You trudge up the hill for another day of work. Yeah, it’s the king’s new palace, but it’s still hard work.  Sometimes you wish he’d never taken that trip to see the Alhambra, to see its admittedly beautiful art and architecture.  It’s not really the tile work that really gets to you either, it’s the procurement of the tiles really. Every day dozens of other artisans who are also working at the palace are going to factories, and they always seem to be getting the most prized tiles first.  You tried waking up earlier, you tried only getting the bulk discount deals, you even tried the factory seconds that were left over. But still you seem to be falling behind the other artisans, who always seem to have more vibrant walls than you.  Today might be different though, today could be the day you have strived for, the day the king rewards you for your hard work.

                Does this sound like a board game you might have played?  It should! This little story arose out of my thinking about Azul, commonly called a “theme-less” game by boardgame media personalities and hobbyists alike. This got me thinking, and has had me thinking for a while; Can any game really be called “theme-less”? 

Ok, you got me, of course some can.  Games like Go, Chess, Qwirkle, and checkers, are generally referred to, and thought of as “abstract strategy games”. (forgive the massive use of quotations in this piece, but it’s always good to define your terms!) Abstract strategy games, for the most part, are games that you are moving pieces around to control or obtain a certain objective. In Chess, you are trying to out-maneuver your opponents king.  In Checkers, you are trying to take all of your opponents’ pieces off the board.  In Azul, you are trying to tile the walls of the palace of King Manuel I of Portugal, using tiles manufactured in factories that you get from the middle of the table, while avoiding taking too much, and having tiles fall off and break on the floor.  Which one of these is not like the other?

I’ve come to the idea lately that people who refer to some modern board games as ‘theme-less’ are lacking in imagination.  Some of the most common games I hear this about are Azul, and the ‘Century’ trilogy of games.  Azul I already went over in some detail, but Century: Spice Road is another example.  In this game, you are spice traders trading spices to open more and more markets to your wares. The theme for this game is immediately evident.  While you are playing, you can imagine yourself in the Mediterranean or the Middle East, moving your caravan of spices from place to place, trading your spices in different combinations to supply different markets with your superior items!

It’s easy to write off ideas that aren’t as strong as being non-existent.  Think of the last time you dismissed an idea of a child, or an idea of a politician you don’t like.  You can look at those things and easily believe that they have little merit because they don’t fit into your idea of what something should be.  For a gamer who likes heavily themed games, Arkham Horror or Twilight Imperium for example, something like Azul or Century: Spice Road can seem like they have no theme. The real answer though is that they DO have theme.  A new game in this modern era of hobby gaming would have little chance if it was truly ‘theme-less’.  You might have to use your imagination a little more in some games, which in this world can be something all of us could use.