del.icio.us: kriegspiel

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The most distinctive aspect of my glass bead game is, I think, in the board itself. Instead of being simply a surface on which to play/fight, the board is deeply and connected with the gameplay of each different game because of its potential for unique situations.

I think Kriegspiel and many other games are able to have such elaborate rules and situations because of their solid foundation--the game board. My game board is hectic and possibly confusing; some patterns might be seen while others are unnoticed, some possibilities explored and elaborated on, while others are looked over. In other games the board is taken for granted and the possibilities are well known and considered even before a game has started.

This brings me back to the idea that perhaps the goal of the game should be to organize the board. It's not only appropriate to the philosophy of the game in the book, but the process of reordering by finding connections is analogous to the process of meditation--concerning the transformation of the mind.

The only problem is it's incredibly cumbersome and difficult to reorganize the game board while playing, not to mention the rules I've come up with to do so are confusing even to myself.