I love it when I open a one sentence reminder email that says, "Make dentist appointment" & Gemini is like "Can I summarize that for you?"

Thought of another:

-Fog of war in Starcraft

Totally-- I believe fighting games are probably the most watchable multiplayer video game genre.

I can see that! For the right person, being a moderator and simply facillitating other people's fun is super enjoyable. Often when I'm teaching a lighter game, I'm happy to sit out and just run it if we have one too many players, even though "running it" often turns into just watching.

Totally, it's a good example of dramatic irony. Like seeing the hole cards in Poker tournament.

Makes sense! I can totally see how you'd glean a lot of useful insights from doing that.

Absolutely. Making other people's turns watchable is my favorite solution to downtime.

I tend to use "rivals" for this reason

Interesting, I didn't know they tried a square grid first! I wonder if hexes worked better because players build the grid in that game and the hexes offered more flexibility and choice

I may be making some incorrect assumptions about your game, but it sounds like in this case you did go with the simpler option, though?

An example for me is the 6 dog limit in Spots. Leaving it out would simplify things but it seemed too essential for making games closer & maintaining uncertainty into the late game, which is a value I often prioritize over elegance.

"Sensory hanabi" is such a good description

I have ideas for how to improve Scape Goat, as well, in case any publishers see this!