Let's talk board game mechanics: Tiles

If you're a fan of European-style board games, like me, you'll no doubt have come across some kind of tile-based game. Carcassonne, Galaxy Trucker, Goblins Inc, Forbidden Island, and so on, are all tile-based games with very different gameplay styles. I'm a fan of them all. Tile games have long since been one of my favourites, largely because the very nature of them guarantees a different game experience every time. Because of the sheer number of possible ways those tiles can be assembled, I'm always facing a different challenge while playing.

But there are a lot of different kinds of tiles. And this is where I am looking for input from you lovely readers. You may or may not be aware that I am currently developing my own tile-based board game. I've been working on it for some time, and have already subjected some very forgiving friends and an even more forgiving boyfriend to an awful lot of playtesting. However, I have recently come to the conclusion that I'm still just not very happy with the way I've done the game tiles. So, here I am looking at different options of what I could do with them that would work for the game.

Option 1: Medium/large-ish tiles with four playable spaces on each tile. This is what is in place at the moment. One of the big features of the game is the ability to move these tiles around - flip them over, rotate them, swap their places. The larger tile size makes this incredibly easy to do.

However, finding the right number of tiles to use for the board is something I'm still struggling with. I have a number of special "action" spaces, which requires the tile to be flipped over once used. I don't like putting more than one of these spaces on a single tile, as it then feels like it will influence where the tile is initially placed in game setup. It also just... looks wrong. This means I end up having what looks like an awful lot of blank space on the board where nothing really happens. I don't like the sheer amount of unused space there is on the board, and I can't really condense it any smaller without having to change a bunch of other mechanics and rules to compensate.

Option 2: Small, single space tiles. This is the option I'm seriously considering. Having each space be its own tile would make it even easier to move pieces around. I wouldn't have to worry about having too many action spaces on a tile, because I could simply add in or take out however many I needed to for balancing. It also means I can make the overall playing space a bit smaller, which is something I think would help in a game where the board will potentially change size and shape during gameplay.

The downsides here are fairly obvious. The biggest one is, of course, that means a LOT more pieces to keep track of. It would be much more expensive to produce, because I would need at least twice as many tiles as in option 1. The pieces would have to be smaller as well, which could potentially turn off players if they feel the tiles are too fiddly. This also would increase set-up time for the game. I initially designed this as a quick, easy to learn board game, and this wouldn't fit that ideal - but then again, since then, the game has wandered a bit from that original intention anyway.

Option 3: Large, multi-space tiles that can be put together in different formations. This would be similar to something like Mansions of Madness, where each room is its own tile, and they are put together to form the board. Something like this would be very quick to set up, would require far less pieces, and can still provide some variety, especially if there are extra pieces which can be swapped out to change things up a bit.

Of course, this kind of set-up would make the moving of tiles very difficult. Rotating wouldn't be too bad, but swapping and flipping could be nightmarish, depending on how many players are on a given tile at the time. With tile manipulation being one of the main features, this would probably not go over well at all.

Option 4: A single, full-size board with a few single space pieces for special tiles. Up straight? I don't want to do this. For a game like Last Night on Earth, which uses this mechanic (kind of), it's fine. It's less expensive to produce a single board with a dozen extra tiles than it is to produce a hundred tiles. It still allows for some random set-up, since the special tile pieces can still be distributed randomly over the board. It makes for far less bits and pieces to potentially get lost.

But it completely removes the essence of the idea, which was to be able to move any tile. I don't want to lose this mechanic, as I feel it links closely to the theme of the game. This single mechanic was why I started the game, and I think removing it would also kill any desire I would have to finish the game. However, because I know it is an option in use in other games, I've included it in my list here.

So there you have it. Four options that I'm most familiar with in the various games I've played. Which would you prefer to play with? Why? Have I missed another option? Please tell me in the comments!