One of the benefits of BGA is that it can turn what can be considered complex games into simple games. Case in point is Castles Of Burgundy. This game has struggled to come out physically over the years because each round requires explanation of what all the yellow and brown tiles do because the iconography is non-obvious. Repeat the explanations mid-round as needed. It always seemed like too much rules effort and it wasn’t a game I could simply sit back and enjoy. When playing on BGA, having hover scripts that explain all the effects of each tile makes everyone self-sufficient. Now, being able to focus on my own game, it turns out that Castles is rather simple – play a die to get a tile, play a die to place a tile. The decisions may be hard, but the play is simple. It turns it into a game that I can look forward to online.
This might be my favorite Aussie horse race
Nicodemus (below) is another example. The iconography is dubious, but online we don’t have to memorise every effect from the rules … just run the mouse over it! And while there’s plenty of downsides to online gaming, like not knowing what the hell all the players are doing and how it’s going to affect your game, reducing this rules barrier of entry caused by inadequate iconography is definitely one of the upsides.
