Mechanic Monday Round 2! Last Monday I took a look at Hand Management and today we will shift our focus to Action Points, or as BGG calls it the ‘Action Point Allowance System’.

This is by no means a new mechanic or idea; BGG references ‘Special Train’ as the oldest game they have in their index using AP; tracing the mechanic back to the 1940s. As more games are released of course more games will utilize the mechanic while looking at it in new and varied ways. As of writing this the AP page on BGG has 2,308 games tagged as using the mechanic (note that counts expansions and the like)

I was first fully introduced to the concept of Action Points when playing what was, at the time, the new hotness; Pandemic. I had likely played other games that relied on the mechanic, but it was Pandemic where the mechanic stood out to me and made me see it in the light I do now.

Traditionally games utilizing the AP mechanic give players a certain number of performable actions then a second number of spendable action points. players may spend their action points to perform the actions of their choice. Often players are faced with more options than they have points and are thus faced with the dilemma as to which of the actions will they elect to perform. Alternatively some games grant players more points than options forcing the player to elect which options to repeat. As the mechanic was used more often and variants added and toyed with it became the norm to have varied AP costs; some actions taking a single action point while others may take two or three.

On a few occasions games have experimented even further with the AP system and altering AP counts by turn or; a great example of this is Dominion. Dominion does not have AP listed as a mechanic, but it is, in my opinion, a key mechanic and I shall explain why. Those familiar with Dominion know that a key use of the cards in hand is actions. Players can play one action each turn; they have one action point if you will. Some cards will grant players additional action points they can use to play more action cards. This is, in my view, an interpretation of the action point mechanic. Players have 1 AP each turn but the ability to earn more and thus get their machine running.

The Action Point Allowance System, like hand management, is another mechanic that can marvelously play well with others; especially hand management which is seen in my last example of Dominion. There are many other games in which players amass a hand of cards and may spend 1 AP to play a card, or an AP to draw a card, etc. This can be a fun way to add a variant on the two mechanics by introducing a submechanic. AP also works amazingly with the mechanic of co-op; many co-op games use this very well; such as Pandemic, Forbidden Island/Dessert, and the like.

The games listed thus far are all fantastic examples of games using the Action Point Allowance System well, but let me add a few more I would recommend giving a glance at. Outer Earth, this game was recently kickstarted and is one that I would recommend people try and get a hold of if possible; or at least try and play a copy. Flashpoint Fire Rescue; much like Pandemic this co-op has players using their points to move about a burning building to save people. Finally a great use of this mechanic can be enjoyed in Dead of Winter. Dead of Winter is one of the current hot hits; for good reason. I will someday review DoW in more detail but for the sake of the Action Point Allowance System I shall reveal this; in the game players have a set number of die that they roll, dependent upon the number they roll and the characters they control they can spend the die to take select actions. Player essentially have X+Y action points where X is the number of dice and Y is dependent upon cards in hand, characters in play, and risks willing to take.

Clearly the Action Point Allowance System is mechanic that has existed for a long time and has no sign of diminishing anytime soon. I look forward to seeing how the mechanic will grow and change in the future as new designers play and experiment with action points, but what are your thoughts? Do you like Action Points as a mechanic? What are your favorite games that use this mechanic? What about your least favorite games? What mechanics do you love to see merged with Action Point Allowance? Let us know on social media.

Come back Tomorrow as I take a look at the the game that I still use as a fantastic example of the Action Points Allowance System; Matt Leacock’s Pandemic! Until then you can find us on social media!
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