Randomness in Games

When In Doubt, Roll Betterer

By Marc Q

There is an ongoing discussion about how large a role luck should play in gaming. Some people extol the virtues of perfect information games, like Chess or Hive (which, in my humble opinion, is better than Chess). Others will speak glowingly about gambling/luck based games like Poker or Liar’s Dice. I think the important part isn’t how much luck a game requires, but rather if the inclusion or exclusion of luck makes a game more enjoyable, or less.

We’re deep in the weeds here, but bear with me, it will all make sense in a few paragraphs. 

For a moment, let’s consider a very abstract concept: Why do we play games? For a lot of people, the reason is to win! We play to challenge others; To stand victorious over their battered and bruised egos, proving our superiority once more upon the crucible of… whatever we happen to be playing. 

For people that place a lot of value on winning, the inclusion of luck becomes a critical component to whether they will “enjoy” a game. A zero-luck game like Quarto, for example, hinges entirely on your opponent making a mistake. Each turn in Quarto you select a piece for your opponent to play; meaning the game ends when a player gives away a piece that causes them to lose. Captain Picard says that it is possible to make no mistakes and still lose, and while that may be true in Starfleet, it’s not true in perfect information games. 

As an aside, if anyone is unfamiliar with the term “Perfect Information” as it relates to games, it means that there is no uncertainty or randomness in what you know about a game state. In a game like Blokus, you know every piece your opponent has, and you know every place that they could potentially play. There are no “hidden” pieces that they can pull out at the last moment, there’s no die you will roll that changes what you can play… every single possible move is visible and knowable. Any time you’ve read about an “AI” beating somebody at a game, it’s almost always a perfect information game like Chess or Lyngk. Anyway, back to the topic at hand!

So you’re playing games because you want to win… but winning at a perfect information game means you simply outplay your opponent. Wouldn’t it be nice to get all the thrill of winning, but without having to run your brain through a cheesegrater to get there? 

And that’s why we add luck, or variability, to games. Having imperfect information means that victory is potentially within reach of all players, despite any skill or experience gap between them. 

Personally, I feel that winning and losing should not be the core reason to play games. If a game is only fun if you win, then everyone is playing for the benefit of only one player, and I don’t like that calculus.
And to me that means adding a bit of chaos or some uncertainty into your games is a very good thing. But since the possibility of winning is important to me, I don’t want a game that is pure chance either.

Luck might dictate that you’re dealt a really good opening hand of Disney Lorcana cards, but knowing that your Robin Hood Hero of Sherwood is a good hero, or how to interact the Ariel - Spectacular Singer card with A Whole New World action is beyond just a lucky draw. Leveraging your luck and turning it into a strategy based on game knowledge is what makes playing games fun! 

A deep understanding of games is what  fuels competitive tournaments. Sure, there is an enormous amount of luck in a game of Magic the Gathering, but knowing your deck, your opponent’s deck, and knowing how to leverage the tools you have right now into a winning strategy is where the satisfaction of playing comes from!

But if you lose? You can safely blame it on some bad luck, or maybe a few ineffective decisions that were undone by bad luck. Either way, you at least had a shot at winning because of the random elements in play! (I don’t recommend blaming your failure on luck… it’s a poor artist that blames their tools). 

All of that said, how do you feel about randomness in games? Let us know some of your favourite games, and how random elements come into play (or not)! 

Until next time, when in doubt, just roll better. 60% of the time it works every time!