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Games with superfluous player boards
Gareth Reynolds
New Zealand
Christchurch
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There's already at least four geeklists detailing games where each individual player has a separate board for their own use. (6887, 5485, 3632, 402)

What I'm interested in is games where those individual boards could easily be done away with and the game wouldn't really change significantly.
When I first had the idea for this list I had two, and since reading through the above lists I found a third. Anyone able to add more?

EDIT: I've removed Lost Cities and Marvel Heroes as the boards that are superfluous are central boards. What I'm after for this list is boards that each individual player has that they don't really need.
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Posted Sat Dec 6, 2008 6:06 am
Edited Sun Dec 7, 2008 8:12 am
1. Board Game: Stone Age [Average Rating:7.76 Overall Rank:29]
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Gareth Reynolds
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Christchurch
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 The first game that got me thinking about this topic.

Apart from needing a way to distinguish whether tools have been used or not I don't see any noticeable benefits to having individual boards.
Both the cards and Huts/tiles could easily be stacked in front of each player as can the resources/food. The information in the spot set aside for cards is not really needed through the game, and it supposedly gets covered by the first purchased card anyway.
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Edited Sat Dec 6, 2008 6:05 am
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Steven Duff
Canada
Ottawa
Ontario
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I don't see this one as superfluous. You need a spot to keep track of the tools used, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who always needs to refer to the values needed for gold, stone, wood etc.
Gláucio Reis
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The value of resources could easily be on a small reference sheet. It's not hard to remember you can have a maximum of three tool tiles, and their use is not indicated on the board itself, but instead by turning them sideways. However, I do like the player boards, they help keep things neatly organized, and I'm glad they have been included.
2. Board Game: Alhambra [Average Rating:7.09 Overall Rank:171]
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Gareth Reynolds
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Christchurch
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 The second game to get me thinking about this topic.

Having the indication of points in each scoring round, and the number of each type of tile is helpful but far from essential. The only other use of it I'm aware of is to serve as a "reserve" which could easily be served by just keeping unplaced tiles a short distance from the Alhambra the player has created.
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Edited Sat Dec 6, 2008 6:05 am
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Greg Jones
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Good point. The reserve is not even used that often. They would have done better to just include some scoring reference cards.

This game is the poster child for superfluous boards. The scoring track takes up way too much space. They should have made it go around the purchase board.
♪ Isaac Bickerstaff ♫
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Taylors
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While not used often, the reserve tiles should be clearly different from, say, a random tile that you laid down a moment ago while working on the other two tiles you bought this turn. I'm one of those without a picture-perfect memory, so I appreciate little reminders such as these.
3. Board Game: Medici [Average Rating:7.27 Overall Rank:145]
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Gareth Reynolds
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 This is the third game I've become aware of, found on one of the lists mentioned in the header.

There's really no need for these boards apart from making it incredibly obvious how many empty holds each player still has.
Allen Doum
United States
Santa Ana
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And which color belongs to each player. True for some of the others, as I recall.
David Bohnenberger
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Swarthmore
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IIRC the original edition didn't have these.
David Gibbs
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Ottawa
Ontario
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I have a French printing of Medici -- it doesn't have player boards. Each player does get a player disk (punched-out counter) to remind them of their color.
4. Board Game: Brass [Average Rating:8.08 Overall Rank:13]
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Aliza Panitz
United States
Sunnyvale
California
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 I'm told that the second edition of this has individual player mats.

The folks I play with don't seem to have a problem sorting their chits into little piles in front of them without a player mat...
Thomas Fuhs
United States
Goldsboro
North Carolina
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Quote:
I'm told that the second edition of this has individual player mats.


This game had individual player mats that were sold separately IIRC. I've played just fine without the $12.00 (each) expense.

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5. Board Game: Wings of War - Famous Aces [Average Rating:7.00 Overall Rank:262]
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Frank Eisenhauer

Astana
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 You definitely don't need the player boards for this one, actually the take up valuable table space.
1
Greg Silva
United States
San Ramon
California
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Satellite tables....
Mark Saya
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Los Angeles
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The boards might be a little bigger than they needed to be, but I find them very useful for separating normal from +1 hit cards, and for keeping things straight when I'm piloting more than one plane.
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Tomello Visello
United States
Reston
Virginia
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It looks to me like you were being specific about individual player boards. Otherwise there might be an antecendant in Games where the board feels superfluous

and I thought perhaps there might be another one that I have not yet located.
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