Hare and Tortoise
Silly Rabbit, Games Aren't Just for Kids
The Oscars are kind of a big deal, but when you think about it; it’s just some group of professionals getting together and saying “We like that.” No doubt plumbers (etc) have yearly awards, they just don’t get televised with Red Carpet treatment. Mad Men shows an early Clio award (the ‘Oscars’ of advertising) and it’s basically a glamourless Oscar ceremony. All it takes to have an award is … having some people decide to have an award.
In the 70s, German game designers said “Yeah, we should have an award.” And thus was the Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) award born. The best game … but published in Germany. And now … its kind of a big deal. The Settlers of Catan winning the Spiel des Jahres arguably made the SdJ important (instead of vice versa). Prior to that, it wasn’t terribly well known in the United States.
Back then, The SdJ award was more Clio than Oscar.
But after Settlers took the world by storm, gamers sought out prior Spiel des Jahres winners hoping to strike. Any “Thing of the Year” award is going to have a number of picks that are terrible in hindsight, and there are just going to be “weak years,” particularly in as small a niche as “Games published in Germany.”1 Most early “Games of the Year” were fine. Some were excellent2.
One was utterly charming.
David Parlett’s Hare and Tortoise won the initial Spiel des Jahres; but is often dismissed at a glance. It’s clearly a kid’s game, based on a fable. But when you play it you’ll find more to chew on. What appears to be a simple race game will see the player’s pawns moving forward and backward; because often it’s better to not be in the lead.
Moving (forward) costs carrots … and the cost rises quickly the farther you move3. But you can also earn carrots be moving backwards (to the prior tortoise space), or by starting on a space whose number matches your position4. Each player also starts with three lettuce, which you have to get rid of by ending on a lettuce space (which again earns you carrots).
And in order to finish the race, you can’t have too many carrots! (To win you must have ten or less carrots). So sometimes you dare not land on a space because if you do you might accidentally earn carrots, upsetting your plan to win on the next turn. Often you’ll see a player miscalculate and then have to spend a turn on his carrot patch, gaining or losing ten carrots a turn, until he has the right number.
It’s a surprisingly complex game and relatively luck free. (There is a chance space that introduces random events in the game)5. It’s a game that kids can play; but is also a cut-throat exercise in math and optimization, gaining carrots to make big jumps but not gaining too many.
When playing against engineers, mathematicians, and the like I’ll see players go into the tank trying to find a sequence of moves that gets them to the finish line as fast as possible, burns most or all of their carrots, and doesn’t risk a random event roll or earning (by this point) unwanted carrots along the way; and then other players will try to figure out what sequence is coming up and …. jump onto the critical spot to force a deviation.
Which is probably why many gamers dismissed the First Spiel des Jahres winner. It looks casual. It’s based on a fable. It’s a kids game. They never expect to need their knives, even if it is just for cutting up carrots. In fact, that hedgehog may be kind of important. After all the tortoise (in the American Version) wins by being slow and steady. But in the German version? The Hedgehog cheats6, probably because there is very good alcohol at stake. So … a kid’s game, but also a serious game.
Looking at the list of SdJ winners (prior to 2001), there are definitely a few candidates for games that belong in the 100 Most Influential Games of the 20th Century, even though the award was still “finding it’s legs” in it’s early days. And — if I’m being honest with myself — Hare and Tortoise is a stretch. I find it an utterly charming, yet serious and ruthless game.
As Parlett himself notes, Hare and Tortoise is a race game where movement isn’t decided by cards or dice, but by player decisions. The Oscars were an audacious proposition so soon after film was invented. “Movies are an art form,” they proclaimed. So did the Spiel des Jahres announce about games. And the very first award winner stands a critical step in the evolution of games from “A way to kill time” to “tests of cunning and skill.”
So even if it isn’t something that you see at the table very often these days, I maintain that Hare and Tortoise should be in the conversation.
Author’s Note — While I certainly enjoy writing these articles, I doubt that my opinions will cover the full range of games that need to be considered. In particular, there are games that I know deserve consideration, but that I have never played (or do not particularly like). And I no little of games outside of the US / UK / German markets. So if there is a game you think should appear in this list, consider writing an article, particularly if you love it and / or know interesting tidbits of its history.
Despite this, the SdJ’s track record is at least as good as the Oscars (in my opinion).
I’ve already mentioned Railway Rivals, and other SdJ winning games will eventually get the entries I think they deserve..
Moving one space costs one carrot, two spaces costs three carrots, three spaces cost six carrots. Moving “N” spaces costs 1+2+…+N carrots. Many games use this sequence of numbers (called “Triangular Numbers,” which I only know … because of games).
Which means that other players will try to arrange things so that you don’t earn those carrots …. assuming you actually want them.
These spaces (called “Jugging the Hare”) vary by edition for the game, and I have strong opinions. I am pleased to have a Gibson’s Games copy, as it has the best (non-tournament) version. David Parlett himself has a summary of them on his web page.
Technically “The Hedgehogs Cheat” would be more accurate.
Hare and Tortoise is an undoubted classic: every household should have one!