Rich Sommer (Mad Men) is a board game fan. Now he’s taking his fandom to the airwaves with this (hopefully recurring) segment about board games for G4’s Attack of the Show. In this first installment, Sommer looks at a game I still haven’t played (co-created by one of my favorite designers, Eric Lang), a game that I love right now, and an online phenom that I’m always hearing about. Which games am I talking about? Watch for yourself:
Enjoy!
How do you explain a game concept to a friend who has just NEVER played games? I’ve often struggled with it, but attempting to make his show accessible to everyone, Rich Sommer does a really good job of concisely expressing how a game works in a non-technical way. Unfortunately, doing so, he fails to make any serious statements about the quality of each game’s design.
Right on, Ben. Explaining some of the joys of gaming to new or would-be players is sometimes tricky. Me, I try not to worry too much about getting a player to appreciate the design qualities or breakthroughs of some games and just focus on what’s fun. I mean, a classic movie’s role in cinema history is enough to get some viewers to pay attention, but other viewers might not give a damn that a movie was influential—they just want to have a good time with it. So I might let a new player know that this or that part of a game is novel or noteworthy, but I seldom spend much time discussing the nuances of game design with a new player unless they really take to it.
I think Rich Sommer is smart to stay clear of making too many deep statements about each game’s standout design elements. He’s not explaining their place in ludic history, he’s telling that they’re fun candidates for game night. (And he still singles out 7 Wonders’ novel card mechanic for attention, which ain’t nothing.) It’s not a review segment, it’s a spotlight, at least for now. And the hobby can use one of those, in my opinion.