I just shut down. I quit. Anyone else would have done the same.
I was 10. My buddies and I were playing Monopoly on my back porch (my favorite place to play tabletop games). I was so excited to play. Most times when I suggested playing any board game my buddies would politely (or not so politely) decline. This time, however, they said they would play. I was thrilled. Within thirty minutes, though, I had completely shut down. It was all I could do to not get up and walk out. Boardwalk and Park Place had been taken early in the game by Phil. Over the next thirty to forty minutes, he also managed to buy the light blue real estate and had made inroads to the orange real estate. In that same amount of time, Steve had purchased all the railroads and utilities and Indiana Avenue. Rex had grabbed the green and yellow real estate controlling that corner of the board. I, on the other hand, had repeatedly landed on Chance and Community Chest, was sent to jail once, and had purchased only the purple real estate – Baltic and Mediterranean (not the smartest choices when I bought them). For the next hour-and-a-half, my turns were completely inconsequential. There was no way I was going to win so I checked out. I quit. It was not fun at all.
We have all had that experience, right? You get so far behind in a game that you just check out mentally and sometimes physically. Don’t get me wrong, if I get behind in a game because of poor decisions and missed opportunities, I can live with that. Falling behind in a game because of my poor play certainly doesn’t feel good, but I understand it. But to be so far behind that you can’t catch up because of bad luck, well that just feels unfair. If you can’t control outcomes by how you play the game and outcomes are left completely to chance (the roll of the dice, for example), the bad feeling is even worse. What’s the point of playing? If you have no hope of winning, why bother?
At Brave Legacy, we try to invent games that reward good play. The better you play the better your chance of winning. Still, players are bound to make poor choices and luck is a part of nearly all games. Poor decisions and bad luck are inevitable. Enter the catch-up mechanic.
I did not know such a term existed before getting serious about creating tabletop games. I do now. A catch-up mechanic, as most of you are probably aware, is a mechanic added to a game that allows all players the chance to catch up, and even win, no matter how far behind they get. Often, though not always, they include a trigger that is activated when a player’s position reaches a certain threshold. A catch-up mechanic helps prevent the condition of players “checking out” because of futility. In the Monopoly example above, I had totally checked out. My play just didn’t matter and there was nothing I could do about it. With a catch-up mechanic the game is always fun to play because there is always hope of winning. You’re never completely out of the game. Simply put, a catch-up mechanic offers hope.
My friend was recently telling me a story of a woman who lost everything. Martha (that’s not her real name) had been married several years when her husband divorced her. He took everything from her in the divorce settlement. Over the months that followed, she lost her job, her car, and the apartment she was living in. Suffice it to say she was on hard times and at the end of her rope. Her life had spiraled out of control and while some of her problems were caused by poor life choices, it didn’t help that she had bad luck, destructive people in her life, and unhealthy living conditions. At one point in her life, she had given up. Like me in that Monopoly game, she just wanted to quit. After all, what was the point? She knew she was so far behind that nearly every move she could make would be inconsequential. So, she quit. Having lost all hope, she gave up. Then she met Diane, her catch-up mechanic.
Diane (again, not her real name) was a woman ignored by the community around her. She didn’t have much, but what she did have was a beautiful attitude and a heart and soul of positivity and love. Most of all, she was willing to help and offered Martha what she had; a couch to sleep on and some food. In the ensuing months, Martha got back on her feet. She found employment and saved some money. Eventually she found a new apartment and bought a car. Most importantly, though, she found hope.
It's frustrating to fall behind in a tabletop game, but I’m reminded how dire it can be to fall behind in life. In games, a catch-up mechanic makes all the difference in the world to ensuring all people playing the game have an enjoyable experience. Life should be the same. We should all have an enjoyable experience even if we have made some poor choices, missed some opportunities, or simply had bad luck. In life, I’m reminded of how valuable it can be for us to offer hope to people who, for one reason or another, have fallen behind. I’m reminded of why certain agencies in our culture are important to helping others catch up in life. I’m reminded of how important it is to offer people hope when their own supply of hope has run dry. Finally, I’m reminded that offering hope doesn’t necessarily mean we have to do something heroic. Sometimes just listening and being present in someone’s life can provide the hope they need to carry on.
Tabletop games don’t necessarily need to teach us things about life but creating them and playing them has reminded me often of the values in life I hold dear and why I hold them in such high regard. In this case, that value is hope and the ways we can offer such hope to those who have fallen behind.
I love the catch-up mechanic. It’s a mechanic that makes all games enjoyable to the end. I like, too, that we can be the catch-up mechanic for people around us who have fallen a little (or a lot) behind.
I hope you enjoyed this blog. I encourage you to give me your thoughts. Meanwhile, for my next blog post, I’ll look at why making rules that are fair and balanced is so important and what l have observed about fairness in life.
Keep playing!
Tom