This question seems rather out of place at first glance. One might think that “I am here to have fun playing games. If I want to learn something, I would be attending a class or something.”
Well, the above logic, in my opinion, is quite limiting. We have seen examples of entertainment products with educational impact. One such example might be Assassin Creed Series (Ubisoft). The AC series features major historical eras with stories set in the culture and society of that era. We can say we learned a lot about history from AC games than in the classroom.
How about in our board game industry?
Fortunately, the answer is yes. Because of the diverse nature of board games, there is quite a significant number of thematic and strategy games that features various educational subject matters.
Going nuclear
Having a degree in engineering and being a geek comes with a perk; I love “serious” games.
After watching 1979 film China Syndrome starring Jane Fonda, I was in the mood for nuclear reactors and their engineering. I was really fascinated by how they operate, how they generate energy, how they were built and how the safety was handled. That’s when I googled nuclear reactor board games and found *Funkenschlag*.
After watching 1979 film China Syndrome starring Jane Fonda, I was in the mood for nuclear reactors and their engineering. I was really fascinated by how they operate, how they generate energy, how they were built and how the safety was handled. That’s when I googled nuclear reactor board games and found *Funkenschlag*.
Overview of Funkenschlag
In the game, each player represents a company that owns power plants and tries to supply electricity to cities. Over the course of the game, the players will bid on power plants and buy resources to produce electricity to provide power to the growing number of cities in their expanding network.
Why I love
Honestly, this game does not really feature nuclear reactor engineering in details as I would have liked but what this game gave to me was more than that. Since this game is more about power generation, I learnt the various types of power plant and appreciate their pros and cons. From that knowledge, l began to realize the effectiveness and risks associated with nuclear power plants and want to find out more about atomic energy in general.
Another minor but significant thing I got from this game is the geography of Germany. I am not a German but I would love to study German cities and regions.
Another minor but significant thing I got from this game is the geography of Germany. I am not a German but I would love to study German cities and regions.
Save the humanity or die trying
Pandemic is one of those games that can get someone into the survival or thriller mood you usually get from watching movies featuring zombies or serial killers. But instead of a serial killer with a hockey mask, this game has an unseen disease chasing you relentlessly. This put you right into your instincts, you must cooperate or else. This game gives no quarter.
If you have ever wondered what CDC or WHO might do in the event of a worldwide pandemic, look no further. Well, they might not be choosing roles or drawing cards in real life but you get the general idea of what might happens. I just wished I get this sense earlier from that god awful World War Z movie. (The book is really good. Thanks Max!)
Dear Samantha,
In 1982, an American girl named Samantha Smith wrote to the new leader of the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov, a letter which would become one of the most important event of the Cold War. I learnt about that letter only after playing Twilight struggle / Gleichgewicht des Schreckens.
Even though Twilight Struggle / Gleichgewicht des Schreckens is a war-game, it is very accessible and the theme is tightly integrated into the mechanics. This is a 2 player game so expect intense competition and broken friendships.
Bird is the word
I hate the word Ornithology for several reasons; I have to google it, I cannot pronounce the word correctly. But I love to play “Wingspan”.
It might sound a bit uncultured but I just did not get bird hobby. It was not my kind of thing until I knew and played “Wingspan”. The designer Elizabeth Hargrave is a spreadsheet wizard with a public affairs master degree and she turned her hobby into a great game. It doesn’t really matter whether you are into birds or not. This is a great strategy game that you should check out.
If you reach this point of the article, you might recognize a pattern. All the games that are featured in this game are very thematic and very strategic. Some might say they are relatively complex but not too much though. We can enjoy a session of these games and leave the table with more curiosity and inspiration than before. This is the philosophy that we hold dear at Burmah Games.
Our debut game, Pegu Club: The Game is a worker placement city building game set in an alternate history, steampunk version of 19th century Rangoon, Burma. We designed the game to not only be fun but also to be able to inspire gamers into learning more about Victorian era culture, history and architecture of Rangoon and the world in general.
Photo by Pongrácz Zsolt CC BY-SA 3.0