Root - The App

 Root - The App

It's worth your money. There. That's the post.

...

Fine. Okay, so I honestly decided to download the app just because I've been starving for board game action during this pandemic. I have owned Root for awhile, but had only played it once, and that was FOREVER ago when it first dropped. My friend Max visited from New Jersey and brought a copy of the game with it because I'm pretty sure he backed it on Kickstarter. I played it with him and my friend Roger; I played as Woodland Alliance, Max played as the Eyrie Dynasties, and Roger played as the Marquise de Cat (if I remember correctly, which I may not, but I am certain I was the WA). I don't remember much as we bumbled our way through the rules, but I do remember that at some point, Max and Roger both did what they could to try and stop me, but I had somehow become a boulder and there was nothing to be done. I won! But none of us had any idea what it meant, and we're fairly certain we didn't play correctly, because working together, both of them should have been able to stop me.

Anyway, I know I really enjoy Vast and don't get to play it enough. I knew I wanted to get back to Root, and I had already decided to back Oath on Kickstarter. So when I saw there was a Root app, I decided I would give it a shot. It's worth noting that so many board game apps have gotten really good at emulating the games, and I think it was the Evolution app that made it certain that I'd be willing to spend money on the Root app. Evolution made a strong transition to digital, so let's see if Root did the same!

I know digital games aren't the same as their physical counterparts, especially when you've got such quality components as Leder Games creates! But it's as close as you can get, and I appreciate the detail work Dire Wolf Digital put into this game!

Overall, it really has. Sure, sometimes the AI gets a little stuck if there's some confluence of events. And it's really difficult to play as Otters or Lizards in the app because the AI is generally not interested in purchasing services from the Otters (and it's not like you can negotiate with them in order to entice them), and a player cannot make deals with the AI to navigate the Outcast suit or anything like that. However, the app really feels like the board game, and if you play online with other players, you CAN engage in diplomacy! For me, the main strength of the app is that it teaches the rules of each faction through the tutorials and the various challenges it offers players. The tutorials are thorough. There are challenges to be played at varying degrees of difficulty that present specific rules, barriers, or goals that are different from the standard game; some of the challenges are faction-locked, some are not. The main advantages of these challenges are to get players more familiar with where factions can bend the rules, break the rules, and have no choice but to abide by the rules of the faction and their overall role in the game, but also as a way to engage with the game in more than just the standard way.

If I remember correctly, the app is about $9 or so, and if you want to buy the expansion pack that features Otters and Lizards, that's another $4.99, I think? But it's worth every penny. I have played these games solo for fun, I have played with friends online for fun, and I have used them extensively to learn the rules and roles of each faction. It can be difficult to really learn how each faction functions unless you're playing with people who know the game well AND you play the game on a regular basis. I've not had that luxury, so this app has been essential to my fuller understanding of the game.

A slight detour: on a regular basis, I read threads, posts, and articles about game design. I recently found this excellent piece about elegance in games, written by Andrew Fischer. And in discussing it with my friend Clayton, we talked about three values in which we're interested as gamers as well as designers:

1. Complexity to Complete: the amount of knowledge and skill needed to play the game through to completion for good or ill.
2. Complexity to Competence: the amount of knowledge and skill needed to play the game competently so it's not just a question of whether or not you understand the rules well enough to finish the game, but play the game competitively.
3. Complexity to Mastery: the amount of knowledge and skill needed to move beyond being competitive (making sensible tactical decisions) to a point where you're making the best, most efficient tactical decisions

I bring that up not only because you should read Fischer's piece (again: linked here!), but because the Root app really helps get over the decently big hump from Complexity to Complete to Complexity to Competence. Also, since the app takes care of a lot of the housekeeping, it's super helpful in accelerating the time it takes to play a game to completion, because we as players are not spending time considering choices we cannot actually make (we don't rule the clearings necessary to make the move we're considering, we don't have the supporters to place a sympathy token in that clearing we want, etc.).

It's easy for me to say that the app looks good and plays great, but that's not much of a blog post! So I'm also here to say that this app does an excellent job of checking these other boxes I've listed above. Give it a whirl!