{"id":1165,"date":"2026-01-23T01:03:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T01:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mycours.es\/postgaming\/?page_id=1165"},"modified":"2026-04-17T14:11:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:11:58","slug":"board-games-game-design-vocabulary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mycours.es\/postgaming\/board-games-game-design-vocabulary\/","title":{"rendered":"Board Games \/ Game Design Vocabulary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s talk about the 4 board games you’ll be assigned to modernize, doing a bit of critical history in the process. Each game is paired with a few key concepts in game design.<\/p>\n

The Game of Life<\/h1>\n

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The game of life is a descendent of morality-based games like the Mansion of Happiness (one of the first commercially produced board game) and roll and advance games like the Game of Goose.<\/p>\n

My thread on game of Goose<\/a><\/p>\n

More on the history and of early board games in the chapter Board Games<\/a> from Critical Play by Mary Flanagan<\/p>\n

Skill vs chance<\/h2>\n

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\nLibro de los juegos
\n<\/a>
\nThe text is a treatise that addresses the playing of three games: a game of skill, or chess; a game of chance, or dice; and a third game, backgammon, which combines elements of both skill and chance.<\/p>\n

How old are boardgames exactly?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mancala games 6900 BC, Jordan.
This is when the homo sapiens started to become sedentary and developed agriculture. In these games the tokens are seeds and they are based on sowing and reaping. We can easily infer that they were used to support the conceptual development of the agrarian mentality.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Senet circa 3500 BC. Egyptian. It\u2019s a 2 player game but there are depiction of people playing in solitary mode too, like they are playing with an invisible opponent, possibly god. It\u2019s a game of chance, and since the Egyptians believed in determinism it meant that if you are lucky in the game the gods are with you.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Victorian era boardgames often had moral themes to prevent any association with gambling. Some would even use alternative dice called teetotum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Mansion of happiness 1843. Linear path based on chance. You have to reach happiness (eternal happiness) without landing on \u201cvices\u201d zone that will take you back as punishment. Like \u201cidleness\u201d takes you to \u201cpoverty\u201d. Similar to the game of Goose from the 15th century.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Early and proto-pinball manufacturers often put a “game of skill” notice on the machines to avoid being framed as gambling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Digital slot\u00a0machines, traditionally random,\u00a0are becoming increasingly more sophisticated<\/a> adapting to the users behavior, giving an illusion of agency, and producing wins that increase the addition cycle.<\/p>\n

Gambling machines are becoming more videogame-like to attract millennials, posing dilemmas to gambling regulators<\/a>.<\/p>\n