Ready, Set Action…
In this article, I would like to take a look at the action point allowance mechanic in board games.
For those who never heard about it, an action point system is a mechanic used in many board games to limit the number of actions that a player can take during their turn. Basically, each player will get in its turn X number of action points to spend on Y number of available actions. The player will then spend these point on the action and the turn will move to the next player.
At the time I write this article, BGG lists 6,759 games to have the action point mechanism. While I haven’t really gone over them, I do believe that some are not classified correctly.
A new Century
BGG lists Special Train (1948), as the first game to employ action points.
While this just might be true, the game designer's duo, Michael Kiesling & Wolfgang Kramer were the first to modernize it and elevate it to what we would consider today an action point mechanic.
In 1999, they created Tikal, which is one of my favorite games, and introduced a streamlined action point allowance:
Each player gets 10 action points that can be used to perform 7 types of actions. While there is no limit to the number of actions that a player may take in a turn, some actions are more costly than others. This limits the player to take for example 10 move actions or only 2 build camp actions. This limit not only prevents player from doing too much from a certain action, it also indicates to the players which actions are considered to be powerful by the game designers.
Probably feeling that they are onto something. The duo created Java in 2000 (Later reprinted by Super Meeple as Cuzco).
Java used a very similar action allowance system:
Here, each player will only get 6 action points, but this will allow her to spend them over 9 different actions. Also, in this game, an action would only cost 1 or 2 points, so there are no super expensive actions like in Tikal. Java also introduced a special token that can increase the number of action points you spent in this turn from 6 to 7. Each player gets 3 tokens of this kind for the entire game.
Finally, in 2002 they released Mexica, and completed what will be known as the mask trilogy.
This game balances both Tikal and Java:
Each player gets 6 action points, like in Java, but the cost of the action varies from 1 to 5 like in Tikal. To make things more complicated, the game offers 12 actions to choose from.
While all the games have similar themes, and heavily relies on the action point system, they are completely different, each offering a different game experience and strategy.
The innovation in these games was that while it allowed players to plan out their actions and strategize. It also forced them to make difficult decisions about which actions are most important and how to best use their limited resources. This led to more engaging and tactical gameplay.
Quickly, after the success of these games, other games implemented the mechanism in different ways. While some games used the classic set number of action points that are refreshed at the beginning of each turn, others used a pool of action points that can be replenished over the course of the game. Some games allowed players to earn action points as they progress through the game, and others gave players the option to purchase additional action points with in-game resources.
Pandemic, which is known, as the pioneer of the cooperative games mechanic, utilizes a clean and simple action point system that doesn’t take the attention from the main cooperative goal of the game.
The Drawback
It is my opinion that while Kiesling & Kramer really made great advances to the action points mechanic, they overlooked the analysis paralysis effect of this mechanic. Too much choice with constraints attached to them will lead some players to think for a very long time before deciding anything. Moreover, too much choice will always leave you with the feeling that what you finally did select was not the best option, accompanied by the great warm fuzzy feeling of frustration.
Additionally, specifically in these 3 games, there wasn’t any way to keep track of the number of action used in each turn. Especially in Tikal where you begin your turn with 10 action points, players find themselves lost in trying to remember how many they spent so far and on which actions.
Thoughts
Personally, I really like the action point mechanism and the mask trilogy in particular. I feel it gives enough freedom to make meaningful decisions. When I win or lose, it always feels like it's directly related to decisions I made during the game and does not depend too much on luck or other game factors. This feeling of control keeps me engaged in the game if the right players are there with me. That said, having the right group of people is critical for this game, or overthinkers might kill the whole game experience.
The mask trilogy mentioned here was reprinted in 2017 by the French publishing company Super Meeple. The reprint, which was actually a reproduction, brought better art, better board quality and amazing stone like resin temples, that truly enhance the theme of each game. Java was renamed to Cusco (probably to set all the games on the same continent), but kept all other aspect of the original game in place. In 2022-2023 a new batch of games was released in N.America, so if you can afford it, grab a copy of Tikal and enjoy a great game the made some history a few decades ago.