Tableau-Builders: My favorite unrecognized mechanic, and the games that make it great
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As a relative newcomer to serious boardgaming, I've quickly found myself drawn to a mechanic that I've discovered is un-named at the Geek:
Tableau Building.
I love building things. I like watching the empire grow, and reaping the bounties of continuing expansion. I love putting down developments and carefully sculpting how my game unfolds. Basically, I like games with cards that:
a- must be played to a tableau (a designated space on the table or a board) to be activatedb- have a lasting effect as long as they are in the tableau
updated to reflect discussion below:
b- have a lasting effect on game mechanics as long as they are in the tableau.
Not all games with a player board are tableau builders.
What makes a tableau a tableau? Well, the most important is that it is at least semi-permanent. A tableau will do more than just score you points, though; it allows you access to new gameplay options or tech-tree advancements you would otherwise be unable to use. When you play something to a tableau, it modifies how you play. Some examples:
Build a Smithy to get a discount on future Production buildings.
Launch a Shrimp boat to enable you to collect fish cubes.
Build a monument to get VP- Simply scoring points doesn't change any future gameplay after you build, so this is not an example of Tableau Building.
That's a pretty loose definition, so check out the list for some better examples.
This geeklist will hopefully help explain what I mean by Tableau-building, and provide a place to suggest games myself or other fans of this sort of thing might enjoy. (That includes games that "have a tableau-building elements" rather than being all about it, as well as games that might be Tableau-builders- everything is up for debate.) Feel free to contribute!
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- Edited Thu May 10, 2012 3:50 pm
- Posted Tue May 8, 2012 5:43 pm
- [+] Dice rolls