Ever heard the term, “legacy game” and wonder what someone meant by that? Good because that’s exactly what I’m going to share with you today. So, what is a legacy game, anyway?
A legacy game is a board game that permanently changes through repeated plays of the game. Some examples are Risk Legacy, Pandemic Legacy, and Gloomhaven.
Table of Contents
What Is A Legacy Game?
A legacy game is a game that is designed to be played over multiple sessions. Through these sessions, the game is permanently changed. This can happen by adding or removing new things to the game. Sometimes it’s through stickers but can also be through writing.
Does A Legacy Game Need To Have Legacy In The Title?
They do not. Some will and some won’t, it just depends on the designers and publishers.
Are Legacy Games Replayable?
Some are replayable, but not all are. By their very nature, most of these types of games have an end point where you can’t really play the game anymore. You’ve reached the end of that game’s story.
But sometimes board games will have a way to start the game over or undo the otherwise permanent changes to the game. A good example of this is the game, Charterstone. Charterstone is a legacy game, but there’s a separate recharge pack you can buy to essentially reset the game for another campaign.
Are Legacy Games Worth It?
Whether or not these types of games are worth it will depend on what you want out of a game. Do you want a game that’s infinitely replayable? The legacy games won’t be the games for you in that case.
However, it’s worth keeping in mind that many legacy games are designed to tell stories, and they’re designed to tell those stories over many, many sessions. This could be 10, 20, or more. If you consider how often you play many of your board games, those numbers for legacy games are actually a really good amount of plays. So, ultimately, you do get your money’s worth.
What Are Some Examples Of Legacy Games?
Here are a few of the more popular games in this genre:
Did You Know?
(Each time you refresh the page you will get a new “Did You Know” fact!)
Did you know that the biggest board game convention in the world is in Germany? It’s called Internationale Spieltage SPIEL but is usually called Essen Game Fair. It takes place in Essen, Germany, and features over 1,000 exhibitors from lots of countries. It has also regularly had over 100,000, or sometimes over 200,000 people attend.
By comparison, Gen Con, which takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana has only recently climbed over 60,000 and has only neared the 70,000 mark once so far.
Conclusion: What Is A Legacy Game?
So, there you have it. Now you know what a legacy game is. They are a really cool, unique style of game that’s still relatively new to the board game world, so it’ll be interesting to see how they continue to evolve from here.
That said, what do you think about legacy games? Which one do you want to try the most? Let us know your thoughts and why in the comments below!
And, as always, keep on gaming, maniacs.
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