This is a randomly generated blog entry.
Also, the first line might not be true. Randomization is a part of more than 90% of games. Some games are completely devoid of randomization, but they are mostly heavy strategy games like Chess and Go or a heavy preset 18XX. These games take a certain kind of player to enjoy. Modern board games, however, tend to include randomization and for a good reason.
The reason is interest. For the average gamer, a game is more interesting if it doesn't follow the same path every time. How do you implement randomness into your game? What level of randomness is good for your game? Is there such a thing as too random? Before going into the harder questions, let me answer the former with a simple answer: YES. There is a thing as too random, but the crossing the line depends on your goal and type of game. Too random comes when decisions made by the players affect the outcome of the game very little. It can be fun for a child to play along and feel like they did something, but the average gamer might think he might as well watch the game play itself and sit aside.
Now for the harder questions: how is randomness implemented and at what level?
1. Random setup
That means that not every game starts the same. Good examples are Terra Mystica or Istanbul. These game feature an option for an optional preset start but also let you randomize the initial state of the game. This also happens on different levels, in Istanbul you just shuffle the city tiles around to create a different board. While it affects the game drastically, it is very simple to do. Terra Mystica on the other hand has a lot of things that can be changed randomly, including: passing bonus tiles that are in play, round bonuses and races that are in play. This makes every game different while not adding a random element to the way the game plays.
Random feeling factor: Very low.
2. Random assets
This applies to games that feature a random elements that comes into play each round or turn. This can be a dice pool for drafting (I mentioned this on another post), cards or tiles that fill every round in a random order (Five Tribes, Marco Polo, Castles of Burgundy and tons more) and any game where you draw cards (too many examples here). These games give you assets you can use or get, but you can't know which ones will come up. Sometimes you need to go with the flow and hope for the best and sometimes you push your luck. Maybe the things you need will come up next turn exactly as you wanted and you'll win and maybe they won't and then you will need to make some hard decisions according to what there is on hand.
Random feeling factor: Medium and depends on the level of importance.
3. Random after decision
You can think of this as any mechanism where you make you choice based on possible chances and than see the outcome. Any game where you roll dice or flip carda to resolve anything that is based on a player's decision. This type of randomness ranges from very light to very heavy games. You can see it in a game like Twilight Struggle where a game between two good players can be decided on one or two good (or awful) dice rolls. Some players enjoy it because it adds tension. Until the die stops rolling or all cards are flipped tension is high. Other players hate it because it will sometime make a decision with 90% of success go bad. You need to be careful with this one, since it is very polarizing for types of players that enjoy it, you either love it or you don't. Table flipping occurs here.
Random feeling factor: High.
I won't go into the total random games like Monopoly that is basically Shoots and Ladders with money. The way I see it, total random games are there, they fill a certain spot and there is no reason for making more of them from a designer point of view. Everyone knows that Game of Thrones Monopoly (not going to link this one...) is probably a money making machine. I will not so randomly end this blog post here. Pini, Out. *Keyboard drop*
