Thomas:

Let’s get back to football and board games today.

After 2 days of the tournament, I am most impressed by Belgium and Italy. To me, Belgium is getting more and more used to the fact they belong among the big ones. They have an experienced team, with great talented players. Lukaku was great against Russia. He contributed both in attack and defense. Italy made a good impression as well. But it took a while to break through the Turkish wall. For the neutral football fan, these kinds of matches can be intriguing…

When you play Eleven, you can send scouts to watch the opponent’s team. This way you learn if it is a strong team and in which line up they play. If you are about to meet the favorites for the league title, you may choose a defensive lineup with defensive tactics. One of them is called ‘Play for a draw’. It boosts your defense and decreases your attacking power at the same time. lt often saves you, and sometimes you even steal the victory. Imagine the Turkish own goal didn’t happen and Turkey scored in a counterattack.

Have you ever been on that side as a fan? Remember how you exploded in joy? Or burst into tears, if on the other side. That’s football.

I bet Turkey would have chosen these tactics too if they had the card available.

Of course, yesterday I was looking forward to the game in my home country: The Netherlands.

I remember the first moment I got interested in football. It was in 1988. The Dutch team won the Euros that year. I was… Eleven.

I literally remember every single game. For us, the semi-final was the real final. We won against Germany with a superb goal from Marco van Basten. For the Netherlands, it was revenge for the lost World Cup final in 1974 against Germany.

This year our team is OK. We’ve had a better team, but they can definitely grow during the tournament.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch England – Croatia. I took my kids to the playground. We had a great time. Some things are more important than the beautiful game. Nevertheless, England managed to win without me watching. Raheem Sterling scored the only goal. They took their revenge for the loss against the same opponent in the World Cup semi-finals 2 years ago.

I was really interested in North Macedonia. I’m an underdog man. And I hope they will do well. And become… 2nd in the group. Right behind the Netherlands of course.

They played against Austria, a team which is ranked about 40 places higher in Fifa ranking. The first half was full of mistakes but was entertaining. Austria had better players, but North Macedonia fought hard as a team. Austria opened the score with a beautiful goal, but Macedonia scored the equalizer in a way that looked more like pinball than football.

In the second half it could have gone both ways, but substitutes Gregoritsch and Arnautovitz showed why they should have been in the lineup by both scoring one more goal.

Full time: 3-1. I have been entertained, but I don’t expect these teams to reach the quarter-finals.

I put on my orange 2010 World Cup finals jersey. I was ready for the game. In the first half, the Netherlands were off to a good start. 3 chances in about 7 minutes. But the blue wall got thicker each minute. Sometimes it opened in a flash and the Ukrainians came out for a dangerous counterattack. It was clear the Dutch had the better players, but Ukraine used the ‘play for a draw’- tactics card with thought.

Finally, in the second half, the Dutch broke down the wall. Wijnaldum and Weghorst each scored a goal within 5 minutes. Everybody waited for the third Dutch goal, but instead, Ukraine scored. Twice! They tried the ‘play for draw’ card again, but it didn’t work. In the 85th minute, Dumfries scored the final goal of the game for the Netherlands: 3-2. Ukraine worked hard, but the Dutch took the victory in the end.

Satisfied, but a bit worried. I‘ve seen some good attacks, but although they played with 5 defenders, defensively it didn’t look great.

Thomas Jansen is the designer of Eleven: the football manager game. Ignacy Trzewiczek is the developer of the game. They both will share their thoughts about EuroCup 2021 and also talk about the design or development of Eleven. Be with them every day during Euro! If you like football and board games, please, share the news about Eleven!

You can learn more about Eleven HERE!

Thomas:

And then you realize: In life, there is one thing more important than football and board games: It’s life itself.

During the game between Denmark and Finland, Christian Erikson suddenly fell down on the pitch and had to be reanimated. He was fighting for his life. Thousands of people in the stadium, friends, and family, and millions of people watching at home, were shocked. Erikson was brought to the local hospital. After a while, rumors suggested, Christian was conscious, but no one knew for sure. About an hour later, the good news came out: Christian Erikson was awake and was even able to talk. A huge sigh of relief.

I couldn’t imagine the rest of the game would be played that night. But it happened. Players decided to play again. It was said, Erikson also wanted the game to continue.

It was great to see the fans of Finland and Denmark, sharing their emotions together. Shouting Erikson’s name. When the Danish team entered the pitch again, the Finnish players applauded for them. It was a terrible event, but there were some beautiful moments.

I once experienced myself, there was a situation with a fan who had to be reanimated during a match of my hometown club. It’s shocking, but at the same time, it’s great to see how many people want to help.

Of course, Denmark was shocked. There’s only one subject to talk about on the streets today. For the Fins it was a strange evening as well; This, being their first-ever match in a big tournament. They will never forget. But of course first of all it’s about Christian and his family. I hope they get through this and I wish them well.

Finland won the game 0 – 1. But who cares today. I hope Denmark will pick themselves up and play a fantastic rest of the tournament.
Tomorrow I will talk about board games (Eleven) and football again. Somehow it feels less important today.

Thomas Jansen is the designer of Eleven: the football manager game. Ignacy Trzewiczek is the developer of the game. They both will share their thoughts about EuroCup 2021 and also talk about the design or development of Eleven. Be with them every day during Euro! If you like football and board games, please, share the news about Eleven!

You can learn more about Eleven HERE!

Ignacy:

The whole world is watching—the opening ceremony and then the first match—the highest pressure possible. It’s the start of the four weeks worldwide event, the first of 51 games. It’s the hour you were waiting for your whole life. I cannot imagine what’s happening in the dressing room, what’s happening when you walk out of the tunnel and enter the pitch. What’s in your mind when you hear the crowd and realize this is it – the opening match of EuroCup, and you are in. The moment you will remember your whole life.

It’s your hopes and dreams. It’s all the fans, supporters, media, everyone’s hopes and dreams to be part of the great game, to experience something exceptional, to see goals, and saves, and tackles, and beautiful passes, and smart plays, and effort, and heart, and drama too.

It’s the first game. The whole world is watching.

Thomas will write and analyze yesterday’s match below, so let me diverse from Euro for a second and talk about the first game… in board games.

When I told my friends and playtesters that I signed a football manager game, they were more than intrigued. Many of them work with me on my designs for more than a decade. Martin was helping me in 2009 with Stronghold, and then in 2010 with Pret-a-Porter; Maciej, on the other hand, was my main playtester for Imperial Settlers. He also designed a solo variant for Imperial Settlers.

They have trust in the games Portal is doing. They are with me for years, being one of the most trusted playtesters I have. It’s a great team of geeks.

They are also football freaks. We play football every Monday forever. We share two passions – board games and football.

So as I said, when I told them that I signed a football manager game, they were more than intrigued.

This first game of Eleven was like opening the Euro. Excitement, hopes, dreams. Martin came to my house to play it. I set up the game, explained the rules, and we played.

That very evening, the first time I showed him Eleven, we played only one round. After the last phase of the round, Martin smiled and gave me that look. It said everything.

This look said, 'It’s really good.’
This look said, 'You lucky bastard.’
This look said, 'I’m in. I want to be in the dev team.’

We talked for an hour about the game and were super excited about upcoming months of work.

Eleven delivered. Eleven was everything Martin hoped for. Eleven is a football manager game we all waited for.

***

Thomas:

For me, Euro2020 started yesterday, right after work.

I like football. My main focus is on club football. Especially the smaller clubs. They were part of the inspiration for designing Eleven. The fight against relegation has intrigued me just as much as trying to become champions. I enjoy the stories behind a season of small clubs. Not being relegated at the end of the season can feel just as good as becoming a champion. I wanted players—when playing Eleven—to experience these dramatic emotions in one of the scenarios of Eleven. Just try not to relegate. Easy, right?

After a disappointing season with my club, I had to change focus. So, I went into a supermarket and bought the ‘Guide to Euro2020’. I read about all the national teams, star players, and stadiums. I really got excited. This is going to be great. I picked my favorite countries, mostly underdogs, and I was ready for the tournament. Ready to watch the first match between Italy and Turkey the next day.

Of course, Italy was the favorite to win this match. If it was about the national anthems, they are definitely finalists to me. What a great song! But it’s not. And Turkey has a dangerous team. They took 4 points from France during qualifying. They beat the Netherlands with a deserved victory. They are fast and deadly. Unfortunately for Turkey, as the first half progressed, the Italians got more and more dominant in the game, resulting in lots of chances. The Turks weren’t able to counterattack, which is normally their strength, due to the fast intervention of the Italians.

But Nevertheless, 0 – 0 at halftime. After the break, Italy got their well-deserved goal; unfortunately, it was own goal. I felt a bit sorry for Turkey because they defended quite well and were unlucky here. After the goal, it went loose. The Turkish wall collapsed. Full time: 3-0.

Italy has shown its strength, and I definitely think they will become the group winner. Although Turkey failed both in defense and attack against a different opponent, they may be able to play the game they like and still end up as number 2 in the group.

I enjoyed this game! I have seen worse at the start of a tournament. I am looking forward to tomorrow’s games!

Thomas Jansen is the designer of Eleven: the football manager game. Ignacy Trzewiczek is the developer of the game. They both will share their thoughts about EuroCup 2021 and also talk about the design or development of Eleven. Be with them every day during Euro! If you like football and board games, please, share the news about Eleven!

You can learn more about Eleven here: https://bit.ly/3xidfAg

I received the story script and several additional pages of rules for the game from Jakub Łapot and Przemysław Rymer. I read them and was really impressed by the new concepts. The idea of different zones where players could act, the exposure rules, and even the death of the agents! There was a ton of theme in that first draft.

I built the prototype and played it by myself to see how it all worked.

An hour later, I had my answer. None of these ideas worked—literally, nothing, not a single piece functioned as planned.

Was I devastated?

Not at all. That’s how it all starts. Every damn time.

***

It took us another few months of research to make a comprehensive list of ideas for the mechanisms of a spy game. I watched lots of movies and TV shows about spies. I read books. I read comic books. I did the same gig as always—I soaked with the theme. I had a notepad full of ideas.
What’s important for the spy theme:
– codes
– secret messages
– gadgets

I combined it all with the initial ideas from Łapot and Rymer. I was ready to build a set of rules that would work. Testing began.

***

Rymer wanted to use real code cards from the Cold War era. I was skeptical. I was afraid it would be too difficult for players to understand. But after all, it wasn’t that bad. And I admit, when I gave playtesters a real code card from the Cold War and told them it was real shit, they were ecstatic.

This is a real thing. We are receiving messages from the CIA. We need to decode them. We are spies.

I wanted players to also decipher KGB messages. That was, for sure, the task players would not be able to do. We had to come up with a supplementary idea, something that would feel like deciphering the message and yet, would be doable by a random geek who’s not working in secret intelligence. I bought Ken Russell’s books about puzzles and looked for some ideas. Few hours into reading, I had my first Soviet cipher. I used simple mathematical tasks and equations to challenge players. I tested this idea with the playtesting group a few days later. It worked awesomely. First try, the first score, touch down.

I also wanted players to look for the secret words and sentences in the intercepted messages and understand the additional meaning of what was said. This is yet another essential element of all spy movies. They always say something like: „King beats Bishop on C4,” which means that explosives are prepared, and assassination of the cardinal is in the works! Stuff like that is always a part of the spy movies! KGB agents don’t talk like that, but nobody cares—it’s the theme, it’s how it’s done in books and movies. We did the same in the game—players must intercept messages, listen to them, and then think about what was said and what each word meant. That’s silly fun, that’s us, geeks, being smarter than Soviets, that’s what being a freaking spy is all about!

***

Vienna Connection. Decoding real code cards. Deciphering secret messages. Reading between the lines. We put it all. We build the experience. We made you a spy.

Are you ready, agent?

***

More about the game: https://portalgames.pl/en/vienna-connection/

My vlog: https://www.youtube.com/c/PortalGamesStudio/videos
My Twitter: https://twitter.com/trzewik

The movie starts. The title shows up. It’s called ICE. „Oh, it’s gonna be about hackers, network, very fast computers,” I think and got a little surprised when a few minutes later it turns out it was about actual ice. Winter, snow, ice, you know.
So I am sitting in my room and think what’s wrong with me.
Why when I see ICE, I think computer.
Why, when I see SAND, I think spice.
Why, when I see ACE, I think amber.
Why, when I see POTATO, I think Mars.
Why, when I see PIGEON, I think Rutger.
Why when I see…

So tell me… How twisted is your mind? 🙂

Photo by Michiel Alleman from Pexels