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Game Systems
Within the domain of non-digital games, a special class of games is known as game systems. A game system is a set of components that function together across multiple games. The most commonly used game system is a standard deck of playing cards. It has 52 components (the cards) that can be used together to play thousands of games, from Go Fish to Strip Poker. The tiles of a Mah Jongg set comprise a game system used in several different games, as do a bat and a ball. A game system is akin to a computer's operating system. A single OS can run many different kinds of software, just a like a game system can "run" many different sets of rules. The open-ended and variable qualities of game systems make them truly fascinating instances of game design. Game systems, intentionally designed to be "open," stand in contrast to "closed" games that lack the opportunity for modification by players. Closed games contain a single set of rules and rely on components that can only be used for that game. The specialized equipment of a game such as Golf makes it a very closed game. There are few popular variations on Golf for the simple reason that the relationship between ball, club, and golf course are quite specific; there is relatively little room for reinvention. Unlike a closed game, a game system exemplifies all four qualities of open source software. A game system is non-hierarchical, openly accessible, non-guided, and emergent. Like open source code, game systems provide players with the "source code" (the game's components and perhaps a sample ruleset or two) and encourage players to modify them in whatever way they wish, in as many ways as they wish (usually by inventing new games to be played with the system). Players can then redistribute the rules to others, who play or modify the new games according to their needs and interests. One highly expressive example of a non-digital game system is the Icehouse Set, designed by Andy Looney and John Cooper. The components of an Icehouse Set are stackable, colored plastic pyramids, in three sizes (small, medium, and large). There are five pyramids of each size, and a four-player set of Icehouse therefore contains 60 pyramids, fifteen for each player. The original game for the Icehouse Set (called "Icehouse") is an unusual strategy game played in real-time without turns. Players simultaneously position their colored pyramids in a central area one by one, stacking and pointing their pyramids to attack and defend. Icehouse play is fast-paced, highly strategic, and quite unique.[5]
The Icehouse Set has led to the invention of a great many delightful and unconventional games, including Zarcana and Gnostica, both played on a board made of Tarot cards; Chess-like variants such as Martian Chess and Pikeman; a computer sim called RAMbots; a building game known as Thin Ice; and a deep-space epic about good and evil called Homeworlds. To get a sense of the incredible range of games designed for the Icehouse Set, we summarize a few of the games in a bit more detail:
Volcano is a clever, puzzle-like game in which players move "caps" around the tops of volcanoes, triggering eruptions that cause colored streams of lava to flow out across the playing field. The object of the game is to capture as many pieces as possible, with bonus points awarded for special combinations. Each player attempts to accumulate the highest score and then bring the game to a close before another player has a chance to steal the lead away. Multi-player Volcano supports any number of players, though between two and six is best. It can also be played by a single player as a solitaire challenge. Zarcana is a game of war, journeys, growth, life, and death. Icehouse pieces are your minions, spreading out across a world composed of tarot cards. You move your minions across the board, trying to occupy valuable cards. The board can change, grow and shrink, so players must be prepared to defend their holdings, invade enemy territory, and colonize new lands. Each player also has a hand of cards, drawn from the tarot deck. Every card has a unique power, and you can make use of the cards you occupy on the board in addition to the cards in your hand. The goal is to occupy the most valuable set of cards on the board at the end of the game. Zendo is a game of inductive logic, in which one player, the Master, creates a rule that the rest of the players, as Students, try and figure out by building and studying configurations of Icehouse pieces. The first student to correctly guess the rule wins. What is the hidden rule? Does it have to do with relative color? Size? Number? Pattern? Or maybe it is based on something outside the magic circle…. Beguilingly simple, Zendo rewards cleverness and creativity on the part of both Students and Masters.[6]
Zendo
The challenge of designing a game system is finding a balance between specificity and flexibility. The formal and material attributes of the game system components lend themselves to particular kinds of game rules and play experiences. The game system must have a very specific identity—compare the specificity of suit and rank of a deck of playing cards to a set of blank white index cards. At the same time, if the components are too specific, as with Golf, the game system will lack the flexibility to produce novel games. Flexibility often comes down to the details of physical form: playing cards can be shuffled, dealt, hidden, displayed, stacked, spread, and even tossed across a room. A Golf club is designed for a much more limited function. The pyramids of the Icehouse Set are a great example of a well-designed game system. They can be physically configured in any number of ways: stacked on top of each other, aimed at each other like arrows, organized into patterns, or distributed randomly—different Icehouse games take different advantage of these material affordances. The number of pieces and distribution among the three sizes and four colors also determines the formal relationships and logical groupings that can be expressed by the organization of pieces. The Icehouse Set components elegantly embody a flexible yet expressive set of potential formal and experiential relationships. Game system design is a kind of meta-game design. A game system designer designs the structure within which other game designers will create games. The "rules" of the system are the physical qualities of the game system components; the "play" that takes place is game design itself, resulting in sets of rules that make use of the game system. This kind of process requires that the game system designer give up a significant degree of control, as other player-designers decide how the game system will be used in actual games. But this loss of control is ultimately what is so satisfying about designing game systems: as a platform for player-driven creativity, a game system is a catalyst for truly transformative and emergent play. [5]Ibid. [6]The Official Icehouse Homepage, <www.wunderland.com/ice-house/Defaultl>
