Card game Balatro was a huge hit last year – but a year-long struggle with the European age ratings board has exposed how well-meaning rules can have unintended consequences
I had a board game that was about a race between merchant caravans through the desert. The way it worked was every player started with the same limited amount of small tokens representing water canteens, and every turn they all chose any amount of them, they revealed it at the same time, and the one who used the most could advance 5 squares, the second 4, etc.
The whole game was about trying to guess how many canteens other players were going to use on a specific turn, and use the right amount to land where you want and keep enough for the rest of the game. And of course, you’ve got all the reasons to bluff.
That’s basically a pure gambling game. It doesn’t feature any random element, and its only currency is a bunch of colourful plastic toys shared evenly between the players.
If I was PEGI, I’d do a CTRL-F in the rulebook, see words like bluff, gamble and bet, and slap an 18+ rating on it.
It’s not even unique to card games.
I had a board game that was about a race between merchant caravans through the desert. The way it worked was every player started with the same limited amount of small tokens representing water canteens, and every turn they all chose any amount of them, they revealed it at the same time, and the one who used the most could advance 5 squares, the second 4, etc.
The whole game was about trying to guess how many canteens other players were going to use on a specific turn, and use the right amount to land where you want and keep enough for the rest of the game. And of course, you’ve got all the reasons to bluff.
That’s basically a pure gambling game. It doesn’t feature any random element, and its only currency is a bunch of colourful plastic toys shared evenly between the players.
If I was PEGI, I’d do a CTRL-F in the rulebook, see words like bluff, gamble and bet, and slap an 18+ rating on it.