Fair Game

I don’t normally discuss video and computer games on this site. Not because they aren’t interesting, but primarily because they are not something which Fair Game supports. However, it is becoming more common to find physical games which have tie-ins with video (either games or movies) – so we find ourselves dealing with them at the store more frequently as of late.

It used to be the rare “branded” game which actually turned out to be worth the time to play it; I’m not sure if it was lack of design time, resources or interest from the game publishers – but the definite majority of these type of games used to be utterly horrible.

Things are a changing.

I now look around on our shelves and see a myriad of games which have their history in video (or even books), yet manage to have a great game ‘underneath’ the theme. This trend is fantastic for gamers and Fair Game alike – as it brings in new customers; lured by the theme – and introduces them to solid play mechanics which they may not have bothered with unless the theme tie-in was there. Fantastic!

I find another interesting thing happening as well – people are playing these games first – before (or in spite of) playing a computer game, or watching the video tie-in.  In fact, that’s exactly how I was when introduced to the Battlestar Galactica game. I had, of course, heard of the television series – but had passed it by. When this game hit the table at one of our group gaming sessions, I was intrigued. The game theme was not as important to me at the time but the game mechanics were (basically, BSG is a group cooperative game with potential traitors in the mix). I thoroughly enjoyed many play sessions of this game before finally watching the show. It was interesting to go through the series after playing the game, and having my deja-vu moments in referring back to play sessions of the game instead of the other way around.

Another interesting tie-in which has been gaining momentum at Fair Game is the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game (WoW:TCG). This game has been around a while and has a pretty devoted following (nothing compared to Magic: the Gathering  – which at first glance seem very similar). What WoW:TCG does which is interesting, is bring the feeling and theme of the massively successful video game down to a simple and quick playing card game. Again, I find that there are people who play the card game who have never played the video game – which is indicative of a system designed with forethought and care. The fact that it may replace playing World of Warcraft on the computer is an added bonus in my mind (see this post where I talk about that from our early days). If this card game can give players that taste of the video game, without the monthly subscription, the hours of play time (which sometimes is referred to as grinding) and add in the social aspect of sitting down and interacting with actual human beings, then who am I to complain?

Other successful tie-ins we have at the store include the cooperative Gears of War game,  Game of Thrones, Pillars of the Earth, Walking Dead (two versions no less!), The Hunger Games and more. The lines between the big screen, the computer screen and the table top are blurring – and in a good way.

The old adage that “a branded game is a crappy game” is a thing of the past. I – for one – am glad to see the change.

–j