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Lowell Kempf
United States
Chicago
Illinois
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A gaming experience is a combination of the rules of a game, the components of a game, the environment the game is played in and the people who are playing it. Even a game that is played on-line or played by mail will have them. The environment and the components are just going to be a little different compared to a game of Puerto Rico at the dining room table.
I have been musing, as of late, about how the elements outside the rules and the board affect and influence a game. There are a lot of games where the game that gets played outside the written rules is where the meat of the game is. It’s a not a new idea. Poker is an excellent example of a game where bluffing can be a larger component than the cards in your hand.
When it comes to the meta game, you can end up playing the other players more than you are playing the game. Almost inevitably, things that are outside the game are going to affect what people do. Even something as petty as someone bringing a case of pop or not chipping in for the pizza can become a part of the game experience. Ideally, we should all be bigger than that. However, sometimes, there are games that embrace that kind of interpersonal interaction.
A game that crossed my mind while contemplating this is Stefen Dorra’s Intrigue, not to be confused with Dominion: Intrigue. It is a pure negotiation game, one that has been compared to Diplomacy. Some people might call it Diplomacy Light or Diplomacy without the map. I haven’t actually played Diplomacy yet :’( but I have played Intrigue.
These days, Intrigue is pretty easy to get a hold of, which is one of the things is has going for it. It also doesn’t take up much table space and it plays out in under two hours. So, if you are like me and haven’t been able to find the time or a large enough group to get in a game of Diplomacy, you can get a taste of what I have to imagine it would be like with Intrigue.
Each player is in charge of an aristocratic household. You have eight relatives who you need to find ‘gainful’ employment for and you have four positions in your own household. Unfortunately, you can’t hire your own relatives. That would be nepotism! So, you need to bribe the other players to hire on your relatives. In the end, after every family member is either in a household or kicked to the curb, whoever has the most money is the winner.
So it works the same way that real life works 
There are two things that really drive Intrigue. First, there are twice as many applicants as there are jobs. Period. Which means not everyone is going to hired. Which means that at least half the pieces in the game are going to end up exiled to the island, where they are not going to make any money at all. That is the scarcity of resources that drives the negotiating. There is simply not enough to go around for everyone so you have to work hard to make sure you get yours.
Second, in order to be considered for a position, even if you are the only applicant at that time, you need to bribe the owner of the household. Obviously, when there’s more than one person vying for a position, the bribes tend to get higher. And, no matter what the bribes are, the final decision is always the owner of the household and they always pocket all the bribes regardless of the decision.
Yes, that means that you can spend ten times the amount of the other applicants, still not get the position, and still be out all the money you spend.
There are no random elements in Intrigue and the only thing that’s hidden is your wallet. The game is about negotiation and nothing else. During the course of the game, you have to make deals and promises and there is nothing in the rules about having to keep them. However, when you break your word, you do have to be prepared to deal with the consequences.
And trust me, if you are going to have any chance of winning, you are going to have to break your word. However, that being said, I would not say that this is a game of constant back-stabbing. It is a game where you have to pick which backs you stab and when you stab them very carefully.
So, wow, is this a game that is all about the people you play it with.
The first time I played it, it was with a group of strangers. By the end of the game, I wanted to punch one of them in the nose. After that, I thought that I would never want to play it again.
Then I played it with a group of my trash-talking, war-game loving buddies. That time, it was a blast. Yes, we were merciless and cruel but we also knew just how abusive we could be to each other before feelings got hurt for longer than just the evening. And, yes, people got buried with their family members almost all in exile and their household in shambles. It was a savage night of fun.
I know some people really hate this game and I can understand why. Yeah, you can always say “It’s a tough game and you know what you’re getting into when you decide to play.” However, when push comes to shove, you may be surprised how hard you’re getting shoved and you may also be surprised at how hard you shove back. It can get personal before you even know it.
Intrigue is definitely a game that can get under your skin and there are some of my friends who I would not play with. Not because I’m afraid that they would be mean. No, those are the guys who I want to play it with. No, there are some of my friends who would get hurt and that is not my idea of fun.
Intrigue is not a game with a strong meta game element. In Intrigue, the meta game is the whole thing. The pieces and the play money just give you something to talk about.
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