Board Game Arena

Just want to express how much I appreciate the designer's attention to details on this game.

Abstracts, by their nature, do not require a lot of bling but a slick, easy to use and understand implementation does increase the playability of the game. The designer adeptly captured the the texture and gloss of the Bakelite pieces. Game state can be quickly understood via the simple and unobtrusive board 'notes'. The game board can be customized to show or hide shadows. The display on the stacks can be customized by making the font larger/smaller or displaying the red pawn stacks with red numerals. There are other nice touches you will notice when playing.

Very nice implementation of a really great abstract.

Exactly. I haven't even tried the game yet, but the excellent graphic design of it is certainly inspiring.

Perfect adaptation, really, one of the best in BGA.

But no setup stage. I've never played the game in real life, but I've always understood that the setup stage is important.

Or is this an optional thing that can be toggled when the game is created?

Strode wrote: ↑10 September 2024, 02:37 But no setup stage. I've never played the game in real life, but I've always understood that the setup stage is important.

Or is this an optional thing that can be toggled when the game is created?

Yes, that is an option you can set.

I decided to make the random setup the default one since this is better for new players. Otherwise the game might look boring at first and players just randomly place their pieces anyway - bringing them into a bad setup.

There are even lots of experienced players who like the random setup - myself included. Plus it is not really completely random but kind of balanced.

It looks great.

Setup phase is very time-consuming - there's no reason to be able to take back a move in arena play.

For accessibility I would like to be able to change the red pieces and numbers to blue and/or yellow. Red is nearly black to me.

Mathijs79 wrote: ↑13 September 2024, 14:14 For accessibility I would like to be able to change the red pieces and numbers to blue and/or yellow. Red is nearly black to me.

I second that. I didn't even realise the Dvonn stacks were marked before I saw it in the settings. Maybe an additional sign (an asterisk or such, instead of just other colours) should be an option for maximal accessibility (blue or yellow would work for me).

Otherwise, the implementation is outstanding. Looks great, nice customisation. Given the long game board, it even plays well on mobile.