Door 23
Upon hearing the term set-collection you might just dismiss it with a wave of your hand, thinking it’s about some easy gateway game. However inspecting the shelves 🕵️ closer shows that a really high percentage of games use this mechanic in some way, many heavy euros as well. In set collection an item’s value depends on being part of a set. Maybe something is worthless, but having 3 of it is worth points - so you could risk getting that item hoping you will manage to finish a set. Usually the bigger the sets get, so do the rewards. A set could be having more of the same or having only different items. This whole concept even leads to contract fulfilment in games with cards determining what a set is, though that might be a topic for another day.
In many games, set collection adds an element of strategy and decision-making to the game, as players must decide which sets to pursue and how to acquire the elements they need. It is generally a good way to make aspects of games more exciting - be it how scoring works, or how it influences taking actions or playing cards for example, even if it is just a supporting side-mechanic. One of our favorite games mainly focusing on set collection is 🐫 Jaipur!
Jaipur is a two-player card game in which you are drafting wares in order to sell them, with the goal of having the most money by the end. The advantage of having more of the same ware is twofold in this game: First, you can sell any cards of one type, so you could more effectively use your turn if you have bigger sets. Secondly, bigger sets reward you with extra bonus point chips.
Just gathering huge sets is cleverly counterbalanced though: ☝️ point chips for selling wares are stacked with the bigger point values on top, so if someone sells smaller sets more quickly, they could get the high yielding chips away from the other. You have to be cunning and watch what the other is doing all the time. This is all accompanied by a really clever card drafting system that makes it all work flawlessly.
❓ What is your favorite set collection game? Do you know any game with some unusual use of this mechanism?
