I love board games. I love sci-fi/fantasy fiction. So no wonder when the two combine I absolutely love it.
This is going to be the introductory article for a small series I am going to do, where I talk about my all-time favorite board games that have come from works of SFF fiction. The three games I am going to talk about are: Pai Sho from Avatar: The Last Airbender, Liar’s Dice from Pirates of the Caribbean, and Sabacc from Star Wars.
There are two main aspects to fictional board games that I would like to talk about: real-world gameplay and in-universe use.
Real-world gameplay.
One aspect is about the actual gameplay, the rules of the game and how it’s played. I will talk about all the things you need to play, both game components and rules. I will talk about the rules as they are presented in-story as well as rules that fans have made up over the years, because yes, those are very different sometimes.
In-universe use of games
The other aspect is how a game is used in-universe to tell the story or to highlight character aspects. Games can be used as a framing device for a scene, where characters are placed in a smaller, confined setting that really highlights many of a characters aspects. How they make choices and interact with the game in this way can really tell a story on its own.
Aspects of games can also be used to show aspects of the characters that play it. People who play strategy games are usually quite clever, while people who play gambling games have a roguish charm about them.
My favorite three favorite fictional board games handle both of these aspects really well, and they are different for each.
Pai Sho is an ancient and mysterious strategy game that really highlighted the wisdom of those that played it, but they only ever showed a large, circular board and a few intricate pieces on screen, and never any rules. So fans had to extrapolate what they knew and make their own pieces and rules.
Liar’s Dice is based on a real-world game, so it is by far the easiest to pick up for yourself. You just need several sets of 5 regular dice and some cups. But it’s use in-story is tremendously well done and makes for a truly spectacular scene.
Sabacc is a different story altogether. It first came about as a way to show how Han Solo won his ship in a betting game, but in the years that followed there have been actual rules and cards published. And with Star Wars having such a long and rich history, there are actually multiple different versions of the game that exist (both in-universe and in real life).
Now you know a bit more about why I love SFF-inspired board games, and I’ve introduced my three favorites. So now let’s talk about why they’re my favorites!
The next 3 posts on this blog (hopefully, lol) will be a small series, where I will go in-depth into each of these games.
Love,
~ Sanne