Batou Writer of Bubble Pack, a blog about storytelling in games Co-founder of La Communauté des Cartes, a 200-member association for narrative card games
A CONFESSION
I write a blog about storytelling in games.
Tonight, I'll show you it's useless.
QUICK TEST
What's the story of Ticket to Ride?
Hands up if you know.
THE ANSWER
There is one.
A bet in 1900, inspired by Phileas Fogg's trip around the world. It's printed in the rulebook.
Millions of players. Nobody remembers it.
But everyone remembers the route someone stole from them.
Chess has no story at all.
No plot. No dialogue. Just 32 pieces.
Yet some games are told like epics, and they have names.
The Immortal Game, 1851. The Game of the Century, 1956.
The Chess Players, Thomas Eakins, 1876
THE TRICK · 1904
Lizzie Magie put a moral in the rules.
In The Landlord's Game, whoever owns the land gets rich and everyone else goes broke. No speech: you live it.
It became Monopoly. The moral is still there, every game.
US patent 748,626, 1904
So where is the story?
In the rules.
Monopoly
In the players' creativity.
Pictionary, Mysterium
In the art and the narrative.
The world, the theme, the illustrations
La Communauté des Cartes, convention 2026
The designer's toolbox: rules that write stories
TOOL
WHAT IT DOES
THE STORY IT TELLS
PLAY IT IN
Randomization
Dice, shuffles and draws decide what happens.
Fate, and the miracle draw.
Catan
Telegraphed attacks
The threat is announced before it strikes.
Dread: you see it coming.
Spirit Island
Ticking clock
Each round brings disaster one step closer.
Time running out.
Pandemic
Hidden traitor
One player secretly works against the group.
Betrayal.
Battlestar Galactica
…some are meant to be played.
A game designer doesn't write a story. They build a machine that makes them.
These story machines are still barely studied. Yet they could teach what lectures can't: leadership, teamwork, negotiation, and more.
So: what's your best game story?
Batou · More on game storytelling: Bubble Pack · bubblepack.org
