Valerie Putman:  Turn order advantage

I designed a game last year and throughout the play testing I’ve had one bit of feedback that I just can’t seem to develop a fix for that I’m satisfied with.  The players have correctly pointed out that the players who go first have a slight advantage.  Since the game can end at any time, early players could have an extra turn.  For the last few months I’ve paid closer attention to how other games have balanced the turn order advantage with the hope of finding a way that might work in my game design

Give the advantage to the youngest player
Children’s games and American games often assign the youngest player to go first if going first is an advantage and the oldest player to go first if it is a disadvantage to go first.  The imbalance isn’t really addressed at all.

All players get the same number of turns
Sometimes going first and going last both have advantages.  By making sure all players get the same number of turns, there may be a balancing of the game.  I heard several complaints that Thurn und Taxis has a first player advantage, but now that the game has been played more often, I’m starting to hear that going last might have enough advantages to even out the playing field.

Quality over quantity
Many games balance the turn order advantage by giving the player in the worst position the first choice of resources.  A popular San Juan rule allows later players to choose from more cards to create their starting hand.  In fact, in some games it is the distribution of starting resources and not turn order that needs to be better balanced.

Quantity over quality
It’s not uncommon to give later players more money or other resources to compensate for a game order disadvantage.  In Goa and Caylus the start player has less money at the beginning of the game.

You choose what turn order is worth
My favorite solution to turn order advantage is one that allows players to decide exactly what going first or last is worth.  An auction for turn order, like in the advanced rules for Tikal or in Age of Steam, is the most common way to achieve this.  In Caylus, players can spend an action improving their turn order (and this is in addition to the scaled starting money).  Allowing players to influence the turn order can make the game more difficult to teach.  Players who haven’t experienced the game before may have a difficult time judging what turn order should be worth.

Unfortunately, none of these methods have felt like they would work for my game design.  What other solutions have I overlooked?  Do you have a favorite fix?  Or does turn order advantage not really matter to you?  It is possible to balance turn order by playing enough games that everyone gets a chance to go first.  Playing more games sounds like a great solution to me!

I’m still traveling and playing games until the end of Memorial Day weekend.  Next week I’ll tell you all about the new games I’ve played this trip.  But here’s a spoiler--my favorite new game is Carrousel.  It’s been a while since I’ve gotten this giddy about a game.

Hope you’re playing games too!
Valerie Putman

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