Chapter 31: The Arcade and Board Games (1)
After the day Wade met with the dwarves and Professor Logic and had a long, thorough discussion.
In every city of a certain size or larger throughout the Kingdom of Yustia, peculiar shops began to be built one after another, all at the same time.
“Huh? What’s that?
Looks like something new is being built.”
“An arcade? Is it some place to drink and fool around?
There are already plenty of places like that.”
“If it’s an entertainment establishment, they should at least give it a more stylish name. What kind of name is ‘arcade’?
It’s so plain that even if I was going to go, I’d lose interest.”
At the simple name “arcade,” which gave no clear indication of what sort of place it was,
people assumed it was just another ordinary entertainment shop opening up and were about to pass by without much interest.
—Author Wei introduces a new culture once again, following comics!
What are the board games created by the founder of comics?
Find out soon at an arcade near you!—
A single newspaper article completely reversed their reaction.
“Author Wei made something else? Board games? What in the world are those?”
“If it’s a board… is it like chess? But if it were something like that, they wouldn’t be promoting it as a new culture, would they?”
“This shop is being managed by the Commerce Guild, not the Publishing Guild. Are you sure Author Wei really made this?”
“You idiot. This isn’t a book or a comic.
So of course it wouldn’t be under the Publishing Guild!”
Author Wei, who could be called the most famous person in the kingdom these days, was joining hands with the Commerce Guild to introduce a new culture called board games!
And the place made so that those board games could be played exclusively was the arcade.
“Somehow, even the name sounded fun from the start, didn’t it?
Can’t you feel a refined charm to it, different from those vulgar entertainment shops?”
“You said the name was plain? You fool!
Have you not seen the titles of Author Wei’s works until now?
That’s exactly Author Wei’s style!”
Like Udyr, people flipped their attitudes around and began to look forward to the arcade with all their hearts.
Of course, it wasn’t as if board games in primitive forms, like chess, didn’t exist at all in this world.
If anything, one could say this side had a more classic version.
However, they had not yet been formalized into a specific genre called board games.
“Chess? What’s that? Something you eat?”
Nor were they widespread, so there weren’t many people who knew about them.
“I will place the Giant Soldier of Checkmate on the board, excluding my last three remaining pieces!”
“What kind of nonsense is that?!
Hey, you bastard! Where did you learn chess?!”
“Everyone plays it this way in my region.
Try it once. It’s amazing.”
On top of that, official rules had not been established to begin with, and many regions used different local rules.
So it was difficult for most people to enjoy them properly.
“But wouldn’t something made by Author Wei be different?”
“Of course it would! Did you not see what the new plays and comics he created were like?
He’s someone whose way of thinking itself is different from common folk like us.”
“Don’t doubt him!!
All we have to do is believe and wait!
Then Author Wei will bring us fun and happiness this time too.”
Thus, rather than those complicated, headache-inducing games that hardly felt like games, people expected something they could enjoy more easily and conveniently.
“We will now begin operating the arcade!”
“All right, let’s go in!!”
And after a wait filled with anxious anticipation, the board games they encountered at the arcade
“Kahaha! You stepped on my land!
Let’s see, I’ve built both a church and a guild building.
And with the effect of the Golden Key card from earlier doubling the toll… hand over one million gold!”
“A marriage event, and now a housing price crash event on top of that?!
Stop! My balance is already zero!”
“You all unanimously decided I’m the black mage?
You’re sure you won’t regret that choice?
…Phew, guess I got caught.”
more than satisfied those expectations several times over!
There were currently three types of board games prepared in the arcade.
Blue Marble, the Game of Life, and Find the Black Mage.
These three games, each with their own unique charms, quickly drew people in.
“Keuh—this is it! The thrill of narrowly leaping over someone else’s land! I really can’t get enough of it!”
“Hehehe. Even though I know it’s fake money, holding a fortune I’d never dare touch in reality feels incredible!”
“This is my land! That is my land too! There is nowhere that is not my land.
Who dares oppose this great lord?”
First, the game preferred by the largest number of users, and the one with the most young players, was Blue Marble.
It specialized in making dopamine gush forth as players moved between the terror of having to pay money when they stepped on someone else’s land and the joy of someone else stepping on their own land.
And through in-game currency deliberately set at unrealistic amounts, there was also the thrill of obtaining vast sums of money that would be unimaginable in reality.
And this was something even Wade, the creator, had not expected.
Perhaps because this world was in a medieval era where status still existed, people felt an exhilarating sense of vicarious satisfaction as if they themselves had become noble lords while turning the lands on the board into their own territories.
“Choose an occupation?
Huh… now that I think about it, I did sometimes wonder what it would be like to live as something other than a merchant, just once.
Today, I’ll get to fulfill that thought.”
“To be able to gain so many children like this, even if only in a game, when I could never have one in my entire life… My wife would be delighted if I told her.”
“Damn it! I’m going to become an 8th-Circle archmage like this and retire in style!
Not just in the game—I’ll accomplish it in reality too!”
In contrast to Blue Marble, the Game of Life was most popular among middle-aged and older players.
It gave them vicarious satisfaction by letting them walk paths they had never taken in life or obtain things they had never been able to obtain, while also stimulating their desire to grow, making them wish to succeed in life as their players did in the game.
And the last remaining game, Find the Black Mage, which had the most hardcore fanbase…
“Don’t move! From now on, any bastard who moves is the black mage!!”
“I looked with mind-reading, and there’s a black mage inside that guy’s head!”
“Don’t lie! I’m the mind reader, so where do you get off inciting people?!
Didn’t you learn that if you get caught lying, your head gets chopped off during the trial?”
“I’m annoyed, so let’s just kill that bastard who was the black mage last round first and start from there.”
“Kyaaaak! The priest died on the first day?!
Now even if the black mage kills someone at night, no one can revive them! This round is ruined!”
“…Listen, I know you’re the black mage.
I’ll cooperate, so just let me live until the end of the game.”
was becoming the very definition of a friendship-destroying game, overflowing with every sort of deception, fabrication, baseless emotional suspicion and railroading, and scheming.
Who knew where everyone learned such bad things so quickly, without anyone teaching them?
Even though it had not been long since it appeared in the world, it had already become notorious as the hardest game for newbies to enter.
With all three games showing off their diverse charms and scattering massive amounts of dopamine optimized for each type of user,
it was only natural, in a way, that the people of this world, where proper games had never existed, would become completely absorbed and gather at arcades whenever they had leisure time.
The fact that arcade usage fees were fairly cheap also had an effect.
The cost paid per hour of use was low, but they made a profit by selling drinks, alcohol, and snacks.
Of course, no matter how cheap it was, there were always people who didn’t even want to pay that cheap fee.
And there was no stopping people from thinking, “Can’t we just copy this and play it?”
To begin with, the games weren’t very difficult to copy.
Even if the result was crude, by simply drawing spaces or event cards on paper, one could enjoy them without paying money!
Looking at it that way, it might have seemed like the arcades would soon fail because of those illegal pirates.
But this was where the effect of Wade bringing in the dwarves came into play.
“Hmm. Ah, this doesn’t have that same feel as playing it at the arcade.”
“Right? Without that satisfying clack-clack sound, it just doesn’t hit the same.
It’s annoying to move the pieces yourself, and the money calculations get confusing.”
There was quite a big difference in how it felt to play at the arcade compared to playing a slapdash homemade version at home.
That was because Wade, the creator, had believed from the start that piracy could not be stopped and that he had no intention of stopping it.
Instead, he had included points of differentiation in the official arcade products that pirates could not dare imitate.
They provided a luxurious sense of satisfaction from the start with beautiful illustrations and carvings.
When the dice were rolled through magic, the pieces moved automatically, and the money was calculated automatically, providing convenience.
When various events or incidents appeared, sound effects rang out, adding dramatic effect.
There were also many small features that one might not notice when they were there, but whose absence became obvious when they were gone.
The crude homemade versions made at home had none of those features, so of course they were far less fun.
“Damn it! What’s the point of making it after all that effort? I don’t have anyone to play with!”
“Everyone went to the arcade to play properly rather than fool around with something this shabby…”
And the fact that board games could not be played alone was a major factor.
Well, one could play sadly by oneself while acting out all four roles alone.
But to enjoy them properly, one needed other users, and all of those users were at the arcade.
Why would people come all the way to a tavern to drink alcohol they could simply drink at home?
It was the same principle.
They could match up on the spot and enjoy games together not only with acquaintances, but with strangers as well.
And without having to worry about anyone watching them, no less!
And so, aside from a small minority who wanted to keep enjoying the games even at home, most of the pirates were wiped out.
The arcades successfully took root and began changing the lifestyle of the kingdom’s people into something completely different from before.
“Oh? My subjects no longer go to taverns after work, but instead go to that place called an arcade made by Author Wei?”
“That is correct. Thanks to that, reports are coming in that the number of people falling into drink has decreased considerably.”
“Huh. To think he made them do voluntarily what neither any wise king nor any tyrant has been able to do until now.
I did think he was an extraordinary person, but I will have to watch him even more closely from now on.”
And without Wade knowing, he began to receive even greater attention from those above.