So far there’s only one picture circling around of Goliath Games’ The Sims Board Game, heck, we haven’t even got a confirmed name for it just yet. We do know, however, that it’s going to be discussed, in some form, at the New York Toy Fair over the coming days… however, details are incredibly light on the ground.
As such, I’ve taken it upon myself (with my nearly-decade long history with board game reportage and dozens of failed board game creation attempts) to try to backwards engineer the gameplay mechanics of the one, blurry image that we’ve got of The Sims Board Game.
Licensing & Recycling
Before all else, the first thing to check is if it’s simply a case of The Sims Board Game using pre-existing mechanics of another of Goliath Games’ games, or brand games. I’ve played a handful of their Funko brand games: Psycho Killer, Ted Lasso, Scream, but these are ‘queue barrier’ party games, and the size of the The Sims board infers it’s a slightly longer playtime.
Goliath Games don’t tend to recycle their mechanics or systems (unlike Ravensburger, who are notorious for it). Critically, the board layout doesn’t match any of their more established brands (like Cranium, Sequence or Rummikub) or even any of their more recent ‘strategy’ efforts with licensing (Five Nights at Freddies, Indiana Jones) or any of their more unique, indie-feeling games like Fire Tower, Alice’s Garden or the — actually very good — Pan Am game they released.
It’s pretty safe to say, this is either a new designer, or — at least — something spun up very separately from their existing catalogue.
Player Count & Pieces
The example image that’s in play shows several different play areas on the board. Critically there are three diamond shapes that are likely reversable, which have been slotted together to create a hexagon on the board. The board shows five houses, however, there are only four players playing in the photo, with room for a fifth player left blank.
This might just be a mistake in the product shot, with each of the reversable boards having room for one OR two players, and the example set-up being confused. We often see this in early prototype shots. I’d imagine that the second player on the left of the screen should have been moved to the right, and the second house, at the top, with characters like Don Lothario and Ms Caliente near it, shouldn’t be there.
This is based entirely on the fact that the ‘house’ slots on the main board have had ‘house’ cards placed over them, as evidenced by the slightly out-of-line house cards on the furthest player board (the one shared with the extra cards).
Each of the, up to five, players have a house panel which shows their property and its name. The lots also appear to have traits, although the only variation we can see also seems to match the backdrop. (Notice the gold colour on the desert backgrounds, but brown, rock-shape on the green background).
Each player has a needs board, which is described as a ‘needs slider’ in the marketing material for the game, while they’ve also got a yellow aspiration card which no-doubt serves as an individual modifier for your actions. There are also action cards, which are the blue-background ones, and are likely tied to the requirements for aspirations or happiness.
Breaking down the mechanics
There’s no trackers or markers, which infers that you’ll hold onto those action cards until you need them. However, there’s no obvious way listed to getting them, which is where the other confirmed play-piece comes in. There’s a plumbob shaped die included, which is most likely a D8 (although could be a D10 or D12, although is unlikely to be lower unless it drops down to a D4). I assume that the dice includes something relating to each of the needs, with a face dedicated to each need and then two extra that relate to other things around the board.
But, what of The Sims? Well, it’s safe to assume that there’s a lot of different action cards in the game, which you’ll likely be drawing up as you start your turn. That means that the recognisable Sims near the final spot are actually ‘bought in’ using currencies, and the actions above them are rewards.
This is definitely where it all gets into the realm of guesswork, however, I think we can safely now assume an example turn.
Our guess at Gameplay
2-5 players build the neighbourhood board by flipping it to represent the number of players. Each player is given a house tile and wants board, then draws an ambition card. To win you’ll want to have your Sim’s needs fully fulfilled, and to do that you’ll use action cards to create an ‘engine’ alongside your ambition. Sims characters are drawn, alongside action cards, to create a pool at the top of the board. You’ll be trying to claim these as action cards are how you alter your needs and the world around you, you’ll also need a Sim to complete the game as you’ll need to fulfil their goals (using your own ambition card as a modifier to any cards you do play).
You’ll possibly be able to only have two action cards at once, with your needs refilling based on dice rolls. Without seeing more information on the action cards, we can’t really guess how each player’s turn will be structured.
The big balance here could well be that you need to expend wants (sliding them to negative from positive) in order to action the cards, however those cards then give traits or skills which further develop your ‘engine’. For instance, trading your hunger and tiredness to ‘Work Harder’ to give you a promotion card which means you have more Simoleons whenever you gain them.
Regardless of how it turns out, we can’t wait to hear more.
We’re probably wrong about a lot of this, however it’s always fun to speculate a little. Regardless of how The Sims Board Game turns out, we’re incredibly keen to give it a go, and I’m sure we’ll be writing about it again very soon.
