Mechanics

One short entry per BGG mechanism. Fill in as you read and play. Format per entry:

• Definition — one sentence on what the mechanic does
• Canonical games — 2-3 BGG games that exemplify it cleanly
• MDA aesthetic — what feeling does it produce? (Discovery, Challenge, Fellowship, Expression, Sensation, Submission, Narrative, Fantasy)
• Mobile descendant — has someone done the StS-style translation? Which game?
• Translation difficulty — Easy / Medium / Hard, with one-line reason

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Translated successfully (the corpus to reverse-engineer)

Area Majority at Locations + Faction-Combined Decks (combo)

• Definition: each player builds a small deck (often by combining factions/affinities); play minions at shared "locations" (bases); win majority of power at each location to score
• Canonical board source: Smash Up (AEG, 2012) — "shufflebuilding," combine two factions, play minions at bases, highest power at a base when it breaks scores. Designed by Paul Peterson.
• MDA aesthetic: Challenge (positional bluffing across lanes) + Discovery (faction synergy combinations) + Sensation (the satisfying base-break)
• Mobile descendant: Marvel Snap (Second Dinner, 2022). Ben Brode and team have cited Smash Up's location/lane structure as a direct influence. Compressed to 3 locations × 6 turns, added the Snap mechanic (doubles ranked stakes mid-match — this part is digital-native, not from Smash Up), tight 3-minute sessions vs Smash Up's 30-45 min.
• Translation difficulty: Done — but the lesson is the layering: take the structural mechanic from a niche tabletop hit (Smash Up was popular but never huge), strip the social-multiplayer length, add ONE digital-only twist (the Snap stake-doubling), and use a brand wrapper (Marvel) to clear the cold-start problem. This is the template to internalize.

Deck Building

• Definition: build a personal deck during play by acquiring cards into a discard, reshuffling when the draw runs out
• Canonical: Dominion, Star Realms, Ascension
• MDA aesthetic: Challenge (puzzle-like optimization) + Sensation (the satisfying shuffle/draw cycle)
• Mobile descendant: Slay the Spire (added roguelike runs + combat + relics + meta-unlocks). Also Monster Train, Inscryption, Roguebook.
• Translation difficulty: Easy — already done, well-trodden. Diminishing returns on new entries unless you find a fresh meta-layer.

Tile Laying

• Definition: place tiles to build a shared or personal map; placement constrained by edge-matching, adjacency, or scoring rules
• Canonical: Carcassonne, Kingdomino, Cascadia
• MDA aesthetic: Discovery (revealing the map) + Expression (your map looks different from mine)
• Mobile descendant: Dorfromantik (stripped competition, kept the zen placement loop). Carcassonne mobile is a port, not a translation.
• Translation difficulty: Easy — Dorfromantik proved the path. Variants on theming/scoring are still open.

Push Your Luck / Bag Building

• Definition: draw with replacement until a stop condition; sometimes paired with bag composition you control between rounds
• Canonical: Quacks of Quedlinburg, Can't Stop, Cubitos
• MDA aesthetic: Sensation (the dopamine of "one more pull") + Challenge (when to stop)
• Mobile descendant: Balatro rhymes with this loop, Luck Be a Landlord is a closer relative
• Translation difficulty: Easy-Medium — pull mechanics are great on touch. The bag-composition meta is the hard half to design.

Dice Rolling (with manipulation)

• Definition: roll dice as the primary action engine, with re-rolls, locks, or modifiers as the strategic layer
• Canonical: Yahtzee, King of Tokyo, Sagrada
• MDA aesthetic: Sensation + Challenge
• Mobile descendant: Dicey Dungeons, Slice & Dice, Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles
• Translation difficulty: Easy — the touch interaction (tap to lock, swipe to reroll) is genuinely native to phones.

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Partially translated (gaps remain)

Engine Building / Tableau

• Definition: play cards/tiles into a personal area that produces increasing returns over the game
• Canonical: Race for the Galaxy, Wingspan, Splendor
• MDA aesthetic: Challenge (compounding strategy) + Sensation (engine humming)
• Mobile descendant: Wingspan mobile is a port. Splendor mobile exists but is a port. The StS-of-engine-building hasn't shipped — closest is maybe Stacklands, but that's lighter.
• Translation difficulty: Medium — long arc is the hard part on phone. The roguelike compression of "1 game = 5-10 min run with a tableau you build and lose" is interesting and unclaimed.
• Translation idea: short-run engine builder where the engine resets each run but you unlock new card types.

Roll-and-Write / Flip-and-Write

• Definition: shared random input (dice, cards) that each player records on a personal sheet
• Canonical: Welcome To…, Qwixx, Hadrian's Wall, Cartographers
• MDA aesthetic: Discovery + Challenge (puzzle-like)
• Mobile descendant: Mostly absent. Direct ports exist (Welcome To… mobile) but no breakout translation.
• Translation difficulty: Medium — the writing is awkward on phone, but a "tap-and-fill" UI could replace it. Open opportunity.

Set Collection (with rotating market)

• Definition: acquire matched sets from a shared offer to score
• Canonical: Splendor, Ticket to Ride, Sushi Go
• MDA aesthetic: Challenge + Discovery
• Mobile descendant: Splendor mobile (port). No StS-style translation.
• Translation difficulty: Medium — sets feel small for a meta-progression layer. Could pair with combat or building.

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Un-translated (open opportunities)

Worker Placement

• Definition: place limited workers on action spaces; spaces are first-come-first-served
• Canonical: Agricola, Lords of Waterdeep, Stone Age
• MDA aesthetic: Challenge (constrained optimization) + Submission (rules-driven planning)
• Mobile descendant: None credible. The constraint of "other players block you" is what makes it interesting and exactly what disappears in single-player.
• Translation difficulty: Hard — needs a new constraint to replace inter-player blocking. AI opponents on a clock? Decaying spaces? Worth investigating.

Area Control / Area Influence

• Definition: contest territories on a board; majority/plurality scores
• Canonical: Risk, El Grande, Blood Rage
• MDA aesthetic: Challenge + Fellowship (kingmaking, alliances)
• Mobile descendant: None at the StS-fidelity level. Strategy mobile games exist but feel like ports of 4X.
• Translation difficulty: Hard — interaction-heavy. Solo AI is a different game.

Action Programming / Simultaneous Selection

• Definition: secretly commit to a sequence of actions, then reveal/execute
• Canonical: RoboRally, Colt Express
• MDA aesthetic: Challenge (predicting others) + Sensation (the chaotic resolution)
• Mobile descendant: None. The fun is mostly social.
• Translation difficulty: Hard — the "predict your opponents" half is exactly the social layer. Solo-friendly variants would need a different hook.

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Mechanics to investigate further (research as you go)

(Add entries as your reading and play uncovers them. The 60-mechanism BGG list is at https://boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgamemechanic — work through it.)