Thoughts on Splotter games?

Exactly what it says on the tin. What do you think of Splotter games? Do you own any, have played some, have some thoughts on them? I would love to hear your thoughts as I'm not sure what to think of them just by reading opinions at BGG.

I would specially love if you have some thoughts on Roads & Boats.

Thanks everyone

I’ve never played one. Sorry z

I have liked the two big Splotter games I have played (Indonesia and Roads & Boats). They are well designed, player-driven economic systems that are relatively brutal in their simplicity of conflict. They blow most euros out of the water on the economic engine front. However, nothing about them is what I would describe as "clean". They work well, but the edges of the game are still clearly evident. You will not win because the engine keeps everyone close together. You will win because you either ruthlessly slaughtered your opponents or you managed to take advantage of someone else's misstep. I highly recommend their design style. As far as I know, their only real mistake on the big games was Duck Dealer.

The smaller titles (VOC!, Oraklos, Beest, and Cannes) have been meh to sort of good. They seem more like test runs of an idea instead of a final game.

I'mma come out and say it. Splotter games are hugely overrated and are designed to appeal to uber-Eurogame elitsts. Granted, I like Antiquity, but realistically...I think that is the only Splotter game I've ever actually liked. Roads and Boats I haven't played in years but it is a total bore- logistics overload. I played it a bit back when BGG had it in some kind of beta when they were looking at hosting digital games I guess. Fast Food Franchise is another snoozer- you literally build org charts in the game. None of their games look good (good god, Cannes). All are exactly as Beau described- not clean. They all feel clunky and overwrought, overcomplicated to appeal to those elitists.

I've always wanted to try Indonesia but never have, I hear it's a good one.

Michael Barnes wrote: I'mma come out and say it. Splotter games are hugely overrated and are designed to appeal to uber-Eurogame elitsts. Granted, I like Antiquity, but realistically...I think that is the only Splotter game I've ever actually liked. Roads and Boats I haven't played in years but it is a total bore- logistics overload. I played it a bit back when BGG had it in some kind of beta when they were looking at hosting digital games I guess. Fast Food Franchise is another snoozer- you literally build org charts in the game. None of their games look good (good god, Cannes). All are exactly as Beau described- not clean. They all feel clunky and overwrought, overcomplicated to appeal to those elitists.

I've always wanted to try Indonesia but never have, I hear it's a good one.

Fast Food Franchise isn't Splotter, it's by TimJim. You mean Food Chain Magnate. Of the two I prefer FFF. Splotter's main design consideration is not "to appeal to those elitists". Their design style and look remain unchanged from before those elitists discovered them.
I like their earlier stuff, Roads & Boats, Bus. I even liked Duck Dealer.

Ha, yes, thanks for correcting- Fast Food Franchise is awesome! Food Chain Magnate is not.

*Barnes is getting old and it may be affecting his memory.

Mike, pull up your review of Greed Inc. and refresh. It’s a glowing 5 star review which moved me to buy the game. I have played if several times and it’s great.

So, there is one very good Splotter game. Roads and Boats may be another

Ah! I completely forgot that Greed Inc. is Splotter...and in fact, the BEST Splotter.

I kept thinking there was another that I liked other than Antiquity...but you know, I’ve not played Greed Inc. in 8-9 years maybe? I’d like to revisit it sometime...it has such a great theme.

I find them very intellectual if you're into economics. They're capitalist games made by people extremely skeptical of capitalism, imho. They each tend to be concerned with their meditation on particular market failures/mechanisms---Greed Inc is their criticism of corporate personal vs. organizational success motivations, Antiquity is about (un)sustainability---growth and waste in capitalism, Food Chain Magnate is about the way that companies task themselves with creating demand via psychology for the very goods they're trying to figure out how to supply... haven't played Indonesia, I believe it's about logistics but again, usually Splotter games are not glorifying capitalism so it's probably about some perverse incentive in logistics.

If the above paragraph makes you roll your eyes, say it's a bunch of overly academic clap-trap and say "not fun!" then I think you know your answer (that's not personal criticism, btw). I find them interesting but at times hard to play. You need a group of gamers willing to commit to them for a few games at least, I think, and they can be long games.

Oh, also, Splotter games are super, super cutthroat, which is something I don't think many people realize about them.

Following Gary’s descriptions, Indonesia does include logistics, but I think it’s focus is on the natural push towards megacorporations as the game starts with smaller regional companies that eventually merge and devour each other.

Ah, ok, that makes sense. So Roads and Boats about logistics and Indonesia about market concentration. Thanks!

Michael Barnes wrote: Fast Food Franchise is awesome!

Hats!

Ha, I appreciate everyone's comments

The interesting thing. Barnes, is that the reasons I'm looking into Roads & Boats is exactly that logistics overload. I like logistic games, Transport Tycoon is one of my favourite games of all time and I've sunk several hundreds our in Factorio. R&B has been compared to both and I can see it really appealing to me, exactly because it's that kind of excercise.

On the elitism thing, I haven't seen that, to be honest. And hey, I play and love train games which have a fairly elitist community. But the games themselves aren't elitist so I can play them with people who are actually fun

By the way, if anyone has Roads & Boats and wants to sell it, please do tell, it wasn't that popular of a game around here and I haven't found a copy yet.

Gary Sax wrote: They're capitalist games made by people extremely skeptical of capitalism, imho.

This is actually very common amongst designers of economic games! Which to me is a good thing, mind.

Erik, would like to know what do you think about R&B once you've played it. Logistics games on PC are also my favorite, but with 4X and RPG, I've found that I'd rather stick to computer games. I wonder if logistics are the same.

Sevej wrote: Erik, would like to know what do you think about R&B once you've played it. Logistics games on PC are also my favorite, but with 4X and RPG, I've found that I'd rather stick to computer games. I wonder if logistics are the same.

I will try to write an article or something. I know I always say that, but don't, but I'll try. On the very least, I'll try

So far I think that economic boardgames blow videogames out of the water so I'm hopeful. The issue is finding a copy, it's proving harder than I thought it would be by far.