Reading a game
Every game on Tabletwin is drawn and described with the same small set of marks, the same units of time and the same order of sections. Learn to read one game and the next one reads the same: the track in the player, the flowchart, the rules in words and the workshop all use what this page describes.
The marks
| Mark | Means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ◆ choice (blue) | A player decides here | Fold, call or raise |
| ● chance (purple) | Chance decides: a die, a shuffled deck | Draw a card |
| ◆ with ● | A decision that also involves chance | Roll, then keep dice |
| ◎ skill (amber) | An outcome that depends on a physical skill | A shot in pool |
| ○ automatic | Nobody decides: the game does it | Deal the cards |
| ◇ option | Settled before play: by the group or by each player | Number of players, your hero |
| ▬ window (teal) | Players may play fast actions or react here | After an attack |
The shapes carry the meaning, the colours repeat it: a diamond is always somebody's choice, a circle is chance or the game. A branch where the game checks something (nobody chooses) is never a diamond.
The structure
| Sign | Node | Means |
|---|---|---|
| ☰ | sequence | Parts in order: the phases of a turn, of a round |
| ↻ | loop | Repeated: for every player, or until something holds |
| ⑂ | branch | The game checks something and goes one way or the other |
| ▶ | step | One thing to do: an action, or a choice between actions |
| ↪ | subflow | A named part played as a whole: a scenario, a battle, a skill test |
| ◇ | option | A choice before play (only in the setup) |
Units of time
Almost every game nests the same units. A loop says which one it repeats (each in the model):
| Unit | One pass is | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| game | One whole game | A hand of poker, a scenario of a campaign |
| round | Everyone gets a go | A round of Yahtzee, a betting round, a day |
| turn | One player's (or figure's) go | Your turn: roll, keep, write a box |
| phase | A part of a turn or round | The mythos phase, the draw phase |
Larger units hold smaller ones: a game holds rounds, a round holds turns. The player's breadcrumb and the track count in these words: round 3, turn: player 2 · 2/3. A loop over the players is a turn for each of them, also when the model does not say so.
The order of the rules
The rules in words always come in this order, as in a good rulebook:
- Goal and end of the game: how it ends and who wins.
- On the table: where things lie and who sees them; the cards and other components.
- Setting up: the options settled before play, then the steps that lay out the table.
- How the game goes: the flow, from the largest unit to the smallest, with what you decide at every step.
- Reactions: what happens on its own when something else happens, and when players may play fast actions.
Who decides
A step says who acts: the player whose turn it is, each player, or nobody (the game). A setup option is settled by the group or by each player for themselves. At the table, every seat is played by a person or by the computer; one person may play several seats, as in a co-op game played alone with two heroes, and then sees the hidden cards of all their seats.
What you can choose now
Every choice shows what is open and what is not, the same way in every game. In the setup, a choice another player has is marked (player 2 has it: swap) and a choice the rules do not allow with the others is greyed out with the reason. During play, the actions of a step that are not possible now stay visible, greyed out, with what they need (once per round, for echo).
What setting up takes
A setup is measured in handling steps, the things a person does: a deck or a pile of coins is put out once, a shuffle is one, dealing is one per hand, a counter set is one, dice thrown together are one roll. Only pieces that each go to their own place (on a board) count one by one. So a game with a 52-card deck is not harder to set up than one with a 20-card deck.
In the model
The marks come from the model itself: a step with a choose or several actions is a choice, a roll
or a draw from a shuffled deck is chance, a window is a window. The units come from each on a
loop (reference), the setup from setup and its options
(reference). Nothing has to be drawn by hand, so the same model
always looks the same.