DeciGames

Decigames

Decigames are games that are about an order of magnitude shorter and lighter than normal versions of the same games. For many classic games such as Chess and Go, there are canonical decigames, such as Presto Chess and One-Capture Go, respectively. (See the table below for more information.) However, if you want to play decigame versions of commercial games such as Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, or Cosmic Encounter, you may have to design your own. Here are some suggested ways to “decimate” games for which a decigame does not already exist.

• Play to 1/10 the usual goal, such as 1/10 the victory points or money.
• Play only one hand of a card game.
• Play on a smaller board, for example, a 4x4 board instead of an 8x8 one.
• Play a smaller number of turns.
• Play only until first blood (as in PrestoChess or OneCaptureGo?).

Decigames are useful in GameFrame in a number of ways:

• joining multiple games together, as in TwoOutOfThree
• SubGames?, as in CodeDuello
• playtesting new frames without taking all day

Here are some decigames for classic games.