Spinners: 1HN Long-Lasting Randomizer

Currently, one of the oddly popular fads among children in the United States is the fidget spinner, which is a three-pronged plastic or metal item that spins on its central axis on ball bearings. Apparently, fidget spinners are simply mental distractions that seem to have been intended as a tool to help children focus their fidgety energies on something without shifting in their seats. However, it has had the opposite effect of distracting children by drawing their attention to whomever is using one. I can see the end of this, though: eventually, EVERY boy (and girl?) will have one, get bored of it, and then cast it into a drawer of other junk.

An ironic parallel I see to the predictable fate of the fidget spinner is the spinner in board games. Certain "classic" American games featured spinners, particularly Life and the decidedly non-board game, Twister. As other Americans do, I have both happy and angry memories of these games. As many of you know, spinners are simply decision randomizers that spin on a central axis until the pointing part of the spun arrow or wheel ends up aiming at a space that indicates a number or course of action. It's rudimentarily mechanical, requiring a deft turn of hand or finger to manipulate it, yet it is not necessarily a component of dexterity games. On the contrary, in the two games mentioned above, spinners are the mode of randomization. In this sense, spinners are similar to any randomizer, like dice. This difference is a simple one: there is a visceral element to both kinds of randomizers that are dissimilar enough to separate those experiences from each other, at least in my mind. By this, with a spinner, I could spin it as fast or as slowly as I wanted, affording me the illusion of agency. In any case, whether it's spinning and landing on the best space in the game, or spinning and having to contort my body into an impossible Escher pretzel, using a spinner evokes flashbacks of joy and rage that are markedly different from the joy and rage of rolling dice.

I noted that there is an ironic parallel between game spinners and fidget spinners; this irony is evident in the state of games today. Among the more widely-recognized connoisseur games, spinners are not found, as far as I can recall. Most of the time, decision randomization takes the form of cards, dice, or even the BINGO mechanic of drawing chits or pieces blindly, yet you do not see spinners. One reason might be because of the form factor of certain spinners, like the one in Life; it is a considerably-sized piece of molded plastic that fits fine in the large game box of Life, but may not fit well, say, in a Pandemic box. Another reason might be that shoddy spinners can lead to cheesy results; for example, if the spinner board in your set of Twister is warped, when you attempt to spin that chintzy arrow, you may barely spin it to the next wedge on the decision wheel, which is irritating and completely eliminates the visceral fun of watching an arrow careering around the wheel. The most likely reason, though, may be the most insidious one: spinners seem childish and out of place in a "serious" board game.

In yet another layer of irony, it is this "guardianship of all that is good in gaming" that has both protected current games from being infected with old, horrible ideas (e.g., the "roll-and-move" mindlessness of Chutes/Snakes and Ladders) and prevented game designers from exploring old, not-so-awful ideas, like a spinner. As I type this, I can imagine a game designer creating a game that involves a default spinner that can be customized as you purchase wedge pieces to fit in the outer rim, reconfiguring the options that are randomly available. Couple this customizable spinner with the youthful delight of spinning something with all your might and you may have a game that combines a deck/bag/hand-building mechanic with a bit of childish fun. (I'm patenting this idea, by the way.)

Sadly, though, we do not find spinners in a lot of games, and I think this is because board game enthusiasts seem to favor games that they can readily dissociate from those awful roll-and-move days of their childhoods. I certainly understand this because I used to have an aversion to dice (traumatic memories of Risk!), poppers (Trouble!), BINGO, and even the luck of the draw (I'm talking about you, War and Uno!). However, as I look at those older games from a perspective shaped by years of Euro gaming, I wonder if enthusiasts have forgotten about the primal joy of pressing a popper, rolling handfuls of dice against another dice-chucker, and even the sheer elation of drawing the high card. This leads me back to the comparison between the fidget spinner and the game spinner; one is an intriguing, somewhat distracting fad that will fade; the other is an often derided and disregarded game mechanic that has lasted a long time. Why not ride the wave of a fad and bring back the game spinner in an entirely different way? Rise of Augustus brought back BINGO in my mind, so I think a Euro game can incorporate a fidget... er, game spinner.

Board Game Cleanup 4: Dice Masters

Much to my chagrin, it is becoming more prevalent to find a touch of sexuality in games that target children and families. As I've discussed in previous posts, some games feature only a few cards or game elements that portray women in a sexual way, while other games display such images pervasively. This reality almost always steers me away from certain games because main character females are depicted in an objectifying way that can fill any boy or man's head with inappropriate thoughts. Sadly, one of my favorite games is not exempt from this: Dice Masters. Created by Eric Lang and Mike Elliott and derived from Lang's Quarriors system, Dice Masters employs dice as characters, sidekicks, energy generators, and as determiners of whether basic actions are executed or not. In short, you choose a "team" of eight characters and/or artifacts and you duel with another player. Each character die has a character card associated with it; for example, if you want to have Captain America on your team, you choose a Captain America card (which can come in a common, uncommon, or rare version, each one with differing abilities) and allocate up to four custom Captain America dice to that card. Then, whenever you purchase a Captain America die and then draw it from a bag, that die has the in-game ability its card bestows upon it. Each die has three Levels for each character, with Level 3 being the strongest version of the character. Each die can also generate energy for purchasing and/or deploying characters.

To me, Dice Masters has many wonderful qualities: it's a customizable experience in which you choose your characters and basic actions; you get to roll dice, which is usually (but not always) fun; you can play with popular Marvel or DC characters, such as Batman, Superman, Captain America, and Iron Man; it's portable; and, (a quality that is appealing to me because I'm a bit fastidious with protecting my game items) people can bring their own collections and play against other people. There is so much to like about this game, and yet the one thing that bothers me is some of the imagery, specifically the comic book depictions of female superheroes. Let me provide some examples.

Example 1: Spider-Woman

Out of the Amazing Spider-Man Dice Masters set, Spider-Woman is one of the borderline depictions, in my opinion, but I do have an issue with the form-fitting costume in the chest area. Some people may disagree, but I think the shape alone suggests body paint and not a costume, which is not so far from nudity.


Example 2: Black Widow

Another card out of the Amazing Spider-Man set, Black Widow is a decent, low-cost character that bares just a bit too much mid-cleavage. Realistically, I would expect a superhero's suit to be armor-like and protective, but that's not the case in comics, apparently.

Example 3: Magik

From the X-Men Dice Masters set, Magik is a fine character statistically speaking, but there is a lot of bare breast in this art.







Example 4: Catwoman

From the DC Justice League Dice Masters set, Catwoman's rare card offers an intriguingly random ability, but she is also one of those characters with barely acceptable art (no pun intended). Her body shape is voluptuously depicted here, but at least her chest is somewhat obscured with the darkness of her costume. I was on the fence about this one.

As I have stated in past posts, many people may find my concerns unfounded, but I understand the struggles of the male mind, and the art in these cards do nothing to help a young boy or man NOT to objectify women or avoid those feelings that one should have for one's wife only. I believe that God has put it upon my heart to keep my family's gaming on the purer side, sexually speaking, and to protect my young boys from the rampant sexuality in today's society, even in games.

With that in mind, how do I handle questionable art in Dice Masters? Simply put, I sell the cards and dice, or I exclude the cards from my and my sons' collections because there are so many heroes to collect and use, even female ones. I've found more appropriate Black Widow and Catwoman art in other sets, and there are female superheroes that are portrayed non-sexually, such as Marvel Girl, Rogue, and even Psylocke (the art thankfully depicts her from the neck up). I'm certainly not for banning all female characters, but I do recommend being judicious with the art in the game, even if the female hero has a powerful in-game ability. This doesn't mean that there aren't characters about which I am indecisive. One example is Wonder Woman; traditionally, her costume bares a lot of leg, but she is rarely portrayed (in Dice Masters, anyway) in a way that suggests she's selling more than being a hero. I suppose there are nuances that I detect in the game that drive my conviction, such as character poses and intent.

In any case, these are my opinions based on my personal conviction as a follower of Christ. If you are an atheist or follower of another religion, your opinion may vary. However, I don't believe it can be denied that women are depicted in overly sexual ways in media today. Whatever your belief system, I recommend that every parent examine the art in a game and determine if it suits his or her family. Even male art can be inappropriately sexual or frightening or grotesque. By taking control of the art in your home, you can guide your children through the tricky waters of today's sexually liberal society and, at the same time, train them to think for themselves to better identify mental dangers... and avoid them.

Rules Discussion: Dice Manipulation

As much as anyone, I love chucking dice and seeing what happens. The thrill, the anticipation, the excitement of a good result, and the disappointment of a terrible result: dice can engender all of these feelings, sometimes sequentially, but sometimes simultaneously. Yet, I didn't used to feel this way about dice. From my childhood, I have traumatic memories of losing battles to a vastly inferior defending force in Risk, and of never landing on the three or four properties I needed to complete sets in Monopoly. Unfavorable dice rolls even dogged me when I played RPGs, as if rolling poorly was a ravenous bloodhound intent on devouring any sense of fun I could derive from gaming. Dice rolls in games conspired to filch the joy out of my gaming sessions, but I have come to discover a mechanic that is more like a game design paradigm: dice manipulation.

Dice manipulation is actually a time-honored idea, and I'm not referring to loaded dice with weighting to favor certain sides. No, I'm talking about in-game elements that allow players to change dice roll results to favor them. One way this is done is allotted roll attempts, which Yahtzee, in all its underrated glory, manifests beautifully; in that game, you can choose to reroll as many dice as you want to try to achieve a desired result. King of Tokyo, a modern classic, appropriates this approach, and is a wonderful filler game because of it. Another way to manipulate dice rolls is through bonuses or items earned in the course of play; Alien Frontiers, for example, not only employs dice as "ships," but it provides Alien Tech cards that let players change their rolls when they choose to activate or discard those cards. Castles of Burgundy provides workers that afford players opportunities to change rolls, as well. Kingsburg has a similar mechanic in which earned +1 chits can be applied to rolls. A third way dice are manipulated is team resetting, which is endemic to the Escape series of games; in those games, when all of your masks are locked into their black sides, teammates can help you out by granting you their gold "masks" or "faces."

Yet another method by which dice are manipulated does not really involve changing dice rolls as much as changing the role dice play in a game (pun intended). A brilliant exemplar of this is the Dice Masters system created by Eric Lang and WizKids. In Dice Masters, each die is either a Sidekick, a character, or a basic action die. All dice can provide energy of some kind to purchase character or basic action dice or to deploy characters, but the nice twist is that character dice, when rolled on one of three possible sides, are actually played as "characters" on the field. For example, a Captain America die has a Level 1 side, a Level 2 side, and a Level 3 side; Level 3 sides are the strongest offensively and defensively, but considering all three character sides of a six-sided die, you have a 50% chance of deploying a character, a 16.7% chance of generating two energy points, and a 33.3% chance of even generating one energy of a particular type. In addition, Sidekick dice have five energy-generating sides, but also a sixth side that serves as a "sidekick" with an Attack strength of 1 and a Defense strength of 1. In other words, the dice are THE playing pieces, as well as the determiners of the amounts of energy generated, but Dice Masters also involves re-rolls, "spinning" dice up or down levels (i.e. changing the faces of dice to match a certain Level), drawing more dice, putting more dice in the draw bag, and even removing dice from play. If anything, Dice Masters encompasses many dice manipulation principles.

I'm sure that there are more ways in which dice are manipulated or employed, such as in Panamax in which dice determine what kind of cargo is being carried and are placed on the ships themselves. I do invite comments about other examples of dice manipulation. What are your favorite ways by which dice rolls can be altered in a game? Have you encountered any unique mechanics that use dice?