A microgame is a
board game or
wargame packaged in a small set.
Description
Microgames enjoyed popularity during the 1980s and have seen a revival with the popularity of tabletop games in the 21st century. The term generally refers to board games or wargames which were packaged and sold with instructions and maps or playing surfaces printed in a booklet format, or as one large sheet folded until it became "pocket sized" (approximately 4×7 inches). Game pieces (also known as
chits or
counters) were printed on one or more sheets of thick paper which the player sometimes had to cut for themselves. Other microgames had fully die-cut cardboard sheets like those included with most board wargames. Steve Jackson Games used the
Pocket Box to package many of their games in this format.
While small scale wargames and board games, including Tabletop Games' Micro Series Games, had existed before they began publishing,
Metagaming Concepts first used the term "
MicroGame" when they released ''
Ogre, MicroGame #1'' in 1977.
Publishers
Some publishers of microgames include:
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Alderac Entertainment Group, publishers of
Love Letter
Button Shy publishers of 18 card games packaged in bi-fold wallets
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Cheapass Games
Cheapass Games is a game company founded and run by game designer James Ernest, based in Seattle, Washington. Cheapass Games operates on the philosophy that most game owners have plenty of dice, counters, play money, and other common board game ...
Dark City Games*
Game Designers' Workshop (defunct)
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Metagaming Concepts (defunct)
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Operational Studies Group
Operational Studies Group, also known as OSG, is a publisher of board wargames.
History
Kevin Zucker, the Managing Editor at the wargame publisher Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI), left the company in January 1976. He and other ex-SPI employe ...
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Simulations Publications, Inc.
Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) was an American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship ''Strategy & Tactics'', in the 1970s and early 1980s. It produced an enormous number of games and introduced innovati ...
(defunct)
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Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and (until 2019) the gaming magazine ''Pyramid''.
History
Founded in 1980, six years after the cr ...
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Task Force Games
Task Force Games was a game company started in 1979 by Allen Eldridge and Stephen V. Cole. TFG published many games, most notably including both ''Star Fleet Battles'' (currently published by the original designers, Amarillo Design Bureau) and ...
(defunct)
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Tri Tac Games
Tri Tac Games is a publisher of role-playing games based in Pontiac, Michigan. The company is built primarily on the work of Richard Tucholka, its founder and president.
Company history
Tri Tac Games was founded in 1978 as "Tacky Tack Games". Tri ...
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TSR, Inc. (defunct)
Nanogames
Nanogames are smaller than microgames and often consist of nine or fewer cards, with a few other components. While there is no firm definition of a nanogame, several games have been so labeled. ''Coin Age'', a one-card game, and ''Where Are Thou, Romeo'', a five-card game created as an add-on to the 13-card game ''Council of Verona'', are examples of nanogames launched using
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
.
The 9-card nanogame ''Orchard'' won the 2018
Board Game Geek's Print and Play Design Contest.
"Orchard: A 9 card solitaire game (2018)" (BoardGameGeek)
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Notes
External links
* {{cite web , url=http://maverick.brainiac.com/cmm/cmm_index.html , title=The Maverick's Classic Microgames Museum by Joseph Scoleri III
Game terminology
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