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Costly Complexity - the limits of complexity in board games (Topic Discussion)
Description
There comes a time when you look at the rules for a new board game, when it suddenly stops feeling exciting and starts feeling intimidating. The rules are too long and convoluted, the main game board is cluttered, and every mechanism seems to have another exception. Complexity itself can be very appealing when it creates meaningful choices and rewards repeated play. However, complexity is also a kind of burden for the people playing the game. More complexity means more time to learn a game, more effort to remember everything, and more focus when playing it. In this article, I use episode 364 of Ludology as my starting point for examining where complexity adds interest to a game and where it simply makes it unnecessarily hard to play.
Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2026/10/13/costly-complexity-the-limits-of-complexity-in-board-games-topic-discussion/
Useful Links
- Ludology 364: The Cost of Complexity: https://ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-364-the-cost-of-complexity
- Board Game Design Lab: Writing Rules: https://boardgamedesignlab.com/writing-rules/
- Cardboard Edison: Best Practices 2026: https://cardboardedison.com/blog/2026/1/11/9agspyjczvqx2oa4yozay38xwr8tok
- The Deep Blue – depth in board games article: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2022/08/23/the-deep-blue-depth-in-board-games-topic-discussion/
- Board Game Design Lab: Design Theory: https://boardgamedesignlab.com/design-theory/
- Cardboard Edison: The Process: The Expanse by Geoff Engelstein: https://cardboardedison.com/blog/the-process-the-expanse
Music
Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot (https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/)
Music: "Technology", "Corporate Motivation" and "Documentary" by AShamaluevMusic.
Website: https://www.ashamaluevmusic.com
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Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tabletopgamesblog