Bazaar

[psocoptera]

Bazaar is a 1968 3M bookcase game (3M would later sell their game line to Avalon Hill). Totally abstract set-optimization game a little like Splendor or Century Golem Edition; you can either roll for a token in one of five colors, or use one of ten exchange rates (different from game to game) to trade some number of tokens in certain colors for some other number of tokens in other colors. Sets of five tokens in the right colors can then be used to buy cards, with the cards worth more the fewer leftover tokens you have. We thought it was fun - moved along nicely, with occasional longer pauses when someone needed to strategize, final scores seemed reasonably balanced, the available cards changed often enough to never feel too stuck. Biggest problem was that this was, once again, before the invention of shapes, and of the five colors, green vs blue and white vs yellow were tricky to tell apart in some of their appearances (on the die, tokens, exchange rates, or cards). I don't think my dad could have distinguished them at all pre-cataract surgery. Is the idea of using different shapes or symbols as an adjunct to colors an innovation that only happened once? Like did some specific game designer come up with that, in a certain game, and then everyone started copying it? Or did multiple people come up with it independently at various points? (Or, for that matter, how many games are still not doing it, but I don't notice because I'm a trichromat and they've picked different enough colors that I never think about it?)

Comments

[ruthling]

the inclusion of shapes as well as colors seems like something that started one place and spread, but it could have been someone talking about it in a game designer space and a lot of people picking up on it from there. I don't know anyone in the game designer space, but I know people who do, so maybe I'll ask around.