Board Game Bracket - Best Game Mechanism

[@ko9]

I just want to compliment Roy on the amazing iconography. The "variable player powers" is my personal favourite!

[@toe.knee.sobaskie1678]

I very much appreciate these videos. Always fun to be a part of. I would really enjoy seeing the bracket mid game. It would be nice to see what has moved on and what was eliminated in one picture without needing to completely paying attention to the whole video and tracking who wins and loses.

[@josiahleis6574]

"You've got Carcassonne versus Fun Games" from Mike was my favorite quote. Also Roy's icons are great.

[@nothing3376]

Roy! The graphic design here is absolutely amazing, adds to the video sooo much

[@runwin3]

I wish I could be more like Tom. “I don’t hate Player Judge, but it’s got a lot of problems.” Tom just genuinely loves games.

[@revdavidpeters]

Mike has done such a great job of becoming a main character here at dice tower, he is a delight!

[@adamgardner2244]

Agreed!

[@paulmccaffrey2985]

Regardless of the outcomes, I learned a lot about certain mechanisms because of the discussions. Thank you all!

[@bibleboardgames]

Worker Placement is one of my favorites! Fun to watch! Thank you Dice Tower workers!

[@TheSchaef47]

1:27:30 I'm sad to see hand management go. I know it's just one particular example of a broad category, but Race for the Galaxy encompasses one of my favorite uses of the mechanism, having a single card that can serve multiple purposes, and the tension of trying to decide the best use for each card.

[@janahuysmans]

Great job on the icons Roy!

[@Bodyknock]

14:07 Bingo also kind of covers any flip and write game. Mechanically speaking there's not much difference between pulling a symbol from a bag and marking down something on your grid to fill a pattern versus flipping a card and marking something on your grid to make a pattern.

[@AlexSwireClark]

When did Camilla start going by "Milla"?

[@searose6192]

Roy's icons were impressively perfect. Well done Roy!

[@schistopatel]

Do a video about underused mechanisms, and mechanisms you want to see more of

[@danacoleman4007]

They have

[@timlorow2679]

It would be cool if the seeding was determined by the draft. Also if we could see the bracket

[@kaptennick6352]

Can I find somewhere the icons for the different game mechanisms you have? They look great

[@c.w.2000]

Tom mentioned that Roy made them. They do look great.

[@chaosinthechasm]

Yeah, they look great.

[@petercsm5769]

Action Points beating Set Collection is the closest thing to a surprise in a very predictable first round where the more widespread mechanics won out every time. That makes sense but I'm hoping for some kind of shake up in the ensuing rounds. Chaos mechanic initiated!

[@adamg4912]

The more generalized and vague a mechanism was, the further it went. 99% of the time, deckbuilding/bagbuilding/worker placement/trackers are ALL engine building...But action points/variable player powers/leveling up was interesting because that is usually associated with controlling a single character. This partly ended up being whether you prefer playing as a character or efficiently managing a system, and there's a clear a winner.

[@rembrandtbrown6450]

That's not true, deckbuilding/bagbuilding/worker placement/trackers can represents a singular character, and action points/ variable player powers/leveling up can represent a system, you've just chosen to align them that way for whatever reason.

[@rembrandtbrown6450]

I misread and you don't claim otherwise but you do state 99% of the time that's the case and I still disagree with that, each of these concepts are used handily for systems and singular characters alike. Choosing what a player plays as is a thematic choice and not bound by mechanics to conform to such a generalization.

[@PriNcEoFSpAcE009]

both dune(Imperium?) and scythe has a hidden component to combat(the card play) so it's not deterministic. Deterministic means you're able to know the outcome when the fight is initiated, often those games have a secondary mechanic that lets retreat units or they have an unknown trigger for when combat will start.

[@jflartner117]

Did anyone keep track of the order the mechanisms were drafted? It'd be pretty interesting to compare the draft order with how they ultimately ended up in the tournament.

[@Puddleford]

What part of Concordia is simultaneous selection? I've played a few times but can't recall.

[@morphrz50]

When you start a round every one at the table selects an action card simultaneously and then completes those in order of the current table rotation. I believe that is what they were meaning by how Concordia uses that mechanism.

[@kerim8666]

You pick your card when it is your turn. There is no simultaneous selection in Concordia

[@kerim8666]

You pick your card when it is your turn. There is no simultaneous selection in Concordia

[@Gaudette-Frango]

Zee mentioned a limited communication game- it sounds like he said NAVI but I can't find that. Anyone know how to spell that game's title?

[@CharlieWellsPlus]

Hanabi?

[@brikov68]

Very thematic of Mike to forget whether or not he chose Memory at beginning!😊

[@adamgardner2244]

Lol

[@mndlsdrbl]

No one makes me laugh harder than Mike. Mike, our humor is on a different plane… also, we both have horrible luck!

[@rexology_bg]

I was interested in the subject and put your 64 plus dice drafting and pickup and deliver in Pub Meeple to do a ranking. I ended up with a top ten of: 10 Engine Building, 9 Bag/Pool Building, 8 Card Drafting, 7 Worker Placement, 6 Variable Player Powers, 5 Dice Placement, 4 Rondel, 3 Tech Tree, 2 Dice Drafting, and 1 Tracks. Bottom five were 66 Player Judge, 65 Take That, 64 Memory, and 63 Polyominos.

[@lazykbys]

Two co-ops without variable player powers: Menara and Shipwreck Arcana. I'm pretty sure none of the Oniverse games have vpp in their co-op modes, too.

[@digocr]

This could be so informative with good examples of every mechanics! Is there such video?

[@MussoGames]

How did I miss this? Excited to watch

[@thetable7660]

Engine Building really seems more like a category of mechanisms than a mechanism itself.

[@janoscsabalengyel9380]

Where is card crafting and multi-use cards? Some of my favourites 😞

[@ajramone4459]

There are great stroytelling games like Dialect and The Quiet Year. Or would you consider these RPG-adajacent?

[@origenward3845]

Trading/exchanging, and mancala a couple good ones missed.

[@JonoNZBoardGamer]

The DT crew draft of mechanics and getting points based on how long they last worked much better than the bracket predictions you did last time :) We didn't have to hear Mike say "Bracket buster" like 10 times haha

[@dmchuck9064]

Years from now, international board game mechanism experts will marvel that PICK UP AND DELIVER was injudiciously left out of these otherwise austere comparisons. A million railroad gamers let out a silent weeping.

[@rembrandtbrown6450]

A million? I dunno, maybe 8.

[@robinmarks4771]

I'll just point out to no one in particular that Catacombs is both an all-versus-one AND a flicking game.

[@wapakguy]

Press your Luck got Vasseled

[@HiddenKeep]

Spirit Island is Variable player power and Leveling up in one

[@northabbot7116]

I really love pick up and deliver 😢

[@koalabrownie]

Great icons Roy!

[@chaosjoey123]

I’m confused why is once around auction great for thinking, but blind auction isn’t?

[@zacdredge3859]

13:30 Isn't Bingo just a type of pattern building anyway? Feel like some of these categories could have been combined or differentiated more clearly.

[@nkusnadi]

i'm having a hard time differentiate between engine building and tech tree. my wish is one day dice tower can do top 10 best game for those 2 mechanics

[@harrisonlynch4701]

Engine building is where you play certain things that interact with each other. Tech trees are the same as leveling up, but usually have more choices

[@TheOriginalSqueezel]

Simultanious Action Selection I love, as far its a mindgame and still everbody normally gets something, but maybe in a different order ('Libertalia' was my favorite game for a long time and 'Turn to Tide' are in my Top 100). What I hate is, when two players pick the same action it cancels out or only one player gets something (because of this I hatet Histrio and Pirates Cove).

[@siegfriedsteurer6660]

You should put a dollar in a jar every time somebody doesnt pay attention and asks "who won?"

[@txsportsfreak02]

Pickup and deliver vs action selection.

[@raysandrarexxia941]

Alchemists is my favorite board game, so deduction was an easy pick for me

[@theakswat]

Is exploding dice considered a game mechanism? If so, might be my favorite underused mechanism.

[@breezytree8246]

Cube tower games immediately made me think of Loop

[@EATENG]

I use "One Way Street" as the mechanism name for what you guys call "Ratchet". I find it much more intuitive for others to understand.

[@GamesOffTheShelf]

It seemed more fun to have everyone do a full bracket and see how we stack up at the end with everyone. Also after watching for 2 hours we don't even get to hear who won.

[@rpriske]

Also, they messed up the points at the end. They gave both the loser and the winner in the final round the same number of points. Camilla should have gotten so many points that the rest of the bracket is moot.

[@brandonmarkwell6613]

Fun video, great job guys. I think variable player powers should have won. I feel like everybody is always happy to have a power that let's them do something in a game that nobody else can do, regardless of the game.

[@interuptingcactus]

I kept wanting to say that Arkham LCG matches like half these categories

[@jackiejlw5493]

I’m suddenly seeing Facebook banner ads from Zee asking me to Press My Luck 🍀… hmmm 🤔 😂

[@petercsm5769]

Zee got incensed and was asking for examples of Logic/Deduction games. Wouldn't Deception: Murder in Hong Kong and most Escape Room games be, at least in part, included in this category? Also, I was surprised to see Melding on here. What is the difference between Melding and Set Collection?

[@zacdredge3859]

Basically melding is preemptive; you have to form the meld in your hand to then play it out. Set collection, as I'm assuming they are using it here, is more of a cumulative thing that plays out on the board without such a restriction. Honestly more distinct than some others on here.

[@nzcamel3]

Where is Tableau building!? *SHocked*

[@zacdredge3859]

Set Collection and Pattern Building are already present.

[@nzcamel3]

@@zacdredge3859 plenty of tableaus don't involve those two. Tableau building ties into several other mechanics here, like engine building too; just as there is overlap between other mechanics. But it is distinct enough to deserve a place. Pick up and deliver wasn't the only oversight.

[@r.l.jeffries1091]

Is "Melding" just Rummy and Gin Rummy? How is that different than "Set Collection"?

[@Madmatt7]

I want to see Roy's icons on box covers and somehow used on BGG. Also engine building shouldn't be a mechanism, it's too all encompassing. Split it into tableau building, and deck/pool building. Also chaining is included in tableau and deck/pool building. How many games have chaining without this?

[@feyza1831]

tons of games have chaining, like rolling doubles in monopoly

[@zacdredge3859]

I wonder when Zee is running for Mayor. I swear he's determined to win purely off persuasion. 😭

[@dannykdri]

I can't rest until I know how many points Chris had

[@txsportsfreak02]

I think someone messed up on the scoring. I mentioned it in another comment.

[@Killer62Joe]

Push your lu k is my favorite!!!

[@phantomcyrano]

How did nobody point out that D&D (and by extension all tabletop RPs) are fundamentally "acting" games? I think that connection would have flipped the vote. Too many people associate acting with "party games" or even social anxiety and bad experiences being put on the spot, and a lot of gamers look down on party games for whatever reason, but in reality acting is one of the fundamental pillars of table top culture. Maybe they should have called it "role playing" to avoid people thinking of Quelf and other "do the silly thing" games, which many gamers (myself included) do not care for.

[@andrewellis712]

I think it fits more into storytelling

[@phantomcyrano]

@@andrewellis712 From a DMs perspective, sort of, but as a player you are literally acting the role of a character you create. Ideally you try to react to situations as the character would; to make the decisions that they would make. Role playing games at their heart are about being someone different from yourself and living a story through their experience; the fundamental idea of acting.

[@zacdredge3859]

They clarified at the time that 'acting' was being used to specifically referred to games like charades, not the general concept, so DnD isn't relevant as this would come under Choose Your Own Adventure that was in a separate bracket.

[@phantomcyrano]

@@zacdredge3859 Did they clarify that in this video? I watched the portion in question again after reading this comment and they never mentioned anything about role playing for acting, which was my original comment. They did mention Time's Up, which while it is a game I enjoy further speaks to my point about people associating acting with party games. They only used pantomime as an example of acting but never specifically said that was what the mechanism fully was being represented as.

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

Chaining was robbed.

[@HiddenKeep]

Blokus is a worker placement polyomino

[@txsportsfreak02]

I think someone messed up on the scoring along the way. 32 games got 1 point 16 games got 2 8 games got 4 4 games got 8 2 games got 16 1 game got 32.

[@warheroseven]

I think 32 games got 0(first round eliminated), 16 games got 1, 8 games got 2, 4 games got 4, 2 games got 8, 1 game got 16 points.

[@dabearz27]

Pickup and deliver not being included invalidates this when some of these other mechanisms were included 👎

[@jamesjacobthomson6198]

Is there a "worst mechanism" version of this coming up?

[@josiahleis6574]

I really want to see one of these for best designers. Knizia ftw!

[@danacoleman4007]

Now that's a cool idea!

[@ShuffleUpandDeal32]

I agree with Mike, cube tower is more of a component than a mechanism imo.

[@txsportsfreak02]

Trick taking took back over my number 1 this year.

[@thelunatick1993]

Not understanding melding = not playing card games. Example : Pinochle Involves bidding (auction) determine a trump and hand victory points Melding (scoring sets affected by trump) scored prior to Trick Taking Trick Taking (affected by trump)

[@eck3483]

Pick up and deliver is the best mechanic. Period.

[@Dungyfan007]

Everyone knows the best ladder climbing game is phase 10 😁

[@anothername2730]

Chutes and Ladders??

[@nshaw1299]

@@anothername2730 LOLZ

[@brikov68]

I’ll respond to this comment as soon as I finish playing the game of Phase 10 I started Christmas Eve. Of 2020.

[@RockCh4lk]

Most overrated mechanic... Deck building! You just have to figure out what to buy and hope you draw the right cards, and you have to shuffle for the entire game. I haven't found a deck builder that excites me.

[@ShuffleUpandDeal32]

Isn't deck building essentially leveling up? You are in effect leveling up your deck to get better.

[@rryan911]

Do the best (or worst) Kickstarter campaign or Kickstarter intro video.

[@rpriske]

I am honestly shocked that there was so little support for the traitor mechanic. It is one of my favourites.

[@danacoleman4007]

It's very polarizing.

[@rogermccray]

I dislike it immensely, I have no desire to be the traitor and try to make everyone else lose.

[@cursivecurses]

worker plaxement + polyominoes = Witchstone

[@ShuffleUpandDeal32]

Press Your Luck clearly won, this whole thing is screwy.

[@benjaminjohnson8377]

I hope that you don’t do the draft in future bracket videos. The only benefit is the interest of you guys only having specific picks, but then you shouted down someone trying to justify their pick in the draft as ‘effecting the vote’. Also, then only one person can pick the eventual winner, and no surprise it was the first person to pick… and the second person picks the second place… this draft system made it so not interesting and the audience couldn’t take part. The publisher bracket worked so much better when everyone did the whole bracket, and then the audience could also take part/compete with you guys.

[@rogerstone9353]

Also, they're scoring method makes more sense in brackets where everyone is free to pick in each matchup. When the picks are locked in pre-seeding, it doesn't really work.

[@GiwrgosT]

So no comparisons that made sense to pit against each other, most of these have so much vote gap that shows there is no common grounds between them to duel in the first place, at first at least! anyway keep up :)

[@RayPetersonTheBurbs]

Yea, but on the other hand you don't want to have Worker Placement vs Engine Building first round.

[@MerlinsManor]

Press Your Luck got robbed!

[@nshaw1299]

It was a fun video. I very much appreciate the effort into making these bracket videos. But. It could've been an amazingly interesting Video with some more research beforehand by the Panel and their vast vast board game experience. Looking up games to have in mind as examples beforehand and not wondering on camera what is that... Considering beforehand about the relationships between the mechanisms (for example, where something is a specific implementation of another general concept ans why should they exist separately) and mapping all those connections before the show. It would've woven such an amazing history of board gaming into this video, and I really hoped it will be here. There were too mamy moments I really wanted you guys to speak about interesting connections... How Worker placement is actually the epidemy of choice, and no wonder it won after years of sheer luck with roll and move etc. How when Mike spoke about how he feels sometimes real time is used just as a fake boost and you guys didn't say 'hell yeah... in fact, unless used interestingly, 'speed' is the tool of the lazy designer that takes an activity and lazily turns it into a game. not just a boost. And many kids games are such. That's the 'tell' for recognizing the bad ones.' Or how you had *roll* to combat vs *roll* to move, and hardly touched on how interesting it is that both exist and what really sets them apart from each other. And more such moments... I don't know... It was a lot of fun and I'm sure it was a lot of work. I do thank you for that. But it could've also been amazing, and shown off the level you guys are when it comes to knowledge and experience regarding board games.

[@arnold2011]

The shows of DT live by the interaction between the hosts. The conversation isn’t perfect but can be very funny and spontaneous. This show is two hours long so they have to keep up the pace, so there is little time for discussion. I think they do the right thing. If you want a perfect scripted show, try Shut Up and Sit Down. They are excellent and very British.

[@nshaw1299]

@@arnold2011 That's not what I said. I said that some additional preliminary research, in this particular case, would've elevated greatly this particular video. It wouldn't have made it scripted at all knowing them. But I'm positive it would've elevated the conversation beyond just the fun, without leaving out the fun.

[@arnold2011]

@@nshaw1299 You’ve got a point. I just have experienced people being “prepared” sometimes lose the focus on the fun. The DT people would sure handle it though.

[@nshaw1299]

@@arnold2011 They definitely can :-) They do so many reviews where they have to review the game by itself, that I really want them to seize opportunities like this video to showcase their knowledge, and talk more broadly about games and how they work in the context of other games, and in the context of the gaming industry/gaming hobby.

[@joshfielder7898]

Shout out to Rajas of the Ganges for dice placement

[@isaacalien]

And Coimbra

[@nshaw1299]

The shoutout to Rajas is for 30,000 mechanisms in one game...

[@typerk2388]

It's not dice placement though. It's a worker placement game that has dice. The dice are resources.

[@joshfielder7898]

Oh yea lol. I just looked at the rules again, I had forgotten all about the workers themselves since its all about the dice. I haven't played for a few months now lol

[@Puddleford]

I prefer all mechanics to these mechanisms. 😆

[@JonReid01]

I was thinking that the entire time lol

[@sushi_mermaid7116]

It’s amazing to me that almost 50,000 people watched this video but only 850 could be bothered to hit the like button…. Wow

[@warlorddk2070]

Acting doing poorly when D&D is booming surprised me.

[@blind_surgeon]

Hmm. I guess to each their own. I honestly despise worker placement games. I find them incredibly boring and tedious. I'm also really not a fan of engine building.