Board games with emergent complexity? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

30 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Some games are complicated - they have really complex rules. Examples of this are games where you have to track many different types of tokens, with different rules for each.

Other games have really simple rules, but still manage to produce extreme complexity in they way they are played.

Go is the perfect example of this. It literally has 2-3 rules, but because you can play anywhere, the complexity it can produce is wide and deep, to the point that tomes have been written on how to play it.

What other boardgames exist that have very simple rules, but produce complex and interesting game play?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I don’t know if Pente is being published by anyone any longer, but it’s a similar modern game that had its moment back in the 70s and early 80s. The board and pieces would be trivial to reproduce.

It’s a lot of fun with surprisingly complex strategies arising from very simple rules.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Interesting. I have a Go board, so maybe I'll give it a go..

Looks vaguely similar to Reversi

this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025

54 points (100.0% liked)

Board Games

1787 readers

11 users here now

Let's Play a Game! A place to discuss all things board game, regardless of genre. Everything from Scrabble and Catan to Ark Nova, 1830 and beyond is fair game! That means we have blackjack. Bring your own hookers, sorry.

Rules:

Play nicely with others here.
Discussion should be at least somewhat related to board games and all that entails.
Self-promotion is allowed within reason. Don't go overboard!

Other comms that might be of interest:

Other boardgame comms:

[email protected] (Spanish)

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]