Thursday, June 30, 2016

Rules Discussion: Set Collection

Set Collection is a category recognized on Board Game Geek that refers to the game mechanic of collecting sets of something to make something happen. This is not a new mechanic by any stretch of the imagination because classic card games like Gin Rummy and Poker involve collecting pairs, threes-of-a-kind, and straights (i.e. three or more cards in numeric order), but it's a mechanic that seems to get a fresh facelift with each new game released. For example, when Settlers of Catan was published in 1996, I'm sure that collecting sets of cards (i.e. resources) to build cities and gather development cards was not new, but the look and feel of the game was certainly novel. When Ticket to Ride was released in 2004, it stoked heightened interest in board gaming with its gorgeous artwork, top-notch production values, and easy-to-learn, tough-to-dominate gameplay; yet, at the heart of the game is a simple set collection dynamic in which you collect cards of like color to connect cities. Set collection is a core mechanic of many games, whether they are venerable classics or upstart new releases.

What makes set collection feel new with each game is not the mechanic itself as much as what you have to collect. For those aforementioned card games, a "set" is defined by cards of like or sequential value, and, in Poker, one set is often valued over other sets. In Settlers of Catan, what defines a set is what you intend to build; in Ticket to Ride, a set is determined by the color and length of the route connecting two desired cities. As more games are released with a set collection mechanic, gathering the requirements for fulfilling the sets is different, which makes it a time-honored mechanic that rarely fails...

Or does it? Set collection is often subject to the randomness of the deal or the flop, as well as the interference of the other player. Though the latter is a welcome attribute of many games, the former is an annoyance that can stymy even the best-laid plans. What happens if you don't draw that sixth orange card to complete a connection? What about those times in which you don't get the roll necessary to collect that last ore card? Either case is heartbreaking or irritating, though wild cards and other in-game items can help mitigate randomness at the cost of game speed, such as when you take one Locomotive card in Ticket to Ride instead of taking two cards, thus slowing down your acquisition of train cards. In any case, set collection can represent the most fun and grating aspects of gaming, sometimes simultaneously.

As a mechanic, I enjoy collecting sets, but it's not a mechanic that compels me to buy games. To be honest, I didn't buy Ticket to Ride because of the set collection mechanic; I bought it because the gameplay was easy to grasp, it was beautiful to behold, and it is as cutthroat or friendly as you and your opponents want it to be. Nonetheless, many of the more accessible games employ this mechanic. If it works, why fix it?

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