Resource Chits from Le Havre
One of my favorite board games is Uwe Rosenberg’s Le Havre, an economic game wherein the players are workers in a harbor (the titular French city).
[note: I have a lot to say about these but not necessarily in any systematic fashion. But hey, what do you expect from a blog?]
In the game players must manage sixteen different types of resources, which can be used to construct buildings or ships, to feed workers, or used as energy. The resources are printed on cardboard chits and are double-sided: half of the resources are upgraded versions of the other half.
The picture above is of half the resources. In the top row are the basic resources, while the upgraded versions are in the bottom. While there are different rules regarding upgrading each resource type, the process of treating these resources has been abstracted into a simple flip: by turning a “fish” chit over, it becomes “smoked fish.” By turning wood over it becomes charcoal.
As you have probably noticed by now, these chits manage to pack an enormous amount of information into a fairly small space; .75” square inches. In addition to the name of the resource, the border indicates whether the resource is basic or upgraded (a general distinction that does become significant in the game, as sometimes players may collect X basic goods or Y upgraded goods, for example).
The chits also use a combination of color and icons to aid in identification. For the most part the symbols are iconic, but a few are debatable. Hides, leather, coke and clay are all fairly general and probably not identifiable as such without the printed name.
The “#F.” located in the bottom right represents the value of the resource if sold, in Francs.
Additional icons indicate whether the resource can be expended as food or energy. Fish, smoked fish, bread and meat all have food value, as indicated by the small pot located directly beneath the primary icon. Wood, charcoal, coal and coke can be used as energy, as indicated by the light bulb symbol in the bottom-left. The light bulb here is an interesting choice, as it is highly culturally situated. Here it is signifying harnessed electricity, which in turn signifies energy in general. As a sign the light bulb also has a lot of positive connotations: invention, science, technology, progress, civilization.
This also raises an interesting question about our concept of “energy” in general. Electricity is (usually; hopefully) intangible, as is the modern idea of “energy.” How would a pre-industrial society represent energy? Would they even have an idea of energy as an abstract concept?
Finally, unlike most board game bits I have encountered, these chits fit Gonzalo Frasca’s model of the Peircean sign. Specifically, my interpretation of flipping the chits as an abstraction of upgrading / processing is the interpretamen; my mental model of how they work in isolation. Granted these are much more simple than the simulations Frasca was discussing, but the principle is the same.
