just like in Codenames.
Bacon Project - if you discard cards from your Stack (your level/life) to defend against an attack, you draw 1 card per each you discard. BP is almost entirely hand management so if this happens in a close match it can tip the balance of the game.
I'm not sure I'd consider alternate wincons like the listed 7 Wonders Duel has as catchup mechanisms, myself, but Root's dominance cards would count if you do. What might count as a catchup mechanism is if the Vagabond decides to go for a coalition victory with their own dominance card, they have to choose the other player with the lowest score to ally with, and it gives that player a chance at a shared victory with the vagabond, as well as a mechanical reason for cooperation in a game where such things are typically non-binding.
The Dominance cards also help balance the factions out, since thete are a few factions which don't generate points as well but have great potential for holding rule of clearings, like the moles, lizards and sometimes the cats.
Near and Far might me another example for a catch-up mechanism. last place player in one game can start with platypus in next game instead of dog/cat companion. It gives more flexibility for the player
I always loved the catch up mechanism in HomeStretch; or as our gaming group calls it, "Yelling at Horses". The game is about betting on horse races. The horses move with a pair of dice (the number on the dice determines which horse moves) with some board elements that might give the less likely roles a possible advantage. Each player gets a number of "chips" that they can place for each horse to determine their bets. The catch up mechanism is that players in last place can stack as many of their bets on one horse as they want but players in higher places must distribute their bets more evenly with first place only able to place one bet chip per spot. It is entirely possible to go from last place to first on the last race if you get lucky and your bets pay out.
I just realized that you sort of have a catch up mechanism in Charterstone. Between rounds, there are up to two . One player basically gets VP white the rest tend to get a usable bonus for the future round. This isn’t the same every round and that variation is wonderful .
One that I think of is Downforce. Because cards are discarded after use, cars that use up their high value movement early get slowed down because they have no more to use, so the car that zooms ahead at the start is rarely the winner. This is especially obvious if you're watching the just-for-fun flip-and-move solo varient I sometimes stream.
Hi, Jamey! I love catch-up mechanisms in games. There is one of your games that you haven't mencioned. In Charterstone all players who do not win the chapter will be able to save an extra resource in the box for the next chapter.
That’s a great point! :)
The Networks has a catch up mechanism of sorts. If you end your action phase first then you'll get more money for the next round.
I forget the specifics or even if it ties in thematically but it also offers interesting decisions either way for all players.
The Baseball Highlights mechanism is more of a compensation for first player advantage (might actually be second player advantage, haven't played in a while). Basically if the whole round played normally, the last player on offense would have a card that the other player would not be able to respond to. Additionally, there's a mechanism where each player gets to place a card in their "On-Deck" spot at the start of a round and the card in this spot can be used to sub for cards with pinch hitter icons providing some interesting tactical play. To compensate for the aforementioned advantage at the end of the round, the player on defense can use their card in the "On-Deck" zone if they haven't already used it, or flip over the top card of their deck to make their last defensive play. So there's always that excitement for the last random top-deck, or that the defender planned for the scenario with their "On-Deck" card all along.
In “Hare & Tortoise”, the first ever Spiel des Jahres winner, there are places where you can win 10 times your position in carrots, which is the game’s currency that you have to use to move forward. This catch up mechanism is strong enough to entice you to remain in the last places for quite some time.
I like the space selection limit in Architects of the West Kingdom. Get too far up/down the virtue track and you can't visit the Black Market or you can't build on the Cathedral.
In Scythe, the "loser draws a combat card"-rule is a nice little catch-up mechanism, as it prevents people from being entirely knocked out. And speaking of, I loved the Rise of Fenris campaign, but the lack of a catch-up mechanism really hurt our campaign experience. Getting people to finish the campaign was a challenge, and the last episode was... fun, due to the story, but the outcome of the campaign was in no way in doubt, which was a pity.
A form of catch-up mechanism that many games use is player balancing, like what Small World or Root does. Root in particular, where you can see the scores, relies quite a bit on people giving the one who is last an easier time, since you always need to balance scoring points and preventing the enemy from scoring, but you don't have enough actions to block everyone.
Other than that, I always think of Power Grid when it comes to good catch-up mechanisms. Brass Birmingham also uses a really nice catch-up mechanism system that you really need to work around to win.
Good video but I felt it was missing your normal thoughtful analysis from a designer perspective, which is such a good feature of your other videos. I was hoping for more of your thoughts on the pros and cons of different catch up mechanisms rather than just a list
I saw someone mention the wake up track in Viticulture as maybe being a catch up mechanism. I know you said no, but Is the end of year in Viticulture, where spots become available again for other players a catch up mechanism? That player who ended the year moves onto the wake up track, but the remaining players gain the actions vacated by that player. I’m not sure, we were debating this on a recent play through.
Another question mark for the different routes on Ticket to Ride. Is it a catch up mechanism built in to the game that someone who makes their route obvious by claiming parts of their route early could get blocked by someone thus negating their good start?
I love these sorts of discussions. Great video. Thank you.
Indeed, on the extended board in Tuscany, workers vacate their action spaces whenever a player passes, which opens up actions to other players (but they may not necessarily be players who are behind in VP). As for Ticket to Ride, I think that's a good example of player interaction.
Adrenaline has a great example of this - the more damage you receive, the faster you move, more actions you can take etc - thematically, because your adrenaline is spiking! Also, if I remember correctly, players that have been killed less are worth more, so there’s an extra incentive for other players to go for them.
In ICECOOL the score is made with the sum of the cards that the players draw during the game, which are worth 1, 2 or 3 points, all drawn at random from a closed deck. A good player will definitely buy a lot of cards, but if he is unlucky, he will buy a lot of cards that are worth only 1 point. But these cards have a bonus for underdogs. For every two you have, you will be able to play another turn and have more chances of taking cards with higher scores.
Dinosaur Island - going first each round is a definite advantage, and turn order is determined by the VP track (lowest to highest).
Call to Adventure - there are 3 types of cards, level I, II, and III. When you achieve a certain number of goals you reveal the next level of cards, but you do so for all players. So even though the leader had unlocked the more powerful cards by reaching a threshold, other players now have access to them even though they haven't met that threshold.
Navegador - When you move ships into a new area (sailing from Portugal to Japan), you lose one of your ships. So you always have to move 2, then you lose 1, and now you need to get a second ship from Portugal to wherever your lead ship is. The effect of this is that whoever is currently furthest out (and who therefore has a crack at exploration bonuses and new spice/gold/cotton discoveries) can't steamroll ahead because they must always be bringing new ships from Portugal.
Maybe instead of just lists of examples, you could discuss the pros and cons of different methods. For instance, in the original Kemet, the ability to determine turn order if you're last in victory points was so powerful that it warped the game and players were holding back a lot, so the end game conditions had to be changed in the expansion to address this.
I'd be interested in seeing a video about luck on game. I recently got Terra Mystica, which has almost no luck. The only sorta lucked based thing is turn order. But even that has a new rule to help decrease the luck factor. This results in our games being really close each time. Usually the first place player is only 15-20 points ahead of the last player.
I have such a video ready for you here: ua-cam.com/video/6xEwB2uvAPI/v-deo.html
For that Codenames/Azul example - a "real world" example would be 8-ball. The further ahead you get, the harder it is for you to score, especially if your opponent is doing poorly, as all their target balls are now cluttering up the pool table.
Moonrakers, catch up. As you need to form temporary alliances, if you are too far ahead others will be less likely to team up with you or negotiate for a better deal for themselves.
I don't mind the catch-up mechanism in Quacks but it has definitely worked against me. In my 3 plays of it, I'm nearly always in the lead throughout the game until the last round when someone catches up and surpasses me. In each game, I would have won if the game ended one round sooner. I would hate this mechanism if it was in a euro game with low player interaction.
My favorite catch-up mechanism is in Lords of Vegas because the scoring is broken up into tiers and the players farther along on the scoring track has a higher threshold to reach the next tier.
I've never played with the "Ketchup" expansion for Food chain magnate, but it was literally designed because the original game was so all or nothing in terms of winning. You pretty much knew who would win at the middle of the game lol
Would the wake up track in Viticulture also fall into this category?
I wouldn’t say so, as it applies to all players throughout the game regardless of how many points they have.
Mezo has a semi-catch-up mechanism where you can never add points that would tie you with another player, you always jump ahead of them by one.
Would you consider being able to put workers in jail in Architects of the West Kingdom something like a catch-up mechanism? It allows people to be reigned in a bit - haven't actually played the game though.
It doesn’t necessarily benefit a player who has fallen behind, but situationally it could.
L.L.A.M.A. has my favourite one. in L.L.A.M.A. the player with the lowest points (represented by chips) at the end of the game wins. there are one-point chips and 10-point chips and if you win a round you are allowed to rid yourself of one chip, and if you only have one-point chips, so be it, but if you happen to win a round and you have a 10-point chip from a previous round, you get rid of it, and that's a huge deal! i have literally been in games where someone had 33 points (40 is game over) and they proceeded to then win three rounds in a row and win the game with 3. you are never out of it in L.L.A.M.A.
Res Arcana is an odd example. My guess is that they mean the first player to pass gets the temporary victory point for passing, the logic being if you have less actions to do you're more likely to be behind I guess. Not sure how apt it is - both the link between who passes and being behind isn't assured, and it doesn't actually help you catch up unless you're close to 10 points, cause the token won't help you build up your economy or anything.
In general I think catch up mechanisms are much better when they're smoothly integrated as natural parts of decision making. The Codenames, Dominion, and After the Empire examples feel that way, while games that just give points or economy boosts straight up to players who are behind feel less satisfying to me.
Disagree on the save mechanism in Baseball Highlights, as the point of that is to ensure that the visitor simply has six chances to respond to the home team’s play, as the home team does the visitor. Better example is the free agent draft. Pretty sure the loser gets first choice.
I'm not so sure about most of these. Catch up mechanisms, to me, are things like in Quacks, where you gain an advantage for the round, based on your relationship to the leader in that round. Dinosaurs needing more food, and covering more resources is a balance mechanic in my opinion. Adding 1 to all your moves if you're in last place is a catch up mechanic, going for the "instant win conditions" when you're behind might be good strategy, but isn't a catch up mechanic to me.
Also, for my own curiosity, has anyone ever seen a catch up mechanic matter. I've personally never once had it change the outcome of any game.
The baseball highlights is simulating home court advantage in baseball
Agreed, not really catch-up. Also, Jamey, you need to really play this game right up your alley. 2 player, great theme with mechanisms, and you like baseball (at least fantasy baseball). Plus, it's an excellent deck builder!
Its also very not a catch-up mechanism
Agree that it is not catch-up, just balances the fact that one side goes first. I think it is a fantastic 2 players deck builder game... and I don’t even know or like real baseball much! 😀
In Tapestry, the fact that there aren't any restrictions upon when a player should be allowed to take an income turn, it often happens that competitive players which let's say are playing more efficient at the table, can choose to take early income turns and "snitch away" those few resources (from their neighbors / other players) meant to keep a balance game for less competitive players which are not playing so efficient. I think that in order to keep a constant balance feel (and flow) of the game and remunerate players who really play efficient, a fixed income turn variant could work...just saying, for the sake of a Fair Play. Many times I've been a witness at these moments happening in the game, and players who haven't played efficient, and got the early income resources taken by others had their game to an end even faster and overall weren't happy with their experience. This is a personal observation of course. So I think in this case, the catch up machanism shouldn t be used for players who don't need it, it should be subject to some game restrictions. Any thoughts? :-D
That's an interesting thought, Gheorghe! I highly value your opinion after so many plays. I think that's something to consider if there is a big disparity in experience between players.
Thank you, Jamey! Yes, it’s something to observe and to think about.