{"id":10138,"date":"2018-12-27T22:51:11","date_gmt":"2018-12-27T22:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/?p=10138"},"modified":"2019-01-02T09:40:56","modified_gmt":"2019-01-02T09:40:56","slug":"lets-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/blog\/2018\/12\/27\/lets-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Il est aujourd\u2019hui facile non seulement de s\u2019informer des nouvelles sorties ludiques, mais m\u00eame de lire des critiques construites et argument\u00e9es sur internet, en particulier gr\u00e2ce au Boardgamegeek<\/em> et \u00e0 des sites comme The Dice Tower<\/em>. Du coup, les revues papier sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9es ont peu \u00e0 peu disparu ou sont devenues confidentielles. Je ne suis plus abonn\u00e9 qu\u2019\u00e0 une seule, l\u2019une des plus anciennes et des plus touffues, la version en anglais de la revue allemande Spielbox<\/em>. Le dernier num\u00e9ro commence sur une critique de Lift Off<\/em>, un assez gros jeu de gestion de Jeroen Vandersteen sur le th\u00e8me de la course \u00e0 la lune et \u00e0 l\u2019espace dans les ann\u00e9es soixante. La critique donne plut\u00f4t envie d\u2019essayer le jeu, mais elle serait sans doute plus convaincante si elle ne commen\u00e7ait pas par une affirmation totalement fausse sur ce que les joueurs fran\u00e7ais appellent les \u00ab\u00a0jeux de draft\u00a0\u00bb.
\nEn anglais, le terme draft signifie \u00e0 l\u2019origine enr\u00f4lement. D\u2019abord synonyme de conscription, il d\u00e9signe aussi, par extension, les syst\u00e8mes par lequel les \u00e9quipes sportives recrutent leurs athl\u00e8tes. En mati\u00e8re de jeu, il peut s\u2019appliquer \u00e0 tout jeu dans lequel les joueurs choisissent leurs cartes, que ce soit dans des mains qui passent de main en main, dans une \u201crivi\u00e8re\u201d ou un tableau au centre de la table, ou de quelque autre mani\u00e8re (cf la d\u00e9finition du boardgamegeek<\/a>) ou cet article<\/a>) Les joueurs fran\u00e7ais ont donn\u00e9 au mot draft le sens bien plus restreint de \u00ab\u00a0choix d\u2019une ou plusieurs cartes dans une main qui est ensuite pass\u00e9e au voisin\u00a0\u00bb. Cela m\u2019a valu, avant que je ne r\u00e9alise cette diff\u00e9rence, quelques quiproquos avec des auteurs anglo-saxons, qui n\u2019ont pas vraiment de terme sp\u00e9cifique pour le type de \u00ab\u00a0draft\u00a0\u00bb dont il est question ici. Dans la version anglaise de cet article, j\u2019utiliserai donc tant\u00f4t \u00ab\u00a0circular draft\u00a0\u00bb, tant\u00f4t \u00ab\u00a0pick and pass draft\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n

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Je cite donc l\u2019auteur de cette critique, Christian Klein:
\nExiste-t-il un pire m\u00e9canisme ludique? Vous d\u00e9butez avec n cartes en main. Vous en passez d\u2019abord n-1 \u00e0 votre voisin de gauche, puis n-2 de celles que vous a pass\u00e9 votre voisin de droite, et ainsi de suite jusqu\u2019\u00e0 ce que n-x = 0. Cela ne rend pas la distribution des cartes moins al\u00e9atoire ou plus \u00e9quilibr\u00e9e que de les m\u00e9langer et distribuer simplement aux joueurs, mais cela donne l\u2019impression trompeuse d\u2019avoir un certain contr\u00f4le sur la chance. C\u2019est une perte de temps d\u2019autant plus d\u00e9sagr\u00e9able que le rythme est d\u00e9fini par le joueur le plus lent.<\/em><\/p>\n

Si ce dernier point, le rythme d\u00e9fini par le joueur le plus lent, est malheureusement exact, tout le reste de ce paragraphe est simplement faux. La formalisation math\u00e9matique compl\u00e8te du probl\u00e8me m\u2019\u00e9chappe un peu, mais il est ais\u00e9 de montrer que le draft rend les mains plus \u00e9quilibr\u00e9es, ne serait-ce que parce que les jeux extr\u00eames – un joueur ayant toutes les meilleures ou toutes les plus mauvaises cartes – deviennent impossibles, et les jeux moyens plus probables.
\nLes mains ainsi obtenues sont non seulement plus \u00e9quilibr\u00e9es, mais aussi moins al\u00e9atoires. Le jeux ayant recours \u00e0 ces syst\u00e8mes de draft n\u2019ont pas seulement de bonnes et de mauvaises cartes, ce sont des jeux de combinaisons dans lesquels les joueurs s\u2019efforcent de cr\u00e9er des synergies entre des cartes aux effets diff\u00e9rents. Le draft est donc bien plus qu\u2019une technique de distribution des cartes, il est un m\u00e9canisme ludique fascinant. Il peut m\u00eame \u00eatre, comme dans Fairy Tale<\/em> ou 7 Wonders<\/em>, la presque totalit\u00e9 du jeu. Les mains obtenues \u00e0 l\u2019issue du draft ne sont pas al\u00e9atoires, elles sont d\u00e9j\u00e0 le r\u00e9sultat de choix tactiques, chacun d\u00e9cidant de jouer militaire, ou merveilles, ou scientifique\u2026 Si 7 Wonders<\/em>, \u00e9tait un jeu de pur hasard, et si le draft ne servait \u00e0 rien dans un jeu o\u00f9 il n\u2019y a gu\u00e8re que du draft, quelques uns des millions de joueurs s\u2019en seraient rendu compte.<\/p>\n

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Le jeu des \u00ab\u00a0kilos de merde\u00a0\u00bb (Spoons<\/em> dans le monde anglo-saxon, c\u2019est quand m\u00eame plus \u00e9l\u00e9gant), pratiqu\u00e9 depuis des g\u00e9n\u00e9rations dans les cours de r\u00e9cr\u00e9ation, est sans doute l\u2019anc\u00eatre des jeux de draft, m\u00eame si l\u2019on n\u2019y passe qu\u2019une seule carte \u00e0 la fois. Il y faut autant de s\u00e9ries de quatre cartes (7s, 8s, 9s, 10s\u2026) que de joueurs. On distribue quatre cartes \u00e0 chaque joueur, puis chacun simultan\u00e9ment passe une carte \u00e0 son voisin, jusqu\u2019\u00e0 ce qu\u2019un joueur ait quatre cartes identiques et tape sur la table. Dans les ann\u00e9es quatre-vingt-dix, j\u2019ai beaucoup jou\u00e9 \u00e0 Zuma<\/em>, une variante particuli\u00e8rement amusante, dans laquelle il fallait attraper des totems de plastique qui sont un peu les pr\u00e9curseurs de ceux de Jungle Speed<\/em>. On retrouve parfois ce principe de draft \u00e0 une carte dans des jeux plus r\u00e9cents, comme le subtil et d\u00e9concertant 12 Days of Christmas<\/em>, de James Ernest et Mike Selinker.<\/p>\n

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Le syst\u00e8me consistant \u00e0 passer n-1 cartes, en n\u2019en gardant qu\u2019une \u00e0 chaque passage, est sans doute apparu d\u2019abord comme variante un peu loufoque du poker, l\u2019anaconda, avant de devenir populaire parmi les joueurs de Magic the Gathering<\/em>. Le premier jeu moderne construit autour de ce syst\u00e8me auquel j\u2019ai jou\u00e9 est sans doute Fairy Tale<\/em>, petit jeu de cartes tr\u00e8s malin mais un peu tordu de Satoshi Nakamura, paru en 2004. Je me souviens m\u2019\u00eatre alors dit qu\u2019il y avait l\u00e0 un m\u00e9canisme assez g\u00e9nial que l\u2019on allait beaucoup revoir, et sans doute dans des jeux plus simples, plus \u00e9vidents. Je ne me suis pas tromp\u00e9. Citons, parmi d\u2019autres purs jeux de draft dans de petites boites, Nevermore<\/em>, de Curt Covert, Medieval Academy<\/em>, de Nicolas Poncin, Cosmic Factory<\/em> de Kane Klenko et Mesozoic<\/em> de Florian Fay, ces deux derniers se ressemblant un peu et ajoutant un c\u00f4t\u00e9 puzzle en temps r\u00e9el.<\/p>\n

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En anglais, le verbe to draft signifie enr\u00f4ler des soldats dans une arm\u00e9e et, par extension, des athl\u00e8tes dans une \u00e9quipe. Curieusement, il n\u2019y a pas tellement de jeux o\u00f9 l\u2019on recrute ainsi une \u00e9quipe de personnages. Dans Treasure Hunter<\/em>, de Richard Garfield, l\u2019un de mes pr\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9s, on engage des aventuriers pour partir chercher des tr\u00e9sors, et dans Orc-lympics<\/em>, de Trevor Benjamin & David Thompson, on recrute des nains, des elfes et des orques pour les jeux \u00e9ponymes. J\u2019ai aussi dans mes cartons deux jeux dans le m\u00eame univers fantastique, l\u2019un o\u00f9 l\u2019on recrute aussi des sportifs et l\u2019autre o\u00f9 l\u2019on constitue des groupes de rock.<\/p>\n

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L\u2019autre th\u00e8me naturellement sugg\u00e9r\u00e9 par les cartes qui tournent autour de la table, c\u2019est bien sur les carrousels (dont j’aimerais bien que quelqu’un m’explique pourquoi ils ne prennent qu’un seul s), \u00e0 commencer par ceux \u00e0 sushis. Deux auteurs, Takahiro Amioka et Phil Walker Harding, ont eu la m\u00eame id\u00e9e, ce qui a donn\u00e9 deux jeux simples et amusants, Sushi Draft<\/em> et Sushi Go<\/em>. Ce dernier, dans sa version \u00ab\u00a0party\u00a0\u00bb , se joue jusqu\u2019\u00e0 8 joueurs. \u00c0 quand un jeu o\u00f9 l\u2019on doit r\u00e9cup\u00e9rer ses valises dans un a\u00e9roport ou ses enfants \u00e0 la descente du man\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n

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Le charme de ce syst\u00e8me de draft circulaire est qu\u2019il permet, gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 une r\u00e8gle tr\u00e8s simple, de g\u00e9n\u00e9rer des choix tactiques permanents et sans cesse renouvel\u00e9s. La tension y nait moins des interactions que de l\u2019attente des cartes que l\u2019on va recevoir et de la frustration de ne pouvoir toutes les garder – dans un bon jeu de draft, il n\u2019y a que des bonnes cartes. Cela permet de cr\u00e9er des jeux tactiquement riches et subtils mais enti\u00e8rement construits sur une r\u00e8gle qui s\u2019explique en deux minutes.<\/p>\n

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Parmi les grosses boites, qui ne correspondent pas toujours \u00e0 de vraiment plus gros jeux, la plus vendue et la plus connue est bien s\u00fbr 7 Wonders<\/em>, d\u2019Antoine Bauza, et ses multiples extensions. Dans les jeux de draft les plus simples, les joueurs se constituent d\u2019abord une main qu\u2019ils r\u00e9v\u00e8lent ou exploitent ensuite. Dans 7 Wonders, comme dans le mignon petit jeu \u00e0 deux Tides of Time<\/em> de Kristian Kurla, les cartes sont r\u00e9v\u00e9l\u00e9es au fur et \u00e0 mesure du draft, ce qui rend le jeu plus lisible et interactif. Malgr\u00e9 cela, je ne suis pas fan de 7 Wonders<\/em>, dont je trouve le syst\u00e8me de score assez tarabiscot\u00e9 et qui prend vraiment trop de place sur la table. On a aussi beaucoup parl\u00e9 en 2018 de Paper Tales<\/em>, de Masato Uesugi, mais s\u2019il est graphiquement magnifique je n\u2019ai pas trouv\u00e9 que ses m\u00e9canismes ludiques apportent grand chose de frais (tiens, cela fait trois ou quatre auteurs japonais cit\u00e9s dans cet article, il y a sans doute quelque chose \u00e0 creuser ici).<\/p>\n

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Je pr\u00e9f\u00e8re \u00e0 ces classiques l\u2019amusant Bargain Quest<\/em>, de Jonathan Ying, et surtout le simple et \u00e9l\u00e9gant Treasure Hunter<\/em>, ou le tr\u00e8s rigolo Bunny Kingdom<\/em>, deux jeux de Richard Garfield – et du coup je suis tr\u00e8s curieux de Carnival of Monsters<\/em>, sa nouvelle cr\u00e9ation annonc\u00e9e pour 2019. Antoine Bauza et l\u2019\u00e9quipe Kaedama ont \u00e9galement un nouveau jeu de draft \u00e0 para\u00eetre cette ann\u00e9e, Draftosaurus<\/em>. Et puis il y en a pas mal auxquels je n\u2019ai jamais jou\u00e9, comme Among the Stars<\/em>, de Vangelis Bagiartakis, Ginkgopolis<\/em> de Xavier Georges, Between two Cities<\/em> (et sa variante Between two Castles of Mad King Ludwig<\/em>) de Matthew O\u2019Malley et Ben Rossett, ou Lost Legends<\/em> de Mike Elliott. Autant d\u2019auteurs ne se seraient pas int\u00e9ress\u00e9s \u00e0 ce m\u00e9canisme, autant de joueurs n\u2019auraient pas \u00e9t\u00e9 s\u00e9duits, si tout cela n\u2019\u00e9tait qu\u2019illusion et perte de temps!<\/p>\n

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Il est une autre utilisation du draft, et c\u2019est surtout contre elle que le journaliste de Spielbox se rebelle, c\u2019est celle o\u00f9 les joueurs se constituent avant que la partie ne commence vraiment une main de cartes qu\u2019ils vont ensuite utiliser dans des jeux assez cons\u00e9quents d\u2019affrontement, de d\u00e9veloppement, d\u2019ench\u00e8res ou de tout ce que l\u2019on veut. Le draft \u00ab\u00a0n-1\u00a0\u00bb peut alors sembler remplacer un substitut inutilement tarabiscot\u00e9 \u00e0 la distribution des cartes, mais c\u2019est bien plus que cela dans Dominare<\/em> de Jim Pinto, Seasons<\/em> de R\u00e9gis Bonness\u00e9e, Blood Rage<\/em> d\u2019Eric Lang, Seeders of Sereis<\/em> de Serge Macasdar, Inis<\/em> de Christian Martinez, Terraforming Mars<\/em> de Jacob Fryxelius et sans doute dans un assez grand nombre des gros jeux parus ces derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es, mais je ne joue plus \u00e0 tout. Je n\u2019ai jamais jou\u00e9 \u00e0 Dominare<\/em> parce que plateau et cartes son t vraiment trop moches, mais Ghislain Masson ne cesse de m\u2019en dire du bien et finira bien par m\u2019y faire jouer – apr\u00e8s tout, je joue bien d\u00e9j\u00e0 au hideux Terraforming Mars<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Le draft initial est un proc\u00e9d\u00e9 amusant et efficace pour permettre aux joueurs de se construire une strat\u00e9gie avant que le jeu ne commence vraiment, en g\u00e9n\u00e9rant, contrairement \u00e0 ce qu\u2019affirme Christian Klein, des mains de cartes construites, \u00e9quilibr\u00e9es et int\u00e9ressantes, ce \u00e0 quoi ne parvient que rarement une distribution al\u00e9atoire des cartes. C\u2019est une sorte de deck-building acc\u00e9l\u00e9r\u00e9 fait une fois pour toute en d\u00e9but de partie. Le principal inconv\u00e9nient d\u2019un tel syst\u00e8me est qu\u2019il peut devenir tr\u00e8s technique, et donner un avantage excessif \u00e0 celui qui connait d\u00e9j\u00e0 bien le jeu, sans vraie possibilit\u00e9 pour les d\u00e9butants de se refaire en cours de partie – c\u2019est particuli\u00e8rement vrai dans Seasons<\/em>, et c\u2019est pourquoi je n\u2019appr\u00e9cie pas trop ce jeu. Les r\u00e8gles de Terraforming Mars<\/em> sugg\u00e8rent judicieusement une distribution al\u00e9atoire des cartes pour les premi\u00e8res parties, et un draft uniquement pour les joueurs exp\u00e9riment\u00e9s qui connaissent suffisamment les cartes pour pouvoir se pr\u00e9parer des combos et jouer de leurs synergies. Apr\u00e8s, cela ne marche peut-\u00eatre pas bien dans Lift Off<\/em> – je ne sais pas, j\u2019attends qu\u2019il sorte en fran\u00e7ais ou en anglais pour y jouer – mais \u00e7a ajoute \u00e9norm\u00e9ment d\u2019int\u00e9r\u00eat \u00e0 bien d\u2019autres jeux.<\/p>\n

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On pourra sans doute s\u2019\u00e9tonner de me voir prendre ainsi la d\u00e9fense des jeux de draft alors que je n\u2019en ai \u00e0 ce jour, publi\u00e9 aucun. J\u2019ai parfois vu Citadelles<\/em> et son cousin Lost Temple<\/em> class\u00e9s parmi les jeux de draft, je comprends un peu pourquoi, mais cela me semble inappropri\u00e9. Certes, les cartes personnages passent de joueur en joueur, chacun en conservant une, mais il n\u2019y a qu\u2019un seul lot de cartes qui circule, et les joueurs ne cherchent pas vraiment \u00e0 se constituer une main. Small Detectives<\/em>, con\u00e7u avec Charles Chevalier, s\u2019apparente aussi un peu \u00e0 un jeu de \u00ab\u00a0draft & play\u00a0\u00bb \u00e0 la mani\u00e8re de 7 Wonders<\/em>, mais les choses s\u2019y font \u00e0 l\u2019envers – les cartes que l\u2019on fait passer n\u2019y sont pas celles dont on ne veut pas mais, \u00e0 l\u2019inverse, celles que l\u2019on joue, donnant ainsi au joueur suivant la possibilit\u00e9 de les jouer \u00e0 son tour dans la suite de la partie. C\u2019est un principe amusant que je suis surpris de n\u2019avoir vu exploiter dans aucun autre jeu de cartes, mais ce n\u2019est pas du draft.<\/p>\n

Si je n\u2019ai publi\u00e9 aucun vrai jeu de draft, ce n\u2019est pas faute d\u2019avoir essay\u00e9, puisque j\u2019ai il y a quelques ann\u00e9es propos\u00e9 en vain aux \u00e9diteurs deux petits party games rigolo bas\u00e9s sur ce principe, l\u2019un o\u00f9 l\u2019on con\u00e7oit des sc\u00e9narios de films, et un autre assez loufoque destin\u00e9 \u00e0 \u00eatre jou\u00e9 en regardant un \u00e9pisode de Game of Thrones<\/em>. Je mettrai sans doute ce dernier en ligne gratuitement sur mon site avant le d\u00e9but de la derni\u00e8re saison. J\u2019ai aussi dans mes projets actuels trois jeux de plateau poids moyen dans lesquels les joueurs draftent leur main en d\u00e9but de partie. L\u2019un d\u2019entre eux devrait sortir en 2019 ou 2020 chez un assez gros \u00e9diteur, les deux autres sont encore en d\u00e9veloppement et je les aurai sans doute sous le bras lors de ma prochaine tourn\u00e9e des \u00e9diteurs.<\/p>\n

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It has now become very easy to stay informed of the new games published, and even to read or watch online detailed reviews by talented and well informed reviewers, on the Boardgamegeek or on websites like The Dice Tower. As a result, printed game magazines have nearly disappeared ore have become extremely confidential stuff. The only one I still subscribe to, Spielbox, is also one of the oldest ones and now even has an English language edition. The last issue starts with a detailed review of <\/em>Lift Off, by Jeroen Vandersteen, which seems to be an interesting and a relatively heavy management game about the space race in the sixties. The review is rather positive, and made me want to play the game, but it would have been more convincing if it did not start with a completely wrong statement about the \u00ab\u00a0pick and pass\u00a0\u00bb drafting system used in games like Sushi Go or 7 Wonders. While French gamers now use the English word \u00ab\u00a0draft\u00a0\u00bb specifically for this type of draft, I\u2019ve seen it used in English for games in which card are drafted from a central tableau, or a \u00ab\u00a0river\u00a0\u00bb, or in a few other ways. Since there seems to be no specific term in English for games in which cards are drafted from hands passed from player to player around the table, I will use alternately \u201cpick and pass\u201d draft and \u201ccircular draft\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Anyway, here\u2019s Christian Klein\u2019s rant against this kind of draft:<\/em>
\nIs there a worse mechanism? You start with n cards in your hand; first you pass n-1 cards to the left, then n-2 of the cards you got from your right neighbor plus the cards in your hand, and so on until n-x equals zero. This approach doesn\u2019t make the distribution of cards any less random or unfair than simply shuffling and distributing them, but it gives you the deceptive impression that you have a certain influence over your luck. However, it\u2019s a waste of time, which is annoying given that the pace is given by the slowest player.<\/p>\n

OK, the very last point is right, the pace of the whole draft is indeed given by the slowest player, but everything else in this paragraph is factually wrong. The maths are a bit complex and I could not formalize the whole problem, but it\u2019s easy to prove that circular drafting makes players\u2019 hands of cards better balanced, if only because extremely good and bad hands – the same player getting all best or all worst cards – become impossible, and therefore average hands much more likely.<\/em>
\nPost draft hands are not only better balanced, they are also far less random. Indeed, games using this kind of card drafting do not only have good and bad cards, they have different types of cards which can be used to create synergies. Circular drafting is not a convoluted way to deal random hands, it\u2019s a fascinating game system in itself. There are even a few games, like <\/em>Fairy Tale or <\/em>7 Wonders, where drafting is almost the whole game. Post draft hands are not random because they are the result of tactical choices, each player opting for a military, scientific or building strategy. If <\/em>7 Wonders were a totally random game, if circular drafting were just a waste of time, I bet some of the million people playing it would have noticed it.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The traditional children card game <\/em>Spoons is probably the ancestor of al circular drafting games, even when players only pass one card every round. It needs as many series of four cards (7,8,9,10s) as players. Each player is dealt four cards and players simultaneously pass one card to their left neighbor until someone has four identical cards and grabs a spoon. In the nineties, In the nineties, our gaming nights often ended with <\/em>Zuma, which was a kind of glorified <\/em>Spoons with totems in different colors replacing spoons, and a few special cards. One card circular drafting is still occasionally used in modern card games, for example in the subtle and disconcerting <\/em>12 Days of Christmas, by James Ernest and Mike Selinker.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The pick and pass circular draft, in which each player only keeps one or more card every round and passes all other ones, first appeared as a zany poker variant, Anaconda, and then became a popular deck building system in <\/em>Magic the Gathering tournaments. The first modern game entirely based on this I ever played was probably Satoshi Nakamura\u2019s <\/em>Fairy Tale, a clever but a bit convoluted card game published in 2004. I remember enjoying it and thinking there will soon be more games of its kind, and probably lighter ones – I was right. Other pure and light circular drafting card games are Curt Covert\u2019s <\/em>Nevermore, Nicolas Poncin\u2019s <\/em>Medieval Academy, Donald Vacarino\u2019s <\/em>Greed, Kane Klenko\u2019s <\/em>Cosmic Factory or Florian Fay\u2019s <\/em>Mesozoic, these two last games feeling a bit similar with their real time element.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The verb \u201cto draft\u201d originally means to recruit soldiers, and by extension to recruit athletes in a team. Surprisingly, there are not that many games in which players recruit a team of characters through pick and pass. In Richard Garfield\u2019s <\/em>Treasure Hunter, cards are adventurers exploring unknown lands, in <\/em>Orc-lympics, by Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, they are fantasy athletes. I also have a prototype about recruiting fantasy athletes, and another one about recruiting fantasy musicians into a rock band. <\/em><\/p>\n

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There is another natural theme suggested by circular draft and cards going around the table – sushi carousels. Two designers Takahiro Amioka and Phil Walker Harding had this idea, resulting in two fun and simple drafting games, <\/em>Sushi Draft and <\/em>Sushi Go, the latter supporting up to 8 players in its party edition. Why not a game about recovering one\u2019s at the airport, or one\u2019s kids getting off the merry-go-round.<\/em><\/p>\n

Circular draft generates, through a very easy rule, deep and recurring tactical choices. It creates tension not through aggressive interaction but through the expectation for new cards and the frustration of not being able to keep all of them – a well balanced drafting game has only good cards, but very different ones. Pick and pass drafting is a great way to create rich and subtle tactical games based on a rule explained in two minutes.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Bigger boxes doesn\u2019t always mean much heavier games. Best seller is Antoine Bauza\u2019s <\/em>7 Wonders and its many expansions. In most simple light drafting games, players first build their hand and then play their cards, either all at once or one after the other. In <\/em>7 Wonders, like in <\/em>Tides of Time, a cute two player circular drafting game by Kristian Curla, drafted cards are immediately revealed, which creates more possibilities fir interaction. Despite this, I\u2019m not a fan of <\/em>7 Wonders, which has a convoluted scoring system and takes far too much table place. Last year, there was also much talk of Masato Uesugi\u2019s <\/em>Paper Tales, which looks gorgeous but doesn\u2019t feel really innovative (BTW, that\u2019s the third or fourth Japanese designer in this article, there might be some reason), and not enough talk, I think, of Jonathan Ying\u2019s really fun <\/em>Bargain Quest. <\/em><\/p>\n

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Anyway, my two favorite big box drafting games are probably the very elegant <\/em>Treasure Hunter and the cute and fun <\/em>Bunny Kingdom, both designed by Richard Garfield – which makes very curious of Richard\u2019s next upcoming drafting game, <\/em>Carnival of Monsters. Antoine Bauza and the Kaedama team also have a new drafting game in the pipe, <\/em>Draftosaurus. There are also several games I didn\u2019t play yet, like Vangelis Bagiartakis\u2019 Among the Stars, Xavier Georges\u2019s <\/em>Ginkgopolis, Mathew O\u2019Malley & Ben Rossett\u2019s <\/em>Between Two Cities (and its sequel <\/em>Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig), Mike Elliott\u2019s <\/em>Lost Legends. I don\u2019t think so many talented designers could have been interested in designing such games, and so many players in playing them, if it were just illusion and waste of time.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Circular drafting can also be used in a very different way, which is the main target of the Spielbox reviewer\u2019s rant, building the players\u2019 hands of cards before a much heavier boardgame begins, which can be a game of development, war, management or anything. Pick and pass draft can indeed look like a convoluted substitute for random card dealing, but it is much more than that in Jim Pinto\u2019s <\/em>Dominare, in R\u00e9gis Bonness\u00e9e\u2019s <\/em>Seasons, in Eric Lang\u2019s <\/em>Blood Rage, in Serge Mascadar\u2019s <\/em>Seeders of Sereis, in Christian Martinez\u2019s <\/em>Inis and probably in many other big box games published these 10 last years – there are too many, I can\u2019t play everything. I\u2019ve never played <\/em>Dominare because the board and cards are too ugly, but Ghislain Masson keeps repeating it\u2019s a great game and will probably have me play it one of these days. After all, I play and enjoy the ugly <\/em>Terraforming Mars.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Initial circular drafting is a fun and efficient way to have players build a strategy before the game really begins and, unlike what Christian Klein writes, generates consistent, balanced and interesting hand of cards, something a random card dealing rarely does. It\u2019s like a fast paced deck building made once and for all before the action really starts. The only issue I have with this mechanism is that it requires a good knowledge and understanding of the game from its very beginning, and therefore gives a strong advantage to players who already have some experience of it. This is a real problem, for example, in <\/em>Seasons, and is why I don\u2019t like this game that much. The rules for <\/em>Terraforming Mars judiciously suggest a random dealing for the first game, and a circular draft only with experienced players who know the cards well enough to build combos and synergies. May be it doesn\u2019t work that well in <\/em>Lift Off, I don\u2019t know, I wait for a French or English language version to play it, but it really adds interest to all the other games I\u2019ve named in this article.<\/em><\/p>\n

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You might be surprised to see me stand up for pick and pass drafting when I\u2019ve not published a single game using this mechanism. I\u2019ve sometimes seen <\/em>Citadels and its sequel <\/em>Lost Temple described as drafting games, but this is a bit far fetched. There is indeed a pick and pass sequence at the beginning of every round, but there\u2019s already one set of cards passed from player to player, and choosing a single card is not the same as building a hand. <\/em>Small Detectives, co-designed with Charles Chevalier, also feels a bit like a \u00ab\u00a0draft and play\u00a0\u00bb game \u00e0 la 7 Wonders, but it\u2019s exactly the reverse. The cards passed are not the ones one doesn\u2019t want, but the ones one plays, giving the next player the opportunity to play them later. It\u2019s a fun mechanism, and I\u2019m surprised it has not been used in other games that I know of, but it\u2019s not really drafting.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve no real circular draft game published so far, but it\u2019s not for lack of trying. Two of the prototypes I\u2019ve submitted to publishers these last years are fun party games based on drafting. One is about writing movie scenarios, the other one is a zany game which must be played while watching an episode of <\/em>Game of Thrones. I\u2019ll probably post the latter for free on my website before the last saison airs. I\u2019m also working on three mid-weight boardgames in which players draft their hand around the table before the game really starts – one is scheduled to be published in 2019 or 2020, and I will probably have the two other ones with me next time I tour publishers.<\/em><\/p>\n

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