A microgame is a board game or wargame packaged in a small set.
Microgames enjoyed popularity during the 1980s and have seen a revival with the popularity of tabletop games in the 21st century. The term generally refers to board games or wargames which were packaged and sold with instructions and maps or playing surfaces printed in a booklet format, or as one large sheet folded until it became "pocket sized" (approximately 4×7 inches). Game pieces (also known as chits or counters) were printed on one or more sheets of thick paper which the player sometimes had to cut for themselves. Other microgames had fully die-cut cardboard sheets like those included with most board wargames. [1] Steve Jackson Games used the Pocket Box to package many of their games in this format.
While small scale wargames and board games, including Tabletop Games' Micro Series Games, [2] had existed before they began publishing, Metagaming Concepts first used the term "MicroGame" when they released Ogre, MicroGame #1 in 1977. [3]
Some publishers of microgames include:
Nanogames are smaller than microgames and often consist of nine or fewer cards, with a few other components. While there is no firm definition of a nanogame, several games have been so labeled. [4] Coin Age, a one-card game, and Where Are Thou, Romeo, a five-card game created as an add-on to the 13-card game Council of Verona, are examples of nanogames launched using Kickstarter. [5]
The 9-card nanogame Orchard won the 2018 Board Game Geek's Print and Play Design Contest. [6] [7]
Where Art Thou, Romeo? – 5 cards ... was included as an add-on for Council of Verona, a 13-card game set in the world of Romeo and Juliet.
PRINT & PLAY Winner — Orchard: A 9 card solitaire game
Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.
The Fantasy Trip (TFT) is a tabletop role-playing game designed by Steve Jackson and originally published by Metagaming Concepts. In 2019, TFT was republished by Steve Jackson Games as The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition.
OGRE is a science fiction board wargame designed by the American game designer Steve Jackson and published by Metagaming Concepts in 1977 as the first microgame in its MicroGame line. When Steve Jackson left Metagaming to form his own company, he took the rights to OGRE with him, and all subsequent editions have been produced by Steve Jackson Games (SJG).
G.E.V. is a science fiction board wargame that simulates combat in the near future between supertanks and other futuristic weaponry. The game was designed by American game designer Steve Jackson as a sequel to his Ogre board game when he was working for Metagaming Concepts. When Jackson left Metagaming to form his own company, he took the rights to both G.E.V. and Ogre with him, and all subsequent editions have been produced by Steve Jackson Games.
Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, or tile-based games.
Metagaming Concepts, later known simply as Metagaming, was a company that published board games from 1974 to 1983. It was founded and owned by Howard Thompson, who designed the company's first game, Stellar Conquest. The company also invented Microgames and published Steve Jackson's first designs, including Ogre, G.E.V. and The Fantasy Trip.
WarpWar is a science fiction board wargame published by Metagaming Concepts in 1977 that simulates interstellar combat. It was the fourth in Metagaming's MicroGame series.
Melee is a board wargame designed by Steve Jackson, and released in 1977 by Metagaming Concepts. In 2019, Melee was revived and re-released by Steve Jackson Games.
Wizard is a game system of medieval fantasy magical combat published by Metagaming in 1978 that was designed to compliment the previously published Melee, a system of melee combat rules. Forty years later, Wizard was revived and re-released by Steve Jackson Games.
Annihilator & One World are two board wargames released in one package by Metagaming Concepts in 1979 as the 14th addition to its MicroGame line.
Hot Spot is a science fiction board wargame published by Metagaming Concepts in 1979 that simulates the battle for possession of a molten planet.
The MicroGame line by Metagaming Concepts consisted of tabletop microgames published from 1977 to 1982.
Holy War is a science fiction board wargame published by Metagaming Concepts in 1979 in which two groups battle each other inside a pocket universe.
Invasion of the Air-eaters is a science fiction near-future board wargame published by Metagaming Concepts in 1979 in which aliens invaders attempt to replace the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere with sulfur dioxide.
City States of Arklyrell is a fantasy board wargame for 2–4 players published by Task Force Games in 1983, a microgame in which players fight for control of the most Citadels.
Arcola, The Battle for Italy 1796 is a board wargame published by Operational Studies Group (OSG) in 1979 and republished by Avalon Hill in 1983 that is a simulation of the Battle of Arcola between French and Austrian forces in 1796. The game was designed to tempt players to purchase OSG's previously published and larger wargame Napoleon in Italy.
Sticks & Stones is a board wargame published by Metagaming Concepts in 1978 that is set in the Neolithic Age.
The term microgame can refer to several subjects including: