Welcome!

In today’s post I thought we would dive in together, into board game ratings and I will introduce a new system. The new game rating system is what I plan to leverage here at Tabletop Tales. I enjoy creating unique content, below is the new rating system design. I hope you enjoy the post.

Standard Systems

Assuming you have watched YouTube videos, read board game reviews in the past, etc., you are likely to be quite familiar with these “creatures”. Folks generally leverage criteria that applies to a broad audience. Most people rate board games using criteria and categories such as:

• Artwork & Components

• Gaming Mechanics & Systems

• Learning Curve (Accessibility)

• Originality

• Replay(ability)

Table for 2, Please!

I will be using an alternative rating system. I believe this system better aligns to how people are buying board games today. As board games have evolved, both the people and the reasons they buy them has evolved as well. Board gaming for adults has been becoming more-mainstream (if you visit your local Target, you will see what I mean). Game publishers often ship “beginner” core box sets to appeal to a larger audience as another example. Historically, board games were a pastime for children, often for two players in competitive mode, with an occasional play with mom and dad at the tabletop! Today, and for quite some time really, the buyer personas have been evolving for boards. People want to revisit board games from their childhood but do it via a modern board platform and gaming system.

I hope you find the below rating system more functional in nature when applied to one or more modern boards as you evaluate them (for purchase).

Four Categories. One Overall Rating.

• Adaptability - How easy is the game to ramp up and progressively learn? Boards that are complex in nature tend to be the most enjoyable, but without a progressive learning system in place, many players will quickly lose interest. This category maps to traditional complexity, difficulty and learning categories.

• Engagement - How engaged do the game mechanics make the player feel? Are we moving pieces for the sake of moving pieces, or conversely are we thinking about our next move or even better the next three moves? Engagement equals enjoyment. This category aggregates several traditional ones, such as gaming mechanics and strategy.

• Human Connection - How good is the game at facilitating social interaction among it’s players across the theme? If the board is a competitive orientation, are we plotting to take each other out using the various mechanics? If the game is cooperative, how well does it facilitate both of us working together and assisting each other to get the win? And there are negotiation games where we could be placed into a “friendly competition” scenario. Here we find traditional board game categories such as player interaction. Human Connection combines player interaction with theme integration and includes family fun applicability. It also encompasses how each player feels in terms of the interaction once a given game session has been completed.

• Immersive Experience - How good is the game at making us feel like we are literally in the game playing together in its fictional world? This maps to and aggregates standard ratings including artwork, component quality and theme integration. This also maps to replayability, a game is not immersive if we only wish to play it a single session!

• Overall Rating - All the above categories will be scored on a standard 1-10 scale. The overall rating will be simply calculated as the sum of all four scores, divided by four and rounded up.

*Ratings are 1-10 Based, increments of .5, 10 is Best

Old-to-New Mappings

As you read our board game reviews, it’s useful to have a legend, so you can see how traditional ratings map to the newer system we have designed.

• Adaptability

  • Adjustable & Progressive Difficulty

  • Complexity & Setup

  • Progressive Learning (Rules Set)

• Engagement

  • Game Mechanics

  • Strategy

  • Theme Integration

• Human Connection

  • Family Fun (Broad Age Group Applicability)

  • Player & Social Interaction

  • Theme Integration

• Immersive Experience

  • Artwork

  • Components

  • Modes of Play & Replay(ability)

  • Theme Integration

Closing Thoughts

The new design maps to, aggregates, and provide higher-level abstractions for traditional board game rating categories. This design better aligns to the experiences that modern day board games are bringing to the table. Board game reviews we create will use this new rating system. That is a wrap for this post ladies and gentlemen, I hope you found it interesting.

Until Next Time, Enjoy the Tabletop.