Episode 10: A Delicate Balance: Planning and Delayed Gratification in "Civilization"

This week, Chris and Laura dive deep into the classic board game, "Civilization", originally published in the US in 1981 by Avalon Hill. We discuss the elements of play, recommend ideas for both learning and teaching the game, suggest where it might fit within a curriculum, and cover both what it teaches and how to avoid likely pitfalls in play. This strategy game is remembered fondly for good reason and suitable for play for middle grades and older. 

 

Recommended  Games:

 

Civilization -  This links to the current print run from Gibsons Games. It is an overseas title so shipping will be a bit higher. If you prefer to look for the older Avalon Hill printing, search for "Avalon Hill Civilization" and "Avalon Hill Advanced Civilization" (for the expansion game) on Ebay. It is a collector's item so be aware of that. Also, because most games are Used, there is the risk of missing pieces. You can ameliorate that by buying replacement parts through Camelot Games. If you want to learn to play through email, look at (CIV). YouTube also has tutorials; the best and most thorough are from BoardGameGeek here and here, and from HistoryGamerDotCom here and here. 

(A note before buying. Do not confuse this game with either the Sid Meier's computer game series, nor with the board game "Sid Meier's Civilization" published by Fantasy Flight Games. Check carefully that you have the correct product.) 

Diplomacy - If you're looking for more negotiation, that's pretty much what this game is. Yes, we are definitely devoting an episode to it.

Risk - Would you rather focus on world domination? This might be more the right speed.

 

(Are you wondering what on earth we're talking about in the cold open? A tangential outtake, we ended up spending nearly 5 minutes discussing archaeology and just how far back wine labels go. It's a hazard when discussing games set in the Ancient Mediterranean.)

 

Can't see the links? Podcatcher turning my painstaking labor into plaintext? Come visit the podcast page at  https://played.podbean.com/ and get the full experience, complete with all the links in perfect functioning order. 

 

Intro and Outro Music:

"Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/