We just played Figgie at MATS 6.0, most players playing for the first time. I think we made lots of clearly bad decisions for the first 6 or 7 games. And reached a barely acceptable standard by about 10-15 games (but I say this as someone who was also playing for the first time).
I think so. Mostly we learned about trading and the price discovery mechanism that is a core mechanic of the game. We started with minimal explanation of the rules, so I expect these things can be grokked faster by just saying them when introducing the game.
One of the things I find most remarkable about Figgie (cf. poker) is just how educational it can be with only a minimal explanation of the rules—I’m generally pretty interested in what kinds of pedagogy can scale because it largely “teaches itself”.
That makes sense; I am generally a big believer in the power of physical tokens in learning exercises. For example, I was pretty opposed to electronic transfers of the internal currency that Atlas Fellowship participants used to bet their beliefs (even though it was significantly more convenient than the physical stones that we also gave them to use).
I do think that the Figgie app has the advantage of taking care of the mechanics of figuring out who trades with who, or what the current markets are (which aren’t core to the parts of the game I find most broadly useful), so I’m still trying to figure out whether I think the game is better taught with the app or with cards.
We just played Figgie at MATS 6.0, most players playing for the first time. I think we made lots of clearly bad decisions for the first 6 or 7 games. And reached a barely acceptable standard by about 10-15 games (but I say this as someone who was also playing for the first time).
Do you think it was educational even though you were making clearly bad decisions / not at “an acceptable standard” for the first dozen games?
I think so. Mostly we learned about trading and the price discovery mechanism that is a core mechanic of the game. We started with minimal explanation of the rules, so I expect these things can be grokked faster by just saying them when introducing the game.
Good to hear it!
One of the things I find most remarkable about Figgie (cf. poker) is just how educational it can be with only a minimal explanation of the rules—I’m generally pretty interested in what kinds of pedagogy can scale because it largely “teaches itself”.
Note that the group I was in only played on the app. I expect this makes it significantly harder to understand what’s going on.
That makes sense; I am generally a big believer in the power of physical tokens in learning exercises. For example, I was pretty opposed to electronic transfers of the internal currency that Atlas Fellowship participants used to bet their beliefs (even though it was significantly more convenient than the physical stones that we also gave them to use).
I do think that the Figgie app has the advantage of taking care of the mechanics of figuring out who trades with who, or what the current markets are (which aren’t core to the parts of the game I find most broadly useful), so I’m still trying to figure out whether I think the game is better taught with the app or with cards.