Lists

“Swiss Army Games” are Nesting Dolls of Board Games

Playing cards are probably the world’s first game system. The same 52 cards can produce a multitude of games, making them the world’s go-to game system.

That hasn’t stopped modern designers from trying their hand at inventing “the last game system you’ll ever need”. Below are some of the better attempts at creating an all-in-one tabletop gaming system.

504

504’s conceit is that the Many World’s Theory is true and each combination of modules represents a separate reality. This set of 9 modules can be rearranged into 504 individual games by way of a sectional spiral bound rule book. You flip each of three sections to a random page to generate the final game. No one has played all 504 games, but the consensus is that they’re exceedingly similar. And for $75, it still might not produce any particularly engaging games. It is, however, a fantastic curio for collectors, and a functioning reference of systems and mechanics for game designers.

The Infinite Board Game

This one needs some explaining. There’s a public domain set of abstract components called Piecepack, which was designed to be the next deck-of-cards. Of course, it didn’t catch on nearly as much, but The Infinite Board Game is one of the better looking re-skins of Piecepack. One of the 50 included games is bound to strike your fancy. If not, you can’t always make up your own game, which might by The Infinite Board Game’s best feature.

Pyramid Arcade

Looney Labs created their own universal game piece called Pyramids and released several games that used them. Pyramid Arcade is all 22 of those games re-skinned and put in one box. Like The Infinite Board Game, the theme is fairly modern but somehow more abstract. Out of all these systems, Pyramid Arcade probably has the best games. Personally, Lunar Invaders is one of my favorite micro-games. Pyramid Arcade is currently on Kickstarter.

Stonehenge: An Anthology Game

Stonehenge might have been the first modern example of a Swiss Army game. It contains 5 separate games, all designed by notable designers, like Richard Borg of Commands & Colors fame and creator of Magic: the Gathering Richard Garfield. Honestly, the games included in the core set aren’t that great, and the two new games in the expansion, Nocturne, are only a bit better. But if you like inventing new games, the components have a great ancient/fantasy theme. Further, Paizo hosts a library of user-made games, making Stonehenge the Mario Maker of board games. It’s several years old, but you can still get a brand new copy for cheap on Amazon.