Microgame
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A microgame (sometimes written "MicroGame") is a board game or wargame packaged in a small set. Microgames enjoyed popularity during the 1980s. 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"x7"). 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]
While small scale wargames and board games had existed before they began publishing, Metagaming Concepts first used the term "MicroGame" when they released Ogre, MicroGame #1 in 1977.[2]
Some publishers of microgames include:
- Cheapass Games
- Fat Messiah Games
- Game Designers' Workshop (defunct)
- Metagaming Concepts (defunct)
- Microgame Design Group (defunct)
- Operational Studies Group
- Simulations Publications, Inc. (defunct)
- Steve Jackson Games
- Task Force Games (defunct)
- Tri Tac Games
- TSR, Inc. (defunct)
[edit] Notes
- ^ Another similar definition for "microgame" can be found at The Microgame Headquarters FAQ
- ^ The Metagaming MicroGame Games, Page 1
[edit] External links
- The Micrograme Headquarters (A free website with a database of microgames published by many companies, a "virtual museum", and FAQ about microgames.)
