First Monday in October Overview | Board Historical Game | Fort Circle Games

[@PoultergeistBoardGames]

I’m beyond ecstatic about this game. This has jumped to the top of my want list. So many years of case law, Plessy v Ferguson, Miranda v Arizona, Brown v Board, Roe v Wade, Dred Scott and on and on. It will be a great game to try and win influence and respect among your peers.

[@ZillaBlitz]

It's such a unique and well crafted game. I think you will really enjoy it based on your comment. :)

[@lilesindiecorner]

This actually looks really fun! Looking forward to seeing this in action and understanding the mechanics and win conditions a bit better. I guess that philosophical track can look very different depending on what cards you pull there. Maybe some moral quanderies along the way, too. Great job, Mike!

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks! I've got the gameplay demo video pretty much done. I've really enjoyed my time with the game, a lot of interesting levers to pull to try to accomplish your goals. I'm glad you enjoyed getting a look at the game. :)

[@SoloBattles]

Ha! I have many lawyer friends that would tell you that practicing law does not require any formal knowledge of the law!😆 Well done video. A clear explanation. As fun as it sounds, I don't know how well I could convince any non-hardcore gamers to play. "Hey, want to play a game about influencing Supreme Court decisions on case law?"

[@ClydeWright]

You just tell your friends that the more boring the theme, the better the game is, on average.

[@SoloBattles]

​@ClydeWright I've found that's true with cruise excursions. The best ones have really banal. descriptions.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Not a topic for everyone, for sure, but I'll tell you, the gameplay is really crisp and clever in this one. And I'm finding the gameplay more historic than legal, if that makes sense? In other words, the cases highlight societal issues of the times, and its that history that is drawing me in.

[@SoloBattles]

@@ZillaBlitz Oh, I totally get it. It's a very dynamic and poorly understood aspect of our Republic, and this game gives you a better idea of the process, the mechanics, of the judicial system.

[@ZillaBlitz]

To me it's more the societal issues that the cases are covering, and I think the final version of the game will have a lot more information on that as well.

[@stephenspackman5573]

I'm still a little confused! (I know, the US is confusing.) What does it mean for free speech to be more or less federal? And … you win by taking the winning side in a case, even if it's in opposition to your stated goals?

[@taliarosen]

Great questions Stephen! The silver side of each judicial philosophy track represents a more expansive reading of the applicable provision of the Constitution (and the gold side represents a more narrow reading of the provision). In the case of free speech, that is how broadly or narrowly to interpret the language: "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech." There's more info about the 4 provisions and the 24 cases for each on the BoardGameGeek page if you're interested. I'd include a link, but that doesn't seem to work here. As for each players' goals, the main objective is to accurately predict the prevailing party of cases (and to shape the game state, perhaps in collaboration with another player, to ensure that litigant does in fact prevail).

[@taliarosen]

That being said, it's possible to experience the game as a strategy game focused principally on the area control aspects (like my computer scientist friend does), or you can focus more on the historical thematic elements of the cards. The goal in development over the past 5 years in close collaboration with Jason Matthews has been to create a solid strategy underpinning inspired by Twilight Struggle, El Grande, and Through the Ages, albeit with an inextricable thematic core (unlike the phenomenal El Grande and it's castillo / Trojan horse).

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks Talia, for the great replies, and yes, KZbin tends to auto-delete a lot of things with links in them. I've gone in and added you as an "approved commenter" to the channel which theoretically may help with that. This is a great question, Stephen. To add to what Talia said, I've found that I don't need to understand that knowledge of cases to play the game, but learning about the societal issues the cases represent as I play the game has been one of the more fun aspects of gameplay. Here's a link to the free speech forum conversation that Talia posted on BGG: boardgamegeek.com/thread/3408420/want-to-know-more-about-the-6-free-speech-cases-in There are others there for the other three tracks in the game as well. :)

[@stephenspackman5573]

@@taliarosen I see-my British upbringing and current events may be interfering with my ability to intuit what is going on here. My expectation would have been that the central government's remit, given its broader purview, is to guarantee rights against parochial interests (the tension underlying Brexit and-as I was taught it-the American Civil War). The idea that free speech aligns with states' rights is a new one to me-I'll need to understand this! And the goal of the game is in effect to make the Supreme Court _more_ nimble and quicker to change course in response to the desires of litigants, not to be respective of precedent and the constitution? The game seems interesting, but clearly I shall have to go to BGG to understand the theming….

[@stephenspackman5573]

… And I'm back. So the theme of the free speech cases in the game is that Congress is prone to writing legislation that is fairly blatantly unconstitutional, and that challenges to this are conceptualised as challenges to Federal power rather than corrections to corrupt lawmaking? It is becoming more and more evident that I am not a lawyer :). Thanks so much for the responses!

[@Socialdogma]

I’m a lawyer and I don’t understand recent Supreme Court decisions.

[@ZillaBlitz]

One of the things that I'll mention in the gameplay video is that the justices and cases included in the game end around 2010, I believe, so recent Supreme Court decisions aren't in the game. :)

[@kevinbertram4828]

@@ZillaBlitz The latest case in the game is from 1997.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks, Kevin!

[@nyraiderfan423]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[@ZillaBlitz]

:)