Board game

Note that some these works may suffer from cultural bias—especially Murray's work which, despite being the standard reference, tends to assume Western cultural superiority.
. Although many board games have a jargon all their own, there is a generalized terminology to describe concepts applicable to basic game mechanics and attributes common to nearly all board games. Currently, the only Buick vehicle sold in Taiwan is the imported Rendezvous. German-style board games are notable for often having rather less luck factor than in many North American board games. In December 2004, General Motors signed a memorandum of understanding with Yulon, a firm based in Taiwan, for the licensed manufacture of Buick vehicles there. Trivia games have a great deal of randomness based on which question a person gets. Buick has stated that it expects China to become its second largest market.

Other games use spinners, timers of random length, or other sources of randomness. Since then, Shanghai GM has replaced it with the Chevrolet Sail. Scrabble does something similar with randomly picked letters. Buick previously marketed the subcompact Sail, sourced from GM's Asian operations and based on the Opel Corsa B, until 2005. Other games such as Sorry! use a deck of special cards that when shuffled create randomness. In June, 2005, Buick announced that it will build a car named the Buick Royaum in Australia for export to China, based on the Holden Statesman and Caprice luxury cars. These can determine everything from how many steps a player moves their token, as in Monopoly, how their forces fare in battle, such as in Risk, or which resources a player gains, such as in Settlers of Catan. In addition, Buick of China also sells the compact Excelle (based on the Daewoo Lacetti/Nubira), a five-door hatchback version called the HRV, and a modified version of the Terraza minivan named the GL8.

The most popular is using dice, generally six sided. Since 1999, a Chinese version of the Buick Century/Regal has been produced and sold in China under Shanghai GM and has proven to be popular among upscale, professional families, establishing Buick as GM's most popular brand in China. Luck is introduced to a game by a number of methods. Buicks used to be sold throughout the Middle East until the Buick Roadmaster was discontinued. Difficult diplomacy (such as in the aptly named game Diplomacy) consists of making elaborate plans together, with possibility of betrayal. For the 2006 model year, the Buick LaCrosse will be sold alongside the Rendezvous, which might replace the LeSabre in sales. Easy diplomacy consists of convincing other players that someone else is winning and should therefore be teamed up against. In the 2005 model year, the Buick LeSabre and Buick Rendezvous were sold.

In Risk, one example of diplomacy's effectiveness is when two or more players team up against another. (UMI), which also imports other GM vehicles. An important facet of Settlers of Catan, for example, is convincing people to trade with you rather than with other players. In Israel, Buicks are imported by Universal Motors, Ltd. Thus, this generally applies only to games played with three or more people. However, at the end of World War II, the Buick name was not revived. Two player games usually don't have diplomacy, as cooporation between the two players does not occur. Back then, they were also built at the GMNZ plant in Petone, outside Wellington.

A game of solitaire, for obvious reasons, has no player interaction. Buicks used to be sold in New Zealand. The third important factor in a game is diplomacy, or players making deals with each other. However, Buick has attracted a considerable market in a few countries. Still most adult game players prefer to make some decisions during play, and find purely luck based games such as Top Trumps quite boring. Currently most Buick sales are restricted to the United States and Canada. While some purists consider luck to not be a desirable component of a game, others counter that elements of luck can make for far more complex and multi-faceted strategies as concepts such as expected value and risk management must be considered. In pre-World War II China, one in five cars were Buicks.

A player may be hampered by a few poor rolls of the dice in Risk or Monopoly, but over many games a player with a superior strategy will win more often. Some Buicks were also built in Europe or were available with specific trim for european market until 1996. Most board games have both luck and strategy. Unlike some of GM's other brands, Buicks are currently not marketed globally, although the marque had a substantial export presence until a few years ago. Children's games tend to be very luck based with games such as Sorry! having virtually no decisions to be made. The Buick V8 engine, nicknamed the "nailhead", became popular with hot-rodders in the 1950s and 1960s, because the vertical attachment of the valve covers, in contrast to the angled attachment of other V-8 engines, enabled the engine to fit into smaller spaces while maintaining easy access for maintenance. Some games, such as chess, have no luck involved. This waterfall grille bears some resemblance to grilles of Buicks from the 1980s, such as the Grand National.

One way of defining board games are between those based upon luck and strategy. It appears Buick may be preparing to abandon this styling cue for a new waterfall grille, as seen on the Buick Velite concept car from 2004 and the Buick Lucerne introduced for the 2006 model year. If, for instance, Monopoly were introduced as a new game today, it would not meet the criteria for production. This has sometimes been called the Buick "dollar grin," particularly on the early 1950s models, which had thick, highly-polished ribs which did somewhat resemble teeth. Retailers tend to be conservative about stocking games of untested popularity, and most large board game companies have established criteria that a game must meet in order to be produced. The one Buick styling cue (dating from the 1940s) which has most often reappeared, though, is for the grille to be a horizontal oval with many thin vertical chromed ribs bulging forward. It is difficult to successfully market a new board game to the mass market. Since then, wide taillamps have been a Buick hallmark.

The modern board game industry is rife with corporate mergers and acquisitions, with large companies such as Hasbro owning many subsidiaries and selling products under a variety of brand names. In the early 1960s, most models began to evolve a wide, rectangular pattern, until the '65 Skylark and Electra models appeared with full-width rear lamps. With the Internet, many board games can now be played online against computer or other players in real time (like to classics board games available on Yahoo, Lycos and other big Internet sites) or during your spare time, every time it's your turn (see the links at the end of this article). During the 1950s, the characteristic form of the Buick taillamps was a tier of small circular bullet-shapes. The rise of computers has also led to a relative decline in the most complicated board games, as they require less space, and are easier to set up and clear away. After that, the curved line was usually indicated either by a vinyl rub strip or simply a character line molded into the sheetmetal. Many board games are now available as computer games, including the option to have the computer act as an opponent. During the two-tone color craze of the 1950s, the sweepspear separated two different color areas.

Computer games are closely related to board games, and many acclaimed computer games such as Civilization are based upon board games. In the earlier cars, this was a chrome-plated rub strip which, after it passed the front wheel, gently curved down nearly to the rocker panel just before the rear wheel, and then curved around the rear wheel in a quarter of a circle to go straight back to the tail-light. This popularity expanded after the Second World War, a period from which many classic board games date. Another styling cue during the 1940s - 1970s was the sweepspear, a curved line running the length of the car. Board games first became widely popular among the general population early in the 20th century when the rise of the middle class with disposable income and leisure time made them a receptive audience to such games. In a break with tradition, the Lucerne's portholes refer directly to engine configuration--six-cylinder models have six, while V-8's have eight. The most of important of these include:. After the Park Avenue was discontinued, Buick salvaged the portholes to appear on the new Lucerne.

A number of important historical sites, artifacts and documents exist which shed light on early board games. In 2003 they were re-introduced on the Buick Park Avenue. Board games have a long history and have been played in most cultures and societies; some even pre-date literacy skill development in the earliest civilizations. Lower cost models were equipped with three portholes, while higher cost models came with four; when the number of portholes was standardized across the entire model line, buyers of the higher cost models complained bitterly that they felt shortchanged. . These were originally called Ventiports (later just portholes), and have appeared sporadically on several models since, as nonfunctional ornamentation. These include abstract strategy games like chess and checkers, word games, such as Scrabble, and trivia games, such as Trivial Pursuit. The source of this design feature was a custom car (one not made by Buick), which in addition had a flashing light within each hole, each synchronized with a specific spark plug - a feature not used by Buick.

Other games only loosely, or do not at all, attempt to imitate reality. A traditional Buick styling cue dating to 1949 is a series of three or four portholes or vents on the front fender behind the front wheels. Popular games of this type include Monopoly, which is a rough simulation of the real estate market; Cluedo/Clue, which is based upon a murder mystery; and Risk, which is one of the best known of thousands of games attempting to simulate warfare and geo-politics. A version of the traditional crest appeared on Electras through the 70s. These are popular for they can intermingle make-believe and role playing along with the game. The shields are adopted from the shield of the Buick family crest, which in modified form had been used on Buicks since the 30s. Some games are simplified simulations of real life. This design, known as the Trishield, was adopted in 1959 for the 1960 models and represents the three models that comprised the lineup that year—LeSabre, Invicta, and Electra.

There are many different types and classifications of board games. If represented in color, the leftmost shield is red, the middle white, and the rightmost blue, although white is sometimes represented by light gray. Some board games, such as Chess, Oware, or Go, have intense strategic value and have become lasting classics. Buick's emblem consists of three shields, each bisected diagonally to the right by a straight line, the shields arranged touching each other in a left-diagonal pattern, inside a circle. Simple board games are often seen as ideal "family entertainment" as they can provide entertainment for all ages. This will leave the marque with just three models by 2009. A board game is any game played on a board (that is, a premarked surface) with counters or pieces that are moved across the board. The company will replace both of its SUVs, the Rendezvous and Rainier with the Enclave within 18 months, while the slow-selling Terraza minivan likely to end production shortly after.

ISBN 0192129988. Buick began consolidating its lineup in 2005, replacing the Century and Regal with the LaCrosse, and the LeSabre and Park Avenue with the Lucerne the next year. Oxford University Press, 1999. However, with the development of the Zeta platform apparently still ongoing (including the development of the 2006 VE Holden Commodore), it may be likely that Buick will survive still. Oxford History of Board Games. Speculation [1] exists, however, as to whether GM will repeat its termination of the Oldsmobile by eliminating the Buick brand in order to further cut costs, following the temporary suspension of GM's planned Zeta project to develop new rear wheel drive cars which would have fit the Buick market niche [2], and the consolidation of Buick, Pontiac, and GMC trucks into a single dealer franchise, which would make it simple to eliminate the Buick brand without leaving any dealers with no product. Parlett, David. The ideal Buick customer was comfortably off; possibly not quite rich enough to afford a Cadillac or not desiring the ostentation of one, but definitely in the market for a car a cut above the norm.

ISBN 0517129558. Even today, Buick retains that position in the GM lineup. Reprint: Random House Value Publishing, 1994. In 1929, the marque launched the Marquette designed to help bridge the price gap between Buick and Oldsmobile, however the Marquette was discontinued in 1930. ISBN 0-471-53621-0