4 ms·

Fog of war type elements were possible back then, they just required a third party to act as umpire and determine what each party can see/know, and probably dup

Fog of war type elements were possible back then, they just required a third party to act as umpire and determine what each party can see/know, and probably duplicate (or triplicate) copies of the game.

lolinder 3y ago
There are also simpler implementations like Stratego (1946), where both players know where all the pieces are but not which pieces are which.
- robertlagrant 3y ago
  The classic fog of war game is surely Battleship[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship_(game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship_(game)
  - JuanPosadas 3y ago
    Battleship lacks most other elements that make a good war game interesting.
- mcv 3y ago
  Even big, serious war games like Advanced Squad Leader had some limited fog of war mechanics. Concealed units could get a '?' counter on top of them, and if you start with concealed units, you often got a whole pile of '?' counters to spread around, and your opponent would have no idea which had real counters underneath and which had just more '?' counters underneath. It's much more limited than what computers make possible of course, but it worked well enough.
mzi 3y ago
Diplomacy was created in 1954, and there the limitations are not really fog of war (you can see all players tokens) but the moves are written down and executed "simultaneous" and in verbatim (so moving an army from Constantinople to Smyrna will fail if all you have in Constantinople is a fleet). Since it is hard or impossible to complete your goals without help from others, you negotiate their moves as well as yours and try to maneuver your troops into more favorable positions. And if all fails, the only thing you can do is sit idly by and watch how all your moves turns to dust as your former allies turn against you.
jhbadger 3y ago
There were also games that didn't need a referee but allowed fog of war by having the value of the pieces hidden to the opponent. The classic example is the children's game Stratego, but more complicated wargames even added dummy counters that represented no units but just false sightings and the like.

lolinder 3y ago

There are also simpler implementations like Stratego (1946), where both players know where all the pieces are but not which pieces are which.

robertlagrant 3y ago
The classic fog of war game is surely Battleship[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship_(game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship_(game)
- JuanPosadas 3y ago
  Battleship lacks most other elements that make a good war game interesting.
mcv 3y ago
Even big, serious war games like Advanced Squad Leader had some limited fog of war mechanics. Concealed units could get a '?' counter on top of them, and if you start with concealed units, you often got a whole pile of '?' counters to spread around, and your opponent would have no idea which had real counters underneath and which had just more '?' counters underneath. It's much more limited than what computers make possible of course, but it worked well enough.

mzi 3y ago

Diplomacy was created in 1954, and there the limitations are not really fog of war (you can see all players tokens) but the moves are written down and executed "simultaneous" and in verbatim (so moving an army from Constantinople to Smyrna will fail if all you have in Constantinople is a fleet). Since it is hard or impossible to complete your goals without help from others, you negotiate their moves as well as yours and try to maneuver your troops into more favorable positions. And if all fails, the only thing you can do is sit idly by and watch how all your moves turns to dust as your former allies turn against you.

jhbadger 3y ago

There were also games that didn't need a referee but allowed fog of war by having the value of the pieces hidden to the opponent. The classic example is the children's game Stratego, but more complicated wargames even added dummy counters that represented no units but just false sightings and the like.