How to save the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club? (Part 2.5) + Game Spotlight: Las Vegas

My loyal readers will recall the post I wrote in January about the imminent plight of the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club (NPBGC), who have been put on probation until April 2015. At that time, the powers that be will decide if the NPBGC will cease to exist. My loyal readers will also be annoyed at me for not posting anything for over two months, but that's beside the point.

I wrote another post in April talking about using the CCA Fiesta for increasing membership at the club, which did manage to boost the club membership to an acceptable level. In the meantime, the NPBGC members have been busy trying to implement my other ideas, including introducing games to students at the library Board Games Zone (BGZ) and learning multiple games well enough to teach them properly. Nonetheless, the club is still in trouble.

Another thing the club can do is to help the library promote the games in the BGZ. Currently, the library periodically posts articles promoting a game on their Facebook page. The plan is for the library to post such an article before each of the Monday evening NPBGC game sessions. A staff member from the library will then attend the session to take pictures of students playing the game and to get some quotes about how cool and fun the game is, which will then be updated on the Facebook post.

Here is a previous post on the game Las Vegas that the library put up a few months back:

Post by Lien Ying Chow Library.

The administrator who wrote this post tried her best, but she's not a gamer. Consequently, the post is less informative than it could be. The description doesn't explain how the game works or why it is fun, the pictures don't show gameplay (why are they fanning their money like that?), and the link to the library catalogue entry isn't very informative. Let's just say that the post does not make me want to play the game.

So I assigned some homework to the club members. I got them all to pick a game from the library's collection, and they have to write the Facebook post for the game (everything but the pictures and quotes). As a general formula, there should be one paragraph explaining the game, one paragraph explaining why the game is fun, and a number of relevant links to stuff like Youtube video reviews and articles.

Here is my attempt to rewrite the Las Vegas entry:

Fight for control of casinos in this push-your-luck dice-rolling game! In Las Vegas, there are six casinos numbered 1 to 6 with different values each round. On your turn, you roll the dice of your colour, allocate all dice of one value to the matching casino, then retrieve your remaining dice. This continues until all players have run out of dice. The player with the most dice in each casino gets the biggest payout, but here's the twist: if you have the same number of dice in a casino as someone else, they cancel each other out. After 4 rounds, the one with the most money wins the game. 

Feel free to "advise" your friends to go after someone else's casino. Threaten vengeance if someone tries to take your casino away from you. Form alliances, negotiate deals, and then stab your friends in the back when the time is right. With a little luck, that's how you become the richest casino mogul in Las Vegas! 

Nominated for the 2012 Spiel Des Jahres (Game of the Year) award. 

To find out more about the game, check out: 

• A video review by the Dice Tower
• A more detailed written review
• The Las Vegas BoardGameGeek entry
• The library OPAC entry 

by Oon Wee Chong, Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club

See that last line in the Facebook entry where I signed off with my name? I want the students to do the same so that readers know it's the opinion of someone who has played and enjoyed the game, not a library administrator who just wants to promote the use of the library facilities.

Has reading the above has piqued your interest in the game of Las Vegas? No? I don't blame you, because it's really difficult to explain why a game is fun by using only words. I'd have liked to record a short video explaining the rules and showing people playing the game, but that's logistically troublesome. Besides, nothing beats actually playing the game.

On the other hand, maybe you'll trust your poly cher that it's a fun game and try it out just based on my recommendation. Similarly, friends of the NPBGC members may do the same when they sign off their posts and share it on their Facebook pages. It's a start, anyway.

At the same time, I also asked the club members to help the library rewrite their library catalogue entry for the game, which will be placed in a file in the BGZ for visitors to peruse. Here's my version of the library catalogue entry for Las Vegas:

Now we just have to do the same with the 100+ other games in the library...

How to save the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club? (Part 2)

As reported in this previous post, the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club (NPBGC) was due to be dissolved on 1 April 2014 due to a lack of members and the fact that the Ngee Ann Library has a board games room (BGR), so a separate club seemed superfluous. Well, it seems that the club has been given a reprieve, but they have had the following draconian measures imposed on them:

1. The club now gets to use the BGR as their base of operations: a large, fully renovated room with custom-built tables and chairs, display shelves full of games and a sound system;
2. Club members get paid a good wage to man the counter of the BGR;
3. The club can now use the library's much larger budget to buy games, including multiple copies of games in order to hold competitions

This is the price for poor running of the club. Let this be a lesson to you all.

All kidding aside, it's not just a bigger room, money and more games. Ultimately, their reprieve is only for one year, and by 1 April 2015 they have to get their membership numbers up to at least 40 and increase the number of game loans from the BGC by an unspecified amount. It is also their job to schedule the members to man the counters at all times.

The biggest issue is the membership numbers, which is why the upcoming CCA Fiesta that introduces all the CCA's in Ngee Ann Polytechnic to freshmen is so important. This is their best chance to attract new members, to introduce the hobby and show everyone that board games is so much more than Monopoly or chess.

The decor in the Board Games Room does not help

The CCA Fiesta this year will be held from 22-24 April 2014 at the Sports Complex. Each CCA will be given a small booth, and the trick is to somehow attract the attention of eager young freshmen and distinguish themselves from over 100 other CCA's. The NPBGC committee has been working hard to come up with a plan. The last I heard, the current plan is to use a combination of visually appealing games and prizes to lure the attendees in, a few short games that they can try out to get an idea of what board games is about, and then to lead them to the BGR where the meatier games will be on display. Hopefully, this will be enough to get some students to sign on the dotted line.

This is the crucial first step in the revival of the club. Any readers out there, if you happen to be around during this period, it would be worth your while to drop by the NPBGC booth. If you don't know much about board games, here's your chance to find out. Oh, and bring a friend, or two, or twenty. The NPBGC is understaffed but enthusiastic, and boardgaming is a worthwhile hobby that really needs to be more widespread.

Will this be enough to save the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club? Stay tuned!

How to save the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club?

So the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club (NPBGC) will be dissolved on 1 April 2014 (no, this is not an April Fool's joke). The club committee received an email from Student Development and Alumni Relations (SDAR) about a month ago notifying them of this decision. In case you are unaware (and it's apparent that most people are unaware), the NPBGC is a student CCA and special interest group that deals with board games.

There were two main reasons cited for this termination. Firstly, the club has not met the minimum membership of 30. Secondly, the Ngee Ann Library has a board games room (BGR), so the club could be disbanded and board game players can just use the room instead. Obviously, this is absolutely preposter... completely ludicrou... somewhat unjustif... pretty reasonable, actually.

The club currently has only 20 registered members, which is amazing for a school CCA where the main activity is to play games. Most of the school population plays games on their mobile phone or laptops in their spare time, and yet the club could not get more than 20 people to sign up? As for the second reason, there is a case for keeping the NPBGC separate from the BGR. Although the room is well-utilized, students only visit it for maybe an hour at a time in-between lessons. Therefore, only the relatively shorter games are played in the room. A separate board games club would allow its members to try out the longer, more involved games, so the NPBGC and the BGR have different objectives.

One problem faced by the BGR is that the students there only play games they already know because they don't want to spend their precious time learning a new game that they might not enjoy. Consequently, they end up playing games such as *gasp* Monopoly (well, they start a game, anyway), Game of Life or Jenga. In fact, Jenga is their most popular game, and the library has 3 copies of it to keep up with demand (!). This is despite the fact that the library has stellar games such as Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride available. What the BGR really needs is someone who is willing and able to introduce and teach games to the students. Sounds like a service the NPBGC members can provide, doesn't it? Except they don't.

The fact is that the NPBGC has dropped the ball big-time. Their mandate really should be to promote board gaming as a hobby, and they haven't been doing that. Unlike other clubs and CCAs, the NPBGC is suffering from a bad rep due to mistaken identity: everybody thinks board games = Monopoly (or Chess, or Scrabble, or Snakes & Ladders). A student who is thinking of joining Badminton or the Computer Club has a pretty good idea of what they would be getting into. Unfortunately, students who would really enjoy board games don't even consider joining NPBGC because they think they'd end up playing Monopoly every week, and nobody's that masochistic.

It doesn't help that NPBGC members tend to be introverts, in that they are happy playing with the same small group of a dozen or so people every week. They form close friendships, but do not look to expand their circle of friends. As introverts, they don't feel inclined to evangelize. Well, facing the imminent closure of the club, they'll have to.

So the NPBGC has 3 months to save itself. As a very interested third party, I've talked to the club committee at length and came up with a few suggestions:

1. Recruit Members using the BGR

Let's start by providing a service to the BGR and increase membership in the process. Schedule each NPBGC member a couple of hours a week to go to the BGR; they should wear a badge or something to make it all official. While there, he should see what kind of games the students are borrowing and suggest a different (possibly better) game that may interest them. He should teach them the rules, and facilitate so that they get the game right.

If this works well, he can then explain that there are dozens of other games available, and maybe give an overview of the different options. If there is time, he can suggest another game. Once the students' interest is piqued, ask them to put their information (name, school and email address) on the sign-up sheet. This should be a no-commitment expression of interest so that they don't run away like scared rabbits. Later on, emails should be sent to inform them of the club Facebook page and meetings. With luck, some of these students will turn up to meetings, see the cool variety of board games available and sign up as members. Voila!

This really should work, because the visitors to the BGR are students who are already willing to play board games in their spare time. Better still, they were willing to play bad board games, so theoretically they should jump at the chance to play good ones. Last Halloween, the NPBGC held a board gaming event at the BGR and it was pretty well-attended. There was even a group of students who enjoyed King of Tokyo so much that they came back to play it some more after their lessons. Unfortunately, the NPBGC did not get their information. That's a golden opportunity lost right there.

2. Hold an Awareness Event at a High-Traffic Venue

Some of the events held by the NPBGC had no hope of succeeding because of the selected venue, such as a room hidden somewhere deep in the library or a classroom in some random building. Publicity for such events is almost non-existent, and even when I was aware of an event I sometimes had trouble finding it. What the club needs to do is to make a big, colourful, eye-catching banner, and then just play some games somewhere with lots of traffic (such as the tables between the Convention Centre and Munch). Try to pick games with cool components and themes to attract on-lookers.

The key is to have a couple of members whose job is to explain the gist of the game to curious students, and also to suggest other games to them. Have some simple little games like Toc Toc Woodman or Rattlesnake and some easy-to-explain games like Las Vegas and No Thanks on hand just in case, along with the usual meatier games. While the passing traffic is unlikely to have half an hour free to learn and play a game right at that moment, inform them that the NPBGC will be there to introduce and teach games all day, and to come back when they have the time. As usual, try to get as many people to use the sign-up sheet as possible.

The idea behind this event is volume. I suspect there are students who could take one look at a game of Ticket to Ride or Settlers of Catan and immediately see the strategic possibilities. These are the students who might be intrigued enough to find out more about the hobby.

3. Produce Something Useful

It's not obvious how the NPBGC aids student development. One could argue that club members learn skills like strategy, tactics, negotiation and social skills simply by playing games, but it's a weak argument since there is no proof.

One way to prove that playing board games helps student development is to have members write articles. It could be a game review, a strategy article, a session report, a top ten list, whatever, but it has to show that the members aren't just rolling two dice and moving a pawn without passing Go. I would also vote to revive the NPBGC blog because the Facebook page requires a request for membership (did I mention that board gamers tend to be introverts?). Post the articles to the blog or even to www.boardgamegeek.com. I know the library would be happy to host articles on their website. For the more media-inclined, creating a video review and posting it on Youtube might be an interesting project (preferably something a bit more polished than this admirable effort).

There are other ideas, such as a game session for disadvantaged kids (like what Paradigm Infinitum does for the Chen Su Lan Methodist Children's Home), but such major events can't be organized in a short time. Still, it's an idea worth considering in the long term.

4. Learn Games, and Learn How to Teach Games

Saving the most important to last, all NPBGC members should learn more games. Read more rulebooks and get used to figuring out how a game works by reading the rulebooks alone. Watching online instructional videos would help too. Most of the NPBGC members rely on the senior members to explain the rules to them; some of them have never picked up a rulebook. Very few have ever tried to explain a somewhat complex game to someone else, and even fewer have the ability to do it successfully. An unfortunate side-effect is that some good games that the seniors have not learnt are left to collect dust because nobody is willing to crack them open and learn them using the rulebooks.

I personally feel that the ability to learn and teach games is one of the most important skills that a student can pick up from the NPBGC. This is not an easy task; the best game teachers will be able to reorganize the rulebook and use examples of game situations to illustrate concepts. It's like schoolwork, except that it's games, and after you explain a game to someone you get to play it and have fun! How cool is that?

Incidentally, I have a bit of a reputation as the go-to guy for board games in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and a few colleagues from various schools and departments have asked me if it was possible for the NPBGC to help facilitate a staff bonding session for them. Unfortunately, I had to be honest and tell them that in my opinion, the NPBGC members are not ready to facilitate such an event, mainly because there are not enough members who are able to teach games properly. On the other hand, if enough members practice and become adept at teaching games, I would be delighted to recommend them for such staff bonding events. CCA points ripe for the taking!

Hopefully, if the above suggestions are taken up, the club will be able to increase their membership sufficiently and prove their worth in order to reverse SDAR's decision to dissolve the club. I really hope this works, because I'd miss being able to chill out and play games with like-minded students as equals, and to heckle and taunt them mercilessly while saving (or destroying) the world.

If you are an NP student reading this, why not pop by and take a look? Mondays from 6 to 9pm at Room #73-02-05. Save the NPBGC! 

The ICT Board Games Challenge 2013

Every year, ICT has a staff retreat where all the lecturers, managers and support staff spend a day or two away from the office so that everybody can get to know each other better in a casual setting. This year we went to Malacca for two days. The first day was spent seeing the sights in Malacca, including visiting a Baba Nyonya museum and a hike up a heritage trail. On the morning of the second day, I organized the ICT Board Games Challenge 2013, where five teams competed for fame, glory and some modest prizes. But mainly fame and glory.

Five games were played in the competition: For Sale, Las Vegas, Liar's Dice, Sneaks & Snitches, and Incan Gold. The competitors were divided into 8 teams of 5 members each. There were three teams from the IT department, two from FI, one from MMA, one from A3DA and one comprising admin and IT support staff (ISG - I have no idea what this acronym means). Each team sent one representative per game. For each game, there were two semi-finals with 4 players each, and the top 2 players in each semi-final advanced to the 4-player final. The exception is Incan Gold, which was played as a single 8-player game.

Players scored 5 points for 1st place, 3 points for 2nd place, 2 points for 3rd/4th place and 1 point for participation. Ties were broken with a coin toss where required.

The venue was Ballroom 2 in Hotel Hatten (where we stayed for the night). It was set up in a traditional ballroom configuration, and the room and tables were probably too large for board games, but everyone was happy to stand around or lean forward. I spent the entire time running around explaining rules, updating results and setting up pairings, so unfortunately I didn't have time to take pictures or monitor the matches closely. But here's approximately what happened.

For Sale

For Sale is played in two phases. In the first phase, players attempt to get valuable properties using a bidding process; you either raise the previous bid or take the lowest-valued property on show and take back half your bid. In the second phase, the players try to sell the properties for as much money as possible. The player with the most money at the end of the game is the winner. For more information, check out its boardgamegeek link or this video review.

The first semi-final was actually a 6-player game and was won by Connie, who was a first-time player. Unfortunately, she was not part of any team, so for the sake of fairness I had to advance the ones in 2nd and 3rd place (Wan Lee from IT01 and Choon Peng from IT02) to the final. Not exactly tournament conditions, I know, but the players didn't mind. The second semi-final was won by Mike (FI02) with $80K, with second place shared by Chee Chian (IT03) and Gabriel (ISG) with $74K each; Chee Chian advanced to the final after a coin toss.

The final was a close affair, where the rounds with high-valued properties saw some aggressive bidding and counter-bidding. The final scores were really close: Chee Chian ($69K), Choon Peng ($63K), Mike ($61K) and Wan Lee ($56K). So the winner of For Sale and title of Supreme Speculator went to Cheng Chee Chian.

For Sale is an interesting game that is deeper than it looks. It's one of those games where you might want to try different strategies, and experience does count (other than Mike, the other finalists have played the game several times before). Although there are chances to banter ("raise my bid, I dare you!"), it tends to be a quiet game with interesting decisions rather than a laugh-out-loud affair. Still, the participants did seem to enjoy themselves.

Las Vegas

In Las Vegas, there are six casinos numbered 1 to 6, each with a number of bank notes assigned to it. Each player rolls initially 8 dice, allocates all dice of one number to the corresponding casino, and retains the remaining dice for future rolls. This continues until all dice are allocated. At the end of the round, the player with most dice at each casino gets the highest valued bank note, and so on. Here's the catch: if you have an equal number of dice as someone else, neither of you get anything. More on Las Vegas at its boardgamegeek page and this video.

This game was by far the noisiest game in the competition, probably because Terence was there facilitating and instigating everything (if you know Terence Choo, you know what I mean). Everyone got into the spirit of things, making alliances, pleading, threatening and cursing (or cheering) dice rolls in the midst of uproarious laughter. Arguably the most popular game in the whole event.

The first semi-final involved Terence (IT02), James (MMA), Phil (A3DA) and, filling in for someone who was absent due to illness, our director Angela for the FI01 team. Despite the possible risks of beating the person who signs their paychecks, the game was won by Terence and James at $470K each, followed by Angela at $360K and Phil at $340K. Like they say, all is fair in love, war and board games (I'm paraphrasing). The second semi-final was close affair where the identity of the winner was in the balance until the last round, possibly the last roll. It was ultimately won by Fabian (IT03) with $420K, followed by William (IT01, $400K), Mei Lan (ISG, $390K) and Marcus (FI02, $290K).

The final was worthy of a HBO mini-series. The previous alliance between James and Terence in the first semi-final proved illusory. Deals were made and rapidly broken. The players used all the tricks of the trade, including but not limited to threats, guilt trips, and prayer (Terence shook his dice and declared his desired results as if he was asking for divine favour). At the end, the winner was determined by a combination of strategic placement and luck of the dice. One pivotal play in the last round occurred when William rolled a 2 on his last die, which created a tied situation with James with 5 dice each (James literally banged his head on the table when that happened). This allowed Fabian to roll a 2 on one of his remaining two dice to claim the big money. Final scores: Fabian $540K, Terence $360K, William $290K and James $230K. The winner of the Las Vegas competition and King of Casinos is Fabian Ng.

Liar's Dice

Liar's Dice is the dice version of the card game Bluff. Everyone rolls their dice and the first player makes a bid, e.g., "six 3's", which means that he believes there are at least six 3's out of all the dice rolled by all players; 1's are wild, so "six 3's" really means "six 3's or 1's". On your turn, you could raise the bid (e.g., "six 5's", "seven 2's" or even "three wilds"); when you raise, you could also reveal one or more dice and re-roll the rest. Alternatively, you could challenge the bid, whereupon everyone reveals their dice and whomever lost the challenge loses a die. The game then restarts with the next round. The last person with dice remaining wins. Liar's Dice is an old game with many variants, which you can read about on its boardgamegeek page.

Was it a coincidence that 3 out of the 8 competitors were female, and all 3 made it to the finals? There were certainly plenty of jokes made by the guys about the inscrutability of the female mind and how women were better liars than men. Anyway, first-time players Christina (A3DA) and Siti (ISG) made it through the first semi-final. The second semi-final went the full distance with all four competitors having one die remaining. After the smoke cleared, Joanne (MMA) and Andy (IT02) survived to reach the final.

In the final, Christina was the first one out, but Siti was unstoppable - she still had four dice when both Andy and Joanne had only one remaining. Joanne challenged Andy's "two wilds" bid and knocked him out when Siti revealed no wilds among her four dice. Siti then won comfortably by bidding "three 5's" that Joanne had to challenge, and there were indeed three 5's among her four dice. The Liar's Dice champion and Luckiest Liar is therefore Siti Nur Shahidah.

Sneaks & Snitches

In Sneaks & Snitches, you play the role of high-class thieves. There are a number of locations each with some items worth stealing. During each turn, all players simultaneously decide to place one snitch and one sneak at two different locations. A snitch at a location stops all sneaks. If your sneak is at a location without snitches, you get the items at that location. If there are multiple sneaks, though, they hinder each other and the players get a lesser reward. At the end of the game, the players with the most of each type of item get points, and the one with the most points is the winner. Think of this as the board game version of the Iocaine powder scene in Princess Bride. Find out more from its boardgamegeek page or this video.

This is probably the quietest game in the competition. During the game, you can see the players looking intently at the items dealt to each location, trying to outthink and outbluff everyone else. When the placements are revealed, there may be some muted groans or fist pumps ("yesss..."), but it seems almost to go against the spirit of the game to show any sort of exuberance. We're high-class thieves, after all.

The first semi-final was a 3-way tie between Steven (IT03), Susie (MMA) and Anh (ISG) with 7 points each. The qualifiers had to be determined randomly, and unfortunately Susie lost out. The second semi-final was really close with 2 points separating all the players. It was won by Swee Noi (FI02) with 7 points, followed by Ching Yun (IT02) and Anita (A3DA) with 6 points each; the coin toss put Ching Yun through.

In the final, Anh was not available, so her spot was taken over by Si Hao. Steven just could not get anything going, and he was never in the running. At the end, I believe Ching Yun with 6 points was just one cube away from tying with Swee Noi and Si Hao with 8 points each. Once again, a major decision was left to chance. A couple of die rolls later, Si Hao claimed the win. So the Sneaks & Snitches champion and the Sneakiest Scoundrel is Ho Si Hao. Special thanks to Weng Choh for overseeing the game across the entire event.

The main issue with Sneaks & Snitches as a competitive game is the tendency to produce ties. All three games required a coin toss of some sort to determine important placings, and the rule book does not suggest any tie-breaking rules. Next time, I'll figure out some tie-breakers (if there is a next time).

Incan Gold

In Incan Gold, you play the part of an adventurer exploring an Incan temple, much like Indiana Jones. Cards are revealed one at a time. A card may depict pieces of treasure that is divided equally among all the players, with the remainder staying on the temple floor. It could be a valuable but indivisible artifact. It may also depict a hazard such as a fire trap or giant snake; the first such hazard is harmless, but if a duplicate of a hazard is drawn, then everyone still in the temple leaves empty-handed. Before each card is dealt, everyone decides simultaneously whether to leave or continue. If you leave, you get to keep your treasure along with whatever is on the temple floor, but you might get even more if you continue exploring...or will you get that second hazard? More information on this excellent push-your-luck game can be found on its boardgamegeek page or this video.

Unfortunately, I did not see much of the Incan Gold gameplay. After a trial game to introduce the new players to the rules, the players went ahead and played the final. The winner was Henry (MMA) with 25 points. Come to think of it, Henry has played this game several times and usually does well, so he has a knack for judging risk and reward (or maybe he's just a lucky fellow). Both Victor (IT03) and Kee Chuah (FI02) had 17 points, but Victor got second place on tie-break with one artifact to zero. 4th place went to Borko (A3DA) with 16 points. The Incan Gold winner and title of Exceptional Explorer goes to Henry Thet Swe.

Incidentally, I did see Anna, Borko's 10-year-old daughter, trying out a game of Incan Gold. She was also enjoying herself watching the antics over at the Las Vegas table. It's never too early to develop the next generation of board gamers. :)

After all the points were tallied, the team that won the overall championship and the title of Team of the Year is IT03, aptly named Champion Material with 16 points, which included the winners of For Sale and  Las Vegas. Second place went to the ISG team with 13 points, comprising the winners of Liar's Dice and Sneaks & Snitches.

On the whole, I feel that the (inaugural? annual?) ICT Board Games Challenge 2013 was a reasonable success. I think all the people who come regularly to the monthly staff bonding tabletop gaming sessions enjoyed themselves as usual; some may even have taken a bit more out of it due to the competitive element. There were a few people for whom this event was their first exposure to board games, and hopefully this has piqued their interest enough so that they will attend the monthly sessions in the future.

I understand that there is a proportion of the staff for whom board games just isn't for them, and I respect that. I just hope that everyone was at least able to see what board games are about (i.e., board games is not Monopoly) so that they can make an informed decision as to whether to participate.

You can see the final results here (sorry about the formatting; we had to increase the font size because the projection screen was on the small side).

Classroom game: Werewolf

Last week, I was involved in an activity for the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club (NPBGC). The idea was to host a game for a number of Asian Nursing students from non-English speaking countries like China, Vietnam and Myanmar. The students were divided into four groups of about 18 students each, and we had around 25 minutes with each class. Also, the game should promote communication in English (or whatever version of English we happen to speak in Singapore). Given these constraints, we pretty much immediately settled on running Werewolf.

It's clearly a family game.
(Image from http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1534745/ultimate-werewolf-ultimate-edition)

In Werewolf, the players take the roles of villagers. One morning, the villagers wake up and discover that the mayor has been murdered in the night. There are werewolves in the village! At the start of the game, every player is dealt a card that is kept secret from the other players. If your card says "villager", your aim is to kill all the werewolves before everybody gets eaten. If your card says "werewolf", your objective is to kill enough villagers until there are only as many villagers as werewolves, whereupon you rise up for an all-you-can-eat villager buffet with doggy bags. There is also a special villager called a "seer" who acts as a sort of spirit guide for the village (if she survives, that is). Finally, there is a referee controlling the action (i.e., me).

The game plays in alternating "Night" and "Day" turns. At night, all the players close their eyes. The referee then instructs, "werewolves open your eyes," so the werewolves know who their allies are on the first night. On any night other than the first, the werewolves would silently decide on one villager to kill (by pointing to her), and then they close their eyes again. The next instruction is "seer open your eyes and point to someone you wish to know about." When the seer selects a player, the referee silently indicates to the seer whether the player is a villager or a werewolf using a previously explained hand signal. Finally, the seer closes her eyes, and then day begins, whereupon the werewolves' victim is notified of her grisly fate.

During the day, the villagers get to select one among their number for lynching (isn't this game wholesome?). If a player is accused of being a werewolf and someone else seconds the accusation, then the accused gets about a minute to defend herself; here is where the ability to make a convincing argument (in English) could save your life. At the end of the defence, all the villagers vote simultaneously with either a thumbs up or a thumbs down to decide whether the accused gets to live; a majority "nay" vote and the villager is summarily executed by the mob, and then she reveals her role. If she's a werewolf, there're celebrations and congratulations all round; if she's a villager, then an innocent person has been killed by an unthinking mob, and the werewolves are that much closer to winning.

On the whole, the game was a success. At the start, I needed to prompt them a bit, but these Nursing students are a pretty canny lot and they picked up the strategies for the different roles very quickly. Early in the game, the defence put up by the accused is pretty weak (e.g., "I'm a kind person", "I'm a vegetarian", or, my personal favourite, "I am a villager"), and they're invariably toast. As the game progressed, the arguments became more elaborate and convincing. In one game, a particular student was accused twice and spared twice. Once, she saved herself by telling her accuser, "if I am a villager and you kill me, you should be killed next," which certainly gave everyone pause.

She was a werewolf. (Awesome!)

Werewolf is a combination of deduction and role-playing. If the aim is to help foster communication skills, it's  an excellent game if the referee is active in prompting for responses, e.g., "why do you think she's a werewolf?", "is that all you want to say in your defence? Remember, your life is on the line!" It's also just a fun game that is suitable for a classroom of around 20 people, just to bring people out of their shell.

Oh, and all you need to play Werewolf is a few slips of paper with the words "werewolf", "villager" and "seer" on them. The standard Werewolf is a public domain game, while Ultimate Werewolf pictured above provides cards for up to 68 (!!!) players along with several fun new roles.

Some other lessons learnt:

• Try not to be the only male in a class full of females. Twice, the sole male was the first on lynched. Coincidence?
• I should have put my cards in card sleeves for protection. Students tend to clutch the cards when they're excited, and I ended up with a bunch of crumpled cards. Not that I mind all that much - it's nice to see the students so emotionally invested in the game.
• Talking non-stop for two hours is hell for the throat, especially if you're trying to keep order in the midst of flying accusations. Fun, though.

What's the deal with board games?

As part of the Staff Bonding Committee, I organized a one-and-a-half hour board game session for my colleagues last week. The main aim of the session was to get everyone together to socialize, enjoy themselves by playing some board games and get to know each other a little better.

Sounds boring, right? A bunch of working acquaintances forced by an over-zealous committee (probably formed by a manager who has read Happy Workplace Management for Dummies one too many times) to play Monopoly? It's like going through Chinese water torture, except that you're also forced to make awkward small talk.

Well, another objective of the session was to show my colleagues that tabletop gaming is not Monopoly, and there are literally thousands of better board games out there. Objectively speaking, Monopoly is a terrible game. You can't really affect the outcome of the game because there are almost no useful decisions to make (it's pretty much always a good idea to buy any property you land on), so you're completely at the mercy of your die rolls. In terms of useful decisions, Monopoly is in the same category as Snakes & Ladders, Battleship and flipping a coin, except that you have to do it for hours if not days (pop quiz: how long was the longest Monopoly game ever played?). Ain't nobody got time for that.

Listen, if you just feel like spending a couple of hours rolling dice and moving a top hat around the board with a couple of like-minded friends, by all means go ahead. Maybe you sometimes need to switch your brain off for a while, and who am I to judge? However, if you feel that board gaming is boring based on the faulty assumption that all board games are like Monopoly (or Risk, or Chess, or Cluedo), you could be missing out on something that you'd really enjoy. This is the curse that Monopoly has wrought on the board gaming hobby.

"All who think of board games shall think of me! Muahahahaha!"
(sources: http://www.thelmagazine.com/binary/a429/1251222802-moneybags.jpg,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MargaretHamiltoninTheWizardOfOz.jpg)

To give you an idea of the possibilities behind board games, let me briefly describe the game that got me into this hobby. It all started in 1999 when a good friend hosted my wife and me on our honeymoon in Melbourne at his house. When we got there, we saw a board game on the dining room table and got curious, so we asked him to explain the rules to us (on hindsight, I think my friend planted the game there with an ulterior motive). The game was called The Settlers of Catan. 

"Who has wood for my sheep?" - Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory
(source: http://boardgamegeek.com/image/268855/the-settlers-of-catan?size=original)

The board is modular and made out of individual hexagons that are randomised for every game, as are the numbers on the hexes. You begin the game with two settlements. The aim of the game is to be the first player to get to 10 points, which you achieve by building roads, settlements and cities using resources. Two dice are rolled every turn, and the number rolled determines which hexes produce resources; if you have a settlement or city adjacent to such a hex, you get that resource. Therefore, it is better to build your settlements next to hexes with more probable numbers (e.g., 6 or 8) instead of the improbably numbers (e.g., 2 or 12).

Each turn you can also trade resources with other players, or trade four of one type of resource for one of another. If you have a settlement or city next to a port, you get a better trade ratio, but since ports are on the edge of the board, the settlement will be adjacent to at most two hexes (compared to three hexes for an internal settlement). The trading aspect is a major part of the game, which requires creating temporary alliances and negotiating mutually beneficial trades. There are a few other mechanics in the game (like the dastardly Robber that steals stuff when a 7 is rolled, or development cards you can buy for a one-time boost), but this is mainly how the game is played.

Wow. For a guy whose previous experience with board games came solely from Parker Brothers, this game blew my mind. Just by having the rules explained to me, I immediately thought of a bunch of tactics and strategies. Do I prioritise getting wood and brick to build roads early (required to expand since settlements can't be built too close together), or just go for the most probable numbers and trade for the wood and brick I need? Is it worth having a port settlement? Should I get a wood for his sheep? (Sorry, had to throw that one in there)

If you're not particularly inspired by my description of The Settlers of Catan to try playing board games, I'm not surprised. There is a vast difference between reading a description of a game on your monitor and actually seeing and playing the game. The objective of my post is just to explain that there are thousands of board games out there that are much, much better than Monopoly (and some of them don't even require boards). If you are at all interested in getting together with a few friends around a coffee table for a fun social activity, where you get to talk, taunt and laugh at each other, then you might want to look into the board gaming hobby. It's an alternative to watching a movie or playing an online game.

As for the staff bonding session, I got a decent turnout of about 20 people, and I think quite a number of them had fun. Admittedly, I suspect a few of my colleagues did not quite get into it, but I appreciate them for giving the games a try. For this first session I focused on party games and other lighter fair, and I wasn't afraid to toss a few silly "children's" games into the mix. For the record, the games that saw play were:

• Rattlesnake (something I threw out for early arrivals as I set up the other games; helped to blow the "board games = Monopoly" mindset out of the water)
• Liar's Dice (the big hit of the party; saw constant play throughout the session)
• Dixit and Dixit Odyssey (very much enjoyed by one group, less so by another)
• Say Anything and Say Anything Family Edition (played by two groups with moderate success)
• Squint (didn't work too well for some reason)
• For Sale (quick and fun)
• Martian Dice (note: it is interesting to see math lecturers arguing probabilities as they play)

Epilogue: We got permission to hold another board gaming session, and this could potentially be a monthly affair. Any gamers reading this with suggestions for suitable games for the next session, please comment below!

Classroom game: Wits & Wagers

At the end of my first Advanced Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (AOOAD) lessons back in October 2012, I divided the students into groups of 3 or 4 and played the party game Wits & Wagers:

Image from http://boardgamegeek.com/image/521431/wits-wagers

Wits & Wagers is a trivia game with a twist (you can get the official rules here). All the answers to the questions are in the form of numbers (e.g., In centimetres, how tall is Yao Ming?), and the questions are difficult or obscure enough that nobody is likely to know the exact answer. The participants try to guess a value that is as close to the correct answer as possible without going over, and they each write down their guess on a small erasable board,. The answers are then arranged in ascending order, and each answer is assigned a payout (e.g., 2:1 or 3:1); the highest and lowest guesses pay out more than the middle-of-the-road guesses.

Here's the clever bit: the participants then get to wager on up to two answers, and they don't have to bet on their own answer. If the answer you bet on is the closest without going over, you get the corresponding payout (the one who made the closest guess also gets 3 bonus points).

This game is essentially a multiple-choice quiz in disguise, except that the participants come up with the choices themselves. It also mitigates one of the main problems with trivia games, namely the tendency for the class genius to crush everyone else with his savant-like knowledge of trivia, because if you suspect that someone knows the answer, just bet on his answer. It's a really cool mechanic.

Like any trivia game, how fun it is depends heavily on the questions asked. Unfortunately, the questions that come with the commercial game are extremely USA-centric (will you guys go metric already???), so I came up with my own questions. I also spent some time coming up with a nice Powerpoint presentation with a ticking timer for the game (I had some problems with the sound effects though); you can download it here. The most boring question is probably Question 2, which is the only question that related directly to AOOAD, but hey, I had to toss a relevant question in there, right?

How did my students like it? Well, the response was generally positive I think. There were a few students who didn't really participate, but those who did seemed to have a good time. I might make a few changes if I do this again though. For one thing, I would allow more than 45 seconds for guessing and 30 seconds for bidding. I might also use the Wits & Wagers Party Edition rules instead, which simplifies the payout process.

All in all, the game did ok. I admit that it wasn't a great match for AOOAD, and would probably work better for a topic where more questions with numeric answers could be asked (e.g., math). I'm not teaching Computing Mathematics this upcoming semester, but I suspect Wits & Wagers would be a better fit there ("Given these 200 numbers, what is the mean? You have 45 seconds...").

Classroom game: Smarty Party

In the final tutorial session of the semester for my Advanced Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (AOOAD) classes, I decided to run a trivia game adapted from the commercial boardgame Smarty Party.

Image from http://boardgamegeek.com/image/72266/smarty-party?size=original

The rules are simple: I provide a category that describes a list (e.g., Best Picture Academy Award Winners 2000-2011). On their turn, each student (or team of students) has to try to name one item on the list. A student who makes a guess that is not on the list gets a number of penalty points. The sequence of penalty points is 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 (i.e., the first to miss gets 3 penalty points, the second gets 2, and so on). The round is over when there have been 7 misses or all items in the list have been guessed. The winner is the one with fewest penalty points at the end of the game.

For this game, I prepared a Word document with 5 lists. The colour of the text for the entries is white. When a student guesses an answer, I highlight the corresponding entry and change the text colour to black in order to reveal it. I also printed out the document so that I know which entry is which. Overall, the game took about half an hour.

The success of this game depends heavily on the categories chosen. I did my best to make sure the categories were age- and culture- appropriate because nothing is more boring than a trivia game where you don't know any of the answers, or worse yet, where you get crushed by some know-it-all. Even so, it turns out that not many of my students were movie buffs who knew about the Oscars ("no, the Fast and the Furious never won Best Picture"), so I'll probably replace that category if I run this again.

Because it's the final session for the semester, my objective was mainly to let the students have a good time, so all the categories were somewhat whimsical. I was particularly interested in the students' responses for the Teaching Award Winners category (these are second-year students) because it let me know whom they felt were good lecturers. I think some of the students were genuinely surprised that some of their favourite lecturers never won the Teaching Award. However, this game is one way that you can test the students' recall ability in class. You can conceivably ask nursing students for the warning signs of shock, or chemistry students for the first 20 elements in the periodic table. My advice, though, is to not have the entire game involve serious topics, because after the first couple the students will figure out that it's just a thinly disguised review exercise and lose interest.

For the record, the winners were...I honestly don't remember (any of my students reading this are welcome to remind me in the comments section). What I do remember is lots of laughter amid cries of "you stole my answer!" and good-natured ridiculing of desperate shots in the dark as the obvious guesses were taken. If nothing else, my students now know that the most viewed youtube videos are not necessarily the best ones. :)