Multi-use cards
I realize that the longer I play games the more drawn I am to card games. Cards are just so darn versatile. You can use them to do nearly anything. I have been thinking a lot about multi-use cards recently.
Obviously multi use cards are when cards in a game can be used for more than one thing, however cards are not just single or multiple use - there is a spectrum of multi-usedness that ranges from single use cards, all the way up to many use cards.
Single use cards:
Splendor is a good example of a game that has single use cards. There is not really anything to do with any card in Splendor except to play it to the table for its points and free money.
Clank is another. In clank, once you have a card, you really just have to play it for its effect.
Dual use cards:
Temporum is a good example of dual use cards. The player cards each have an ability (which consists of the money that they give when played, and the text that they have in their effects box), and also a scoring bar, which tells how much they can be scored for. When a player is holding a card they have two options in front of them: they can save up and score it, or they can use it to generate money and effects.
A game that I designed - The Perfect Moment is another example of dual use cards. The cards can be used as "equipment" for their ability, and they can also be scored by matching symbols to gain points.
Triple use cards:
Eminent Domain is a good example of a game that uses triple use cards. Most of the cards in the game can be used as a role, action, or revealed for their icons. This makes the game more strategic because you have to consider all of the possibilities afforded by all of your cards.
Race for the Galaxy is another triple use card game - cards can be played normally, or they can be discarded to pay for other cards. Additionally, cards can also be used as trade goods.
Mottaini is another such game. It allows you to use cards as a task, assistant, sale, craft (which has two modes as well), or to add them to your work bench. You can also reveal them from your hand to use their color for certain effects.
There are multiple benefit of multi use cards. My favorite benefit is that they allow the player to make more choices without increasing the number of things that the player has to interact with. If a card has three uses then you get the same amount of benefit out of the card as you would having three cards in a game without multi use cards.
Having a hand of six triple use cards is more exciting mentally than having a hand of 18 single use cards is, however it is also much easier to hold. Triple use cards can make your decks smaller, and can give the players more options. They help to mitigate randomness, and place control into the hands of the player - where it belongs.
In the example of 18 single use cards, you could play any of them if you wanted to. For the 6 triple use cards, if you wanted to use two abilities that happened to be on the same card, you would have to decide between them. Constraints like these tend to make games harder, and more rewarding.
Another benefit of multi use cards is that they allow the publisher to not have to produce so many components. Bohnanza would cost way more with coin tokens instead of coins printed on the back of each card.
The main penalties associated with multi use cards is that they increase the complexity of the game. Players with analysis paralysis tend to just sit and stare at them and consider all of the myriad of possibilities presented by them. Additionally, they increase the steepness of the learning curve in the game.
I love complex games, however I had a hard time playing Mottaini the first time, because it provides so many options that it is hard to see which one will give you the outcome that you want. Multi use cards are harder to read, and they put more mental burden on the players.
That being said - I love games that make use of multi use cards, and think that they are a great way to get more out of your games.
Obviously multi use cards are when cards in a game can be used for more than one thing, however cards are not just single or multiple use - there is a spectrum of multi-usedness that ranges from single use cards, all the way up to many use cards.
Single use cards:
Splendor is a good example of a game that has single use cards. There is not really anything to do with any card in Splendor except to play it to the table for its points and free money.
Clank is another. In clank, once you have a card, you really just have to play it for its effect.
Dual use cards:
Temporum is a good example of dual use cards. The player cards each have an ability (which consists of the money that they give when played, and the text that they have in their effects box), and also a scoring bar, which tells how much they can be scored for. When a player is holding a card they have two options in front of them: they can save up and score it, or they can use it to generate money and effects.
A game that I designed - The Perfect Moment is another example of dual use cards. The cards can be used as "equipment" for their ability, and they can also be scored by matching symbols to gain points.
Triple use cards:
Eminent Domain is a good example of a game that uses triple use cards. Most of the cards in the game can be used as a role, action, or revealed for their icons. This makes the game more strategic because you have to consider all of the possibilities afforded by all of your cards.
Race for the Galaxy is another triple use card game - cards can be played normally, or they can be discarded to pay for other cards. Additionally, cards can also be used as trade goods.
Many use cards:
Innovation is one game that takes multi use cards to an extreme - in Innovation players may score cards, dominate cards, play the card for its full effects (ability as well as icons), or tuck it for some of its effects, and also reveal cards to see what color they are (which has effects when combined with certain cards.)
Mottaini is another such game. It allows you to use cards as a task, assistant, sale, craft (which has two modes as well), or to add them to your work bench. You can also reveal them from your hand to use their color for certain effects.
There are multiple benefit of multi use cards. My favorite benefit is that they allow the player to make more choices without increasing the number of things that the player has to interact with. If a card has three uses then you get the same amount of benefit out of the card as you would having three cards in a game without multi use cards.
Having a hand of six triple use cards is more exciting mentally than having a hand of 18 single use cards is, however it is also much easier to hold. Triple use cards can make your decks smaller, and can give the players more options. They help to mitigate randomness, and place control into the hands of the player - where it belongs.
In the example of 18 single use cards, you could play any of them if you wanted to. For the 6 triple use cards, if you wanted to use two abilities that happened to be on the same card, you would have to decide between them. Constraints like these tend to make games harder, and more rewarding.
Another benefit of multi use cards is that they allow the publisher to not have to produce so many components. Bohnanza would cost way more with coin tokens instead of coins printed on the back of each card.
The main penalties associated with multi use cards is that they increase the complexity of the game. Players with analysis paralysis tend to just sit and stare at them and consider all of the myriad of possibilities presented by them. Additionally, they increase the steepness of the learning curve in the game.
I love complex games, however I had a hard time playing Mottaini the first time, because it provides so many options that it is hard to see which one will give you the outcome that you want. Multi use cards are harder to read, and they put more mental burden on the players.
That being said - I love games that make use of multi use cards, and think that they are a great way to get more out of your games.
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