Drafting
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This pattern is a still a stub.
Contents
Examples
Drafting is also exists as official options when playing Magic: The Gathering and Race for the Galaxy.
Drafting is also used in some countries for leagues in American Football, Basketball, and other Sports[1].
Using the pattern
Drafting consists of the incremental selection of game elements so the pattern requires the presence of something that can be selected. This is typically Cards or Tiles, but, as several Sport leagues have shown, this can also be the players themselves. The two main choices designing Drafting concern which options of game elements (or players) should be possible and what types of actions players can do between each draft action (how many times Drafting should be done is typically given by other design choices).
Players may have no influence over Drafting by simply having to take new game elements from Drawing Stacks.
See several game elements at a time
Drafting can occur as a separate phase in the beginning of game instances as part of providing players with their Hands or Drawing Stacks. Examples of games with this structure include some versions of Magic: The Gathering games. The alternative is to do Drafting during gameplay and this can either be done to incrementally let players build their decks (i.e. Drawing Stacks) or let players choice from a set of actions or roles but then let those not chosen be the choices for the next player in a game with Turn Taking. Dominion and Thunderstone are examples of the former while 7 Wonders and Citadels are examples of the latter.
Avoiding that players have a Freedom of Choice during the Drafting and also avoiding that they can do actions between the drafts a very trivial instance of the pattern. This is however present in many Card Games, e.g. Contract Bridge and Whist, where it is used to create all players' Hands.
Drafting share commonality with Token Placement when players compete with each other over places in the latter. They can in these cases be seen as each others inverses - one consists of removing elements from a collection while the other consists of filled empty slots. For this reason, game designers considering Drafting may be well-advised to also consider the effects of Token Placement. Bidding is another alternative to Drafting and may be considered as well.
Can Be Modulated By
Consequences
Drafting is a way of constructing Hands or Drawing Stacks, often to provide a Freedom of Choice to players in this process. When players have this Freedom of Choice, it affects how Randomness has created initial game states.
Having Drafting but without gameplay actions between the draft and without any Freedom of Choice of what to draft gives Excise to a game. This may however be necessary to set up initial game states. A small amount of Excise is likely to be caused by any type of Drafting where the game elements need to be passed between players (as for example sending Cards between each other in 7 Wonders).
Relations
Can Instantiate
Can Modulate
with Freedom of Choice
Can Be Instantiated By
Cards, Drawing Stacks, players, Tiles
Can Be Modulated By
Possible Closure Effects
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Potentially Conflicting With
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History
New pattern created in this wiki.
References
Acknowledgements
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