Learning by Design is a series of articles about game design for people who love games, play games and design games.
High Society (1995) is a classic auction game from prolific designer Reiner Knizia (Tigris & Euphrates, Modern Art) in which players are bon vivants bidding against each other for life's luxuries, trying to assert their status, sidestepping scandals and avoiding bankruptcy.
High Society has been re-published numerous times, most recently in 2018 by Osprey Games. The game plays in 20 minutes and amongst my play group it’s proven to be a real crowd pleaser. The rules are easy to learn and the game provides a brilliant blend of luck, skill and replayability.
So what’s going on here? Why is the game so fun and so popular?
What can we learn from High Society?
End game uncertainty is terrifically fun
On each turn in High Society the top card from the central deck of cards is revealed face up and then auctioned. The deck has 16 cards in total, however 4 of those cards are special (featuring a bright green backing in the latest release). When the fourth green backed card is revealed, the game ends immediately.
In this way, at the beginning of a round of High Society players do not know how long the game will last. In theory it could last as few as just three turns (four green cards in a row - the final green card is not played as a turn) or it could last as long as 15 turns. In fact, I’ve seen both of these scenarios play out in real games. Most games, of course, will fall somewhere between these two extremes.
This mechanic is just wonderful for three key reasons:
Firstly, it’s an elegant way of adding variability and replayability into the game. Following a game, the deck of cards is shuffled and - importantly - each game feels new and unique.
Secondly, it hides a lot of the game's luck from the players view. At least initially, many players will feel like the game was decided by the choices they made and the risks they did (or didn’t) take. In reality, there is a fantastic amount of luck in High Society based on the order that the cards come out in and when the game ends, and here it only adds to the experience.
Thirdly, it creates a game progression with increasing tension. With each green card revealed the tension in the game is ratcheted up another level. Once the third green card is revealed, the tension reaches breaking point. The game is now in ‘sudden death’ mode; where each turn could be the game's last. I’ve played games that have continued for 5 or 6 turns in this hyper tense state; and it is excellent fun.
A great theme can do most of the heavy lifting for your game
Whilst the complexity of games can differ significantly, it’s important to recognize that a large part of the difficulty (or perceived difficulty) in learning a new game has to do with how much work the games theme is doing.
A strong theme frames a player's thinking and expectations about the rules to follow. When the theme works, players ‘get it’ quicker. You’ll usually only need a once over on the rules as many of the rules will seem ‘self evident.’
The theme in High Society is terrific - and helps players to learn the mechanics quickly.
In insolation of the theme, the game’s final scoring rule - that the player with the least money is excluded from the count - could be seen as fairly abstract and possibly confusing to new players.
However, supported by the theme, the rule is quickly understood and embraced by players. Not being the poorest player at the game's end just makes sense here. This is a valuable lesson.
Another example where the theme fits the game perfectly is inherent within the frivolous nature of the game itself, with players wasting thousands of dollars (francs) on symbols of wealth, like fancy champagne and perfume. Whereas this type of ‘excess’ is at odds with many people, my playing group has relished the opportunity to embrace the theme and attempt to show each other up through a series of increasingly expensive auctions. In this way, both the game’s theme and also the feeling players have whilst they play are in perfect alignment with one another.
Use every part of your design space
It’s a common trope of game design that adding restrictions is a great way to provide drama and create interesting choices for players.
The game provides players with a simulation of money. Each player starts the game with 106,000 francs, represented by 11 money cards divided into increments of 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 6,000, 8,000, 10,000, 12,000, 15,000, 20,000 and 25,000. This somewhat strange breakdown is important because when bidding during each auction, cards already played to the table cannot be picked up or exchanged. Players may only increase their bid by adding new cards to existing cards played or they may pass.
At first glance, these increments and restrictions may seem unimportant, but very quickly players will see that they work together to add a subtle, yet brilliant additional layer of depth to the game. As the game progresses players will find that a little bit of ‘card counting’ and memory may prove useful to them and, inevitably this will lead to small amounts of bluffing too.
The mechanic means there is a little bit of extra value in the low cards (1,000 and 2,000) - they are very useful for increasing your bid by just a small amount. If an opponent has already used their low increments they may be forced to pass or overspend by increasing their bid by 6,000 or 8,000.
Additionally the top cards (20,000 and 25,000) benefit from this mechanic. There is great power in holding back the big cards in your hand when your opponent has already spent them.
In Summary
There are (of course) many more lessons to learn from the likes of classic designs like High Society; above mentioned are just three.
What do you like the most about High Society?
