Donald Green, despite holding the impressive title of Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University, may not be best-known not for his years of teaching issues like the effects of money on House elections.
Something much more elegant (and for most of us more enjoyable) is the source of Mr. Green's growing worldwide reputation -- the award-winning abstract game Octi.
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| Octi, published by the Great American Trading Co. Photo courtesy Donald Green. |
Simple so far -- but this is where things get clever. Each player controls seven octagon-shaped pieces called "pods" and 25 pegs called "prongs." The game starts with an empty pod on each of the bases. On a given turn, players may: (1) add a prong to a pod (the prongs are placed in holes on the sides of the pods), giving it the ability to move in a particular direction; (2) move a pod; or (3) add a new pod to the board.
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Octi has been compared favorably to ancient games like Chess and Go. Unlike those games, however, it has proven -- so far, at least -- to be "computer-resistant." That is, no genuinely effective artificial intelligence engine has yet been developed for Octi.
Following is the text of a recent email exchange with Don Green, designer of Octi, Games Magazine's 2000 Best Abstract Strategy Game.
When did you first develop an interest in board games?
I've been a game enthusiast all my life. My brothers and I would clear out our bedrooms and sleep in bunks so that we could have five or ten games set up at once on the floor. I was a regular in the nerdy play-chess-at-lunch crowd at school, and in general my friends were even more gung-ho about games than my brothers. I played a wide array of games including abstracts, wargames, RPGs, etc. When I grew up (sort of) and bought a house, I made sure it had a big basement for gaming. The problem was, I discovered, that kids and careers tend to eat into the stock of time. My tastes changed somewhat, and I became fond of abstract games that could be played in an hour or two, such as Quoridor, Cathedral, and Abalone.
Discuss Octi and other abstract games on the Board Games Forum. A collection of resources for fans of abstract games is available. |
My favorites as a kid were Stocks and Bonds, Twixt, Ploy, Stratego, Diplomacy, Risk, and Careers. As a teenager, I got into mega-wargames such as War in Europe. Octi players may recognize shades of WIE insofar as Octi involves mobilization, grand strategy, and intriguing trade-offs -- albeit in very abstract form. I've always been drawn into the idea of playing a game that is so wide open in its strategic options as to be resistant to computer play. Octi is also a distant cousin of Ploy and Twixt.
Is Octi your first completed game design?
Octi was the first, and before that, I had never considered designing a game. Octi came to me one day as I was playing with K'nex and Tinker Toys with my children. That was Memorial Day of 1998. It took about 2 days to formulate the whole thing. Then, it took off fast, as my colleagues and students got caught up in the novelty of playtesting. To my surprise, the core idea -- building your pieces as you play -- held up under playtesting by many curmudgeony people. Small refinements occurred after that (e.g., the 4 player game, the superprong variant), but for the most part it was born fully-formed. Odd how that happens sometimes with ideas.
This interview continues with Green's thoughts on Octi for Kids, why he didn't publish the game himself, his upcoming games and more.
Octi, page 1
Octi, page 2
Octi, page 3
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