Game Movement: How Games Move Pieces
Bear Gordon
United States
Great Falls
Montana
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In this GeekList I want to look at the different ways that a board game will move pieces on the board that do not belong to a player independently or dependently of what the players are doing. If a game has a piece that is moved according to a set of rules, that game belongs in this list. I am particularly interested in games that provide a decision making process for game piece's movement that does not belong to any specific player. Maybe I have explained the idea clearly now but probably not.
I know there must be a lot more games that fit this description. Please add!
Here are a few great GeekLists about movement in games if you are interested:
From point A to B >> A Look at Movement Mechanics
Miniature games: Activation, movement, attack mechanics
Clever mechanics for hidden movement
Move Over, Rover! (movement in games)
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Bear Gordon
United States
Great Falls
Montana
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GAME TURN LAUNCH / PROGRAMED MOVEMENT
MONSTER
The monster moves according to what it sees. He looks around and according to what he finds he moves int that direction. He is scripted to chase the players around the room and sometimes squash them by pushing walls around. He is a bad guy to everyone and takes a turn like everyone else.
I've never played the game but it seems like a fantastic idea.
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Bear Gordon
United States
Great Falls
Montana
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RANDOM LAUNCH / PLAYER DIRECTED
ROBBER
The robber moves whenever someone rolls a combination seven on the 2 D6 rolled every turn. Whoever rolled the seven moves him to a tile and directs which player the robber attacks.
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Matthew Marquand
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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RANDOM LAUNCH / PLAYER DIRECTED
KING (the taller golden pawn slightly above center and left)
The King is moved around the disconnected regions of the "board" at the end of every player's turn. He must move at least one territory but how far he's moved is limited by the turn order "betting" chip provided by the player.
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Matthew Marquand
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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PLAYER DIRECTED
LEGION (the natural colored pawn)
Throughout the game, players are presented with opportunities, based on dice rolls, to place/move the Legion pawn to [un]block the potential for the completion of fortresses (the dice-numbered discs).
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Chris
United States
Austin
Texas
Glory to Rome!
"Let each man pass his days in that wherein his skill is greatest" Propertius Sextus
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PROGRAMED MOVEMENT / PLAYER DIRECTED
Doctor Lucky has his own programmed movement, however players can direct him by playing cards, after which (if he's not dead) he continues on his program.
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Scott Caputo
United States
Santa Clara
California
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INITIALLY SEEDED ON BOARD / DIRECTED BY PLAYERS
Buffalo are not owned by any particular player. Players may move as many Buffalos as they have teepees on the board. Players may move Buffalo at most one space and always in the forward direction.
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Scott Caputo
United States
Santa Clara
California
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RANDOM LAUNCHED / PLAYER DIRECTED
All players draw random tiles from a supply. Then a player must play a Dragon control tile. When the player moves his figure onto a Dragon control tile, he may move the Dragon figure up to two spaces.
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Matthew Marquand
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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RANDOM LAUNCH / PLAYER DIRECTED
KING (The big black pawn)
Limits the areas where players can place cubes and/or affect change.
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9.
Board Game: Hansa
[Average Rating:6.98 Overall Rank:319]
Matthew Marquand
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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FIXED LAUNCH / PLAYER DIRECTED MOVEMENT
SHIP
Players take turns moving the single ship around the board following the fixed directional routes in an attempt to be efficient at affecting change in various ports while paying close attention to where they leave the ship at the end of their turn for subsequent players.
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Matthew Marquand
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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FIXED LAUNCH / PLAYER DIRECTED MOVEMENT
BISHOP (the black pawn)
Players, when "rolling" the appropriate marbles in "nun-zilla" move the single bishop onto neighboring nodes in the graph. When the bishop is moved into the same node as another player, the player moving the bishop gets the more powerful option of asking a question of the other player where only two answers are required (one must be the truth). When the bishop is not used, and a player moves one of his own pawns into the space of another player, the player is obligated to answer the question with three answers (one answer must be the truth).
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11.
Board Game: Caylus
[Average Rating:7.97 Overall Rank:10]
Bear Gordon
United States
Great Falls
Montana
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INITIAL SETUP LAUNCH / PARTIAL PLAYER DIRECTED MOVEMENT
This game has two interrelated game moved pieces.
Thanks Nodens77 for the picture
BAILIFF (The big guy pictured.)
The bailiff moves according to the Provost's placement. If the Provost is further down the road, two jumps forward. If the provost is lagging behind or is with the bailiff, the bailiff only takes one step forward.
PROVOST (The little guy pictured.)
The big P may be paid off in various ways to eliminate the effectiveness of the players' placed workers.
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12.
Board Game: Manila
[Average Rating:7.00 Overall Rank:345]
Matthew Marquand
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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FIXED LAUNCH / PLAYER DIRECTED
PUNTS
Nobody owns the punts directly. Instead, players place bets (by paying to place meeples on punts or on other locations of the board) on the success or failure of specific punts moving into specific ending locations. Players roll dice and move the punts up the river. Investing in (betting on) the pilot house allows players to move punts of their choice forwards or backwards. Bet on the right ending location of the punt and you'll see a good payout.
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Jack van Riel
Netherlands
Nijmegen
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FIXED LAUNCH / PLAYER DIRECTED
SUPERVISOR (White pawn)
Yspahan comes with a city board and a caravan board. Players place cubes on the city board, and can choose as their action for the turn to move the supervisor pawn. If it ends besides a cube, that cube is sent to the caravan board. This is used to get your own cubes on the caravan, but it can also send away your opponents cubes.
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Kyle W.
United States
Up Nort' Der
Wisconsin
...and furthermore, tipping answers in GeekQuestions should be fixed.
Me Grimlock teach Hulk everything he knows about smashing.
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RANDOM LAUNCHED / PREPROGRAMMED / (Limited) PLAYER INFLUENCE
The Cylon ships are almost entirely controlled by the game. A few are placed during initial setup, but once those are destroyed or the fleet jumps away they only reappear when directed by a crisis card. Once in play, the crisis cards determine when and which Cylon ships activate. The individual ships then have hierarchies that determine how they behave: Raiders will attack Vipers first and then go after civilian ships, while Heavy Raiders will take the shortest path to the landing bay (which places Centurians on the board - also with pre-programmed movement).
Human (and "Human") players have some limited influence over the Cylon ships, generally by sending Vipers to slow them down. Civilian ships can also be moved to potentially cause Raiders to change direction and go the opposite way around Galactica. Revealed Cylons gain a little more control, and can activate ships as their action for the turn.
Movement of the Jump Track is also controlled by crisis cards and is largely independent of the players, with the exception of Launch Scout cards and the handful of character abilities that can move cards to the bottom of the deck. The Pegasus Expansion adds a twist with the Engine Room, which will guarantee that the Jump Track advances whether it has the appropriate icon or not, but at the cost of an action.
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Jack van Riel
Netherlands
Nijmegen
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FIXED LAUNCH / PLAYER DIRECTED
LOCOMOTIVES
I'm not sure if this fits the list, as in Stephenson's Rocket all moving pieces (the trains) don't belong to any player.
Movement rules are very interesting, though, so I thought I'd add it.
On your turn, you can extend a railway line by moving its Locomotive (to the left, right, or straight ahead). This gets you one share in that line. But, any player who also owns at least one share in that line, can call a veto round to change where the locomotive moves. Everyone can then bid shares and propose a direction. The highest bid determines the final movement of the locomotive, but that player loses all shares bid.
Sometimes you move a locomotive that greatly matters to you, but at other times you simply move one to force another player to throw away their shares.
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Christopher Onstad
United States
Donald
Oregon
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INITIALLY SEEDED/PLAYER DIRECTED
The grim reaper starts on the portal of power. Whenever a player rolls a 1 for movement they get to take a turn with the Grim reaper after their turn is finished. They roll & move the reaper (following special reaper movement rules (which mostly make it easier to maneuver the reaper)) If the reaper settles on a space with one or more characters the player controlling it selects who interacts with the reaper. then a die is rolled and a fate is sealed.
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D a v i d B u r k e y
United States
Fort Smith
Arkansas
Having an average weekend...
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RANDOM LAUNCH/PLAYER DIRECTED
The Doge:
The Doge in San Marco appears on the game board when the first Doge action card is played, and is placed in a region of the players choice. Subsequent plays of Doge cards gives the option of moving the Doge to other regions over bridges, paying a toll to another player if they are in control of the bridge.
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Ted McManus
United States
Madison
Wisconsin
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Usually the player-controlled hobbits move on the corruption track towards game-controlled Sauron.
But sometimes -- and dark times they are, when an Eye is rolled or drawn -- Sauron moves towards the hobbits.
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Ted McManus
United States
Madison
Wisconsin
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Buzz Bomb:
Turn Programmed, Flying Device, Launcher
When activated (and each turn until the Buzz Bomb explodes), take five program cards and use them to program the Buzz Bomb.
If the bomb hits a robot or wall, the bomb explodes.
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Ted McManus
United States
Madison
Wisconsin
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Pandemic is all about the rules-based spread of game-controlled disease cubes from city to city. Or at least that's how it seems.
Thematically, the disease cubes represent the movement of disease from city to city, particularly when a city experiences an outbreak and its disease spreads to all neighboring cities. But strictly speaking, disease cubes are stationary, merely added to a city on the board (via game rules) or removed from the board (via player actions). The disease they signify moves, but the signifying cubes themselves do not.
So it feels very much like the game is moving pieces around the board, even though the game is only moving pieces onto the board.
As such, I don't know whether Pandemic fully qualifies for this list.
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Kyle W.
United States
Up Nort' Der
Wisconsin
...and furthermore, tipping answers in GeekQuestions should be fixed.
Me Grimlock teach Hulk everything he knows about smashing.
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PLAYER LAUNCHED / BOARD CONTROLLED
This might be a bit of a stretch, but the paths taken by the namesake fireballs in this game are completely controlled by the board. When a launch is triggered (either by rolling a 1 or playing a fireball card), the player gets to choose which fireball moves and a few have multiple paths available, but once launched the fireball goes where gravity and the board takes it - arguably a form of pre-programmed routes.
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Kyle W.
United States
Up Nort' Der
Wisconsin
...and furthermore, tipping answers in GeekQuestions should be fixed.
Me Grimlock teach Hulk everything he knows about smashing.
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FIXED LAUNCH / PLAYER PROGRAMMED
The entire flight path for the British bomber is programmed by a player at the beginning of the game. It can start at one of four airfields in England, and each round it advances one space. The rest of the game is based around the German fighters trying to figure out the route so they can intercept the bomber, while the British Mosquito leads the way both to intercept the German fighters and as a bluff to try throwing them off the bomber's actual route.
One of the optional/advanced rules introduces changing weather, which will periodically cause the cloud cover to shift with the wind - potentially obscuring (or clearing) the target city.
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Matthew Pettitt
United Kingdom
Unspecified
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I think this one qualifies, with regards to the monsters. They move based on arrows on the board, which itself is built as the players explore the dungeon.
Could someone with a copy of the game possibly correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I think the movement of each monster is dependent on which player placed it on the board, or, possibly, on which player it first attacked? There are certainly different base colours which have some effect on movement...
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Kyle W.
United States
Up Nort' Der
Wisconsin
...and furthermore, tipping answers in GeekQuestions should be fixed.
Me Grimlock teach Hulk everything he knows about smashing.
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PLAYER LAUNCHED / PREPROGRAMMED
Killer Bunnies and the various expansion decks include a number of "Run" cards (red text) with ongoing effects that can last several rounds after they are initially played. They will move around the bunny circle by jumping from bunny-to-bunny or player-to-player each turn, and will continue until the effect reaches a pre-determined end (X number of turns, all players have been affected once, etc.), it runs out of items in play to target (all bunnies are dead, for example), or a player does something specific to stop it (like successfully attacking it). The specifics of how each moves is detailed on its card.
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A Freitag
United States
Wyoming
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RANDOM LAUNCH/ CARD DECK DIRECTED
First game I thought of:
The monsters appear predictably (when gates open) or randomly (from a card), but are moved around the board via a card draw from the Mythos deck coupled with a system of symbols and monster border colors. This determines which monsters move, which direction and how fast, slow, towards a player, fly, not at all, or trigger a special power.
Some base set monsters (note symbols and border color):
Sample of Mythos cards - the movement symbols bottom right:
Other rules for how many monsters can be in play based on the number of players and more are one of the things that make this game one of my top faves and a good solo play game.
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Posted Fri Feb 19, 2010 4:32 pm
South Carolina
Columbus
Ohio
Players move pieces up and down relative to one another on the governor track. Nobody owns the track per se but not everyone can manipulate it each turn. The track is a shared resource that determines in what order cities will score in subsequent rounds. The order of scoring affects player movement. Some may wish to drive for the city quickly to establish palaces and/or houses before others, others may cut their losses and skip over to what they hope is the next city to score to establish dominance in advance of that city scoring, etc.
Donald
Oregon
Great Falls
Montana
Thanks. I'm glad that people ran in and filled it in otherwise it would have been a pretty crappy list.