geek
Recently Viewed
Hot Games
Dominion
Agricola
Android
Settlers of Catan, The
Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition
Battlestar Galactica
Race for the Galaxy
Pandemic
Titan
Puerto Rico
Wasabi!
Le Havre
Apples to Apples
Power Grid
Ghost Stories
Carcassonne
Twilight Struggle
Arkham Horror
Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! - Russia 1941-1942
Ticket to Ride
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization
Tigris & Euphrates
Risk
War of the Ring
Descent: Journeys in the Dark
Stone Age
Formula D
Lost Cities: The Board Game
Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game
Caylus
StarCraft: The Board Game
BattleLore
Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition
Red November
El Grande
Space Alert
Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage
Galaxy Trucker
Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm
Mad Gab
Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery
Scrabble
Hive
Munchkin Quest
A Touch of Evil, The Supernatural Game
Sequence
Guess Who
World of WarCraft Miniatures Game
Clue
Railroad Tycoon
Rules | Subscriptions | Bookmarks | Search | Account | Moderators
Mendon Dornbrook
flag
Avatar
0708
Edit: Before kicking me in the teeth for posting this, allow me to say this: I was wrong about RftG in my speculation.
Before not reading this, consider, I might have something thought provoking to read. Cheers.


Race for the Galaxy has seen a meteoric rise in popularity and rank on BGG since its publication in 2007. At 3,000 users rating the game, it is unlikely to shift downward significantly in the near future. Yet, for all of the praise that Race has received, it is strikingly similar to the lesser ranked San Juan. Race is higher ranked than San Juan for a variety of reasons; however, few of them have anything to do with the quality of the game. Rather, the board game community has become subject to the same marketing forces to which larger consumer markets are; Race for the Galaxy exemplifies this.

Brand Familiarity
The marketing tactic of utilizing brand familiarity is certainly not new and clearly effective within the frameworks of board games. Race for the Galaxy is the reimplementation of an already successful game. While there are differences between San Juan and RftG, the primary mechanisms are the same. Both card games utilize nearly identical mechanisms for drawing cards, playing cards, and creating, notating, and consuming resources.

Because RftG so closely mirrors San Juan it is clear that it purchases some of its popularity by association with an already popular game. This can be seen with a number of other games that re-theme or re-implement an older, popular game. This has been notably demonstrated by other game pairs such as Wallenstein and Shogun, Risk and Risk 2210, Twilight Struggle and 1960, Settlers of Catan and Settlers of Canaan, Carcassonne and all of the different Carcasonne games, etc…

Many of the game pairs feature at least two common elements. Primarily, each game is tweaked mildly in order to make it different from its predecessor. RftG has a simultaneous action selection mechanism that San Juan does not (and more, as well, such as a greater diversity of cards and mechanisms), 1960 is thematically different yet the mechanisms that drive the theme do little to differentiate the feel of the game from TS, etc…

Changing an Image
Broadening market appeal by changing a logo or an image has long been utilized to reach a new market segment (think women in film smoking cigarettes). Each game has been re-themed in order to appeal to either a new market or a more popular market (with maybe the exception of Canaan). Race’s re-theming is representative of the popularity of space as an alternative genre. RftG’s theme is arbitrary. However, despite being a game about farming, it has been injected with exciting space concepts like space combat, exploration, alien races, and the such. Yet, for all of its attempts to be associated with space, a common complaint of the game is that it fails to invoke a space-like feel with the exception that everyone is all alone, billions of miles away from being able to affect the next nearest player.

Because space appeals more broadly than agriculture on the island of Puerto Rico, it is clear to me that San Juan’s re-theming was specifically targeted at broadening the audience of San Juan without substantially investing in the development and promotion of a new game with entirely new mechanisms. The same re-imagining can be seen with Dirk Henn’s Wallenstein turned into Shogun. As the West learns more about the history and culture of Japan (and other Asian countries), it has become an increasingly popular genre to explore. Simply renaming Wallenstein as Shogun sparked new interest in an already respected game, assisting marketers to further saturate the market with the same game. (Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the next game we see is Settlers of Japan).

Sequel Power
Mirroring the video game industry, many sequel games (Twilight Imperium, Risk, RftG, Fury of Dracula) have higher production values and are often considered better games than the original. For all of the similarities between RftG and San Juan, Race has a number of additions that are notable improvements. Aesthetically, RftG looks better than San Juan because each card has unique artwork. As far as game improvements are concerned, the complexity and uniqueness of each card tends to keep RftG from feeling as there are no new or good cards remaining in the deck during the late game. Furthermore, the addition of a mechanism for obtaining victory points and diversity of cards provides more methods by which points can be earned. These additions can be generally thought of as improvements because they add richness, depth, and replayability to the game.

Niche Appeal
As a marketing tactic, increasing quality (and cost) is not necessarily an ideal tactic unless targeting a niche market. Race for the galaxy, for all of its appeal to lovers of the space genre, is a niche game. Compared to San Juan it is much more challenging to learn how to play. The large amount of information on each card is almost guaranteed to overwhelm many gamers who are unwilling to invest the cognitive energy into learning and then mastering the game. As a result, RftG is a more challenging and variable game but has less appeal to the previous market of San Juan. This isn’t a large problem as San Juan has already approached saturation within its target audience. RftG will soon reach its saturation point within its own niche market.

Race for the Galaxy is a copy cat game at heart that has borrowed popularity from San Juan and Puerto Rico. While it is a solid game, it is clearly a product of intelligent marketing which will, no doubt, continue to appeal to a large number of BGG users. Still, I can’t help but feel a little used, knowing that the two games are so similar. It feels as though prestige marketing has been introduced to the board game market. Instead of driving a board game of sugar and tobacco, you can soar into the new millennium at the head of an alien battle fleet!
Last edited on 2008-07-24 23:51:08 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
David F
flag
Avatar
08
You never have to apologize for omitting rules summary, description of play and personal rating. Heck, I wish more reviews here could be like yours!
Jesse Dean
flag
Avatar
I find that my preference for Race For the Galaxy over San Juan is based on its deeper play rather than its retheming. The game could be about ballet and I would prefer it to San Juan as it stands.

When I became aware of these games, both were available. Why wouldn't I prefer the more strategically interesting one to the less strategically interesting one?
Last edited on 2008-07-24 12:00:41 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Bowl Bound!
flag
Avatar
060708
Ok. This isn't a review of the game. It's a review of the marketing of the game. I would have enjoyed this more if you would have rounded up some info about the actual designer/publisher intentions.

Unless I am mistaken, I'd read that RFtG was the true card version of Puerto Rico, but was seen as much too complex, and thus came the much simpler San Juan. Your review doesn't seem aware of this fact.
John Harley
flag
RtfG traded accessibility for unplayability upon a group of trained players whom largely had played out San Juan.

In the measure of replayability it is objectively superior, and is also exactly meeting a need that was otherwise unfulfilled. It's perfection at filling this need gives it the ranking it enjoys on BGG.

I think the space theme did not particularly help it. Just had to have A theme. Theming and calling it San Juan 2 might have been equally as effective?

There's some harsh undertones in a few of your comments: "a copy cat game at heart" etc... Perhaps you are more upset towards the rating system at BGG than the game itself? Should Puerto Rico be where it is?

Nice post though.
JH
Mendon Dornbrook
flag
Avatar
0708
blindspot wrote:
I'd read that RFtG was the true card version of Puerto Rico


You caught me, I don't read BoardGameNews. However, I did edit out a statement insinuating that RftG is Puerto Rico: Magna Carta. The review is purely from my perspective as a gamer who has spent some time thinking about the game and of what the changes are demonstrative.

Demo_Boy wrote:
There's some harsh undertones in a few of your comments: "a copy cat game at heart" etc... Perhaps you are more upset towards the rating system at BGG than the game itself? Should Puerto Rico be where it is?


I'm not upset about much regarding the game (it's good enough for me to buy an RftG microbadge). I am a little disturbed by the marketing tactics that I see. Mostly, I feel that I'm calling a spade a spade. I'm certainly not going to sing laudatory praises of it for its structure having been taken from another game.
Last edited on 2008-07-24 12:38:55 CST (Total Number of Edits: 2)
Asa Swain
flag
07
As for the structure of RftG, Tom Lehmann did not copy RftG's mechanics from San Juan, he was originally asked by Alea to design San Juan, but another designer's version got chosen instead. Tom's proto-type eventually became RftG, but his design was around even beforer San Juan existed. So I'm afraid your copy-cat hypothesis is mistaken.
∞ Rayito Gauguin ∞
flag
Avatar
0607
This is an interesting article.

It was nearly impossible to ignore the hype machine for this game. And I suspect that more people tried it out based on hype than would have otherwise.

I've never played San Juan. From what I heard it was a simplified version of Puerto Rico. Since I already have Puerto Rico and I already have simpler games, San Juan seemed completely unnecessary.

Quote:
Primarily, each game is tweaked mildly in order to make it different from its predecessor. RftG has a simultaneous action selection mechanism that San Juan does not (and more, as well, such as a greater diversity of cards and mechanisms)

These two aspects, simultaneous actions and a large number of card powers and combos, which you write off as mild tweaks, make RftG feel like a completely different game from Puerto Rico. Again I haven't played San Juan or even read the rules.

Quote:
Race’s re-theming is representative of the popularity of space as an alternative genre. RftG’s theme is arbitrary.

I would have never played RftG without the SF theme. But theme is always arbitrary. It's purely subjective how a games mechanisms and presentation communicate theme. For me, Race for the Galaxy does a good job at such a communication. I think it helps that it feels like real science fiction. Not the watered down family version that periodically pops up in games like Starfarers of Catan or Andromeda or the chromed out "Lord of the Rings in Space" styled space opera where races and factions are easily separated and clumped into groups.

I think RftG came out at a time when people were getting tired of the standard historical and fantasy themes. It's timing was certainly excellent in that regard.

Quote:
While it is a solid game, it is clearly a product of intelligent marketing

The reason the game is popular is because of the solid (and innovative) game design. If the game was terrible or just a boring re-theme the great marketing would have only given more people the opprotunity to hate it.

I initially played Race for the Galaxy for two reasons, the hype and the theme. I couldn't have cared less for the relationship to Puerto Rico. After my first play I thought it was pretty bland and wrote the game off as pure hype. But that night I couldn't get the compelling art and potential card combos and strategies out of my head. Despite the bland experience, it provided me a lot to think about. And thinking about it made me want to play it again. And the spiral continued.

Race for the Galaxy is an homage to Puerto Rico in the same way the Star Wars is an homage to pulp sci-fi. But, like Star Wars, it's much more than a mildly tweaked copy cat product.
Last edited on 2008-07-24 12:49:08 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Mendon Dornbrook
flag
Avatar
0708
quartex wrote:
As for the structure of RftG, Tom Lehmann did not copy RftG's mechanics from San Juan, he was originally asked by Alea to design San Juan, but another designer's version got chosen instead. Tom's proto-type eventually became RftG, but his design was around even beforer San Juan existed. So I'm afraid your copy-cat hypothesis is mistaken.


Yes, there is always a risk that I am engaging in the "post hoc ergo propter hoc" fallacy. Yet the similarities are too close to accept as a product of convergent evolution for me. It seems unlikely that the design of RftG existed as a fully functional game that remained unaltered by the popularity and success of San Juan. Considering the differences in publication dates (approximately 3 years), I feel comfortable maintaining my assertion that RftG is a facsimile of San Juan.
Mendon Dornbrook
flag
Avatar
0708
rayito2702 wrote:
Again I haven't played San Juan or even read the rules.

And, should you play San Juan, you won't need to. I was able to sit down with a group of experienced San Juan players (having only played RftG and PR before) and play with almost no rules explanation. It's not a bad game, by the way, and is certainly accessible to people who don't have the head for more intense games. As for dismissing mechanisms as mild tweaks, they add depth of play to the game but add very little content (i.e. the game structure is overwhelmingly similar to San Juan).

rayito2702 wrote:
The reason the game is popular is because of the solid (and innovative) game design.


I think you're right here. What I was trying to get at, and maybe I didn't say this clearly enough, is that RftG borrowed popularity in order to get into the spotlight. It is deserving of a high rating by players as it is a good game. However, I believe that if it was not associated with San Juan or so similar to it, that it would not have generated the interest that it did.
Last edited on 2008-07-24 13:18:04 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Matt Crawford
flag
Avatar
I do think this was already covered in this thread:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1934916#1934916
and the articles at
http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comment...

It doesn't sound like either "RftG existed as a fully functional game" or "RftG is a facsimile of San Juan" are correct.

For what it's worth, I never heard of any "hype machine" for Race. I guess I don't spend as much time reading board game news as other people. I just bought the game because my friend recommended it and because I liked San Juan. Now, I think it's much better than San Juan.