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I love the extra dose of creativity that some publishers inject in their games. Whether it's an inside joke, an unusual box design where the game box is designed to look like something else - these are good examples of the kinds of things that help make a game special and unique. While these kinds of things don't usually have any real impact on or contribution to the gameplay, they are evidence of the kind of attention to detail that show that the product is a real labour of love for the designer, artist, and/or publisher, and give gamers additional things to appreciate about a game.
Today I want to highlight one such example of creativity in game design: the use of polyptychs in game artwork. In the world of art, a polyptych is "generally refers to a painting (usually panel painting) which is divided into multiple sections, or panels."
To some extent we're all familiar with the idea from the tile-laying mechanic from Carcassonne. But this mosaic concept has been used by many game artists and publishers in other new and interesting ways - occasionally as part of their game design, but more often as a novelty effect. The basic idea is when cards or tiles from a game can be combined in order to form a single panoramic type image.
To illustrate, let's look at a few examples. Here are some cards from the game Caesar & Cleopatra. Notice how the background artwork forms a single and complete image.
The folks at Wizards of the Coast, publishers of the grand-daddy collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, have been doing this kind of thing for a long time. Seen here are various pairs of land cards combine to make a single image.
There are many more examples of Magic the Gathering cards that do this - to see some more, check out this article:
 Polyptychs and Diptychs: Panoramic images on MtG card artwork
Sometimes this effect has even been applied to game boxes, such as the expansions for Descent: Journeys in the Dark. Seen here is Niagara and its expansion.
Another wonderful illustration of this effect is the background artwork used in the cards of Friedemann Friese's game Famiglia. Pictured here are just three cards which picture a bar called "Friedman's Bar 'N Mart" in the background, but the artwork continues across for the entire stretch of 15 cards in each suit! Isn't this fantastic?
I could mention a large number of other games that include this delightful feature, such as Thurn and Taxis, Dominion: Seaside, Dice Town, Balloon Cup, Thebes, Jamaica, and perhaps the most famous of them all, Lost Cities. Maybe you own some of these games, but had never even noticed?
For a comprehensive list of polyptychs in games, complete with pictures and examples, see:
It's a work of art! Games that are puzzles: cards with artwork that forms a single picture when combined
Don't you love it when game designers, artists and publishers put easter eggs and these kinds of special effects in their games?
Join the discussion: Have you come across any games with polyptych artwork? What do you think about game publishers doing this kind of thing with their games? How about games with creative game box designs where the box is designed to look like something else? What other special effects and easter eggs in games (unrelated to the mechanics of the game) do you appreciate, and why?
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