I had an interesting experience over the holidays. My brother-in-law, Ben, came by and showed us how to play a new board game he had just purchased. The game was called Tobago, and its premise is to hunt for treasure by placing clues and racing to it's location. It is designed in a way that allow all who contribute to finding the treasure to get a piece. Ben explained how the pecking order worked once a treasure was found, and we played the game with a niece and nephew of ours.
After the game, I thought about the rules and thought to myself of how to make the game more fun. I suggested to Ben that the next time we play, we reverse the pecking order of the treasures to help motivate player to race to its location.
A few days later, our nephew had received a copy of Tobago for Christmas. After reading the rule book, he informed me that the changes I had suggested in regards to the pecking order were really how the game is meant to be played!
As a young and budding game designer, I find it quite reassuring to know that not only can I detect were a game has a design flaw, but that I can find a suitable solution for that flaw.
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