How Different Must It Be to Be a Different Game?

As you may have noticed, I have written in the past about the differences between the games Fae and Clans. I recently visited the page for Fae on Board Game Geek, and I noticed a forum discussion about why the game got a separate page from Clans. The short version is this: the admins at BGG originally felt that theme was irrelevant in determining what constitutes a separate game, but after outcry from fans (in large part because searching the database for games of a particular theme doesn't produce the desired results), they created a 'reimplements' function that links games with identical mechanics but differing themes.

This apparently resulted from the reworking of a game called Penguin, in which you stack coloured penguins into a pyramid, into a game called Game of Thrones: Westeros Intrigue, in which you play cards representing characters from one of four of the noble houses from that fictional setting into a pyramid arrangement. Mechanically, these are the same game. Although the construction and appearance of these games are markedly different, the rules governing what you do with them are identical.

As such, BGG gave them both the same listing. If you went to the page on BGG for GoT:WI, you'd see photos of both games jumbled together in the Images section, and a listing for 'Alternate Names' that included Penguin. But if you did a search for 'Antarctic Theme,' you'd get GoT:WI in the results, due to it being linked with Penguin.

Clans Vs Fae - Comparing an Original and a Reimplementation

Many years ago, I saw a game called Clans being sold in a game store. I read some reviews online, and thought it looked like a good investment, so I bought it. I played it, and I loved it. You can see what I thought of it in my review.

A couple of months ago, I noticed that there was a listing on Board Game Geek for a reimplementation of this game called Fae. I was apprehensive, yet excited. Clans had been out of print for some time, so I was pleased to see that it would be available again, although I was concerned that they had complety changed the theme.

I finally got my hands on a copy of it. So today, I'm going to compare the original game, Clans, to its reimplementation, Fae.