A version of diplomacy where we stay friends
August 21, 2015 5:34 AM Subscribe
Looking for slow-burning games that can be played in an office setting
So I've recently joined a new fun team of people at work (in an office) and it occurs to me that it would be cool to get a multiplayer (5-15 people), long term (1-4+ weeks) game of something turn-based going on.
Examples,
- The immediate thing that came to mind was diplomacy, which I always thought would be brilliant in an office as you could have the map on the wall and fit in the deal-making around ordinary office chat. However, I'm very worried that the tendency of diplomacy to destroy relationships might not improve the office environment. So like diplomacy, but not diplomacy.
- Like the chess board that you have in the corner and make a move whenever you pass, but a game for 5-15 people.
- Basically any game that you play by correspondence
What the game needs to have
- Need to be turn based, so people can make their moves when they have a spare 5-15 minutes.
- Needs to allow people to take a few days out without that messing things up.
- An element of teams would be good, but not essential.
- We share the office space with other teams, so can't really leave out a board that's likely to take up space or get knocked over. Something wall/sticker based might work, or purely by email (but perhaps with the need for face to face politicking).
- Something quite simple, or I'll never get anyone to agree to play.
The more I think of it the more I think it would be really fun, but I've never heard of anything like this (so can't be sure any such thing exists). Please help!
So I've recently joined a new fun team of people at work (in an office) and it occurs to me that it would be cool to get a multiplayer (5-15 people), long term (1-4+ weeks) game of something turn-based going on.
Examples,
- The immediate thing that came to mind was diplomacy, which I always thought would be brilliant in an office as you could have the map on the wall and fit in the deal-making around ordinary office chat. However, I'm very worried that the tendency of diplomacy to destroy relationships might not improve the office environment. So like diplomacy, but not diplomacy.
- Like the chess board that you have in the corner and make a move whenever you pass, but a game for 5-15 people.
- Basically any game that you play by correspondence
What the game needs to have
- Need to be turn based, so people can make their moves when they have a spare 5-15 minutes.
- Needs to allow people to take a few days out without that messing things up.
- An element of teams would be good, but not essential.
- We share the office space with other teams, so can't really leave out a board that's likely to take up space or get knocked over. Something wall/sticker based might work, or purely by email (but perhaps with the need for face to face politicking).
- Something quite simple, or I'll never get anyone to agree to play.
The more I think of it the more I think it would be really fun, but I've never heard of anything like this (so can't be sure any such thing exists). Please help!
Could you install Civilization on your computers and run a play-by-mail game? I think it meets pretty much all of your criteria.
posted by backseatpilot at 5:43 AM on August 21, 2015
posted by backseatpilot at 5:43 AM on August 21, 2015
If you do Civ, do it without any AI. Newcomers won't find it simple if they have to compete with AI. (For that matter, don't do Civ if there are any Civ veterans in the office!)
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 6:09 AM on August 21, 2015
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 6:09 AM on August 21, 2015
Best answer: If you don't mind carefully thumb-tacking cards with beautiful art, I bet Mysterium would work this way. Bonus: it's cooperative!
If you are willing to administer rather than play, then Raj works well play by e-mail and has a sort of "leader board" effect.
posted by meinvt at 6:45 AM on August 21, 2015
If you are willing to administer rather than play, then Raj works well play by e-mail and has a sort of "leader board" effect.
posted by meinvt at 6:45 AM on August 21, 2015
Best answer: This is less traditional-game-y, but fun -- you take little stuffed animals of beanie-baby size-ish or a little larger and essentially play secret hot potato with them. Whoever is stuck with the animal at 3 p.m. Friday has to bring everyone donuts on Monday, when the game begins again. The rules that make it crazy-fun are 1) you can't get seen placing the animal in the target's workspace (either just by the victim, or by anyone) and 2) people can (or must) add things to the animal, like beads and hats and pirate eye patches and graffiti and safety-pin ear piercings. This tends to constantly escalate in elaborateness and in personal-referencing ("I'm looking on etsy to find miniature glasses that look like Joe's for when I hide the horse in his printer later this week!"). You can let people modify at will, or you can make a rule that whoever is caught with the animal on Friday has to take it home over the weekend and add something to it in some fashion. (Or every time someone gets it, which slows the game a bit as people have to modify before passing it on, which might be desirable.) Whoever is caught with it on the last day of the month loses the game for the month and gets to keep the animal as a trophy of their loss. And then you get a new animal and start again!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:49 AM on August 21, 2015 [18 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:49 AM on August 21, 2015 [18 favorites]
A couple of DIY ideas:
Put a word on a white board at the beginning of the week and everyone puts related phrases or song titles or movie quotes onto the board. For example, the word is Bell. Things you could put on the board: Ring My Be-e-ell, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hell's Bells, Every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings. You could leave it at that, just random thoughts. Or you could ramp it up by keeping track and trying to beat the total number from last week. Or have a voting system to decide the most clever item and give prizes to the contributor.
Find some of those one-minute mysteries or lateral thinking puzzles and post one up every week. Give space for people to write questions and answer them. Anyone who thinks they know the answer can write it on a piece of paper and fold it up and put it in a jar or thumbtack it to the wall. Reveal at the end of the week.
I've also got folks in my office running a pool for football season and for Final Four. That leads to a lot of interaction and jovial trash-talking.
posted by CathyG at 8:07 AM on August 21, 2015
Put a word on a white board at the beginning of the week and everyone puts related phrases or song titles or movie quotes onto the board. For example, the word is Bell. Things you could put on the board: Ring My Be-e-ell, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hell's Bells, Every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings. You could leave it at that, just random thoughts. Or you could ramp it up by keeping track and trying to beat the total number from last week. Or have a voting system to decide the most clever item and give prizes to the contributor.
Find some of those one-minute mysteries or lateral thinking puzzles and post one up every week. Give space for people to write questions and answer them. Anyone who thinks they know the answer can write it on a piece of paper and fold it up and put it in a jar or thumbtack it to the wall. Reveal at the end of the week.
I've also got folks in my office running a pool for football season and for Final Four. That leads to a lot of interaction and jovial trash-talking.
posted by CathyG at 8:07 AM on August 21, 2015
Back in the day, when Usenet was a thing, Andrew Solberg wrote about an amusing little office game he liked to call The Gum Fairy. (NSFW language)
Not saying you should do that, but you should totally do that.
posted by sourcequench at 8:10 AM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Not saying you should do that, but you should totally do that.
posted by sourcequench at 8:10 AM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Dip doesn't have to actually destroy relationships!
I suggest a giant wall game of Small World.
posted by michaelh at 8:22 AM on August 21, 2015
I suggest a giant wall game of Small World.
posted by michaelh at 8:22 AM on August 21, 2015
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posted by 256 at 5:42 AM on August 21, 2015